Jessica I am new to OGR's too and I am going to plant Ducher next spring. It is a repeating white rose that is supposed to not be a huge bush.

For white or mostly white OGRs, I have four that I particularly like. The gallica L'Ingenue and the damask Botzaris are quite impressive but only bloom once. L'Ingenue also wants to come up all over the bed it is in, and Botzaris wants to get to be a rather large bush. The others are repeaters. One is the Portland rose Marie de St. Jean which is still a small plant for me but is showing some promise. It does repeat some. The other, and probably the best, is the noisette Mary Washington. It normally repeats fairly well and stays a medium sized shrub, about 4 ft tall and across. It appears to be the hardiest of the noisette group, but it took a late freeze rather hard and hasn't done all that well this year.

As far as rebloomers go, Boule de Neige is my favorite white rose I think. It seems to be a fairly upright shrub that may get large with time. It repeats as well as many moderns and is very healthy for me, but blackspot isn't a problem here.

My favorite rose period (I can't grow it where I am of course) is Madame Hardy. I don't think a rose bloom can be more perfect. It too can get quite large though.

I am mostly drawn towards the larger white roses I guess because others I'm thinking of include Madame Alfred Carriere, Lamarque, Devoniensis, Mlle. Blanche Lafitte, Coquette des Blanches, and Mlle. de Sombreuil.

I think there are some gems amongst the older white HTs if you don't care about the rose being a true OGR. Snowbird, Mme. Jules Bouche, and Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria are all beautiful white roses. The first two (so long as you avoid the climbing versions) could remain relatively compact.

Blanc de Vibert and Marie de St. Jean are two white Portlands I admire a lot, but have no experience with. They should remain quite compact, but they could be poor in regards to disease resistance.

Rosa rugosa alba and the white Rugosa Hybrids like Fimbriata, Blanc Double de Coubert, and Marie Bugnet could be good choices too, but I'm not sure how Rugosas perform in your area.

I think white roses are my favorite, so if I think of any more compact OGRs that could perform well in a zone 7 setting, I'll be back! Ducher was already mentioned and is lovely!

Jay

This post was edited by ArbutusOmnedo on Tue, Sep 23, 14 at 1:46

How big is the bush form of Devoniensis, Jay? I have the climber, which apparently gets massive, but perhaps the bush would work?

I've just planted Mme Joseph Schwarzt, a mostly white sport of Duchesse de Brabant. I hope it doesn't become a huge monster because I've only given it about 6' to spread out.

I think Mrs Foley Hobbs is fairly small for a tea, and it's pure white. Kronprincessen Victoria might be worth checking out, or the white form of Cecile Brunner, which apparently makes a pretty 4' bush. I think it was Jeri who posted pics recently, and it looked lovely.

If I were in your situation, the non-antique white that I would plant in a heartbeat is Bolero. I've lusted over that rose for months, but it's not available in Australia.

Jessica, how do you feel about David Austins?

This post was edited by muscovyduckling on Tue, Sep 23, 14 at 3:37

I've heard mixed reports on the bush form of Devoniensis. Malcolm Manners has posted photos of a very reasonably sized Devoniensis on the forum before. If it maintained the size in the photo he posted or thereabouts, it would work I imagine. However, Jeri and other posters have shown pictures of incredibly large older plants of Devoniensis (presumably the shrub form).

It's apparently slow growing, so it may take a very long time to build up to the large shrubs I've seen, but it has the capability of being a very large rose in warm enough climates. In zone 7 it might lean towards the smaller size, but I'm not sure.

If Austins are in play, I would definitely recommend Winchester Cathedral. My mom's plant has really excelled. The scent is what many refer to as "myrrh," but to me is almost soapy or lotion-like. Some of the small white Austins seem to suffer from lack of vigor or are very thorny in the case of Glamis Castle. I like Glamis Castle too, but its thorns and scent -myrrh or soapy again- turn some people off.

