It does seem to resemble Bella Donna. Here are a few pics from a public rose garden:

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Yes it is very much like my Bella Donna.

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Funny that this should come up.
Here are two images of a rose found in Pennsylvania. The finder's family has lived on this land for three generations, and the rose was found near the ruins of Great-Grandma's cabin.

Is THIS Bella Donna?
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/JeriJennings/KathysRose2.jpg
and
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y43/JeriJennings/KathysRose1.jpg

Jeri Jennings

Wow, thanks - those pics sure do look like my rose, don't they?

LOL!!! Well, Jeri, I don't know if that's Bella Donna... but it sure does look a lot like my rose!

And so, there we are!
We know it is a rose that was widely distributed, we just don't know WHICH rose.
The lady who sent the photos said that if she doesn't find out, she will consider it to be Bella Donna . . .
What is the source of your rose???

Jeri

Here are the photos Jeri linked to:

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The thing about Bella Donna is that it also looks exactly like just like Reine des Centfeuilles but a smaller bush Bella Donna Tends Spread Stay at around 5 ft tall spreading Reine des Centfeuilles I've seen over 6-7 ft more upright and denser but the bloom form and fragrance is almost identical.

Heres a shot I took this week of Reine des Centfeuilles at The Cranford Rose Garden
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Heres Bella Donna in my garden
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Jeri, my plant came from a GW trade as "a centifolia", so that's obviously no help. :-)

Well crap, Labrea - my plant is about 6' tall (or thereabouts), right on the cusp! I'll go measure it tomorrow, lol. It's about 5/6? years old - mature, anyway, and the canes are rather stiff - it's not really lax by any means... but I have to wonder, if the two are essentially identical except for the size, why is Reine des Centfeuilles considered a Centifolia, and Bella Donna a Damask? ARGH!!!

This sort of puzzle is interesting as heck, but always gives me a bit of a headache.

I cannot help you with further ID, but, GOODNESS, if you ever want to share a cutting, COUNT ME IN!

It's a beautiful rose!

I went around to the alley side with a tape measure and my camera. I know it's hard to see through the fence, and with Mme. Plantier scrambling through her as well, but the plant is actually 5.5' to 6' tall and 8' wide, with a fairly narrow base - no broad suckering that I can see, well-mannered so far. I do not have it tied to the fence or trained. The canes are quite stiff. The bottom 1/3 to 1/2 of the plant is bare, the flowers are all at the top (ideal sniffing height - I'm 5'8"). It began blooming mid-May and is still going strong - the first blooms are fading now. Really long-lasting flowers, long bloom period.

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I looked up Bella Donna at Vintage Gardens and it does conform to their description. They don't offer Reine des Centfeuilles, so I can't compare. Google seaches lead me to believe that Reine des Centfeuilles is narrower and more upright in habit - Beales list it as a 5' x 3' shrub and others seem to agree. Google search results for Bella Donna do conform to this rose quite well. To quote Woodlandrosegarden.com,, which has what appears to be the identical rose:

"In May of 2001 I took cuttings of this rose to the annual Open House at Tufton Farms of Monticello where it was identified by the Rev. Douglas Seidel, very quickly I might add, as the Damask rose 'Bella Donna' . He shared that it was a very commonly planted rose in the Pennsylvania area, and its flat-topped buds are a distinguishing feature."

Here's a closeup of a bud from my plant:

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Could we have a winner?

Yes, I had heard about Doug Seidel's identification.

It looks to ME as though my correspondent would be safe to consider her rose to be Bella Donna.

Jeri

Thank you so much, Jeri! I do believe we have a winner and Bella Donna is the most likely identification for my rose as well. Cool beans! :-)

Manoman -- I sure wish I thought I could grow it here. :-(

Jeri

This looks and sounds exactly like the rose I found growing on the grounds of the Nat'l Arboretum, off in the untamed scrub where nobody had been for ages. Another remarkable thing is the intense, fruity-balsamic scent to the buds when you touch them - those glands pack quite a beautiful punch. This one is also slightly prone to mildew when it gets hot and dry, it seems, but this has obviously not affected its survival since it must have been around for a long time (perhaps from before the arboretum was an arboretum).

It's funny, but I hadn't really noticed the scented buds before. I just went out and really checked it out, and you're right (no surprise there, ha)! I felt a small bud that hadn't begun to open, and it was a bit sticky and the scent clings to my fingers. Fruit and balsam - yup! I could smell it clearly, despite my allergies messin' with my smeller this morning. That is very, very cool. :-)

I had to jump in on this. I have what seems to be this same rose (A 25' hedge of it actually) and it was tentatively identified as Bella Donna about five years ago. My parents found it growing at an abandoned farmstead in eastern Iowa in 1949 or so. The fragrance of the sticky stuff on the buds always reminds me of Butternuts. As for survival, you can't kill this rose with a blowtorch--not that I've actually tried, but it does survive neglect, drought, flood, being moved in 90 degree heat, and being stomped on by the neighbors cows. It will also sucker all over the place in terrible soil. Out of 300+ roses, it remains one of my favorites.
Laurel