Jeri - how extraordinarily beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing.

I have a spot in my garden ear-marked for this rose ever since Catspa first posted pictures of it. I am actually encouraged to read that you don't think this rose may be a Tea! As you know, Teas struggle in my cool- summer garden.

Now, to continue to look for this rose for sale somewhere.....

And, yay, it's raining here today!!

Jo

Jo -- Push that rain South!

OH -- They had it last spring at the Sacramento City Cemetery. Hopefully, will again. If they do, and you can't make it there, would you like me to get you one, and bring it to the Celebration of Old Roses?

Oh, Jeri. That would be fantastic, if you could! Thank you so much. I do plan to be there at the Celebration of Old Roses this year.

Yep - praying hard that good ground-soaking rain heads your way soon!

And I have an email to you sitting in my draft folder for the longest time now....

Jo

Remarkable and extraordinarily beautiful is right ! With all the roses we see daily, a few rare ones posess the trait that just know how to make you sigh.

Why not a tea, Jeri? What else might she be? I've seen tea-like leaves, growth habit, and floriferous-ness (multiple flushes per season), not to mention same coloration/scent as Mrs. B.R. Cant, though not the steadiness of bloom form that variety has. But, then, I don't have enough knowledge to say "tea" or "not tea". As you note, the blooms are variable and react to every change in weather. My favorites are the spring and fall flushes; summer flushes are less shapely/nicely colored, but still smell great. Edit to add: she rooted easily for me last spring, with trimmings after the first flush.

Here's a photo I snapped today that promises a beautiful bounty in the near future (this is not the worst rose to train to an arbor, but takes a bit of work because of her vigor):

Not my personal opinion. I've not had her long enough. Those who are more knowledgeable look at details of the plant, and see "something else" there.

Not that she might not have been classed as a Tea in her day.

A good example of this is the Nabonnand roses -- which might as easily been classed as HTs -- but were instead classed as late Teas. Introducer's privilege.

For myself . . . I don't care what it is. It's beautiful, vigorous, and a generous bloomer, so . . . I can as easily think of it as a Tea as anything else. (But I DO wonder if she might not have actually been a Nabonnand rose.)

Whatever- and whoever- she is, she's very lovely. I especially like variable roses like that.

I would not be astonished if she were a Nabonnand rose, but since I recently saw some photos of her wearing dark pink blooms posted to HMF, it has occurred to me to wonder if she couldn't be an unregistered climbing sport of 'Beauté Inconstante'...

Virginia

that's an interesting observation Virginia, i see on HMF photos, the two are so similar.

Jeri, your photos capture everything I love about old tea (or hybrid tea) roses! Florence Bower is one of the loveliest chameleons I've ever seen. Tea or hybrid tea: true devotion will not fade just because Francis Dubreuil might be Barcelona! :-) Carol

As if Jeri's beautiful pictures of this mutable rose weren't enough, I'm completely awed, catspa, by your full-bush shots. That truly is one of the most beautiful rose sights I've seen, and I suspect your garden will have many more, given the huge size and health of your roses. This proves that, more than anything else, roses need abundant rain. Please keep posting your spring bounty; those of us in the dry part of California need to remember what roses are capable of. This rose is a particular beauty, just everything and more that a tea rose should be, given the right situation. I suspect the paler buds inside the bush are getting less sunlight which helps to give color to these roses.

Is there any way to order this rose? Or any other place it might be purchased? I am in Texas........no way to get to the sale.

There is a bud just beginning to open on mine, which is almost white. Incredibly changeable beauty. I feel very fortunate to have it.

I purchased one from Angel Gardens just about a year ago, but I do not see it listed on the website, nor do I see Angel Gardens listed as a vendor on HMFRoses now. I think Pam had it listed on a spring availability list last year. It definitely would be worth while to call or e-mail Pam about it. If you are not successful with that, I could offer you a couple of cuttings, although my plant is still small. It has three flowers on it right now.

I am hoping to get some of it to Malcolm Manners, later this year.

Oh, Kippy, she will...the plant in the photos is only beginning its fifth year in the ground (so just four full years in the ground) and was planted as a gallon plant. And, I pruned a fair amount off this winter.

It's sad, isn't it, Ingrid, when the 13" of rain that Livermore has had this year (and we may not even make our average of 15") seems like an immense amount of rain? It is better than the 6" we got two years ago...

I looked it up on HMF, and there it says that La Roseraie du Désert has it, but it's not listed on their on.-line catalogue,alas!

Correction! It does seem to be listed on the site under "teas" ,though not on the alphabetical list. I hope to order from them next fall...

Kippy, your garden is so lush and beautiful, with huge bushes. Color me jealous, just can't help it. catspa, we're the ones this year with barely over 6 inches, with no more rain predicted. Your 13 inches have certainly helped to make your roses happy, and I'm so glad for you. Who knows when we'll have "normal" rains again, but it's a blessing that at least the northern part of California has had the benefit of El Nino.

You know, Ingrid -- I don't know what has done it -- but our rain total for the whole year was a rousing 6.38 inches.

And yet . . . And YET . . . We are having a spring bloom better than almost any I can remember. I don't know why it's happening, and I'm not tempting fate by questioning it. I know horrible summer heat is ahead, but somehow, we'll keep it together. At least this year there are two of us who are capable of going up and down the hill.