Jay

I have a weakness for white roses too, but don't limit myself to repeat bloomers...a good thing, as the once-flowering old roses are overall the best and easiest roses for my conditions.
ArbutusOmnedo covered the ground well, I thought. Leaving aside the climbers he mentioned, I have 'Mme. Jules Bouche' and 'Blanc de Vibert'. The former is lovely and easy for me, but you should check for disease resistance in your area; BdV grows well but is really reluctant to flower, and in Italy at least has a reputation as a difficult rose (though the plant is abundantly healthy). My 'White Cecile Brunner' is still too small for me to say anything about it.
Given your desire for contained roses, I will only briefly mention the Hybrid Musk class, which are neither small nor antique, though they have a grace as shrubs which makes them favorites among many gardeners who grow old roses. 'Pax' and 'Penelope' are both white or near-white and beautiful, but would probably get bigger than what you want--'Pax', a lovely rose, can be trained as a climber--but are reblooming and fragrant. These varieties have been around for almost a century now, so they're classic if not OGRs.
I just thought of 'Souv. de St. Anne's'. This is a semi-double sport of 'Souv. de la Malmaison' and though pale pink the effect to my eyes is white. Fragrant and satisfactory.
I just want to put in a word for a couple of white once-blooming old roses, since I think they're some of the most beautiful varieties around. 'Mme. Zoetmans' is a lowish, suckering, almost white rose, very fragrant, very beautiful, not overly thorny, and a good tough plant in m garden. Another great beauty is the Centifolia 'Vierge de Clery', at least that's what the rose in my garden is called. There seems to be a lot of confusion about the ID of this and of 'Unique Blanche' which I also have and which is different (it's beautiful, too). My rose is a biggish thorny lanky shrub with arching canes with roses strung all along them, and a long flowering season. It gives me a lot of pleasure, but I must say I don't know how it would do in your part of the world. We had a very unusual rainy summer, and the Centifolias didn't like it at all.
Melissa

I grow Ducher, and love it. It is easy to maintain at about 5 feet. I also grow Penelope, but she gets much larger.

Sammy

Clotilde Soupert--fragrant, repeats extremely well, deer resistant, bs resistant, fairly winter hardy and small.... The only down side is she balls horribly in the rain.

And I adore Madame Joseph Schwartz. I haven't had good luck with her, but her first spot was not good, so I'm trying again. Too soon to tell.

Our experience with Lyda, a Hybrid Musk has been great. Great in a shady area, nice fragrance. Has some pink but finishes white.

Most of my OGRs are new to me in the last year or two, so I can't be sure of mature size. Some of my favorite whites, so far, that seem like they will stay a reasonable size are:

Ducher (very disease resistant, small blooms with medium fragrance that look great against its red new growth)

{{gwi:306853}}

Mary Washington (small for a noisette, sweetly fragrant blooms that start with a hint of pink and fade to white quickly)

{{gwi:306855}}

Jeanne d’Arc (another small, sweet smelling noisette that the bees adore)

{{gwi:306856}}

Kronprinzessin Viktoria (beautiful in all stages, never balls for me, highly fragrant, will blackspot some)

{{gwi:306857}}

{{gwi:306858}}

{{gwi:306859}}

If you had room for a climber, Sombreuil’s fragrance and bloom form are to die for

{{gwi:306860}}

If you would consider a modern, Bolero is a great rose here…disease resistant, rain tolerant, highly fragrant…best white I grow

{{gwi:306861}}

Clotilde Soupert is a beautiful rose when it doesn’t ball, but starts out very pink for me in the cooler spring and fall. Here is a picture from spring where she looks very pink and one where she’s mostly white in warmer July weather:

{{gwi:306862}}

{{gwi:306863}}

Jay, that very very big "white" (lemon-centered) plant I've posted is not Devoniensis. We all figured that out when it was planted in the Sacramento City Cemetery, next to Devoniensis.

It is Study-Named "Jesse Hildreth," and it's probably the finest white rose I've ever grown, hands-down.

Not in commerce at this time ... but you never know. MIGHT happen eventually. (7 plants available at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden's Open Garden, on Saturday.

Jeri

I love Maitland White, but mine is young so not sure how large it will eventually get.

I just took another look and noticed the tombstone with "Jesse Hildreth" this time. My mistake! There are a few large shrub shots of the non climbing Devoniensis on HMF from Australia, but it probably is smaller than I had been going on since I had pictures of Jesse in my head. There are actually a few other pictures of Jesse Hildreth on HMF under the name Devoniensis.

Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: Jesse Hildreth as Devoniensis on HMF

Jay. I got confused over those two as well so don't feel alone.

I think I need a Devoniesis if I don't get a Jesse this weekend

I live in Sweden so my conditions are very different from yours. I have two remontant white OGR's. Kronprinzessin Viktoria (von Preussen) also called Malmaison Jaune because of the yellow center, is my absolute favorite. It reblooms very well and stays small. The other is Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseux, a much larger shrub but less remontant for me.

Kippy, I hope you do get a 'Jesse'... he is so beautiful. I'm patiently waiting for him to go "into commerce" so us Easterners can have a chance to grow him, too.

Of course, 'Devoniensis' is also beautiful...

