Paul's Himalayan Musk was gorgeous this year and the fragrance perfumed the air and into my house---I forgot to notice how long he bloomed but it was worth it----I compare the once-bloomers with lilacs---daffy's etc' that only bloom once----but I can understand how you feel if space is limited---

I have to cut PHM way back this year---It is crowding out some other roses.

That is my fault---I had no idea he would take over the side yard----

but I will have to wait until the babies leave ---there is a nest deep inside his branches and Mommie and Daddy bird were not happy with me this morning

Florence

Okay. No blast from here at least, but let me explain why I grow once-blooming roses. First though, once-blooming roses vary in the length of their flowering period as well as in when they start and finish. In my garden, the once-bloomers of European origin begin later than the Teas and Chinas, and mostly before the ramblers. Some species are very early. A long flowering season for a single variety, such as I had this year with my Gallica 'De la Maitre-Ecole' can run about six weeks. I would consider a month about average. Two weeks is very short. A gardener who grows a variety of once-blooming roses can have months of flowers--pretty nearly the whole rose season if she grows R. moschata, which is late, and the early-flowering species. And I grow all my roses with plenty of other plants, flowering and not, so I always have something to look at: lavender and poppies, wild grasses, black locusts in their summer foliage, or just the fine architecture of a fan of glaucous iris leaves.

Anyway, back to why I grow once-blooming roses. It's because they're beautiful, and because their particular beauty can't be found among the repeat-flowering roses, old or new. The only way to have the beauty of 'Maiden's Blush' in your garden is to grow 'Maiden's Blush'. Ditto for 'Tuscany Superb', 'Crested Moss', 'Mme. Plantier', and dozens of others. These roses have a freshness and delicacy, and at the same time an opulence, that no repeat-flowering rose can offer. Their foliage, canes, bud forms are different from those of repeat-blooming roses (I'll make an exception for 'Quatre Saisons' here, and add that some of the Portlands have much of the quality of the once-blooming old roses, from what I've seen). They have their own character, and if you love that character, you grow them, because there are no substitutes among repeat-flowering roses.

If you don't love the once-blooming roses, there's no reason to grow them. It's entirely a matter of what kind of roses you find beautiful.

Melissa

I am not about to hurl stones. If I lived in an area like yours where the winter is bitterly cold and then just as the once bloomers started to bloom. The blast furnace heat starts up and fries the whole bloom cycle in a very short time I would not be growing them either.

Here in the Pacific Northwest however where the the summers are not hot once bloomers rule. Blanche de Belgique started blooming on May 27th and has enough buds to last through next week. Chloris started on June 2nd and will bloom through the 4th of July.

Lance

Funny you should mention PHM, zeffyrose.

I watched mine closely this year because I was a bit disappointed last year. It was only a few years old then, so I decided to wait and reconsider this year. This rose bloomed for just about two weeks. It might have gone another couple of days, but a thunderstorm knocked a lot of the blooms off. Yes, there were a LOT of lightly fragrant, sweet little powderpuff flowers, but the bloom season is so short that it's easy to miss it.

So, I'm getting rid of it and replacing it with a Darlow's Enigma that has outgrown it's allotted space.

I have other once-bloomers - Ispahan, Kazanlik, Botzaris and more - but I really need to see four weeks of flowers or more to justify keeping such large plants in my small garden.

I think it depends on the size of garden - If I had plenty of space I would grow more once bloomers. Since I want to grow many of these I plant them in public spaces along paths, at the meadow, near the the outskirts of the small wooded areas and on the hillsides in the small vally I live in. I find it very satisfactory to plant big rambler I dont have room for in my garden and see them get huge. I only give them a handful or 2 of fertilizer each year. Now since my garden and my allotment garden is rather small I almost exclusively choose repeatbloomers there. So I understand the dissapointment of oncebloomers if they have been given a prominent spot and are with out blooms except for 3 weeks each year.

