Carol, if my Chloris suckers, consider it yours! I haven't seen any suckering, yet, but it's only 3 years old. For the first two years, every bloom was disappointing, but this year she really matured, and the blooms (and buds!) are as gorgeous as you expect from an Alba.

Thanks, John. Your Chloris TRULY is gorgeous this year. Carol

Thanks! Here are some photos of Chloris in better light:

John, your Chloris is beautiful! The buds/sepals are amazing, and the color is so soft and enticing!

Carol, your Armide is so delicate! I had a baby Armide (also from RVR) in a pot in 2016. I overwintered it in my unheated garage. The following year the weather got crazily warm in March so everything in pots broke dormancy then, but only to be blasted by one week of hard frost in early April. Many of my potted roses, originally to be planted in spring 2017, died later that April, including that Armide. :-( The spot that was intended for Armide is now taken by another rose, so I guess I likely won't be graced by her beauty....

You are not alone, Lin. We've all sooo been there! If it's not a killing frost, it's squirrels...or voles...or deer....or the other 10,000 rose pestilences and plagues that keep us up at night. Funny how the spaces in our gardens just fill up, even when they've been reserved! :-) If my Armide/MP suckers and you manage to squeeze out another open piece of real estate, you are welcome to a start. Carol

Thank you for more Chloris, John! Is that Cardinal de Richelieu next to her? The light and dark combo is wonderful! Carol

No, right next her is Charles de Mills (in his root sleeve!)

Ah, yes. CdM's root prison...I mean sleeve. :-) Carol

Chloris has no such root restrictions, though, so she's free to sucker - as is Umbra!

Thanks for the offer of a future sucker of Armide - really appreciate it! That's just it - a "reserved" space isn't exactly guaranteed! A plant failing to make it through the winter in a pot may get replaced so quickly by other cultivars I read on this Forum over the winter that it may not get a second chance to set foot in my garden. After all, there are SO MANY desirable OGRs. With that said, though, much of the time, it's their availability in commerce that's dictating which gets to be planted.

Just for fun, here's a shot of a piece of MB's habit. Her foliage is such a lovely blue-green and the plant itself makes a wonderful garden shrub. Mine grows as a sort of wall shrub at the moment, but I plan to place an arch next to her and carry some canes across it, like I've done with Tuscany Superb. I should mix in a bit of shade tolerant clematis or honeysuckle. I'd love to hear about your companion vine suggestions! Carol

Does anyone out there have good shots of Alba Semi Plena or Alba Maxima? I have Semi Plena shots from last year or the year before (I can't remember which), but none from this year. I don't seem to have older or newer pics of Maxima, darn it. Carol

Great photos of all these Alba's everyone, I'm enjoying the views...makes me wish I had one and asking myself why I haven't..

Anyone got 'Bellard'?... I'd like to see it... Carol your 'Queen of Denmark' is to die for..

Wow! I guess I need to buy acreage somewhere. What beautiful flowers. I had never seen Chloris before. The “in the ground” photos are so lovely. I especially appreciate seeing how these gorgeous flowers look in the landscape and learning your various design methods.

Another class of roses that I can’t grow in my climate, so I really enjoy seeing them. Deborah, I love seeing your ‘Madame Plantier’, with her little green button eye. She’s the one I’d really love to grow, if I could. That “eye” in her pure white self, is adorable. They’re all beautiful. I hope to see many more! Lisa

Great Maiden's Blush has finally started blooming in my garden! I think yesterday's temperatures in the 80s were enough to convince it it's summer. I've always found GMB a difficult rose to photograph, but here is what I was able to capture this morning:

Those are beautiful shots, John! Thank you. Yes, I find her a bugbear to photograph, too. The only roses is my garden that are harder to capture are the pure white ones like Semi Plena and Armide (Madame P?). Don't you love the way MB produces a froth of ivory-blush-pink blooms right in the middle of a halo of pale chartreuse buds? It doesn't take a genius to understand how this Alba beauty hooked both you and Peter Beales on OGRs. Carol

Deborah, your MP is gorgeous! Thank you for posting an image. You are a skilled photographer, catching the highlights and shadows of every tiny unfurling petal. I find MP to be dang hard to capture. She usually just overexposes herself (how risque!) and becomes a white blob. As Lisa noted, you snapped a great shot of her green button eye! Please post more photos as she matures. It seems like MP used to be more widely grown, but I don't see enough of her these days. Carol

Yes, the delicate shading of the petals, the beautiful buds with their lovely sepals, the Alba perfume scent, the healthy, blue-green foliage... The first time I saw it, I was hooked! You take did such a great job of capturing her best qualities in your photos, Carol. The last one is especially gorgeous. Did you take that with your phone or a camera?

I'm imagining Madame Plantier next to Umbra and am seeing beautiful visions!

Thank you, John! Just an older iPhone with a little exposure adjustment in Preview on my laptop. Carol

That would be a lovely combination!

