Anna,

I am always hesitant to recommend a rose without knowing a little more about your desires, the location and how big of a rose you need for the location.

You want fragrance, do you mind if it is once blooming with a spectacular flush in the spring, followed by a possible small bloom in the fall or do you want ever-blooming? Any particular color? A lot of times some roses that are characterized as shrub roses can actually be trained as small climbers, so that's why I'm asking about location and size that you have pictured. Blackspot resistance is the easy part after we get all the rest figured out.

Maybe Sammy will weigh in with her expertise also, but I know she would ask the same questions.

Marcy

You know, Marcy, I'm truly not picky. I have room for just about anything...and multiple anythings. I would love to have something everblooming that could be trained on trellis under and on the sides of my south-facing wall. There it would have sun virtually all day. That's one specific I can say for certain. Certainly I wouldn't mind a period bloomer.

My husband dearly loves roses with fragrance. Because he tolerates my gardening enterprises with such good grace, I'd like to make a rose garden for him. I did it once with traditional Mr. Lincolns and the like, but they only live a year or two and then croak. In this garden I could use shrubs with a center climber or something of the sort.

The previous owner of my home had roses all over the place, but they too fell prey to black spot for her. Within a year or two, I just yanked them out--they were prolific spring bloomers, then lost all their leaves and looked ugly.

Let me give you a few off the top of my head: I tend to like roses that are easily trained; that is, one with flexible that 'bend to my will'.

My absolute number one favorite climber is Francois Juranville. It is classified as a rambler, hybrid wichurana, bred in 1906. Height is said to be 15-25 feet, 10 foot width. I have this rose on an arbor that is 8 feet tall, 10 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. It covered the arbor in two years and that was from a band I direct planted. It's absolutely covered with soft pink blooms right now, has wonderful dark green, glossy green foliage and is less thorny than most roses, but does have thorns. It is said to have an apple fragrance but it is fragrance you have to search out, it doesn't drift. I have never seen a bit of blackspot on it.

Another climber I have that is listed as a shrub rose is David Austin's James Galway. It is trained on a pillar and is about 8 feet tall. It is fragrant but you have to search it out. I have never seen this rose have blackspot and mine is ten years old. It is a bear though with its thorns. It is one of those roses that I have to get up my gumption to go out and prune or work with the new growth to get it back in bounds. It is a medium pink bloom.

Third is Awakening. Awakening is a sport of New Dawn, hybrid wichurana, discovered in the 30s and introduced into production in the 1990s. It has a hybrid tea rose-like pale pink bloom and blooms nonstop. It is classified as strong in fragrance. This rose is planted on a new arbor we built just this spring, but the plant is in its second year since I kept in a pot until we got the structure built. It had very minimal blackspot last year in the pot, and by that I mean a dozen or so leaves, but none this year so far. I did have two other starts of this rose which I gave to a neighbor and we put her roses where they would cover a brick wall on which we built a wire system. They are covering about half of her brick wall so far in their second year. It is said to be 8-14 feet tall and 8 feet wide. I am planning on it covering an arbor that is 8 x 8 x 8.

Those are my personal experience climbers that don't have blackspot problems for me and are fragrant.

I have a Souvenir de la Malmaison which is a fragrance drifter, tolerates shade, has a wonderful palest pink bloom and is growing about 20 feet into a tree, but it loses its leaves to b.s. most years.

You might also consider a Lady Banks White. Mine is incredibly fragrant, it smells like hyacinths to me. It is thornless, has 2-inch white blossoms that cover the plant and is never bothered with blackspot. It is a species or wild rose of the early 1800s. It will cover as big an area as you will let it. It grows in the same tree as my SDLM rose. Lady Banks is almost a tie for favorite with Francois Juranville simply because it is so low maintenance. But FJ wins out because it is a "ROSE"!!

Marcy

Mme. Alfred Carriere. I keep bringing this rose up when people ask this question yet I seem to be ignored. Maybe I should shout louder to be heard.

Constant bloomer. Rich, deep rose scent. Climbs to 30' or more. Takes the heat and sun. Few thorns. Easily managed branches. Resists black spot and powdery mildew.

I am so happy to see that so many of us are looking for roses that do not require spray.