I agree with Lance that it might be a matter of climate. My banksie lutea starts blooming every year in Jan/Feb, and doesn't stop until April. It is 3 1/2 stories high (climbiing up my house), and about 10-20 feet wide, so it makes quite a statement. It used to be the first rose to bloom in my garden, but I rooted an old rose from the neighborhood which turned out to be Belle Portugaise. It is 15 feet tall, and is right next to the banksie (an accident, not good planning - I stick roses wherever I can find the square inches of sun). It blooms as early as the banksie, and to my delight its pale translucent pink color goes exactly with pale yellow of the banksie - the combination is stunning. It stops pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk in front of our house - I have met many neighbors agog at the display in Feb/March, when no other roses are blooming. So, for me the fact that these roses are once blooming is not at all a disappointment. By the way, I just discovered that Belle Portugaise, which has indescribably elegant buds and flowers, has a repeat blooming sport (or seedling? they are not sure, but I have seen the bloom, and it is exactly the same, so I am voting for sport) called Susan Louise. So, I got one of those, and will see when it blooms.

I'm sitting here wondering if I wish my once bloomers repeated or not. I'm a joke really, grow stuff I fall in love with even if it tanks on me or others wouldn't give it a passing glance, fretting on two ailing ones that look like M. Plantier and hope I don't lose them.

But I'd be the last one to flame you for your preference.

Once bloomers I don't have to do a thing with if I don't want to after the first season, are much hardier in my zone, and like another poster said, fill in around them with other plants. My Harison is so unique, I don't know if there is a similar repeat bloomer or not, lots of yellows that repeat.

Veilchenblau I mixed with a clem that I hope will bloom later that is more rosy, we'll see if that works. I love that rose if it only did its thing for 2 days. I scoffed and said I wouldn't have a purple rose. Then I saw that lol.

Still, I do love the repeat roses but they seem to require a lot more fussing and some don't repeat very well anyway.

And I do have to pick and choose because I don't have that much sunny space in my relatively small yard and am stewing over where the heck I'm going to put 3 lilies on the way and several kinds of iris I want to grow. I will figure out something.

Well, you have to grow what you like.
I'd love to grow Gallicas and Damasks, but my climate does not permit.
My R. banksiae lutea and Fortuniana bloom most of the year, tho, so who can complain.
And after many years, I'm sorta "Bah! Humbug!" about most of the Austin roses.
It's all personal taste and location location location.

Jeri

I honestly get a little tired of seeing the same blooms in the same place all summer. Having some once bloomers going off is like the 4th of July - it adds excitement and anticipation. Same for daylilies - some of them don't have a long bloom cycle but they sure wow you when it is their turn.

Now I feel like there is enough room in my garden and there are enough flowers all the time that I don't need *every* shrub to be flowering constantly. I like having lots of perennials and bulbs for the same reason. They party hard and then make a lush backdrop for the next performer.

Because the season is just too short to worry about repeat up here, once bloomers are okay if you find the hardies or are willing to protect most of the northern European ones.

If I moved to a warmer climate - north of the 49th parallel west coast zone 8 preferred by me - with restricted plot size, then it is more vexing question. With lots of plot space and having a collecting bent I would be tossing northern European ones in by the plane load.

Most of the once bloomers I grow are the early season roses. My first rose of the year, R. primula, starts blooming before the forsythia finishes (mid April). Then it, and other roses (not all at the same time) continue to bloom until my repeat blooming roses come in bloom (late May-early June). Most years I get a pretty decent display. IÂd guess each individual rose bush blooms for 3-4 weeks. This year we had an uncommonly cool spring which delayed the start of the rose bloom. Then we had a major hot snap, which caused most of my once bloomers to blow in 1-2 weeks.

Whether or not you grow once bloomers may depend on the amount of room you have, plus your weather. The cooler the spring the longer your flush lasts.

I really love once bloomers.You can think I am crazy, but I don't want them to repeat. Too much of good thing, well it is just too much. It is like eating your favorite dish every day the whole season. I love the change in the garden. I do have repeaters too, but oncebloomer bring incomparable excitment for me every spring. Lilacs only bloom for couple weeks. The same with peonies, mock oranges, lilies and many othere perennials. So what, I will never stop growing them. Many once bloomers have beauty that you can't find in repeaters. Tuscany Superb, Charles de Mills, Canary Bird, Ypsilante, Primula, ramblers, I can't find the same charm in other roses.
And, buy the way, my yard is tiny.
Olga

Olga and I think alike. I also wouldn't want them to repeat, and one of those reasons would be the hordes of Japanese Beetles that arrive just as my oncebloomers are finishing. My repeaters get hit hard. I get frustrated that all my hard work is just to feed those disgusting beetles!
I spend the rest of the summer hand-picking those gross things and lamenting about how I wish I could find one untouched flower to enjoy. Where I live the growing season is short and I don't even have roses blooming until the second week of June...but.....the anticipation of that spectacular show (albeit a short one!) of my old roses is much like the arrival of Christmas or the fireworks on the 4th of July. It doesn't last long, but the enjoyment and excitement of it stays in my heart long after the flowers have faded.
I grow over 300 roses in a rather small yard and they all have their merits....and I love them all for so many reasons....but my once-blooming roses are my sweethearts, and now that they are finally blooming away outside, I welcome them back like long-lost friends. If I saw them every day I might not be so smitten.

