I think Secret would be a fitting companion.
White blushed with Pink and oh so fragrant.

Thanks, chuck !!! Does Secret have any disease resistance? I took a look at HMF, and it is indicated for fragrance.

I was so excited to get a good bloom I chopped it off before the bugs can chew on it :). I hope to see the next two ...

What about Pope John Paul II? Secret is one of its parents and it is supposed to be very fragrant and disease resistant. Very pretty white rose ...

The Pope's a winner with me. Go ahead, cross the threshhold of hope : )

I saw Secret at a garden center last week and was enchanted. I don't dare plant it here, but I think you should plant it there. :-)

Yes he has certainly earned himself a girlfriend.

I second or third I think PJP....

Chrysler Imperial is, without a doubt, the best performing rose in my garden. Giant, smelly blooms (that old rose scent makes my eyes cross each time I sniff), and great disease resistance (it's in a total no-spray/fungicide zone next to my koi pond), and it reblooms in 4 weeks. Tops. It is the single plant in my garden that is never without blooms. It gets 7 feet tall or more, so you can cut long flowers with no problems. Thorns are pretty gnarly. And even this guy gets a bit of blackspot in our fall weather--but really, it's no more than 20 leaves on a 7 ft tall plant, I can't complain too much. All I do is feed and sniff. It is THE foolproof rose in my garden. And would you believe that I can't get my Mr. Lincoln to throw more than four flowers a year? Aren't they related??

Anyway, I think Secret would be a great buddy. Prolific, smelly, low disease--love it.

Another choice is Sheer Bliss. It has a comparable tall habit and smelly, large blooms, and mine is always disease free. CI and Sheer Bliss are side by side in my garden, and they are a handsome couple.

I'd recommend Full Sail or JFK as large, supposedly fragrant white blooms...but they have performed poorly in my garden. JFK rarely blooms, and Full Sail is a thrips magnet that shows each and every speck of damage. Really ugly blooms, brown and crinkly and deformed. They are both going to be yanked when I get the time/energy.

But I'm in a unique microclimate (high altitude at 4500 ft and dry as a bone, with a wet summer monsoon season) so your mileage may vary. Couldn't really be more different from Atlanta--but CI does well here, too--so extrapolate at will.

Heather

Thanks for the suggestions !!!

I expect CI to get some spot eventually but this has been such a nice rose even though we've had some peculiar spring weather. He had a little spot at the garden center, but he was pretty crowded. I may initially had him confused with my absolutely horrible experience with a completely naked Mr. Lincoln from years back. Yikes, that poor thing was ugly. Then the Japanese beetles came and he never had another bloom.

I think I'm leaning to PJP II. I've never had a pure white. Does he do well on his own roots?

My PJP II is own root and he's doing great. An outstanding rose. But in your climate keep the Bayer 3-in-1 at hand.

Your CI is gorgeous!

Thanks, hoovb !!! I do plan on keeping the Bayer close by. It seems to be keeping the aphids down. Where is a good place to get a PJPII? I order a lot from Rogue Valley and they don't have him. HMF says that Chill out! Roses has him. Anyone use them before?

J&P? They created the creature after all.

CI was my first rose and still one of my favorites. Oddly enough, he does better than most HT's with blackspot resistance (at least in my garden). I found PPJII at a local nursery. It was grafted but if you plant it deep enough, it will eventually go ownroot. I think the two will be a beautiful combination.

Carol

I have heard some bad reports from J&P since they have been sold to someone else. I wonder if any of the stores that get J&P roses would carry him.

Grafted is OK, too, carolfm. The CI is grafted. I just wanted to make sure if I got him from an own-root vendor he would be alright. In the south, we're usually instructed to have the bud union at the soil surface.

You are correct that conventional wisdom says plant the bud union at soil level in the south, but practical experience has taught me that if I want a grafted rose to go ownroot, bury the bud union. It works quite well :-)

Carol

I ordered some minis from Chill Out to see how they were... they were tiny and barely rooted and one died the first week... I think they have a ways to go before becoming one of the better own root nurseries...

CI next to Queen Elizabeth looks nice too...

DOUBLE DELIGHT would be a good choice. If you really want to gild the rose you could also plant POPE JOHN PAUL II. Position the three roses two feet apart in a triangle configuration and then ring the island with English lavender. HIDCOTE BLUE. is a variety of English Lavender particularly suited as a border plant. It is compact and dense with the deepest navy blue flowers that I've ever seen on an lavender plant. The combined red-white-blue color scheme would be very dramatic; not to mention the positively orgasmic fragrance.

Image of Double Delight by Tampabayrosaian-z9 at Hortiplex.

Do CI blooms stay red as they age? I'm thinking about replacing my Mr. Lincoln. Thanks! Wobur