I also purcase roses at Antique Rose Emporium and at Chamblees, and neither of them are shipping now. Since your zone is 7B, would you be very close to Texas? Chamblees is in Tyler, and should be a nice place to visit.

I think Mme Alfre Carriere has a wonderful reputation, but it is quite large. I have made more mistakes with climbers than with any other roses. Right now my choices have been Reve 'd Or and Crepuscule. Crepuscule was hit hard by the winter, but Reve seems to be ok, and is a good rebloomer. Jaune Desprez was good for more than 10 years, but this last winter killed it.

It took me some time to realize that I needed to choose a specific size. Clair Matin is very pretty, but really does not grow too tall. We removed 2 Blossomtimes, and are growing them as regular roses since they don't climb too high.I am doing the same thing with Aloha.

New Dawn and Zephrin Drouhin were once bloomers for me -- or close to it. Pinata and Prairie Princess, and The Pilgrim are not tall growers.Dortmund took forever to get established.

I am at such a disadvantage by working until late May. The climbers need much more attention than I can give them, and this year, I was really overwhelmed by the winter damage to all of my roses.

One of my worst ever mistakes was to plant roses in the fall.

Woops, one of my best climbers seems to be Alister Stella Gray.

I hope this helps.

Sammy

Thank you so much for the help! (And I'm listening about the Mme. Alfre Carriere) This certainly gives me plenty to work with. I've got plenty of space for both large and small roses, so the only thing limiting me will be the money!

Y'all talk about the problems with your roses surviving winter. We're just about on the Red River here, so truly awful winters don't seem to happen too frequently, but what about pruning and wrapping? Of course, I'm from Missouri and we planted most of our crowns below grade and then wrapped them in newspaper and/or burlap. My mother's climbers got a gentle pruning, but they were on the south side of the house, so we skipped wrapping. I have kept my crowns above ground, and pruned in the fall, but haven't wrapped. I only lost a few plants last year due to excessive rainfall.

Is fall planting not an option for my area? I've never done it, but considered it in this case.

I prune whenever I want to prune. Usually on pretty days after Christmas is when I start. Once they are dormant, it doesn't matter when you do it. I used to have 270 large rose bushes, and with that number, you do what you think is best.

Actually I don't prune my older roses like people do hybrid teas, but I do cut out bad wood, and keep them presentable.

Last winter we had about 3 weeks solid of a very hard freeze. Even besides the freeze, it was a tough winter. We seldom ever get the cold we had, and many of my roses are teas and noisettes. I didn't lose that many except for the ones that I unwisely planted in the fall, but there was extensive damage.

What hurts us the most is after the plants leaf out, and really begin to grow, we will tend to have a late, harsh freeze -- maybe a few days of single digit temps. Once the pulp has gone through the canes, and they are growing, the late freeze can cause a great deal of damage.

On the State border, you may not have the harsh winter, but I think Dallas did this year. I do think you are vulnerable to the sudden freeze after the plants have begun growing.

Vintage nursery has put out a news letter of the old fashioned beliefs that people are still guided by. I will copy them here sometime if people are interested.

One thing I do is to snap the spent blooms.I don't use clippers, just gloves, and snap them off. My rebloom is faster, and the rose grows as well if not better that way. The 5 leaf rule is not considered a rule any more.

Sammy

Well, Sammy, you learn something everyday by just reading this forum. Do your spent blooms really snap easily? And faster rebloom? Woo-hoo!!!! No more 5 leaf rule....who knew? Thanks for that.

And Madame Alfred Carriere? I am so jealous because I can't grow her here and I would so love to. So, I just ignore anybody who can! Insert big grinning smiley here.

And for the record, all the roses I listed will be exceptionally hardy in your area. I had to minimally tip prune only this spring.

When I woke up this morning, I remember thinking, "oh, that's another good rose. I'll mention it." But, of course, now I can't remember what it was, so you're out of luck. Until I remember again, of course.

Happy hunting for the perfect rose.

Marcy

If you ever snap a Knock Out, be careful. It is the only rose I have with thorns in the hips. I keep small and large buckets all through the garden. When I check to see if I can take a picture, I often snap a few. I keep 5 gallon black paint buckets all over the yard, and automatically snap as I wander.

Sammy

I guess I'd better start saving my pennies for next spring's roses.

I need to feed the roses today...along with the azaleas and just about everything else in the garden.