They are my easiest to grow, my hardiest, and because of their sheer size, my most impressive. Up here in zone 4, you will not find repeating modern roses that will reach the astounding proportions of the Albas (I have some over 7 feet tall). Yes, I do dearly love my repeaters....don't get me wrong. They are cherished for their faithfulness of bloom and satisfy that need to have roses right up to the killing frost. But when I am asked which of all my 300-plus roses are my top 10 favorites, they are ALL once-bloomers.

But certainly, grow what makes YOU happy! Thats the great thing about roses....there are so many of them to satisfy everyone's preferences.

Celeste

I think many of the once bloomers are uniquely beautiful in a way that no other rose can be. However, since roses are the backbone of my gardening scheme I feel almost relieved that I can't grow most of them here. I'm incredibly fortunate that I have only very minor disease and insect issues and can grow the Austins, teas, chinas, noisettes etc. that bloom most of the time, especially in my climate. And yet, it's the gangly, little bush of Autumn Damask that I'm most looking forward to seeing in flower.....

Ingrid

Like others in warm climates, I can't grow these well here, nor would it make sense to devote much space to them where the growing season is so long.

IF I could, though, I'd definitely want Belle Herminie, Belle Isis, and Madame Hardy.

I can understand your frustration by analogy, though. In my area, lots of people go crazy over azaleas. Not me. Yes, they cover themselves with pretty flowers (scentless, though)for a couple of weeks in spring. But after that, it's just a ratty looking bush for eleven months.

Now gardenias, on the other hand. A big spring flush that lasts for at least a month, the occasional flower thoughout the summer, then another flush in the fall. Plus, when it's out of bloom, you still have a gorgeous shrub with glossy, dark green leaves. And that scent.......

I echo the sentiments expressed here. Once bloomers are uniquely beautiful. I look forward to their bloom. They would be boring if they repeated. And there is no repeater that is as profuse at a once bloomer. Period!

Another reason for growing once bloomers is that they are part of the history of roses. I love people's reactions when I show them roses that have been around for 500+ years (I include dates on my labels). I try to learn a bit of the history of the roses so I can pass that along too. Besides standard oldies like Rosa Mundi and the Apothacary's Rose, I am putting in some of the lesser-known roses. I have plenty of space, so I can give some of it over to History. I do keep the better repeaters closer to the house and public view because I want people to look and be interested. And I have just started a little nook that is almost all once-bloomers. I've also found that the deer, as well as the JBs, are not as attracted to once-bloomers, tho this is not a hard-n-fast rule.

I like the idea of putting dates on the labels. Good idea, Catsrose.

Ya, deer eat once-bloomers, too. Until I got Darlow's Enigma, I'd never had a repeat bloomer, but deer were always an issue. JBs usually find no flowers on the once-bloomers by the time they arrive, which is one of the wonderful things about the OBs (though they chomped the foliage off Great Maiden's Blush pretty severely).

But there are 6-week OBs and 2-week OBs and I'm done with the 2-weekers.

When the heat is just wrong, three to five days for total blooms.
Two weeks are wonderful among those that bloom in May around here.

Well with species I get early blooms when nothing else is blooming and with Spinosissimas you get these marvelous decorative hips that contrast wonderfully with the interesting wood that the Pimps have and then there is the amazingly lushness of the Gallica bloom-nothing else like it as the bush gives you its all-all at once( uaually, though here it can be so cold at night sometimes that buds keep setting for a few weeks) It is sad when a spell of bad weather ruins the display but there is always another year..good reason to keep on living..plus when the bloom is over they refoliate and give you a nice tidy shrub the rest of the summer that goes will with blooming perennials. Albas make attractive little trees when out of bloom and you can always pair them with a climber or Clematis. I like them.

patricia

N.B. I live in zone 8, more or less, and can grow Teas roses just fine. But I have equally many Gallicas, Albas, and other once-bloomers. They're also worth growing when your climate allows you abundant alternatives.

