Go with Marie Pavie, which is an old Polyantha. The blooms have a fragrance that isn't powerful close-up but which "travels on the air" enough that you can smell it from 20 feet away.

:-)

~Christopher

You didn't mention if you wanted a modern or old/antique rose. One of my favorite OGR's that has had very little black spot and has done well for me in with mainly afternoon sun is Duchesse de Brabant, she is beautiful pink with a lovely fragrance. One of my favorite modern roses is the Bucks rose quiteness. She is a very soft pink and is in the same conditions as the Duchesse and has no black spot ever and blooms her head off with big beautiful and fragrant blooms. I also live in a very humid part of Texas and these do well for me without all day sun. Have fun choosing and happy gardening!

Christopher and I posted at the same time and I agree with Marie Pavie too, good rose for me in part shade and very little if any BS. I forgot about her lol.

Not antiques but these work for me:

Sweet Chariot

miniature rose, small, two flushes in part shade. It is a wafting rose. And you can plant several.

Mine is very healthy, beside the first year, it has never had an sickness.

Hybrid musks do well in part shade and most are very fragrant and healthy.

Felicia is the most fragrant I grow. It wafts.

In June when the above are in bloom, in my enclosed patio, the very air is thickened with the scent of these.

Other Hybrid musks are: Penelope, Cornelia & Buff Beauty.

Mine are too young to comment on.

Albas grow in part shade but they are not recurrent.

I believe most hybrid Multifloras and Wichuranas are shade tolerant. I grow New Dawn, the flowers are moderately fragrant and the repeat is all right.

Good Luck....

Sorry, I did forget to mention that. I really don't know. I hate to sound ignorant but I don't really know the difference.

My personal preference are for what I know of as the cabbage rose type blooms.

Thank you both, I looked up the roses you suggested and they are all beautiful!

Antiques are all roses before 1867.

Moderns are anything after.

Check the FAQs for concise info.

I used to live up in Boone, in the high country. At that time, I was planning to take a nice drive down to Laurens SC to Roses Unlimited, and you are even closer than I was. Go visit Pat, the owner, and get some recommendations from her and stick your nose in a few that fancy you! Lucky you to be that close to a wonderful nursery. I was even closer to Linda at Long Ago Roses, and never visited. If only I could do it all over....

Mindy, thank you! That isn't that far at all, plus there is a hosta
nursery in Spartanburg that I want to get to as well. I think I'll do a
day trip and see both of them.
True blue - sweet chariot is gorgeous! Love those pink blooms.

Cabbage Roses (centifolia) are once blooming. You can read about them here.....

I believe what you're alluding to are recurrent English roses created by David Austin...

A rose from 1916 would be 100 years old now and to me is an antique. Since someone decided 1867 is the defining date for antiques I tend to honor that, but it seems like a silly technicality to me. Maybe someone in 1967 decided 1867 was the date. Some modern roses are getting pretty old.

Stephanie, I think Clotilde Soupert might appeal to you. It's cabbagey, very fragrant, has better blackspot resistance than many , repeats very well, has good vigor, and is hardy enough for your area. It can ball ( fail to open) in cool damp weather, but when it warms up it's good. It is not a huge bloom but not small either.

Antique roses generally have smaller blooms than "modern roses", just to warn you. They are a special taste. But the antique cupped shape has been revived in modern reproduction roses, such as those by David Austen and some others. And many of Austin's are fragrant.

I also like the term "historic roses", which would include roughly anything 60 years old or older. Since you are in zone 7, I am thinking of Duchesse de Brabant, a tea rose that was said to have been Teddy Roosevelt's favorite: rose. http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1649666/duchesse-de-brabant

It has been designated an "Earthkind" rose.

Then there is the famous Souvenir de la Malmaison, called "the queen of beauty and fragrance" The original plant is a light pink but it has sported to cultivars of white and other shades. I don't think anyone could be disappointed in this rose.

Christopher, I think of myself as an antique but by the rose definition, I'm a spring chicken! lol

Thank you all so much for your suggestions! I'm making a list and like some of them very much. erasmus, Clothilde Soupert is beautiful and what I think of when I think of a rose.

Monarda your Duchess is stunning!! Your son is quite handsome as well.

Thank you all again!! So many gorgeous roses I've never heard of...

What about Nahema?

Many references to "old cabbage roses" will also be about Hybrid Perpetuals, not just "true" cabbage roses, i.e. Centifolias. I think it meant rounded bloom form as opposed to pointed Hybrid Tea bloom form.

Erasmus, my 'Clotilde Soupert' came from you, and is rather huge this year. It shot up, then leaned outward as it filled out. Now it's about three feet tall and five feet in diameter. Looking back, I should have cut it down a little more this year, since it's starting to block 'Charles de Mills' behind it. As you mentioned, mine is also one of my healthiest roses, and balling happens only when it's cool and damp -- not when it's warm and damp nor cool and dry. When I expect or see balling, I just snip the blooms off and wait for the next round, which follows rather quickly.

It also looks like it's racing against 'Marie Pavie' and a few others to claim the "first rose of the season to bloom", which should begin any day now. The clematis are already starting.

:-)

~Christopher

@Stephanie -- Oops, that's not my son! It was someone on the rose forum. But I agree the Duchesse is good looking!