Your favorite thornless or nearly so rose?

vettin

12 years ago

Any favorites? Any class, color etc.....

Thank you

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luxrosa

12 years ago

I add my vote for 'Mrs. Dudley Cross' as my favorite smooth stemmed rose.. Really rapid re-bloom.
Mrs. D. has a similar wide bloom to Marie van Houtte and where I live Mrs. Dudely Cross is more prettily colored most of the year, she shows a creamy center with blush pink to rose-red edges depending on hot or cool weather. We rarely ever see the yellow in M.van Houtte which usually only comes out in the cooler days of Autumn.
Mrs. D. is a smaller plant than Marie Van Houtte which a.r.e. says is like " Mrs. Dudley Cross on Steroids", but M.van H. has masses of big red thorns and can grow easily to be 8 feet in all directions, ready to snag and scratch the skin of an unwary gardener, so not suitable for a small garden, while Mrs. Dudley Cross can be espaliered against a house and kept at c. 5 feet tall by 3 and 1/2 feet from wall to pathway making a very pretty "wall of roses" affect.
'Mme. Berkeley' hasn't a great number of prickles and so I have her growing near a pathway too, she is my favorite pink blend Tea.
I wish I hadn't been impatient and bought two 'Blossomtime' for a front arbor because they were on rootstock and would cover the arbor rapidly compared to an own root Tea-Noisette. I hope to never settle again on, what would turn out to be for me, an inconvenient rose.

I've heard that Aimee Vibert' is thornless and if that is true I'm thinking of buying one to hide a big stack of meters on the back of my house, and plant the rosebush on the corner of a tall fence and allowed to grow over a swing-out lattice built like a doorway to cover an ugly display of 4 meters.
If I remember right her foliage is very beautiful, which is another great plus for me.
Luxrosa

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Comments (17)

roseseek
12 years ago
Hi Vettin, yup, mine are:

Annie Laurie McDowell
Lynnie
Pink Gate
My Stars

Lynnie isn't completely without prickles, but here she is very lightly armed most of the time. That was one of the reasons I chose Basye's Legacy to work with. The other three are completely without prickles and all four flower incessantly here. They are also nearly disease free in my garden. Every once in a while, under particularly bad conditions, I MIGHT find a leaf involved in some sort of issue, but usually not. Kim
michaelg
12 years ago
'Gruss an Aachen' and 'Pink Gruss.' PG is more nearly thornless, but I like the variable color of GaA better. These have wonderful compact shrub form and quick, heavy repeat for me. However, they do need spraying in my climate.

Other good roses with few thorns are 'Heritage,' 'John Davis,' and 'Zepherine Drouhin.' I don't think I've ever grown a completely thornless rose. I've been tempted by 'Renae,' but I'm not sure she would be cane-hardy here.
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I'm not sure about California, but the best nearly-thornless roses in my garden are: Reine des Violettes: Mine, from The Antique Rose Emporium, is 7 ft tall and has NEVER produced a single thorns on any of its canes. A remarkable, beautiful, highly fragrant rose. I've seen roses marked as RdV from some other sources that did have some thorns, so be careful who your supplier is. Jefferson Rose: I've never seen a single thorn on my plant (from Chamblees). Basye's Blueberry: Never seen a thorn on either of the two specimens I've grown of this unique & cheerful single-petaled rose. Pink Gruss an Aachen: A must have! This rose is very nearly completely thornless and so mannerly in the garden. Note: the original Gruss an Aachen is moderately thorny ... the nearly thornless one is the PINK sport. There is a distinct difference in thorn count between the two. This pink sport is almost never marketed as being "thornless", yet it is much smoother than many roses that are marketed as "thornless". All my Pink Gruss an Aachen's have come from Chamblees. Nur Mahal: Mine is totally thornless and smooth as a baby's rump. If you appreciate thornless roses, you will love this one. I like its arching plant habit, very natural looking in the garden. I couldn't bare to prune it and take a chance on altering its natural form. I adore this rose and stick my hand into it almost very time I walk by, because I can. The smooth leaves and canes slide harmlessly over my hands. Yes, I know, I'm easily entertained :-) Mrs Dudley Cross: Not completely thornless, but very lightly thorned. Basically harmless to handle. Heritage: None of David Austin's English roses are "thornless", and he should never advertise any of them as thornless, but this one is the closest to it that I have seen of his. A very beautiful and fragrant rose. Valentine: Nearly thornless. It would be very rare for this rose to scratch you. Always the first to bloom in my garden and usually the last to stop at first freeze in the winter. Gilbert Nabonnand: The canes are mostly without thorns and usually very smooth, but there are definitely lots of the small prickles underneath each and every leaf mid-rib. You might not be able to see any thorns, but those hidden, tiny prickles can grab you. Beautiful form on this plant's shape. Marie Pavie / Marie Daly: Hardly any thorns on the canes, but quite a few of the tiny prickles underneath the leaf mid-ribs. Some roses advertised as "nearly thornless" that were not even close to being thornless for me are: Paul Neyron Thomas Affleck Vick's Caprice All three are great roses, but are not "nearly thornless" in my garden. Have fun with your selection, Randy
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mariannese
12 years ago
Lykkefund, the helenae hybrid, is thornless. Unexpectedly, because other helenae ramblers are deadly monsters. The albas Chloris, Madame Plantier, and Mme Legras de St Germain are almost thornless and also the rugosa Louise Bugnet.
dublinbay z6 (KS)
12 years ago
The Austin rose Mortimer Sackler has few thorns.