Did you Armide/Madame Plantier lovers catch a glimpse of Mariannese's El Ariana tuteur on Lerosier's thread? I'm thinking I may have found a practical and romantic solution for training Armide/MP in my tiny garden! I just happen to have an unused tuteur in my garage. Woo-hoo! Carol

That's definitely a win-win; introducing an architectural highlight that will also help define the size of your Armide!

Beautiful roses!

More Konigen von Danemark/Queen of Denmark. She's so lovely that if the timing had been right, she would have been my OGR gateway rose!

And one shot with Botzaris sneaking into the frame.

Interestingly, Damask Botzaris' foliage often looks nearly identical to Alba Queen of D's. Botzaris' foliage is quite blue. When it's time to thin the traveling canes, I'll have to tag them while in bloom!

I agree, Carol - it's definitely one of the most beautiful Albas, and if I hadn't met Maiden's Blush, KvD would have become my first old rose obsession. Lovely photos!!

I like my Albas, and there are some excellent photos here showing how beautiful they are. My 'Great Maiden's Blush' in fourteen years has gotten disquietingly huge and suckers about, getting even huger. 'Chloris' is also a tall, suckering, lax, lovely shrub that I think would do well up on an arbor, perhaps. Rather than prune our roses adequately we just build more arbors (I don't recommend this). N.b. a good pairing with these lovely pale Albas, along with the viticella clematis, would be the purple Moss 'William Lobb'. This is a tall lanky plant, tall enough to make a short climber (trellis!) and it blooms at the same time. 'Celestial' is acting like GMB and 'Chloris'. All these roses get tall and large, only 'Queen of Denmark' among them staying reasonably shrubby.

'Mme. Plantier' is another potential climber. This isn't always classed as an Alba, and I don't recall its breeding. Here in Europe there seem to be different varieties in commerce under that name. I finally got the real thing from another gardener, but she struggles a bit in the terrible spot where she grows. She's the loveliest rose, but her old blooms stay on the plant. MP's fragrance is wonderful, and carries on the air. Another rose of possibly similar breeding, sometimes classed as an Alba, which hitherto I believe no one has mentioned, is 'Mme. Legras de St. Germain'. This one is supposed to be beautiful, but like my 'Mme. Plantier' mine struggles, though I got a sucker which I hope to plant out in better conditions so I can see her in her glory. She can be identified by the touch of yellow in her blooms, which none of the other Albas has.

I'll try an Alba Maxima.

Beautiful descriptions of various Albas and an interesting, informative detailed discussion of cultivation in your garden, Melissa. Thank you! As always, your prose is both good practical talk and a joy to read.

You must be writing over a cup of morning coffee or tea just as my full day is blessedly coming to a close. I dicovered the world clock on my iPhone, and just for fun, I set up times in countries around the globe. Now I can predict when commentary will come rolling in from across the planet. :-) Carol

Sheila, thank you for Maxima. Our thread has been missing that lovely old Alba. Both MP and Maxima are magnificent! How old are your specimens? Carol

A few more shots of Maiden's Blush which show the chartreuse buds.

Semi-plena. Sorry about the bug bites.

I'm so sorry Carol! I thought I was reading closely on this thread, but somehow one of your post just appeared on me from last Friday that I did not see before! How did that happen?

Regarding a cutting from my Celeste - absolutely! You let me know when you think is a good time for you based on all your propagation work. You are so fortunate to be able to get some cuttings from Paul's garden!! Good luck with them! Oh how I wish I could take a look at his garden, at all those original plants of his beauties!

Thanks so much for the tips on rooting suckers! I will have to try some very soon before it gets too hot here to see whether I have any luck. If I do, yes, let's do some swaps later :-)!

These lovely pale roses are a wonderful counterpoint to the very recent and wonderful post of the "mad" gallicas with their wonderful saturated coloring. They each have their place (although unfortunately not in my garden) and what a joy to see these varieties portrayed so beautifully. I'm so glad that these varieties are still grown enough to yield a very long thread.

Lin, thank you so much for the Celeste offer! Maybe we could touch base about a swap this fall? Check in around early September? I'll "follow" you so we can swap messages. I think we have to "follow" each other to do this on the forum. :-) Drop me a note with anything you might wish in exchange. I am also typing up a list of roses in my garden for another forum member and can send that to you as well. Carol

Well said, Ingrid, both your celebration that these old roses are still grown by enough forum members to keep a thread rolling and your observation that the delicately colored Albas make great companions for (my beloved) Gallicas. Carol

Belmont, thank you so much for the shot of Semi Plena. SP is one of my favorite white roses (maybe even my top white)! Unfortunately, I don't have any new photos of my SP. No worries about the bug bites. A few snacking critters just says "organic garden" to me. Many of my OGR shots have been photo bombed by aphids. Your photo is lovely! :-) Carol

Hi Carol, let's definitely check in on the suckers/cutting project this fall. I'm following you already, so am in position to message you through this Forum. :-) Would love to receive your list of roses in your garden as well. Very exciting! Now I will need to patrol in my flower beds with more critical eyes to spot the under-performers......