Melissa

I echo Melissa's comment. In my climate I can grow (and do grow) Teas and Chinas and I love them too, but once bloomers are where my heart belongs.
Olga

newyorkrita, I won't talk about repeaters or once bloomers...personally love flowers, I don't care where I get them from, but I love anything that flowers and makes me happy. Plant everything so you'll always have something going on, that's my philosophy.

I have a garden bed with once blooming roses, but I also crammed in with them feverfew (too much I might add) and daisies, perennial hibiscus, swamp milkweed, baby's breath, antique gladiolas and dahlias bulbs, creeping phlox, shrub peonies, lavender, daffodils, two blueberry bushes ( one high and one low) a dwarf mountain laurel, annual sunflowers, breadseed poppies, false mallow (I think...looks like hollyhock but short), among other plants like wintergreen and Queen-of-the-prairie and for kicks some pumpkin vines that just sprung up. It may not look perfect all the time, but it's an explosion of stuff to look at and for me is all good ever changing fun. It all should be fun, no matter how brief the show is.

I'd personally would recommend marrying your once bloomers with some wonderful old repeaters like Roseraie de l'Häy (Big beautiful old girl with to die for flowers) or look into some of the hardier chinas and teas and early noisettes among other repeaters. Mutabilis, Caldwell Pink, Quatre Saison damask...Rose de Recht, Marie Pavié...Stanwell Perpetual, Cécile Brunner. There are so many charming antique repeaters. They might bring some of that oomph you crave like your flordibundas, but add that antique charm more closely aligned with the once bloomers with the softer colors, fragrance and full petals, etc.

Once-bloomers are no different from repeat blooming roses: we still need to select varieties appropriate to our individual climates to get the best results. Just because they are once-bloomers doesn't mean we can grow any and everything.

Yes, I can grow Gallicas, but given their susceptibility to frying in high temperatures and drought, they aren't nearly as good in my garden as once-blooming, Tea or China-derived roses or Damasks that handle heat better. In cool, rainy, cloudy Europe, Gallicas are divine. But where the rain stops in February and temperatures can reach 100 in May, Gallicas aren't a good choice without shade.

I only put once bloomers where not much else would grow well... then I figure I'm lucky if I get color in that spot for a bit...

Like a Broadway show or a TV series nice to see a live show every now and then!

Very interesting thoughts. I've learned a lot and really enjoyed reading this!

Carol

I am in love with them. Have been ditching fussy moderns for hardy OGRs, most of them once bloomers, and have not looked back. I feel like I've finally reached rose heaven! These old roses are so charming, enchanting, and easy to grow, and they give me so many thousands upon thousands of blooms! Their beauty and their scents overwhelm me!

LIR

Rita,
My experience is much like yours. I grow a Gallica, Gloire de France as well as Mme. Plantier (Alba?). The idea of one bloom period is fine, just as it is fine with lilacs, azaleas and viburnums. However, in four seasons neither rose has given me a satisfying flush.

Lots of buds and blooms on big healthy plants. Mme Plantier provides major fragrance. But, I would be happy with just a one week burst of the roses at their peak. Here, the peak is a few days. A thunderstorm or some heat is all it takes to ruin the flush. Mme. Plantier quickly browns and the spent blooms hang on for weeks.

Maybe next year.

Rita, by all means don't grown once bloomers if you don't like them. You gave them an honest try, so you will know that your decision is based on experience, not prejudice.

If you are willing to consider trying a couple of different once bloomers, I would recommend Felicité Parmentier and Ispahan, both of which bloom about six weeks here for me most years, even though I live in a warm climate. And in my experience, the rambler Violette blooms noticeably longer than its relative Veilchenblau, and has a better color, too.

But if you decide not to bother, you can sincerely say you gave it a shot and weren't happy, and then move on. Gardening ought to be one area in our lives where we get to decide for ourselves what our tastes are.

Rosefolly

Good thread here so I am resurrecting. Can anyone give me input on how long your once bloomers bloom, per variety? I am ordering felicite parmentier because I have been told it blooms a longer period. I also have complicata and can't remember how long that blooms.

