I am a novice so take this in that light, but the picture, color, drooping head, flower shape and fragrance are quite reminiscent of my Madame Gregoire Staechelin. However mine is quite tall-- it does throw out long arms though.

The appearance of the flowers and their drooping habit bear a striking resemblance to my China rose, Burbank. The leaves, however, don't seem quite the same and so far my young rose is very compact, without the long canes you describe. Your rose is lovely and it would be exciting if someone here could identify it.

Ingrid

Ingrid - It's not Burbank - I have two bushes of Burbank, and Burbank's blooms are much smaller, and usually a lighter color, and as you said Burbank is much more compact. Thanks for trying, though.

Llanwenlys - What a beautiful rose is MGS! I had never seen it before - lucky you to have it! Not my rose - MGS is a much lighter color, and mine is definitely not a hybrid tea. However, thanks for the name - I may have to get a MGS- it is so lovely.

Jackie

Hi Jackie, how does it compare to Cl. American Beauty? Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Cl. American Beauty

Kim - it does look like Cl AB, but mine really does bloom all summer and into Fall. Not as much as in the Spring, of course, but scattered bloom - this year it had flowers on it in Oct, and it starts blooming in April. HMF and all other sources I found on the internet say that Cl American Beauty is a once bloomer.

I have not been able to find any pictures of the hips of Cl AB - that might help. Does anyone out there grow Climbing American Beauty? If it is Cl AB, I would think it would be fairly cold hardy, because of the winchuriana strain, so it could grow in other parts of the country.

Jackie

Back in the nineties, Annie Laurie brought me cuttings of a Cl. American Beauty from Beulah, Colorado friends of hers grew for many years. That one frequently bloomed a second flush in Newhall. It's the clone both Sequoia and Ashdown sold.

I don't think you should use the once flowering or recurrent flowering trait to rule out an identification on the rose. It's a wichurana hybrid and they are known for both mutating to repeat flowering (Dr. Nicholas to New Dawn; Blaze to Blaze Improved; etc.) as well as being climatically encouraged to "repeat". Silver Moon is known to be a once flowering hybrid, yet once it established itself and was a huge plant in my Newhall garden, it frequently scattered flowers throughout the summer. Kim

Well this won't help you at all Jackie, but I think one of my mislabeled roses may be Madame Gregoire Staechelin. So this post possibly helped me to identify mine. It look exactly like the one I have growing. When I posted pics of mine some of the guesses were America and CL American Beauty (our two mysery roses but look very similar). I actually just pulled some nice sized hips off of mine yesterday.
~Tammy

I'm growing Climbing American Beauty. That was my first guess when I saw the photos. I could see it blooming all summer in your climate. It has scattered blooms all summer here. Tomorrow I'll go look at the leaves if there are any left.

Thanks everyone - OK, now I have to add something to the peculiarities of our climate here in No Cal. Not only do roses grow 2 to 3 times larger (or more) than they do according to conventional wisdom, "once bloomers" may re-bloom! Well, what do you expect from living in Paradise? It does make trying to identify roses more complicated however.......

Pam - if you could look at the leaves and any hips on yours and let me know if they look like the pics I posted, that would be great.

This is so fun! When we moved here, there were 5 old bushes of this rose growing on the property. Without exception they were all in deep shade, the surrounding bushes & trees having grown up around them over the years (my garden was the subject of "benign neglect" for 30 years - which is why so many of the old roses survived!). They only bloomed once in the Spring, period. It was only when we cut down a pine tree, and I planted a rooted cutting in the sun, that I realized they were repeat blooming. Now I find that officially they are not repeat blooming - they are just weird. That's why I love roses!

Jackie

It would be helpful to know if your rose is fragrant, and, if so, how you would describe the fragrance and its intensity. Other helpful clues: Does the color fade? Do the petals drop, or does the plant's appearance benefit from dead-heading? What about prickles/thorns?

I can't say that I have even a hunch re the identity of your rose, but several elements of your photographs (esp the foliage and the few small, colorful hips), as well as your decription of growth habit (rather short, but very lax canes) reminded me immediately of the Bourbon, 'Marquis (aka Marquise) de Balbiano'.

The photos of MdB at HMF are not, IMO, typical (at least not for my growing conditions). A better image, I think, is found in the archives of Ashdown/Paul Zimmerman Roses.

Paul Z makes reference to MdB's value as a pillar rose in warm climates. The late Mike Lowe once commented that MdV, if it were more hardy, would be a contender for the very finest of ALL pillar roses.

It is, indeed, a wonderful rose that deserves much more attention. A note to anyone whose garden welcomes Bourbons: Consider welcoming MdB.

Here is a link that might be useful: MdB @ Paul Zimmerman Roses

EXCEPT that Cl. American Beauty was grown in the area, and Marquis (aka Marquise) de Balbiano' appears NOT to have been grown in the area, which lends a certain amount of weight to Cl. American Beauty as an identification. :-)

Cheers,
Jeri

Thanks, Jaxondel. I looked at the picture of Marquis de Balbiano, and it is indeed gorgeous, but it is not my rose - wrong shape, wrong color, too many petals.

My rose has long canes, not short ones (except because I cut them - it is always throwing canes out into the driveway). It is very fragrant. Cl American Beauty grows at the Cemetery, and Anita has offered to look at the hips, and between her and Pam I hope to find out if they look like those on mine.

Jackie

Here are photos from this morning. It has long canes too.
{{gwi:330651}}
{{gwi:330652}}
{{gwi:330653}}

Thanks so much Pam! I am not an expert, but everything I see looks exactly like my rose - the hips, the prickles, the very round leaves & their color - even the blackspot! So, I will call mine Cl American Beauty, and feed it, and maybe I will tie it horizontally along the fence, since there is nothing there for it to climb on. The baby one I rooted is planted next to the wall of our house, so if I can get it to make long canes, then I can tie it up to the house - the porch railing is at the top of that wall, so who knows?

Thanks again -
Jackie

I'm glad you have her, Jackie. She's a gorgeous old climber. Yours being "historic" to the garden makes her even better. Congratulations! Kim

I'm thrilled that I was helpful. It's such a wonderful rose too. Mine is spread out on a six foot fence.

No wonder she looked so familiar to me.
There was a lot of this rose in old Moss Landing, but I fear all of it may now be gone.

Jeri

Jackie, you asked me on another forum, but I'm going to answer here. The cemetery's Cl American Beauty has no hips at all, just mummified flowers. The foliage looks the same, though, including a bit of blackspot. The canes are very long. I'm glad that Pam looked at hers, since it really does seem to be a match.
Anita