I'd love to put a name to this beauty. I found it at my last house (formerly a rental), and the only rose in the yard, so it makes me think this is probably a fairly common rose, not from a serious gardener/rosarian.

But, it holds a special place in my heart because when I moved to my very own first, "real" house, my sweet grandfather took a shovel, dug it up, and put it in a wheel barrow to take with me to my new home. It was the last thing put on the moving truck and it will always be my sentimental favorite.

It's a tough rose - it survived being dug up and flourished for several years in red clay, un-amended soil in a HOT, humid, southern sun location.

It has large thorns, is VERY FRAGRANT, and the foliage is somewhat matte, not glossy (very different from Aloha or Viking Queen). It does get black spot and the Japanese beetles like it.

The blooms are quite large (last year they were HUGE) and on the cool side of red, usually leaning more towards magenta, but I'd consider it a red rose. The buds are dark red.

This spring, a large cane looked dead, so I pruned it very heavily, leaving only 2 short canes. I thought it would die but it's coming back, sending up a new cane which is purply-reddish colored.

The following pictures are from last year. No photos yet this year. Some of them are a little blurry.

Anyone have a guess? Thanks in advance!