I know my dark red tuscany superb is pretty long. The blooms last quite a while and do not blow away which is nice.
I agree with the japanese beetles comments, although they love the foliage on rose de rescht here. Really annoying. The early and late flush propensities of the early austin varieties is a plus for me also, (they tend to not bloom very well in the mid-super hot summer) which works for me.

Every year like clockwork, the jbeetles come july 4th time.

I have 3 once bloomers: Vielchenblau, Pink Pillar and white and yellow Lady Banks. Like daffodils, wisteria, bridal wreath, pear trees, redbud and tulip trees......they are gone before you know it and it seems such a long wait until they bloom again. But, in my area, it seems something else comes along to take their place - all these lovelies dont bloom at the same time, so spring is a continual process of different blooms until the summer mainstays take over. I am going to try this year to plant an everblooming rose at the foot of the once bloomers and also add clematis. I have so many remotant roses that these few once bloomers I wait upon with such anticipation. Perhaps if they bloomed all summer....the mystique would be gone.
Judith

I have some once-bloomers that are supposed to be once-bloomers and some that are once-blooming that are supposed to repeat. They can all be quite pretty, but my peak blooming time is around the middle of May. The problem is that here in tornado alley in May we can get some bad storms, and if the once-bloomers are in bloom when one of those bad thunderstorms blows through, the flowers can be lost for the entire year. That has happened. There is no second chance.

I think that the original purpose for David Austin's quest to hybridize the roses he hybridized was to keep the beauty of those old rose flowers but make them available throughout the year. He has had some degree of success with them. I like the old roses, but I sure like to have them available for more than just a few days a year. Since all of us are getting older, the number of springs still available to us is constantly decreasing. It is nice to have those flowers around for as long as we can. Now, if someone would only come out with repeat blooming tree peonies, I would really be happy.

I think the trick is to have balance of all varieties. My roses are still young, though i look forward to the day when my ramblers and other once bloomers get really huge and have a million flowers if even they only last for a couple days. I think it might be more of a thrill than to watch a little squatty rose put out a couple blooms at a time through most of the season, except for the peak of summer and winter of course. I suppose it is not unlike buying a gross of bottle rockets versus buying two or three really spectacular light up the sky type fireworks.

I agree with the bustopher about tree peonies!! And spireas, and viburnums, and raphiolepis, and camellias, and so many other flowering shrubs :-).

Regarding roses, ever since I moved to California (only a couple years ago), I have been of the opinion that once-bloomers (those that will bloom here at all) are a waste of time given that I can get at least four flushes a season out of my repeaters (long growing season and no Japanese beetles). Well. I have one of those monstrous cl Cecille Brunners (it came with the house when we bought it, but still I didn't dig it up), it is easily 30ft across and maybe 15ft tall, gives me an amazing flush in the spring and then maybe three more tiny flowers in the fall (is this what is called "occasional repeat later in the season"???). I also bought Zephirine Drouhin because I needed a thornless climber and couldn't find anything better at the time. What is worse, this winter I ordered another once bloomer Variegata di Bologna (if it is going to bloom for me in CA at all). So I guess my opinions are not really firm :-).

I read in a Roses of Yesterday catalog that Will Tillotson said that if you grow only HTs you live in a very little rose world. I think one could say the same if one only grows repeaters...

Masha

The reason I like my once bloomers is that they bloom BEFORE all of my other roses, and they are huge, and cheer up the period from Feb - April l with loveliness. I have a huge banksie lutea which grows 3 stories up the South side of our house. Next to it I have an equally tall, although not as big, Belle Portugaise. They bloom together, and the pale translucent pink of Belle and the pale yellow of the banksie lutea go together perfectly (this was an accident - I just planted them together in my never-ending search for sunny places to plant roses) - they turn that wall of our house into an amazingly lovely picture. After they are done the same wall has an equally huge climbing cecile bruner which bursts into bloom.

We also have what I finally identified as fortuniana which climbs over the fence from our neighbors, and then grows 30 feet up a very tall tree, from which height it dangles down canes covered with large white roses almost to the ground in a waterfall. It also starts blooming in Feb, and turns that tree into a delight. I think it is rootstock from a long vanished hybrid tea - our neighbors yard is old like ours. For years I threw water and food for it over the fence, as it was ignored. That house changed hands, and the new owners like the rose - they don't mind it coming over to our side, as they have 3 others growing in a row along that fence line - more evidence that it is root stock that has persevered!

