A more beautiful, fuller rose than New Dawn is its sport, Awakening. A somewhat deeper pink excellent climbing rose is Viking Queen.

Reveal your location for best results. Zones cover a very large amount of territory, and what rose do well is very regional.

You might want to consider whether to buy an own root rose or a grafted rose. I prefer own root roses because I live in a colder climate (Zone 5b). If you want own root roses, you might take a look at High Country Roses, which sells only own root roses and has a wide selection of lovely climbers. HCR is where the Denver Rose Society and Denver Botanic Gardens buy their roses. HCR's prices are very competitive. The plant you receive will be small, but it will grow quickly.

I would go with an entirely different rose, Renae, for your climber. A fabulous climber!

Renea is gorgeous but zone 6 I’m not sure about . I would choose the generous gardener of your selection! Iceberg is a black spot nightmare if you aren’t in a place like California. I’ve heard repeat on Shropshire lad isn’t that great . New dawn is gorgeous yes but so thorny and you may not be able to walk under that arbor in no time ! It would be my second choice of your list :). Hope you’ll tell us more about your location!

I recommend Zephirine Drouhin which is thornless, an important attribute in a rose covering an arch you walk through. Don't even think about New Dawn unless you want to shred clothes and skin!

I had a Shropshire Lad that bloomed once in 2 yrs. Ive heard similar things from others. Mine wasn't grafted. It might be better grafted. Olivia is lighter pink and an excellent bloomer..a real workhorse in my garden. I have 2 grafted Olivias and they bloom more thn any other rose here. She gets large here not sure how big in your zn 6.

Hmmm this is a very difficult thing to do. There are just too many beautiful light pink climbers. I would like to second lilyfinch’s of the generous gardener. I think it gorgeous. Awakening or new dawn are amazing roses, but I would keep them away from walkways. You exact location would help, like Lily said iceberg will black spot depending on where you live, but if you are on the right location it could be a winner.

I apologize OT: lilyfinch I am keeping an eye on your posts and your wonderful new home in Cali. I think that pool with dinosaurs =) is going to bring many years of happiness to your family. I am very jealous, you are going to be able to have wonderful roses plus all kinds of amazing tropical things in Cali. Good luck!

My 'Viking Queen' survived the winter on the north side of the (unheated) garage, but didn't survive being snapped off during spring clean up and then weed-eated.

Oops.

But it did have lovely, fragrant pink blooms. She's moderately thorny, but I think my 'White Cap', 'Florentina', and 'Quicksilver' are better armed than she was. If I put her on an arch, I think I'd make sure it was a wide one.

If I can figure out where to squeeze another moderate-to-thorny climber, I'll get her again.

Speaking of Zepherine, her light-pink sport 'Kathleen Harrop' might work for you!

What kind of 6a do you have? I'm in 6a too, 20 minutes from 5b actually, and we don't get much for snow cover. Late winter/early spring yo-yos from upper forties to low twenties. Late freezes are unfortunately common. If you're in a 6a that's more consistently cold, has reliable snow cover, and doesn't do the up-down Missouri Mazurka in the spring, you have more options to choose from!

I'm going to think on this and take a look at what I have in my climbing inventory. I am also not sure about Rinnai and zone 5 and New Dawn and even Viking queen or fairly thorny to have near a walkway because part of their beauty is the way that they hang down and off of things. I am currently enamored with a rose whose name all type when I am at my laptop. Off the top of my head I'm thinking Felix la Claire or Dreamland.

How about Colette, Spirit of Freedom, or Wedgewood?

I do not recommend New Dawn for an arch. It has these long laterals that might poke people. Of the ones you listed, I would go with TGG.

Is Colette Lowe thorn? I've really wanted that one.

I love my four Zephrine Drouhin climbers. The bourbon rose fragrance is amazing. And nearly thornless as well. Very prolific continuous bloomer March til December in my Zone 10. near coast in Southern California.

I would look at Pink Ghislaine de Feligond and Nahema. Both are low thorn with gorgeous flowers. Nahema's scent is ethereal. Pink GdF is a sport of GdF. Vesfl current post on her roses shows a beautiful flowering as does Marlorena's recent post. I;ll post pic in a sec of regular GeF.

