Greetings, and welcome. I, too, am from VA...just east of Richmond. My first suggestion is to post this on the Antique Rose Forum. I picked up a couple clues from your post (David Austins, no spray, pink, lots of petals...and I'm reading between the lines that fragrance might be important).

I do not have much success with Comte du Chambord..but mine is from Home Depot on Dr. Huey....I will replace this with a good clone.

How tall can your hedge grow? How wide/deep?

Some roses that might fit your situation:

Champney's Pink Cluster
Maquessa Bocella
Mme. Antoine Mari
Nahema
Salet
Sydonie
La Sylphide
Mary Rose
Pretty Jessica
Caldwell Pink

I would definitely consider adding some Barbier Wichuran ramblers along the fence...a huge display in the spring and gorgeous foliage for most of the year: Paul Transon, Alberic Barbier, Leontine Gervaise, etc.

I'm sure others will offer even better suggestions!

Robert

I am sure rjlinva has some excellent suggestions because he lives near you. Another thing you might try is looking at what grows well in your neighborhood and talking to locals. I have found that certain roses thrive in certain areas because of soil, climate, and water conditions. This can save you a lot of money and time in trial and error, plus you make new friends with common interests.

Welcome. I'm in Roanoke. To everything Robert said, I would add, look at Rugosas. They don't even tolerate being sprayed, deer leave them alone, in my experience (but not everyone's) Japanese beetle don't bother them much, they don't get blackspot, most are fragrant, many of them have glorious hips, they stay greener longer in the fall and then turn golden, and many of them sucker, so they build a very solid hedge. And they come in pink.

Need to know what zone you're in. MINUS 25 puts you on a par with places like Chicago in the winter. Few shrubs/climbers will survive temps like that without significant dieback, and pruning a hedge is a big job. But even if you're in 7A, rugosas are still a great choice. Roserie de l'Hay is a nice bushy one with los of petals, and starts its bloom earlier than most. You could add Therese Bugnet, r. rugosa rubra, and r. rugosa alba (the latter two have few petals but set colorful orange hips & have nice autumn color). If your fence is single-strand I'd wonder how much weight it could support-- wichuriana climbers get huge. Griffith Buck's Quietness would be beautiful in a hedge-- ours is more tall then wide and young get but already at least 6X5 and very very bushy.

Bayse's Blueberry has done very well for me, and is thornless to boot. Another that grows very well without spray and a lot of blooms is Carefree Wonder. Both probably will get to be 6 x 6' easy in VA.

Greetings from another Virginia rose grower.

The fence you describe sounds the perfect place to train the French ramblers Robert mentioned. These will create the sense of enclosure you want, and provide a glossy green backdrop for your other roses.

For the foreground roses, if small is what you're after, I suggest you look at some of the polyanthas. There are ones that will be almost completely leafless if grown no-spray (Verdun, for example), but others like Cecile Brunner, Marie Pavie, etc, grow and bloom really well with minimal spraying. Sorry I can't give you exact no-spray advice -- I spray fungicide (no insecticides at all) about every 2 - 3 weeks during the growing season. Most of my polyanthas keep their leaves very well with this schedule.

FWIW, I don't worry about beetles, or aphids, or most other rose-eating critters. A healthy rose garden with a good supply of beneficial predators will keep aphids in balance, and the beetles are only here in the summer while the roses are hibernating in our summer heat.

Be sure to check out the thread on the Antique Rose forum about cyber friends becoming real friends. There are a few of us here in Va. who get together from time to time. You are welcome to join us.

Connie

You're an adult now, so you're mature enough to confront the one problem that could destroy your dream.
A disease called Rose Rosette is the reason that a monocultural planting (all roses) may be harder to maintain.
Interplanting roses with other plants and designing your room to encourage air flow make roses more possible.

Keep dreaming and planning. But take an hour or two to read about rose rosette

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose Rosette E-book

I am in Central Virginia as well. The Austin Sophie's Rose would make a great hedge. At my last house it pumped out blooms nonstop and disease resistance was very good. She was one of the few roses I brought with me when we moved.

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Ann gives good advice...I had RRD show up in my garden before we moved...it is here in Central Virgina. Between that and the beetles it sometimes makes growing roses here a challenge but I am dreaming too. Left over 100 roses behind in my beloved garden when we moved and now that the inside of our new house is in order, I am ready to start all over again. Once you come under the spell of roses, there is no going back!

Thanks for all the great suggestions, everyone! I will keep doing my research!

Robert, you nailed it -- I think I'm partial to the antique roses, or at least those that mimic the lovely prolific blooms and fragrance. I'm lucky in that my hedge can grow pretty much as tall and wide as it needs to be... it will cut into my current garden space the deeper it goes (although nothing is planted in front at the moment), so started considering ramblers/climbers to go for more of a "spill" than a formal hedge; the wire fence could definitely act as a support, and it's in full sun. I'm hoping for a cottage look...

