Zepherine Drouhin flowers continuously from late spring to autumn in a temperate climate, such as the UK. It is susceptible to black spot, however.

It is easy to train into most shapes and has a lovely fragrance.

Daisy

I am in Sweden and agree with Daisy. ZD was a perfect rose in my previous patio garden in the city and quite healthy. There were hardly any other roses near. It reached up to the grateful upstairs neighbours and was not short enough for a pillar. When I moved to my present larger garden 25 years ago I got two that became sick at once and had to be removed. I planted another Zéphirine Drouhin last year in the hope that the drier climate we seem to be getting will keep it healthy although it now has 200 companions, some sickly. So far so good.

You may also like to consider Kathleen Harrop, Zephy's equally delicious and thornless shell-pink sport. Not so often heard of on this forum, IIRC, she's similar to Zephy in every way except for being slightly less vigorous, which perhaps might make her a bit easier to manage for an espalier.

This flickr photo here shows her blooms in close up, click on to the next one for a shot of her trained on an old brick wall. You can do quite a lot of different things with her.

I've got a few Zephys as most of you know (60+/-) and I've found that the canes become very stiff so do your wrapping around the post from the get-go.

In zone 9, it only blooms once and is a powdery mildew magnet.

What a gorgeous vignette! I hope to get one this spring to grow with New Dawn on a fence. Is it really low thorn or is that just hype?

Thank you vaporvac…. I've found just one small thorn, as it took me by surprise when it snagged me... but as good as thornless really...

sounds perfect! I'm trying to plant thornless with the thorny monsters so I'm not attacked from all angles! Lol! :-)

What a stunning photo, M!

My ZD will be its second summer this time round. It hardly grew... and I’m quite concerned. But you say it takes a while to get going? Hope mine performs better this summer. It did smell beautiful :)

I ended up getting ZD. im not too worried about mildew since I deal with some on another bourbon. The area has other roses and companion plants so if Zd is not In bloom then at least there will be a green backdrop for the other roses. I had seen Kathleen harrop at mottisfont on the garden revival program and I liked the look of the softer colour. I have a spot that I could add another climber so I might consider Kathleen Harrop. The area Is starting to come along, it’s a circular patio in the middle of a rectangular bed, so the corners are big but the areas inbetween the corners are narrow. so I put pretty Jessica, ferndale red china, tiffany, oneto home saffron, Oklahoma and sunny delight in the corners and then Zd and other climbers will go along the back sides that are narrow and long . I had Golden Ophelia planned to go in as well, but the main cane broke and what was left got canker, so I’ll be replacing it with something else. As far as companions go I have Mexican heather and english lavender in the front boarder on the corners and i had rudbeckia goldstrum along the boarders where the beds got narrow. I’ll probalby try something different in the narrow areas to creat a border around the patio since there isn’t enough room for a formal hedge.

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Garden nut, you can't give such a beautiful description without posting a picture! It isn't allowed! Lol! :-) anyway, I hope if you have any you won't be shy. I don't think anyone cares if the plants are small and the area isn't well-developed I really like seeing things from the beginning and visualizing how things go together. It sounds beautiful!

I will post some pictures once things get going on spring. I’m thinking about using monty dons idea of putting Gravel under lavender when planting because I have some doing good and some rotting.