Peggy Martin? I'm not very good at this, but I hope that helps and I hope you find it!

I wonder if what your grandmother may have had was 'Zephirine Drouhin'? You can see it at:
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.2572

Another possibility -- and right for the time period -- would be 'New Dawn'.
http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.4460

I wonder if it could have been
Tausendschon.

:-)

~Christopher

See I knew ya'll were coming! ;) I'm working on it :)

Probably not Zepherine, it's not disease resistant and is mostly a spring bloomer. But it is virtually thornless.

New Dawn, on the other hand, as I know personally, is viciously thorny. May Queen comes to mind but it's a spring bloomer and I think it has thorns, and it's a lighter pink. Tausendschoen doesn't bloom all summer does it? I wonder if all the information about this rose is correct.

I thought Zephirine was clean in TX? Not? SHEESH! She's not good in CA, either. I wonder where she IS good.

Zephrine is a BS magnet in my part of Tx.

Zephirine seemed to be great wherever Zeffyrose (Florence) is. Here, a total disaster.

What about a Dorothy Perkins type multiflora rambler? Debutante etc.

My Zephirine is very healthy, no mildew even. It's a monster but doesn't bloom all that much. However, I think it's a slow developer and am hoping it will bloom more as it gets older. I've had it in my garden about 5 years now, though. But, I do think it takes that long for some roses to mature, as I've noticed this with several climbers, such as White Maman Cochet and others. Some roses are just slow. It's wonderful to see them get better and better each year.

It might help to know a little more about when the rose was ordered/planted. Since your grandmothe is 90, I'm guessing not earlier than the late 1940's, but it could have been a good bit later, perhaps? The rose variety might have been much older, but a bit of research might help determine what was available/ popular at the time of purchase...

Also, can you find out how large the blooms might have been?

Good luck,

Virginia

...just my observations but I agree with others that it's a dead ringer for 'Zephirine Drouhin'...going from the description.... and I assume this will be from the 1950's?... when I read earlier descriptions of this rose, they all seem to agree that it blooms until checked by frost and the disease issues that we see today, don't appear to have been such a problem in earlier times.... over here it's always put down to increased pollution kept these issues at bay, but today's cleaner air allows more black spot and mildew to proliferate... that's how I understand it...

....I can imagine in Shelbyville Texas, decades ago, this rose would have still been regarded as disease resistant...

...even here, it also grows to 8 foot or so in its first year.... all sounds about right...