I'm starting my teas garden elsewhere, as I do love them, too, but I'm yearning for the big, wild, mass o' roses look...

Connie, I was debating that thought! Cecile Brunner was entrancing me the other night. I'm new to this particular forum set-up, so I'll have to read all the Antique Rose pages; a meetup sounds lovely. (I'm dying to investigate rose gardens around here!)

Ann, thank you for the info... I definitely want to do my research before doing any major planting! There's some learning from experience in everything, I'm sure, but after home renovations, I'd like to avoid as much heartbreak and wasted effort as possible. ;) There's something to be said for feasible dreams... I have lilac and azaleas growing nearby; I could definitely inter-plant with more lilac or other shrubs; I definitely seem to like shrubs and bushes in general. I will read that ebook first thing tomorrow.

Kad, your Sophie is gorgeous! I was worried because the Austin rep made it sound like they might all die miserably in the humidity... scared me, but I'm determined to find a few Austin roses to plant. Congratulations on having the house in order! I almost want to throw myself a party on finally fully unpacking the last boxes here. ;) I've been waiting for decades to be able to properly let myself fall under the spell; there's no escaping it!

Oh and yes... no freezing to -25F here in Virginia. That's what I get for trying to post after staring, glossy-eyed, at rose websites until the wee hours. ;)

mmymoon...without trying to get too personal...where are you uin VA? Between Connie and me, we've got a rather serious collection of the wichurana ramblers. Another group of roses to consider is the hybrid musk group. Robert

Robert, I'm in Culpeper -- I can never decide if it counts as "northern" or "central" VA. ;)

Pretty woodsy around here... there's a wild rose that's all over the fields nearby. (A friend thought I was crazy when I showed her some species roses... why would I want to plant "weeds"?!)

That wild rose might be Rosa multiflora...be careful around that because of rose rosette disease. Avoid introducing it onto your property.

There is another rose person on the rose forums not far from you. Perhaps she'll chime in.

I'm about 1.5 hours from you. If you are ever interested in coming by, let me know.

Robert

Take a look at my birthday thread over on Antique Rose Forum.
I was born and reared in Culpeper and all my family (but for my husband and me) are buried out on Sperryville Pike.

From my childhood on Mountain Run, I don't remember many wild roses. But that was when the fields and fencelines were well maintained because they were used for agriculture, if they weren't in town. (Actually, there were some cattle in town as well.) The number of years have elapsed for multiflora to have spread in and a rose person I know in Madison County has told me about huge fields of multiflora that she and her husband took out, just as RRD was moving into the area.
Ann

Robert,

After reading up on RDD I'm going to be watching those wild roses like a hawk! Thank you for your generous offer; I may just take you up on it. I can't wait until spring.

Ann,

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me! (And happy birthday!) I'm going to have to borrow the book you have from the library; there are so many plants I know by heart, but don't know the names of.

The pictures of R. multiflora from your Ebook definitely look like the wild roses here. I'm in Reva... in a little neighborhood carved out between an ancient family farm estate (the 80+ year old ladies recently died, no real tending for decades) and a preserve.

(I'm sure you passed that estate, the Bruce farm -- old Colonial inn out in front, "James City" historically. It's in litigation now, not sure what it will end up turning into. I've seen lots of the wild roses creeping up all over the place, second only to the ivy and grapevines.)

Worse, my front yard is about ten yards away from the edge of the woods... I'll definitely be trying to take all of your recommendations to heart. Although they're not as showy, I do love the look of a cottage garden; I think this year I may just try out a few different types of climbers, interplanted with other plants, to see what thrives. (I was thinking a Portland, a polyantha, and one of the pretty-pictures Austins.) Save the fantasy hedge for when I'm a bit more seasoned... and maybe a location further to the center of the property.

My existent teas seem to be fine, so far, but my location is very worrisome.

There are actually still some cattle on the outskirts of Culpeper town -- grazing right up to the subdivisions. It's an odd sight. (No more chickens, though, since the little old lady in the middle of town, who was allowed to keep them, died.)

I'll keep researching...

If you want portland, don't choose Comte de Chambord for VA. It has too much BS problems here. Almost any other portland is more resistant, with Jacques Cartier being the most healthy.
Olga

mmymoon, a belated welcome to you. I have not had much time for the forum as of late and I had not seen this post. I normally hang out in the "Antique Rose" Forum.

I live in Culpeper County (where I can still have chickens). I do not have the vast collection of roses which Connie and Robert have, but I am creating a hedge of Hybrid Musks and Clematis and you are welcome to come see how they look in my garden. I also have a few polyanthas which could also be nice to grow in a hedge. You can see my list of roses in HMF at the link below.

You can email me privately paddlehikeva@aol.com

Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Kathy's list of roses in HMF