Noisettes. They were developed in SC, the only OGR bred in the USA. Most are nearly continuous bloomers, fragrant. Read up on them.

My MIL lives just a few minutes from the beach in NC. She only has a few roses, but the one that always looks good is her Yellow Lady Banks Rose. It can get to be huge but MIL just hacks off what she doesn't want. It's pretty thornless. It blooms only in the sping but it's glorious when it's in bloom and nice and healthy the rest of the year with absolutely no care at all. She even has it in a partially shady area.

I was talking with Pat at Roses Unlimited the last time I was there. She told me about a white version that they have that reblooms. I was tempted but already have the yellow and really don't have room for another climber. Hmm. Maybe I could squeeze that into my spring order from RU...

I live on an island near Wilmington, NC, love OGRs and have tried lots. I don't spray & generally don't fuss over them, although I do plant them well and water & fertilize appropriately. Bulletproof roses for me are Georgetown Tea, Belinda's Dream, Maggie, Miss Atwood, Super Dorothy, Archduke Charles & -- yes! -- Lavender Lassie. Also, David Austin's Cottage Rose is the only Austin I've ever had success with and I've tried many of them. I have to order all of my roses, most I ordered from Chamblee's.

Our sandy soil is a big problem, rose-wise -- it is very alkaline & needs heavy amendments. Plus, water and nutrients drain out of sandy soil very quickly, so I heavily mulch my roses with pine straw all year round. Tell your niece to get off to the best possible start with roses by planting each rose in a big hole filled with a 40 pound bag of Black Kow manure from Lowe's or Home Depot. (Emphasize it must be "Black Kow" brand manure -- cheaper generic bagged "manure" is not remotely manure, it's just more sand.) That great advice was from the Charleston Rose Society web site many years ago.

Allie

Hi, Allie. I recommend that sandy soil gardeners add clay in the form of plain cat litter. a 1-1/2" layer per 10" of sand, in addition to manure. I would prepare a wide planting area uniformly if that is feasible.

Michael,

Thanks so much for that tip which I haven't heard about before. I'll try it. Do you recommend putting the kitty litter in the bottom of the hole or mixing it up?

I agree that amending a wide planting area is optimal, but for new gardeners, that is usually just too overwhelming. The Black Kow method works well enough to get new rose gardeners hooked. As they want to plant more and more roses, they soon realize that hauling in a load of rotted manure for a big bed (or two) will save a lot of work AND money in the long run.

Allie, mix it in. Sharp layers in the soil are not good. Some of my beds have a silt-sand mixture, and the addition of clay has improved retention of moisture and nutrients. The very experienced Henry Kuska adds it to his sand-dune soil near Lake Erie.

Clay content should be kept below 25%, at which point you get heavy soil. I aim for 15%.

What kind of litter do you recommend ? I have cats and there are so many litters, but none of them have 'contents' on the bag... some of the cheaper stuff appears to have clay because it is so dusty, but has other ingredients also so I would hesitate to put it in the garden.... I did dump some out there once and shoved it around in the soil, and it made a gob of sticky stuff.... so how do we tell which is going to work? thanks, sally

Just plain clay litter. The only ingredient should be calcined clay. Avoid any with claims about odor control through pH, etc. The generic brand at your grocery should be fine.

If dry litter is mixed into the soil at 10%-20% by volume, it will not create a sticky mess. A layer of unmixed clay litter will turn into a sticky mess after long wetting. You have to dig it in before planting the rose.