What a fun choice to have to make! As you consider all these options, I would advise you to err on the side of hardier than necessary rather than something that is rated to grow in your zone as its coldest limit. If you get a rose that is hardy in a couple of zones colder than yours, you are more likely to have plenty of surviving cane from year to year. If you pick something that is only just hardy in your zone, you may have a lot of cane die-back, and it will be regrowing from the base of the plant every year, rather than starting out spring leafing out all and forming buds all along your arch, which is probably what you have in mind.

Zephy is lovely, but is normally a brighter/hotter pink than in the above photo, not the pale pink requested. Her sport, Kathleen Harrop is a lovely pale shell-pink colour but I have doubts about either of them having such enthusiastic repeat blooming capacity in colder zones. They can also be prone to mildew in some climates/ conditions. Input from someone who's tried growing them in z6 would be helpful.

One of the hardier Hybrid Musks with an arching habit that could be trained to climb over an arch and along a fence might be a more realistic choice than a Bourbon for this zone. Have a look at Cornelia - clusters of sweet, smallish, med. fading to pale pink flushed apricot blooms contrasting with delicious little coral pink buds, according to HMF hardy to z5b, musky/incense fragrance that can waft in humid climates, can be almost thornless, but varies. Here's a quote from HMF:

"Reply #4 of 4 posted 7 APR 16 by billy teabag

Various sized trusses of small flowers and some bits thorny, some bits thornless here.
On the years it was pruned back harder, the trusses were larger and the blooms a bit bigger.
Love the contrast between the colour of the buds and the colour of the blooms and the somewhat languid growth that makes it such a useful, malleable rose in a variety of situations. Ours are on rough bush tripods and they seem equally happy on arches, pillars and fences.
Jane Zammit advised making time to trim the spent blooms to encourage new flowering shoots but the hips are absolutely charming if you run out of time to dead head."

Thank you all for your replies! This is all very helpful. I am located in Salem MA, if that gives any more of an idea of the environment that i'm in. I'm mainly looking for a very pale pink rose, so much that it's almost white but I'll check out all the roses you all suggested!

Okay everyone, I looked through your suggestions and I've changed my list somewhat to the following roses:

1. Collete
2. Awakening
3. Swan Lake
4. The Generous Gardener

(Yes, my list has grown haha. But it's so hard choosing when there's so many beautiful roses available. If you could please rank the above four roses, please do!

I am in Eastern Massachusetts and this rose will be planted on a gate arch that gets full sun throughout most of the day. I'm very diligent about pruning/deadheading, so I'm hoping that might take keep a thorny rose away from people walking through, but please let me know your opinion on that as well.

Thank you all for your kind help and suggestions!

Wow, erasmus_gw, I think you may have completely convinced me to get TGG with those photos! I'm in Zone 6, and the rose will be in a full sun gate arbor. Can you please tell me a little about the care of the rose?

Also, this always confused me but what's the difference between a climber and a rambler?

Here's what David Austin Roses says about climbers and ramblers:

1. "Q:What is the difference between a climber and a rambler

A:Climbers generally have large blooms on not too vigorous, rather stiff growth and most repeat flower. Ramblers are in general, much more vigorous. They will produce great quantities of small flowers, although most do not repeat flower. There are exceptions to both these rules: for instance, Malvern Hills and Snow Goose are repeat-flowering ramblers whereas Constance Spry Climbing is a once flowering climber. Most climbers are best for walls, trellises, arches and obelisks whereas ramblers are generally better for growing into trees and covering pergolas or large structures such as garages or sheds ."

I'd agree that ramblers are very vigorous and can have more flexible canes, and very long canes.In my garden they can do well on a fence, or an arbor as well as into a tree or free-standing. They tend to bloom in spring only. I don't think The Generous Gardener needs any special care, in fact it is not fussy. If you want to learn more about rose care in general this is a good place to do that. I don't know why but all of a sudden Houzz started elongating my sentences so I hope when I submit this it'll be corrected.

FWIW, I have an arbor that I pass through multiple times, each day . . . There are roses with thorns on both sides, and I've never found it to be a problem.