I realize this may not happen in other climates, but in our climate huge old once bloomers can beautify the end of winter.

Jackie

The real Northern European Once Bloomers -- Albas, Gallicas, Centifolias and the rest of the tribe -- won't bloom much here, and the don't live long, either.
So I've given up on that form of frustration.
And the Asian "once-bloomers" -- the banksiaes, and Fortuniana -- actually repeat a bit through the year.
But we also have now a few big old Ramblers, and I don't know what they will eventually do. 'La Fraicheur,' 'Silver Moon,' 'Guadalupe Volunteer.'
As the climate changes, we're beginning to get at least a little winter chill, so I'm hoping those Ramblers will someday put on a real big show in the spring.
And I'd be remiss if I did not mention 'Indian Love Call,' a once bloomer that simply explodes with bloom for almost 2 months of spring, and follows up with a fall display of colored leaves.
Even with a garden full of Evergreen Roses, there are some once-bloomers that fit right in.

Jeri

sc gardener, my Charles de Mills puts on a spectacular display for about six weeks. His blooms are that deep beet red with lots of shadings of purple. Huge, quartered blooms. I love this guy. Did I say he is a space hog? He suckers heavily on his own roots. Makes for a dense thicket. I love this one and look forward to his display every year.

Vielchenblau is slowly working its way up into my old cherry tree. That was the idea when I planted it. It is so stunning in bloom I can not immagine how beautiful it will be when it works its way all the way up into the tree. Meanwhile I will just leave it at that. Have no plans for more once bloomers at this time.

It's March 16th, and cold and raining. However, my banksie lutea is about half out in its Spring bloom - only rose in my garden at the moment with more than a few flowers. It is magnificant - grows 3 1/2 stories up our house, and the top half of it is in full bloom right now. It is the earliest of all of my roses to start blooming in earnest (some of the others, like Mme Alfred Carriere, never stopped putting out a few flowers), and it will bloom for about 6-8 weeks. It is definitely worth it, even though here it really is a "once bloomer".

Jackie

I love this discussion! I don't have many roses, but I have a few of my favorite repeat bloomers in addition to my select once-bloomers. Zeffyrose compares once-bloomers to lilacs, and I feel the same way. I think its good to have some of both, if your space allows, so you can have a long season of blooms. You get the best of both worlds! It all comes down to growing what you like. ; )

One problem we have is that the summer heat can come too quickly and shorten the season of the once bloomers. We can have blasts of summer heat in April and May, let alone June. In those rare cool years when we have had a prolonged spring, I have noticed a big difference in the rose bushes in botanical gardens and nurseries. The blooms are much bigger, huge appearing, longer lasting, and more fragrant.

Another problem is a wave of caterpillars and other critters that appear just as buds are being set on all my favorite once-blooming shrubs (azaleas and so on), not only roses, spoiling the blossoms. I think they are a new development, since I don't remember them in my younger days.

Newyorkrita, I remember the first time I went to Sissinghurst Castle, and seeing the old roses there. A lot of them once bloomers. I was bowled over. I just had to have them.
BUT.
After so many years of waiting each summer for them to start blooming only to have their booms wrecked by wind and summer rainstorms. I have grown disillusioned.
Yes they are beautiful, and I still love them. But apart from some ramblers, I haven't grown once flowering roses for some years now. I just go and see them in someone else's garden now.
So, don't feel guilty. It is your garden. Enjoy it.

I love my once blooming roses. Long winters finally end and summer arrives with harison yellows blooming all over the place. Sure it doesn't last long but it sure is beautiful for a while. And guess what, they never have to be messed with, or babied, and they will do the same thing next spring.

I love those once bloomers, and am totally captivated by the picture posts of them on this forum - Celestialrose's garden is a dream come true. However, as a z10 Floridian, I can't have 'em. Would love to, but can't. However, I will be growing and very much enjoying whatever roses I can.
Those of you who can grow Gallicas, Damasks, Banksias and Albas and love to do it, please post your pictures!
happy gardening,
Avalon

sc gardener, Ispahan is definitely the once bloomer that blooms the longest, often 7 weeks in my Swedish garden, approximately USDA zone 5-6. Another longblooming rose, but not an oldie, is the climber Flammentanz that also keeps going for about 7 weeks unless we have a heat wave (oh that we should be so lucky!)