Jess, I have some recommendations for you on thornless roses. You must have 'Nur Mahal' It is a completely thornless Hybrid Musk rose. There are not even any tiny prickles underneath its leaf mid-ribs. Smooth baby, smooth. It's an insanely healthy rose in my area. The Antique Rose Emporium carries this boldly colored beauty. Very fragrant. You must have 'Pink Gruss an Aachen' This is a very old rose that has been enjoyed for many, many decades. It is the PINK sport of Gruss an Aachen, and this pink sport is extremely close to being completely thornless. And, like Nur Mahal, it has absolutely no prickles under its leaves. Pink Gruss is much harder to find than the original Gruss. I recommend ordering it from Chambless, from where all 5 of mine came. Nice light fragrance to my nose. You must have 'Heritage' (David Austin's English Rose) This rose does have a few thorns, and they are sturdy ones, but from what I've seen, it is by far the closest of the Austin roses to being thornless. Mine had only about 6 thorns near the base of the plant, and no thorns on the top 2/3's of the bush. I say "had" because I simply snapped them off and they have never grown back. The blooms on this rose look like an old centifolia ... just perfect. In my garden, this rose blooms like crazy from spring through first hard freeze. A very unique and enjoyable fragrance that is always present. Additional favorite thornless roses for me are: 'Basye's Blueberry' - 100% thornless (available from The Antique Rose Emporium) 'Valentine' - Almost thornless and an excellent landscape plant 'Reine des Violettes' - 100% thornless, IF you buy it from the right supplier. Mine came from The Antique Rose Emporium and it's smooth & beautiful. I highly recommend getting this rose from that source, from Vintage Gardens, or Countryside Roses. Some sources carry virused specimens of this plant, but those three are reported to have clean ones. Some other sources sell a thorny rose under this same name. I would have listed this one up top with the "must haves", but you stressed that you wanted "repeat blooming" and while this one DOES repeat bloom, it does not do so as much as the three "must haves" that I listed. This rose is very close to being my very favorite rose of all, and each year it blooms more and better blooms. This rose was introduced in 1860 and it is a living piece of history. It's fragrance is the best of all my roses. Unfortunately, I can not recommend 'Mrs Dudley Cross' to you, because your zone is too cold for her to thrive there. But down here, she's a must have. Mine is completely thornless and extremely resistant to any fungus. Randy

The Frisco/Black Beauty/Abracadabra set of clones from Kordes are nearly thornless (you inspired me to go check my plants -- I found 2 thorns each on 2 full sized four foot tall plants). It is hard to come by these plants however under their real names in the U.S. But, no fear, the same exact plants have been renamed in the U.S. as mini floras and are available retail under the names Top Contender (yellow), Memphis Magis (dark red), and Memphis Music (striped yellow and red). You can purchase all three of them at Two Sisters Roses and here's a link. Be forewarned however that these are band size plants and will need a year or two to grow up. My other suggestion for you would be to email the good folks at Palatine Roses in Canada. They carry most of the Kordes roses as bareroots, and since Kordes seems to select their florist variety roses for having a minimum of thorns, I would bet that they could help you. Good Luck Kathy Here is a link that might be useful: Memphis Magic at Two Sisters Roses

OMG I have no idea on fragrance! I just happened to be visiting Mom a few months before she passed, and saw it blooming so took a pic. I don't think it had bloomed much over the yrs. My dad was a tightwad and wouldn't let Mom water hardly at all. Their lawn was always brown by summertime. When my niece moved in yrs ago after he passed away, she kinda kept the flowerbed cleaned up and watered, so the few roses that remained began to perk up a little. Most had died back to rootstock tho. Except for this one and my massive SPICE TWICE rose that had been a test rose back in the 90s. I gave Mom a bunch of my roses when we still lived in the mobile home park because I ran out of room and was trying new roses. I always knew I could come back and get cuttings. I just wish I could remember the name of this one. All I know is it was a "Smooth" rose! This pic is awful. It looks like the rose is more of a lavender-pink on white, but as I recall, I believe it might've had a little faint bit of either yellow or apricot in the center. And seriously... I seem to remember the name being SMOOTH ANGEL. But I just don't know. I certainly hope at least some of the cuttings I took will survive and possibly bloom this yr so I can see what it is. I'm sure the new owners would let me come and get more cuttings. They were next-door-neighbors.

Since the widely successful introduction of Knockout Roses, the rose industry has decided that customers want disease resistant roses, and have focused their attention to meeting that demand. It may be a while before other demands like fragrance and bloom form are met. Zepherine Drouhin is a popular old garden rose with few thorns. But, it is very susceptible to black spot. My Favorite Climbing Rose, "Zephirine Drouhin"