Anyhow, I see someone suggested 'Iceberg' (and I agree that it can have blackspot problems in a more-humid climate than California) BUT if you can stand a creamy white, you might consider 'Sombreuil, Cl.'

This is NOT an 1858 Tea Rose -- but a modern (mid 1900's) climber of Wichurana origin, and I think it's reasonably cold tolerant (if not, someone please speak up). It can make a wonderful arbor, and it's very fragrant. In my conditions, it's nicely disease-resistant.

erasmus, your roses are incredible! I hope you'll show us more pictures of your garden, with all those lovely huge roses.

I agree with Ingrid, I would love to see more! Your TGG is lovely. I had thought of getting that one but someone mentioned it bleaches to white in high heat. If it stays the light pink in your photos, I would surely love it to be in my garden!

I second Jeri's suggestion for 'Sombreuil' (the Wichurana hybrid), or 'New Dawn'. If its disease resistance you want, then don't even think about the Austins. 'A Shropshire Lad' was terrible here, usually a leafless mess by the time it was in full bloom, and repeat was almost nonexistent.

Is Cl.S hardy in Z6! Wow! I want it if it so.

I agree with Ingrid and Jasmin, Jeri and Paul's.
Eramus, your garden is magnificent. Got to see more, pls.
Vap, go for it. I am getting mine in Fall, Cl. Sombruiel. Give me some time to set things up and order trellis or arbour.

P. S : Jeri , what size is your trellis. It looks tall :)

jin

Plumeria -- I've never measured it. It's just a standard metal arch from a local Home Depot.

two thoughts ... beyond the sage advice given above ...

first .. SOME climbers can eventually crush a shoddy archway ... did you discuss what you have in that regard ,,,

second ... i hope you understand... that its not just a plant and wait for it to cover such ... it takes a lot of guidance and pruning.. to achieve your goals .. you basically have to force it to grow into the shape you wish ...

third... wait.. i said two.. lol ... im wondering if planting in july or august is appropriate.. for someone with little or no experience .. it can be done.. but it might not be easy ... here in MI... weve had a few days of 90+ temps ... and that could be a problem.. in a full sun location ... so if you were to be mail ordering these... you might want to think about fall delivery.. and planting ... and if you can fill a random list of roses locally.. wow .. but you might think about leaving them potted until fall ...

good luck

ken

ps: why do rose peeps give sage advice????

You might also look at Sally Holmes and Gold Blush, a vigorous floriferous climber that is definitely blush turning to white in my garden.

Again, thank you all for your VERY helpful suggestions. I've narrowed down my choices to:

• The Generous Gardener
• New Dawn

I'm having a hard time choosing between the two. I'm not worried at all about thorns. The reason I'm stuck between the two is, I like the look of an English rose (+1 for TGG) but it seems that MANY people have had reliable success (reblooming and disease resistance) with New Dawn.

Which of the two would you prefer? Is TGG really unreliable in terms of disease resistance and reblooming? If TGG were very disease resistant, I would definitely pick it.

FYI, these will be grown on a entry get archway, full sun for the whole day.

I had been thinking about New Dawn but was scared off by how big it can get. I read that you have to give it plenty of room. It may not get that large in my zone5a Wisconsin though.

Jin, I have Sombreuil Cl it is a pretty rose that does well. I had it in a pot a few years and it was getting large and doing well so I put it in the ground. I dont think it is in a good spot. I found it isn't well draining so I am going to find a better place to move it to. It has the prettiest old fashioned blooms. Looks like a wedding rose.

Oh, Jasmin, now you are killing me . I got to wait a little longer. You have no idea how bad I wanted that rose and Colette.
Jasmin , Just temporary fix the ground for drainage. It is too hot to moved any rose now, right ? I know the rain does not help either so you are in catch 22.
Fix the soil around the rose as much as you can. I think that is the best solution.
jin

L Lake, I would get both. Best of both worlds. They both are different from each other in many ways. The blooms, the scent, the history........

jin

New Dawn (or Awakening) is really vigorous and apparently very hardy. Recently a guy in Maine was looking for a climber to cover one side of his cottage, and his grandmother, who had lots of experience growing roses in Maine, told him New Dawn would work as a climber in their area. I can't verify this myself, not having grown that rose and not currently living in a very cold place. The vigor of the plant is both good and bad for your situation: on the one hand, it would have lots of surviving cane every spring, but on the other hand it might overwhelm your front fence and arbor -- keeping a rogue climber in check can be a lot of work! If you can find an example of this (very very popular rose) in your area (perhaps at a public rose garden) you can see more precisely how it behaves under your conditions.

