Lavender Lass,
Because of Pickering mis-identified roses, I have an alba maxima that I thought was Maiden's Blush. I love the scent, the bloom, and the sturdiness of this rose. I'm posting a picture so you can see though that the blooms turn brown and hang on; you might hate this. I wish I had one that was ten years old and fully mature, but it is only two. It was covered with blooms this last spring, though.

I have also semi plena bought as an own root and has not yet bloomed. Koenigen von Danemark is the same age as the Alba maxima; it is slower to develop, but the blooms are very beautiful.

I like this class a lot, but the blooms can get spoiled from wet summer weather. You probably won't be plagued by this, though. Mine are not in the shade, but two coming from Pickering, Maiden's Blush (I'm trying again) and Felicite Parmentier are going into shady areas, and I may move the Alba maxima into a shadier area as it's going to be a lot bigger than what I'd allotted room for the Maiden's Blush. I don't know if that helps, but I hope others with bigger roses than mine will chime in.

{{gwi:324011}}

I have wanted Great Maiden's Blush for ages but I simply don't have the space to do her justice! Tidbit of trivia, in all my rose searching to date she is the rose with the most alternate names I've ever found at 33!

We have several albas in the Sacramento cemetery. Maxima, semi-plena, Great Maiden's Blush, Blanche de Belgique and Pompom Blanc Parfait. Also have a couple of very scraggly Celestial - don't know why they grow so poorly for us. We took out our Felicite Parmentier because it had some sort of rose spring dwarf problem - it never grew well for us, but the flowers were exquisite.

Graham Stuart Thomas advocates albas for shade, but ours are in full sun. They are big and arching, and disease-resistant in our climate. The foliage is absolutely gorgeous. Alba semi-plena is my favorite, by far - love the purity of its flowers and the big hips that it sets. Own-root albas do sucker, which can be an issue (or an advantage, if you want to make new plants. Our Blanche de Belgique is grafted, and grows as a huge fountain-shaped plant.

I don't seem to have any good shots of alba plants - just spent a few minutes looking for some. I think it's because they are shrubs first and foremost, and the contrast between the white flowers and the foliage is hard to capture.
Anita

Sorry I don't have any photos right now. All my Albas are in the shade and bloom well.

Thank you all for the responses and Harborrose that is a beautiful picture! The brown doesn't bother me at all...I am the Queen, when it comes to not deadheading anything (LOL) I love the hips on my little Snow Pavement roses and they're flowers tend to turn brown, too.

I'm thinking of putting the albas on one end of a fenced vegetable garden area, which will be shaded by some huge lilacs. Too much shade for veggies, but perfect for a shady spot to sit in the summer and I think the albas would do well there.

I'm sure at least one very large alba and two medium to large ones would fit in the space. The lilacs are about 16' to 20' tall...so they should provide plenty of shade and some winter protection, from the wind. Thanks, again :)

I grow Konigen von Danemark, Maiden's Blush, and Felicite Parmentier and have grown them for many years so they are fully mature. These are all medium sized bushes for me (5' range). I suppose that is due to the way I prune and train them, but they are not large in my garden. Maiden's Blush and KvD would probably would get bigger without pruning, but FP seems to grow tall but less arching than the other two so is best kept medium height so you can smell and enjoy the blooms.

I currently have Konigen von Danemark, Felicite Parmentier, Alba Maxima, Celeste and my favorite Alba Semiplena. I gave away Maiden's Blush,Mme Plantier, Amelia and Blanche de Belgique. Celeste, Alba Maxima and Alba Semiplena are the big ones in my garden. At least 10-12 feet tall with nice arching growth habit. They arch high leaving a space to to plant other things around them.I believe they really qualify for being called "tree roses". I don't have pictures, but they are among my very favorite roses. Fragrance of FP is the best to my nose, but other albas smell great too and are so beautiful.
Olga

I'm in Olga's camp - couldn't do without alba semi-plena....now pushing 17ft...fragrant, hardy, disease resistant...totally reliable in my climate.
{{gwi:324012}}

{{gwi:324013}}

Rose Cavalier, that is the most gorgeous alba I have ever seen.

And what is the pink flower in the front? I'm considering roses for someone who lives in zone 4, so anything that does well in your area ought to work.

Rosefolly

I can't resist guessing that the pink rose is Therese Bugnet. Am I right???

Rosecavalier, those photos are stunning. Graham Stuart Thomas says that the albas can grow as climbers given support-this is living proof!

It's really nice to see a few people posting on this thread who rarely do so. I worry about there being so few people on this forum, and whether I came too late to the old rose party. It's good to know that some people are still at the party, just staying quiet until they have something to say! So often we are talking about roses that do well in milder climates - cold weather rose growers, arise! I love hearing about the roses that you can grow, and seeing photos of them!
Anita

I have White Rose of York (Rosa alba maxima) and Mme Plantier, both bought from Pickering about 1980. The R. a. maxima has been somewhat of a disappointment as I have never detected fragrance. But it has been absolutely carefree except for pruning out dead canes and it even survived the encroachment of a large sycamore (removed about four years ago) that was putting even peonies in decline. However this rose has begun to decline the last three years and this year is almost gone. I have decided just to observe it to learn what happens. If it dies, I will replace it with a scented rose.

The Mme Plantier has become a favorite, not only of mine but of several of my children. The blooms, although small, are highly scented and the shrub is graceful and carefree with no disease. The only "issue" is that Japanese beetles lace the young leaves from late June through about July. The extent of damage and length of beetle season is correlated to the intensity of the infestation.

Both roses thrive in bright shade with some sun and both deal with tree roots. The Mme Plantier has only a few hours sun and survives next to a spot where a dogwood tree died because it could not compete with tree roots. The Maxima has late morning sun and afternoon shade and successfully competed with the sycamore roots.