Carol, I think 3 years for my Maxima and M Plantier. My MB and Queen of Denmark are a year old.

I think this is the last Alba (if it IS an Alba) I can post from my garden. Blush Hip is grafted onto Multiflora and is from Pickering. Ah, Pickering. I believe there are at least two roses in commerce under the name Blush Hip. Some say that BH is really Blush Damask. My BH looks decidedly more Damask than Alba. The foliage is quite green and the centers of the leaves are creased as if lovers folded them in preparation for making Valentine hearts but then were spurned and tried to flatten the foliage again for future use. (How's that for an active imagination?) Someday, I'm going to research this cultivar. I actually know embarrassingly little about it. The name, Blush Hip, has always struck me as a funny intersection between the names "Maiden's Blush" and "Cuisse de Nymph." Only this time around, the skirt is raised above the thigh, and the modest flush has traveled down to the exposed and risqué curves of flesh. (Is it hot in here?)

My Blush Hip is distinctive in the coloration of its blooms. The flowers resemble extreme versions of Belle sans Flatterie in that there is great contrast between the centers of the blooms and the outer petals and backsides of the blooms. The shades run the spectrum from deeper than La Ville de Bruxelles pink to pure white with a hint of shell pink. The older petals quickly fade even as the inner petals unfurl in true clarity. The fragrance resembles Damask to my nose, and it is quite strong! I've read that this rose has a short bloom period, and that may be true of young plants, but mine is still pumping out flowers a month after it started. It blooms earlier than my other Albas and is one of the earliest of my Damasks (if it IS a Damask) to produce an open bloom. Sometimes the blooms are on the small side (maybe 2" when fully open?) and sometimes they are somewhat larger. Does anyone else out there grow BH? If so, I'd love to see images and read your thoughts. Carol

I must have the other version of Blush Hip. It came from High Country Roses mislabeled as President de Seze. I never though it seemed much like an Alba either, and I can't find a lot about it in books. Mine looks more like a Gallica and is paler pink a lavender tinge. It also suckers madly like a Gallica. It has a long-ish bloom period and not a lot of scent, if I recall correctly.

Of course I'm not positive the Blush Hip ID is correct but the person who IDed it was fairly knowledgeable.

Thank you so much for the photos, Belmont! Blush Hip is quite a little mystery. The photos on HMF seem to vary as much as our two plants do...and then some. I see images that look more like your rose, images that look more like mine and images that seem to show roses with foliage that does indeed look more like an Alba. Someday, I'm going to dive into whatever texts I can locate and research BH. I'd like to add that your BH is a lovely OGR! Carol

Carol, I laughed so hard, my dog wondered what was wrong! You could make a lot of money writing for Mills and Boon.

Beautiful photos of a beautiful class. Like Ingrid, I can't grow them here, sadly.

Trish

This painting from 1893 from Skagen in Denmark always makes me want to grow Alba Maxima - when I get a huge garden.

Mette--love that painting and have some interest in the Skagen painters. Can you give me the artist's name and title of painting? Thanks.

Kate

When I first scrolled down, and before seeing the seated woman, I thought this was a photograph. What a charming and very realistic painting.

Paul, your photos capture exactly why Konigen von Danemark/Queen of Denmark is such a delight and so satisfying to grow! Thank you for both the close-up and the image showing her graceful, shrubby habit. Full specimen shots are not posted as much, and they are exactly what we want to see when we need to fit a rose into pockets of our gardens and when we want to know what the phrase "free flowering" really means. Like you, I find QofD's long flowering period very rewarding. She blooms for a noticeably longer stretch than other comparables like La Ville de Bruxelles, and her growth is certainly more elegant. Plus, her blue foliage is the perfect foil for her deliciously shaded mid pink blooms, and her fragrance is outstanding. She's got just enough Damask going on to capture all the best of the characteristics but is still very Alba. I think she may be my favorite, too, and that's a high compliment because the Albas are an outstanding class of roses! Carol

Mettebee, Thank you for posting the image of P.S. Kroyer's painting! I've always enjoyed his "Summer Evening on Skagen's Southern Beach," but I think "Roses" may be my favorite (for obvious reasons). The tree rose in the composition does look a lot like Maxima. Was it ever identified? In general, I find that paintings are wonderful ambassadors for old roses. Nothing says romance like an oil painting. Don't we all hope to incorporate into our lives a little of the beautiful and the serene that is portrayed by rose painters? Someone should start a thread on "Roses in Art"! (Hint, hint.) :-) Carol

As Carol says, the painting is by P.S. Krøyer. Lovely paintings in general from the man and his fellow Skagen painters. I've read in a few rose books (can't remember which) that the rose in the painting is Alba Maxima, but I don't know that anyone has been to the actual garden (if it still exists) to identify it.

I hope it still exists!