I think all things being equal, I would go with my (ie your) heart, and give TGG a go.

But, having said that, to get the most accurate picture possible of whether or not all things are actually equal here, your best bet might be to contact a local rose society and try and speak to someone in or as close as possible to your specific area. This is because, as has been mentioned already, the performance of individual cultivars, especially with regards to your two main questions - relative rebloom frequency and disease resistance - are very much influenced by zone, and locality within that zone, and even micro-climate/conditions in your particular garden spot you plan to grow it.

Here's a link to the New England Rose Society:

http://www.rosepetals.org/

There's a link there to a list of Consulting Rosarians who according to the website offer advice to the public for free. Also, at the bottom of the page, there's an email address for the Society. I would ask to speak with someone in Salem or as near as possible to Salem's climate/ conditions, who's familiar with these two roses.

This may give you more objective and locally relevant info than depending on catalogue information from rose breeders'/sellers' websites. Or even enthusiastic rosarians from Australia, California, and various other parts of the US! :-)

I would also recommend browsing the HelpMeFind website, the go-to info source for rose-growers, where you can look at lots of member photos, read their comments, and check out their ratings on just about any rose in existence. While it's not always 100% accurate, since it depends on what information is shared with them, you can often get a good general picture of a rose's performance for a variety of real life growers.

https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.37005.0 (The Generous Gardener)

https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.4460 (New Dawn)

Good luck with your choice; we all understand the agony and ecstasy of making these decisions... :-)

ETA: I'd also ask about how much these roses can be expected to die back in winter in Salem, since I'm just wondering whether TGG is vigorous enough to re-cover your arch each season, if its canes should die back to the ground.

I cannot imagine The Generous Gardener getting disease anywhere it's grown unless you're in some Indonesian rain forest [any left?]... it's just about the healthiest climbing rose I've ever had here, and this season has been the worst in a long time for damask crud and all associated issues... right next to it, like a foot apart, was the disease ridden Baronne Prevost.. which infected everything else around... The GG remained totally clean...

It didn't take off for me until I had it a couple of years, remaining as a 5 foot shrub, then it suddenly threw up these long canes...

Not all Austins are the same in terms of disease. TGG is a lot less prone to bs than many Austins. We get next to no mildew and no rust here so can't comment on that. Sombreuil gets blackspot here more than TGG does, so does New Dawn.

Your Sombreuil arch is beautiful, Jeri, and the view through the arch is also lovely. I'd like to see a video of you pruning it to get it to be so lush and shapely.

I have a nearby rose friend who had a giant Sombreuil trained from his house to a little play house and it was beautiful. I lost most of my Sombreuil , I think to cold, and I'm in zone 7.

I've seen pics of large TGG shrubs. I do think it would take some doing to train it as a climber but Marlorena apparently grows it as a climber.

Here it's recommended more for a pergola or very large arch... but in my experience, like so many Austins, you get a choice.. and it can be kept smaller.. even pruning out the climbing canes completely to return it to shrub form if needed... but if left to itself it's capable of 15 foot or so...

...mine was slow to start... and then it threw up 3 of these big thorny canes to 10 foot or so..

..I then trained it along rope by bending the canes so it broke several laterals..

..it starts to bloom from early June... you can't see the rope but it's trained from one support to another that way.. [the darker pink is another rose].. top right are blooms appearing from those laterals I made..

..centre top are blooms from those laterals... it merges with other roses to the right..

..this is the only true climbing rose from David Austin.. all the others that you see on arches etc. are large shrubs trained differently...except for their few ramblers of course..