My young 'Clotilde Soupert' just tried to open her first flower in the rain, but couldn't get more than her outer petals open. That barely opened flower sure smelled good, though. She has so many wonderful attributes, that I can wait patiently for drier weather to see her lovely blooms open up. I didn't realize she could get so pink- as in Pat's photos- but I like flowers that change colors according to the weather, etc.

Have fun at the rose sale,
Virginia

I love Maitland White, but mine is young so not sure how large it will eventually get.

I love white roses and will second (or third) suggestions from previous posts:

Ducher is a workhorse
Kronprincess Viktoria; one of the healthiest roses in my garden this year
Bolero:: not an OGR but a great rose
Pope John Paul II: not an OGR but wonderful
Iceberg, of course
MMe Joseph Schwartz is my favorite tea rose

Oh Oh Oh, I would LOVE to have Jesse Hildreth!! I love tea roses the best!

Blanchfleur, a Centifolia, has the most beautiful creamy white blooms and intense fragrance. I also like the damask Leda (with red margins to white blooms) and Portland Marie de St. Jean. Blanc de Vibert is very prone to balling, so I'd grow Marie de St. Jean instead.

Where in East Tennessee is the original poster?
East Tennessee can be warmer (near Chattanooga) or colder (up in the tri cities) or positively Tea-rose unfriendly (up on the mountains).

We really are working at getting "Jesse Hildreth" to the East Coast.

(And I need to find out how to re-assign those photos from the Devoniensis page to the Jesse Hildreth page.)

The other Mystery White rose that I truly love is "Legacy Of The Richardson Family" (Which EYE called "George Washington Richardson). Here is the bloom and foliage:

Here is the plant at various times . . .

Sadly, the mother plant of "Legacy Of The Richardson Family" is now gone -- but there are a few plants around, and one is already on the East coast.

Jeri

I have never grown it, but my friend raved about its fragrance when she helped move a plant of it while working as a volunteer at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Coquette des Blanches. People say it looks a bit like the gallica rose, Duchess de Montebello, which I have just acquired and haven't yet seen bloom -- another near-white beauty. The picture in the link is the last one.

Sea Foam is another gorgeous one, not an antique but an old stalwart that sort of sprawls or drapes along the ground in a restrained manner.

Here is a link that might be useful: Coquette des Blanches

Ann, I live in Knoxville, fairly close to the downtown area, so I think that I might fall in the "warmer" category you mentioned? I'm not really sure. I have been very hesitant to try Tea roses because I was nervous about the extreme winters we've been having lately. All the climate zone maps I've looked at put me right on the line between zone 6 & 7, but all zip code searches put me in zone 7a.
It seems like a lot of the roses mentioned above list zone 7 as their limit, including the one I got so I guess I'll just see what happens.

Thank you all for your replies, I always love to start a discussion and just see it take off, I get so much information from just evesdropping on all your discussions. For now I have decided to order Ducher, it seems to have the total package, and it is an Earthkind, so hopefully it will grow easily for me, even though I am right on it's zone limit. I definitely have a few more that are listed above added to my future order list, there are just so may lovely ones!

Jessica

Hi, Jessica,
You are in a warm island (as are the roses at the UT trial garden). You should have no problems getting teas to survive most of our winters with no problems. They had survived fifteen years earlier, but those four hard freezes this spring were very different from earlier years.
The one thing to do is to treat them well for their first three years, to get good roots established. I did cover mine with leaves their first two years (whether I needed to or not) and mine survived last winter although they died back to the roots, there was plenty to come back.

I live 18 miles north east of you on top of a large hill with major wind problems at an elevation of 1100'. I have problems with getting size on tea-noisettes, although non-tea noisettes love it here.

Chinas also thrive so long as the drainage is good in winter.

..this is 'Tranquility'.. an Austin white rose... nice scent, virtually thornless, doesn't mind the weather.. at least in England..

Clotilde Soupert is one of my favorites of any color or class. It does usually have some pink in it. It is hard to find a better plant in terms of health, vigor, branchiness , and rebloom. Top it off with gorgeous blooms and an intense fragrance. It balls sometimes but usually not.

I would love to have Jesse Hildreth. I love Angel's Camp Tea. It is a large growing tea, great rebloom, gets a little bs, and has squat pumpkin shaped hips.

Angel's Camp Tea

Ok, since my last post I have decided I may have room for a few more white roses, my pot ghetto is expanding quickly, but I plan to replace many of the roses I planted this past spring with several of these so I don't feel so bad adding a few more to my growing pile.

