There is a rose Garden right next to Hershey Park that has many older varieties with names associated with candy (or something like that--I haven't been there in years). They also have the original rose garden--all the plants were transplanted to a another location. Well worth a visit--I read a news story not too long ago that said it was an extremely popular.

Most of the older HTs do very poorly own-root. They struggle enormously in a climate where they have any winterkill. The few that ARE sells have been preselected to do reasonable well. Other than that, I'd proceed carefully. La France isn't typical of the class, being a much sturdier plant.

I only grow 1 hybrid tea, Mme Jules Bouche & I am thoroughly enamoured of her.She has wonderful stout canes, clean foliage (mostly, I pluck the occasional spotted leaf off)marvellous blooms & heavenly fragrance. I have been growing her for about 4 years now, I will be ordering 2 more this fall. All my roses are own-root. She's about 6'x3'.

Jane

I have Etoile de Hollande, justly named 'Star of Holland'.
For my money, still one of the most beautiful red roses there is. Huge, gloriously fragrant, nodding velvety blooms on a sturdy plant with dark green foliage.
However, and it's a big however, it's a slightly finicky rose and has to be situated just right, else the blooms scorch, and/or she can blackspot, mildew or rust. Or all of the above. Also likes LOTS of food. Mine gets a good mulch of horse manure several times a year and several doses of alfafa pellets in the growing season, plus is one of the few un-potted roses that get much in the way of supplemental water. And as a note, although my soil is dry and sandy, I live in an area with pretty high rainfall.

When happy though, it's amazing.

Thankyou roseseek, for such an informative post.

Sara-Ann, I'm in a completely different climate to you, and the only one I've grown from your list is Mrs Wakefield Christie-Miller. The bloom is one of my very favourites, but she does BS badly for me.

You're welcome!

Thank you so much for your honest opinions and experience with these roses, very informative and I do appreciate it very much!

I also thank you roseseek. I was considering Mrs Pierre S DuPont in my 2016 order, but as she seems to be as much trouble as Mrs Sam,I will give her a miss. As you know, roses here are budded, so my Ophelia, Mme Butterfly and Etoile de Holland are doing well.

Melodye

You're welcome. DuPont can be beautiful, but she's more of a museum piece for someone who collects early yellow HTs. Before her, there wasn't really many from which to choose. Mrs. DuPont was something special in her time.

Terrific list as well Kim, and it helps explain why so many of these older HTs have done poorly for me. As MG mentioned, I've tried most of these own-root and they mostly didn't survive the winter, including: Mrs. Sam McGredy, Ophelia, and Etoile de Hollande (none of these were close to surviving a protected zone 5-6). OTOH, Mme. Carolyn Testout, cl. is a trooper and at least 8 years old, though she doesn't climb very high after usually dying to the ground. She usually stretches back up to 6-8 feet by this time of the year however, and blooms reasonably well. I have Mme. Pierre S. Dupont in my zone 6 pocket new this year, and I've experienced the 30 minute blooms even in my cooler zone. Given Kim's description, looks like I'll need to try Mrs. Charles Bell and Mme. Louis Bouche next time around!

Cynthia

You're welcome, Cynthia. I'm glad I could help turn you on to a few more goodies!