I know Krista in NY State has this rose.. zone 5... I'm not sure if it climbs for her there but it's a favoured rose of hers I believe...

I should also make clear that I can't handle huge monster roses...so anything I grow is kept under strict control... so they are capable of growing larger in another garden if left unattended... this is why I like Austins… I get a choice ….

I'm in a colder zone than you, but The Generous Gardener is not tall enough to form a climber in my garden setting. It's 4-5 feet tall here. It has scattered repeat bloom, but not heavy repeat.

Mortimer Sackler has better repeat bloom, but it too is not a climber here at 5- 5 1/2 feet tall.

In your zone they could grow taller.

Edit: Marlorena, your TGG is gorgeous, love the look of it as a tall growing rose. Mine is more of a sprawling shrub.

I live in a colder zone than you and most of my roses never reach climbing status. So not much experience there. But I have a lot of Austin roses. They make me very happy. I also love the bloom forms of these. I find them to be fairly easy to care for. Some are more vigorous than others, some have better disease resistance than others too. But given full sun growing positions they have less issues in general. My vote is for the generous gardener. Again zone 6 is very different than zone 7-10. Climbers just don't work the same way in colder zones with winter dieback.

L Lake, I know our "John Cabot" may not give you a light enough pink (but is a climber ;)) so if you could indulge me for just one post as this JC is in full bloom this weekend.

Just came across this:

https://laidbackgardener.blog/2016/10/04/hardier-climbing-roses-for-cold-climates/

I see the author includes New Dawn in his list of what he describes as 'truly hardy' climbing roses, plus there are some others you might like to check out.

I have personally grown both The Generous Gardener and New Dawn, and greatly preferred TGG. But I live in a very different climate from yours, Silicon Valley in California, zone 9b. Here ND was subject to powdery mildew. Also for me, TGG repeated much better than ND did.

Also, I just liked TGG better. I thought it was prettier.

YMMV on all these points.

Rosefolly

Thank you, Ingrid, Sultry, and Plumeria Girl.

My TGG plants are not very old and haven't put out long climbing canes yet. One arches over my picket fence. The other is growing strongly. The pink does fade to a blush white but to me the different colors are pretty.

John Cabot looks like a good one.

If the Austin rose you want won't get large in your zone, you can plant it at the foot of the arch to cover the lower canes of whatever climber you choose (if the spot you are considering has enough space. For example, you could have Awakening climbing the arch/espaliered along a fence (roots planted at the back of the arch), and the Wedgwood rose growing in at the front of the arch on either side along the base. Here is an article by Paul Zimmerman about why that might work: https://paulzimmermanroses.com/gardening/training-roses/filling-an-arbor-with-roses/

Hey that's a great idea actually! Does anyone know any non-climber roses that look identical to New Dawn?

Actually, that is what I planned on doing with my arbor only using the bush version at the foot of the climbing sport, and also using large flowered climbers with their small flowered look alikes. A couple of years ago there were a couple of good posts on the latter. For the prior, I have, for example, the two versions of La France, Crimson Glory, Clotilde Soupert and Belind'a Dream. For Blossomtime I have Archduke Charles and Jean LeJoie as a small flowered version. The Cl. miniatures are very useful for this purpose, such as Red Cascade and Firefall. Even the Kosters have a climbing version. I plan to stagger them slightly. I have many ND, but none for this arbor. Duchesse de Brabant, Quietness and possibly Bloomfield Abundance have the same tones in my yard, but may not all be hardy . Cecile Brunner has a similar shape when opening.I also have shorter climbers to go on trellisses between the main posts to get as many roses in as possible trying to stagger thornier ones with those having smoother canes. I have probably 30 roses for this project, but alas, no arbor yet. : (( I'm planting them against a brick wall this summer since I'm tired of babying them so at least I'll know how they'll look and fare when I finally can get to the arbor.

'Honeymoon' aka 'Vanilla' impressed me in the nursery -- I had never seen or heard of it before. It had a lovely fragrance and graceful habit. It is a Kordes rose, so should be hardy and is the recipient of numerous awards. Sounds like just what you are looking for:
https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.293536

https://twitter.com/PalatineRoses/status/911244841534787584?s=20