I will definitely adding Mme. Joseph Schwartz and a Kronprincessin Viktoria to my Antique Rose Emporium order, they are incredible beauties, I was on the fence about them just because I didn't know enough about them, but seeing the great reviews here, and after reading more about their habits, I think they may be perfect for me, I didn't realize they were both sports of popular roses, and ironically I have recently purchased both SDLM and Duchesse de Brabant because of their glowing reviews, beautiful blossom shapes, and manageable sizes, I may just have to have myself a good ol' family reunion & plant the white sports next to their pink Mamas!

I would really like to get ahold of Bolero too, I have heard so many good things about it's health & vigor, and I really love the chalice shape I see in all it's photos, I may see if Roses Unlimited has it in stock so I may add it to my spring order.

I would really LOVE to have Madame Hardy but I don't think I have the space available, especially for a once bloomer, so she will have to join Monsieur Tillier on my list of "giant roses for my future dreamhouse with giant yard". I know several of you vouch highly for once bloomers because of their vivacity of bloom when the bloom does come, but since I am a fairly new gardener, I like the forgiving nature of repeat bloomers, if I make a mistake in their pruning or care, there will always be a repeat to rely on & I won't loose a whole year's worth of bloom. As I learn and grow as a gardener I will probably add a few once bloomers to my garden, but for now I just want to start with the perpetuals.

Clotilde Soupert looks and sounds lovely, but during spring and early summer there is so much rain in my area that I would worry of it just continuously balling, I am sure that is at least a possibility with several others I have mentioned buying so far but it always seems to come up in every conversation I see about this rose, so I will wait on it for now, but I won't count it out for the future.

I have heard such mixed reviews of Devoniesis, I am kind of afraid to try it, the photos I have seen always make me swoon, but I don't want to get too invested in a rose that will be an uphill struggle.

Someone asked above if I like Austin roses, I absolutely do! I bought several earlier in the year, including Crocus Rose and so far have had very mixed results. Crocus was rumored to be fairly disease resistant and extremely free-blooming, but that has not been my experience so far, it has had the worst powdery mildew out of all my roses, not only a couple of my roses have PM, and those that do only have a little bit, except Crocus, which is covered with it. It has also only had maybe 2 blooms this whole summer. It is growing fairly vigorously, but also exhibiting some odd growth patterns, all the canes except for one are growing out completely horizontal, so it looks like it would be a wide, low growing rose, but since pretty much all photos and descriptions of Crocus say that it is a fairly rounded shrub, it's probably the angle that sun hits it or something else that I have done. I recently moved it into a sunnier spot, so we will see if that helps. It is a fairly new plant so I am hoping that it will grow out of these habits by next year.

I saw Winchester Cathedral at my local garden center this spring, and boy it was lovely, but no sooner did I touch it's cane did the rose I was trying to smell shatter like glass, a trait which I have read on HMF is very common and upsetting for growers of WC, especially if you plan on cutting it for bouquets, I haven't completely counted it out as a possible future rose, the tidy cup-shape it has is truly magnetic, but I will see what else is available before getting it. Jay, have you had problems with premature shattering of blooms on your mother's WC?

That photo of Tranquility is lovely, I may add that one to the list in the future, but since I have so many Austins in comparison to everything else at the moment, I may wait to see what happens with these others first.

THANK YOU ALL again for taking the time & posting such informative and helpful posts, I look forward to being able to add to discussions like this in the future when I have more experience.

Jessica.

I don't think WC has had the problem you describe, Jessica, but it's one that she doesn't cut to bring inside as far as I know. I don't know an exact bloom life since I don't see it on a daily basis, but I'll ask or cut one to see for myself the next time I'm there. It is one of the happier Austins for her and it definitely blooms regularly. I've heard that shattering complaint levied against Heritage, but not WC as far as I know.

Jay

Alba Semi Plena, it only blooms in June, here for about a month but I adore this plant a.k.a. the 'White Rose of York' for it has gorgeous foliage that is lush and a blue-green hue, deeper blue nearest the roots. One of the top reasons I grow Old Roses is because most of them are as attractive in leaf, as in bloom.
The fragrance is sublime, refined and divine, though moderate in intensity. The milk white roses have a beautiful golden boss in the center which adds much to its' beauty. I come close to worshiping the white 'Rose of York' in late spring, whilst gazing longingly at a rose blossom with its' milk- white petals arranged charmingly around a golden boss, so intensley as if doing so would cause my hearts' union with it.
It has flagon shaped hips in the autumn that begin orange and blend into red; a rosebushes brightest ornament after it blooms.
R. moschata white 'Musk Rose' it blooms constantly for 3-4 months of the year, from late June to Halloween where I live.
Westside Road Cream Tea' is a smaller Tea that matures at c. 4 and 1/2 feet tall and wide, it has plentiful foliage which makes the white roses stand out beautifully. The sweet mixed floral fragrance is more than moderate and is reliable. Westside Road Cream Tea' is a Lost and "Found" rose found by Philip Robinson in Northern California.