Cath

The photos are from the east side of my house so ASP thrives in those light conditions - actually I think it would do well in most light conditions....perhaps take longer to get established in shade.

Rosefolly: Thank you for the compliment - I think every serious rose grower has at least one rose that is perfectly suited to it's surroundings...and in this case, I don't baby ASP like many of the other roses I grow. It shows no sign of ageing...12 yrs old...other than getting more beautiful each year!

As for the pink rose, Anita is 1/2 right as Therese Bugnet is the pollen parent of Metis...the pink rose in the foreground. This is another rose that should be grown more...red, smooth, thornless canes near the top...very fragrant and seems to get more so as it ages...glossy foliage...a profuse bloomer. It has an ethereal beauty that I look for in roses....that is, a rare quality of beauty that is hard to describe but never leaves your memory, and is seldom captured in photos. To top it off, it's got the best fall colors (r. nitida Willd) of any of my roses.

{{gwi:324014}}

Anita: I'm always looking for OGRs that I can try...do you have a recommendation on a rose that has the "ethereal" qualities that may work up (down) to Zone 6 ...preferably with supple canes like ASP? Albas, hybrid perpetuals and bourbons have worked so far.

Here is a link that might be useful: Metis

Rosecavalier- Those pictures are just wonderful! I definitely want to get alba semi-plena and metis, too. What a beautiful combination :)

Cath, Cemetaryrose, Olga, Lori elf- Thank your for the recommendations. Now, I need to go through the catalogs and see how many will fit in my space!

Rosecavalier- I don't know if this is the ethereal quality you are looking for, but Celsiana is a beautiful rose with a lovely damask fragrance. This is not my picture, it belongs to another GW member...but it's why I chose this rose. {{gwi:324015}}From Lavender's Garden

Lavender Lass: Celsiana is the recommendation I was exactly looking for...you understood what I was trying to describe as "ethereal". I chuckle at my "first impressions" of a rose ...perhaps for a duration of 5 yrs in my climate because it takes so long to get roses really established....and then one day I (or someone else) sees the rose, not as just ordinary, but as exquisite beauty...and from that day it just gets better and better. For me, that's the real fun of rose growing.

Perhaps I should start a thread on "ethereal roses". Here's another rose that strikes me differently...it makes me smile... and would grow well for you...can get quite large...lots of showy, ebony black hips...the fragrant Madeline's Choice

{{gwi:324016}}

{{gwi:324017}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Madeline's Choice

fabulous pics, Rosecavalier, especially the gorgeous spinossissima. Lovely, lovely.

I'm so glad you like the Celsiana...it's such a lovely rose.

This may be too frilly for what you're looking for...but I love this little rose from RVR. Echo/Baby Tausendschon and this is from my garden :) {{gwi:324018}}From Lavender's Garden

Alba Semi-Plena is my favorite Alba by far, I love its' light yet heavenly fragrance and I love its golden boss of stamens, something that Maxima doesn't show, and the foliage of A.S.P was nearly bulletproof in my garden near San Francisco, Ca
I also grew 'Celsiana' and it is my favorite once blooming pink O.G.R.. The large petals seem a bit shimmery and they remind me of watered silk. Attractive grey leaflets too.

rosecavelier
thank you for posting the photo of
Madelines Choice' wow!!! I love how its blooms are held like butterflys on the cane and The green foliage is lovely!!!, and red foliage in the autumn!!!

Luxrosa

Beautiful photos, ya'll!

Rosecavalier, my semi-plena is out in the middle of the yard, gets winter kill every year and has to be cut down to 4 feet every year. I have never seen a picture of alba semi-plena as tall as yours anywhere. Where did you get yours and do you suppose it's been crossed with something-or do you think it's the eastern exposure? I'm going to try planting one on the east side of the house-see what I get.
Being in the approximate same climate as you, I was blown away.

Kaylah - I'm sure you'll be sucessful if you plant ASP against the house. In our climate, if you desire a rose to mature in all its splendor, then winter protection is a must...even for most of the so-called hardy roses. The effects of winter/spring can be ruthless, as you well know...Not only is the above ground foliage stunted but I'm sure the same is happening below ground to the roots. You can end up with roses "recovering" the next year instead of "thriving"...you have to break that cycle...for 10 consecutive years. Heat escaping from basement walls can really be to your benefit.

I've posted photos of the wintering material I use...foil insulation...posted previously on other sites...but I'll post one again.

{{gwi:324019}}

I purchased my alba from a small Canadian nursery that has gone out of business...Russian roses for the North. It's always possible that this rose may possess a different genotype from typical nursery stock. The physical features don't lead me to think it is a hybrid...at most an open(self) pollinated seedling. Alba semi-plena has a great variation in seedling vigor when OP seeds are grown out...strangely with many minatures. I used to give them (the minatures) away, but I've ended up giving the same people a sucker from the mother plant...felt guilty when they mentioned that their alba was only 1ft. high after 3 years!

Alba semi-plena from the house second floor:

{{gwi:324020}}

Alba semi-plena is perfect for what you have in mind, i.e.the canes are supple enough to gently bend over and cover. This rose loves a long dormancy.

ASP is listed as getting ten feet tall at helpmefind. I checked out rosa laxa there- 7 feet tall. I was thinking about rosa setigera, native to Michigan for something to get you some extra height. American Pillar is an offspring.
I have a rose I call Hallie's rose, which was given to me by Hallie, which gets about 12 feet out in the open here. It was growing on her husband's ranch in eastern Montana.
I think she is a passalong plant which came out of Canada and have spent some time attempting to figure out why she is so tough. She is a pink cabbage rose.
That is one unusual ASP you have and wish there was some way to get some cuttings, though Canada seems so darn strict.