Kate
karenforroses
12 years ago
Austin's 'Heritage' is not only one of my favorite roses, but is almost thornless,
kstrong
12 years ago
Irene Marie
lori_elf z6b MD
12 years ago
Kathleen Harrop, the lighter pink sport of Zepherine Droughin, is thornless as is ZD.

Heritage has smooth canes with prickles so I wouldn't call it thornless, but less thorny than most.
seil zone 6b MI
12 years ago
Reine des Violettes is gorgeous, smells heavenly and is a joy to work on. I usually save her pruning for last. When I'm tired and already bloody from scratches head to toe she's a relief to work with.

Loved Annie Laurie McDowell too, so PRETTY! She was a too tiny band going into winter and I lost her but she's coming back next spring!
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
12 years ago
Mrs. Dudley Cross, a beautiful tea rose with large flowers ranging from cream to pink is my absolutely favorite (nearly thornless) rose. It's lovely on the bush and as a cut flower, and blooms very frequently.

Ingrid
buffington22
12 years ago
I bought 2 MDC on Randy from Dallas' recommendation. They are finally growing and filling out BUT the flowers have never been very pretty. Here in north Louisiana or maybe just my particular garden, the blooms are always tinged with brown edges! I had that problem with Aloha, Belinda's Dream and a few other light colored teas. I'm ordering 2 Cramoisi Sup. to replace MDC. CS is becoming one of my favorites along with Maggie and Mrs. BR Cant. Mrs Cant is my most vigorous and dependable old rose bloomer. Carefree Beauty is the best of all! Didn't mean to hijack thread because they are not thornless. RDV is coming on strong but has been slow to fill out.
User
12 years ago
Marie Pavie. I'm surprised no one mentioned that one yet. It does have the tiny behind the leaf prickles, which aren't much, but the canes are nearly thornless.
hemlady
12 years ago
Thomas Affleck.
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
12 years ago
'Renae', but it's not an OGR.

'Crepuscule' is nearly without prickles, making it such an easy monster to prune. I get no scratches at all. 'Crepuscule' makes pruning fun--or as fun as it can be.
oldblush
12 years ago
Cl. Pinkie, Peggy Martin, Crepuscule, Alexander Hill Gray, Reine des Violettes, Pink Gruss an Aachen, Ducher, Softee (aka Jefferson Rose), Adam. Mrs. Dudley Cross but as buffington says the blooms were never pretty in my garden so it went by the way of the shovel.
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
12 years ago
For some reason my Cl. Pinkie, although it undoubtedly is the genuine article, does have quite a few thorns. I don't know why that is but it's certainly bothersome since it turns into such a large plant, and I'm forever getting snared by its cruel little thorns.

Ingrid
jacqueline9CA
12 years ago
Banksie lutea (Yellow Lady Bank's rose) is completely, absolutely thornless - 100% of the time. It is also one of my very most favorite roses. Grows up to 30-40 ft here, and there are old ones all over town, draped over buildings and large trees. Blooms here Feb thru April - solid with clusters of tiny light yellow roses - gorgeous.

This past Spring I got a re-blooming sport of the double White Lady Banks rose from the Historic Cemetery rose garden in Sacramento. It is only 3 ft high yet. I just checked it, and it is also completely thornless. If it really re-blooms a lot, it will be a fabulous rose for anyone who lives in a warm climate, assuming you have a tree or a building for it to climb on.The yellow and white Banksie roses are easy to train, as their long long canes, as well as being thornless, are very flexible.

Jaclie

Your favorite thornless or nearly so rose?

luxrosa

Comments (17)

roseseek

michaelg

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