I grew 'Boule de Neige' the Bourbon of that name, It is one of my favorite white Roses, and I love how the red buds contrast against the fully open white blooms. I adore its' scent which although I would rate as light in strength ,a 4 out of 10, but wonderful in quality, a rose I will sniff every time I see it, it has several scent notes to me, mixed floral, a touch of Damask type rose scent, and a note of cold cream, that is often found in much older white roses. I'm from the North originally, and snow has endearing qualities to me, which is why I've chosen to take most of my vacations in the North; Sweden, Norway, Scotland, Finland, Denmark, Alaska and Canada, far more often than India and Mexico, I like temperatures in the 60's and 70's F. best. I find the rose name "snow ball" or "ball of snow" to be quite charming in itself, especially as it blooms in summer when there is no snow on the ground; a white rose that stirs up memories of sledding, caroling, and seeing miles upon miles of pristine snow on a winter night, and falling down on forests of fir and spruce. The chill of snowflakes against my cheek, being indoors on a cold winter night with a wood fire burning and all the world in black of night, contrasting with silver- white sheen of snow, mirrored in stars above. The winter nights are silent, surrounded by snow, and that is a blessing for contemplation. It is an evocative name; 'Boule de Neige' One rose can mean the world to a person, whichever rose it was, the lady was in love with it, that seems for sure. Lux

To grow Noisettes would be very difficult in zone 5 but I think damasks are quite hardy. Bourbons, I would think, should be decided case by case. I think you could find several Hybrid Perpetuals that would do well and repeat better in cold zones than in warm ones (in case of HPs I positively feel zone envy) True antiques like albas and gallicas are cold zone roses as far as I know. Palatine has a number of Geschwinds that are supposed to be cold hardy and they also offer Gallicas. On Pickering sites you can do an advanced search for winter hardy roses. If you want own root roses, you can search Ashdown's website and Rouge Valley's list of hardy roses. I am sure many nurseries have such separate listings for hardy old roses. also list in a separate category hardy roses.

I know it's early, but I've been impressed with the health and vigor of 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau'. It came as a band in Spring 2012, was planted in Summer 2013, and was one of the few Bourbons not hit hard by blackspot this year (it was actually barely fazed at all -- an occasional spotty leaf every so often, which was promptly shed and replaced). As far as the plant goes, I'm happy with it so far. Of course, I also have 'Souvenir de la Malmaison' and it has given a few wonderful blooms in its first year as a band, but I knew as soon as I saw the title of this thread that it'd be already getting lots of votes. :-) ~Christopher

That depends on the weather i suppose, never timed it realy, for years the bushes had to struggle with a large bamboo who took lots of light and water so reblooms were very sparse. For now there are still some buds to open but i'll try to post when there is a second flush.