I bought Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria because it was said to be quite fragrant, but it turns out that I don't like the type of fragrance that it has, it smells like rotten vegetal matter to me, clearly that is a fault with my olfactory glands and not the rose as no one else complains about it, it is a very pretty rose. Plus it is evergreen where I live near San Francisco.
Devoniensis. a dream of a rose. My neighbor found some religious folks who were handing out leaflets about their religion staring at it, while standing on the sidewalk by her garden when her climbing Devoniensis rosebush was in full bloom. The stood still as statues for several minutes.
Boule de Neige. If I could grow only one remontant white rose, this would be a top contender. Blooms are only medium sized, but delicate and pretty. Very lovely fragrance, though moderate.
Nastarana, a smallish bush Noisette, narrow growth habit, can be kept at c. 4-5 feet tall. Very fragrant in clusters.
I have a Lamarque, which hardly ever shows any yellow where I live, opposite a Mme. Alfred Carriere, I grow both self standing instead of climbing.
Another vote for 'Pax' which has a scent close to that of R. moschata. My neighbor has a Pax on rootstock and a visitor who works at Montisfont said it was the most beautiful Pax she'd ever seen. It forms a 12' wide slightly arching bush, covered in white fragrant blossom, on rootstock.

I don't know if you know about helpmefind.com/roses but you can see all of these roses there under "Search"

Lux.

Lux, I'd love to see some pics of your Lamarque and MAC grown as shrubs!

Jessica, I had the great pleasure of growing MME. Hardy, many years ago & although it did have the drawback of 'the flower only once', it was well worth it. I regret, ever having lost it,( & was planted in the hell strip, of all places.)
On the other hand, I still have SDLM & has remained, ever so small, with just a small repeat flower, here & there. As you may see ..

if i ever learn to upload photos I'll be sure and show photos of lamarque and mac grown as shrubs.
The trick was to start them growing on a slant to 7', (as if they were growing on an arbor or against a tree )they both strongly wanted to grow in that direction, so I let them
, and then I pruned both down to 5' and upright, so the slanting canes were removed.
Lamarque is easier to keep that way than Mac (Mac is on rootstock, Lamarque is on his own roots) because Mac puts out new cane growth so quickly that I have to prune her back every 3 months during the growing season.

Lux.

I grow rugosa's over on the east side of the smokies. I amend the soil with a LOT of sand and oak leaves. Rosa Rugosa Alba is by far the best OGR in my garden. No muss, no fuss. Plant it in it's new home and sit back and enjoy.

I have Devonionsis and I love the blooms. Mine is puny, but I had to dig it up and will replant it. I think it was getting too much shade.

I won two Madame Plantier's at our Rose Day last year (actually I won 4, but gave two away). I love this rose. I took this picture with a macro lens and I'm entering it into the Rose Show photography section next week:

{{gwi:306867}}

I love the pictures of KPV here, I may have to add that one.

One elegant and compact white rose that hasn't been mentioned is Mme. Melanie Willermoz, a little-known tea rose that I had for a while before giving it away, which I now regret. The pictures on HMF do not do it justice. I can't say too much about its growth habits since it was young when it left my garden, but I do remember that the blooms were lovely. I believe Rogue Valley Roses has it.

Ingrid

I don't live terribly far from you, I think. If you still have a little spot for a polyantha or two, I have a couple worth considering. One is Anna Marie de Montravel, a little rose that produces clusters of fragrant blossoms that are whiter than white. It was reported to have a lily of the valley scent so of course I had to try it. It does, although it seems be most fragrant in the spring. The other is Charles Walker Mignonette, a tough little rose that produces bunches of little white pompoms. Both seem to be sturdy here and have survived the polar vortex and some deer predation. They cycle into bloom all season, are good bloomers and have very few thorns. Both are in my little white rose garden and came from Vintage before they closed.

Some of the roses mentioned above sound so lovely, I wish I had more room to try a few. I hope you will let us know what you eventually decide and will share pictures of their progress someday.

Buford, I think I'll have to try KPV after following this thread too. Bunch of enablers, you lot.