I have Dublin Bay and Illusion and don't spray or winter protect in zone 5/6. Illusion does great! Dublin Bay isn't quite as blackspot resistant or winter hardy. Thanks Henry for recommending Illusion over the years... I took the advice several years ago since I live close to you and I couldn't be happeir with how it has performed.

I think you can skip New Dawn. It is a great climber for those who need something that will survive in USDA Zone 5, but in zone 8 there are more fragrant options. You'd better brace yourself because there is NOTHING as beautiful as a healthy climbing rose in full bloom. Simply put climbing roses are sheer romance itself. All of the climbing roses I'm going to recommend both rebloom and have medium-strong to very-strong fragrances. Those with an Astrix (*) cause olfactory orgasms. Among the Old Garden Roses the best of the best for zone 8 are: ALISTER STELLA GRAY (Noisette, 1894) - white blushed apricot yellow LA FRANCE (climbing hybrid tea, 1893) - light pink* LADY HILLINGDON (climbing tea, 1917) - egg yolk yellow* LAMARQUE (Noisette, 1830) - lemony white* MME. ALFRED CARRIERE (Noisette, 1875) - soft white* MME. ISAAC PERIERE (Bourbon, 1881) - magenta* REINE DES VIOLETTES (Hybrid Perpetual, 1860) - soft purple; must be grafted* REVE D'OR (Noisette, 1869) - apricot, yellow & pink blend Among the reproductions: GRAHAM THOMAS (English, 1983) - golden yellow NAHEMA (large flowered climber, 1991) - shell pink & thornless* ORFEO (large flowered climber, 1964) - dark velvety red* PAT AUSTIN (English, 1993) - orange blend; to climb get grafted* SOMBREUIL (large flowered climber, 1940) - ivory THE PILGRIM (English, 1991) - ivory blushed pure canary yellow * Intense fragrance

I agree with Sara--Dublin Bay is a nice red, fairly good disease-resistance, and has some repeat bloom periodically throughout the summer. Bad news is that, like most climbers I've grown, the repeat is sporadic--not very reliable or strong. Based on my experience, the repeat problem is common among climbers. Maybe it also relates to how long the climber has been growing in your garden--I think maybe you need to wait about 5 years to get it really going. In fact, the only decent repeater I ever grew was Golden Showers--which I had for 15-20 years, but didn't really repeat good at all until the last few years when I started paying it special attention and watering it more. (It got RRD--wouldn't you know it, just when I got that baby performing well!) I think St. Swithun will need a few extra years to perform well too. (I had it briefly--another victim of RRD). I am presently growing The Pilgrim--which hasn't done a lot its first year, but the blooms are gorgeous. Same is true, I'm told, about Teasing Georgia, which has more color than the more pastel Pilgrim (or so I am told). Like St. Swithun, I expect to wait 5 years to get something really good in terms of repeat bloom. I used to grow Viking Queen which was somewhat more ready to bloom and seemed quite promising on that score. However, the blooms were not as lovely as the Austin blooms. I have an order in for Spring for the hybrid multiflora Ghislaine de Feligonde---which I'm excited about. Entirely different look, but I'm already anticipating that it won't be a strong rebloomer--or so the comments would lead me to believe. My Eden climber was one of the most gorgeous bloomers you could have, but not strong on rebloom. That's about it for my experience with climbers. I usually concentrate on finding disease-resistant climbers under 12 feet (for my pillars). All the above climbers are reasonably bs-resistant. I also run a clematis up each pillar--to give me a bit more bloom to pick up the slack when the roses are in no hurry to rebloom. Hope that helps. Kate

It really depends on where you are. Anywhere around here, Iceberg is horrible for blackspot, and really needs to be sprayed. Sombreuil has had unimpressive blackspot resistance, but is better. White Dawn is a seedling of New Dawn, and supposedly not as good a rose. White New Dawn is a sport of New Dawn, so has all of its merits, but is a lot harder to find. White Cap is also a good white climber, though it isn't quite as hardy as New Dawn. I expect a lot of dieback on it this spring.