I have 3 Harkness roses... besides Chandos I have 'Octavia Hill' and 'Armada' and I absolutely love both of these but they are not fragrant, so would not be of interest to you... I grow them for their free flowering abilities, healthy foliage and easy to maintain... I have other roses for scent so I don't mind too much...

I have a 4th on the way and it is the one in the link below, which I'm looking forward to very much, it's one of those Hulthemia hybrids...

'Octavia Hill'... 2 either side of a path..

'Armada' a climbing Floribunda that will grow very tall... always in bloom through the summer and sets big hips.. I've just taken some seeds from it..

I often look at their inventory along with about a dozen others from around Europe... choice is so difficult here because there are so many to choose from..

Chawton Cottage at Harkness Roses

I have lady of the mist, did not pay attention to who the breeder is until you posted. Here is my post from earlier this year with pictures

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5689811/lady-of-the-mist

However, since then, summer has not been kind to her. Even in a part sun area, all the foliage had been burnt crisp, turned a wierd shade of green, almost like the damask crud and stunted. No blooms, and that is ok. Hoping the cooler weather will slow her to recover.

As for habit, I think she is very thorny with stiff long canes.

Nearly every bloom I'm seriously drawn to turns out to be Harkness. Older threads have had mixed reviews on this breeder as far as growing goes, though everyone agrees they're gorgeous. Hope some recent experiences pop up! (Including some from the East Coast.)

I tried Harkness roses Two Courageous roses, One Livin Easy rose, and Two Easy Does it rose... In my climate all were terrible disease magnets... Had to remove all 5 of them!

SAD because I really liked Easy Does it and Livin Easy..

International Herald Tribune.

Jack Harkness wrote one of the classic 20th century rose books. Titled, oddly enough, Roses, it is well worth seeking out for its insights into how at least one rose breeder thinks about roses. It is also interesting because as a rose memoir, it is completely and unapologetically English-centric. So one of its tidbits is that someone whose family business was roses didn't even know about blackspot until he was a young man. It was not part of the English gardening landscape. You do not breed roses for resistance to a non-existent disease. Even today, English (and European) blackspot pressure isn't remotely like that of the East Coast of North America. So if blackspot resistance is important, that is information that has to be gotten locally.

It is from more personal sources that I got the information that the European rose breeders of that era smoked like chimneys. Useful for anyone who wonders why their roses don't smell.

Thanks for posting! At least I know they look great for most people.

Marlorena, all your roses look so beautiful. Amanda is tempting me..thats a lot of blooms!

verdantcroft, I too hope more people write in!

I haven't read Jack Harkness's book but I think it's right to point out that his family were involved in breeding roses during the periods when black spot pressure was almost non existent here due to the air pollution from the Victorian times to the mid 1950's... which is why it's now a risk to grow roses from those times and expect to get the same glowing results as they often seemed to report on, as we won't see them as clean and healthy as they did.... this is due to the Clean Air Act 1956 and repeated amendments during the 1960's and 1990's which removed the sulphuric acid from the air... which kept blackspot away...

Some early references on HMF make me laugh a bit about how healthy roses were then... here's a clanger from The Rose Annual 1953 about the Harkness rose 'Frensham'...

''assuming that for the purpose of this article the term masterpiece means a rose as near perfection as possible, I think floribunda 'Frensham' would be my choice''

...try growing it today without spraying.... as Peter Beales later noted... ''mildews rather badly these days''...

We have our fair share of disease here...

I think you'd be fine trying all of the roses you list in zone 6 but in my zone 5, Harkness roses are notorious among the bigger breeders for not surviving my winters. The only ones on your list I can successfully grow are Ginger Syllabub, Well Being, and Lady of the Mist. Well Being only survived & bloomed at knee high in my virtual zone 6, and GS and LotM basically spend all their energies regrowing from the winter and never bloom (GS eventually died). The only Harkness roses that bloom reasonably well are Savoy Hotel and Easy Does It/Living Easy (sorry Jim - they do fairly well for me). They are all grafted and in the case of Harkness roses I think the graft really helps.

It's interesting about the biography - in addition to absence of blackspot, it sounds like he bred his roses for an English-type zone 8 climate too. Sad because I like many of his roses, but I tend to avoid him as a breeder unless I know more about a rose's hardiness.

Cynthia

Many of the comments on gardenweb didnt speak highly of Ginger Syllabub. Does not bloom much. grows very slowly... There are so many climbing roses to choose from, I am dropping GS from my list.

I have just two Harkness roses both relatively new to my garden, both very promising.

Well Being - Super fragrant grapefruit scent, interesting colors, form, very unique

Sheila’s Perfume - again super fragrant, this one has a perfume type scent, very unusual for a rose in this color range. Might have some issue with petal count in the heat of summer, but I still like it.

This year I’m eagerly awaiting Chandos Beauty . I think CB and Well Being are the rated the most fragrant on Harkness’ own site.

Ben thank you so much!! I have an eye on WB. Dublinbay mentions it too. I might just get it. Where did you get yours? I think I saw it in HR. SP sounds fabulous. I dont know if I can work in that color, but maybe I can!

Hi Katya

Mine came from Long Ago Roses , but as you mentioned Heirloom lists it too.

Hey thanks Ben! I did not know about this nursery. Overall they are dependable? Much less expensive than HR.

Yes, Long Ago’s plants are very healthy young own-root. The owner sometimes posts pics of her gorgeous garden on this forum, but she’s very low key about it, so I’ll let her identity herself . She is a one woman business, so has limited stock.

I just ordered a white Harkness rose, 'Margaret Merill'. Many here have commented this rose is very fragrant and the fragrance wafts.

I just realized that I DO grow at least one Harkness rose, ‘Penny Lane’. It’s a large flowered climber. I truly think Penny Lane would be much nicer in a cooler climate than mine. The sun is just SO harsh in So California. I only get the lovely blush colored blooms in the very early spring and occasionally in the very late fall/early winter. The rest of the year, its blooms fade instantly to an off- white color that quickly looks dirty and blows quickly. It has not been a prolific bloomer for me at all. It’s been in the ground here for at least 5 years. I have seen many lovely pictures of Penny Lane on HMF, so I think it’s a good rose. It’s just not a good rose in MY garden. It’s totally disease free, but again, I don’t get much disease other than powdery mildew and occasional rust. Penny Lane has never suffered from either one. HMF gives it an excellent rating for heat tolerance. The plant itself does just fine in my dry heat. The blooms, not so much.

I know you didn’t ask about this one, but I just happened to notice that Penny Lane is a Harkness rose. It might do great for you, as it’s listed to zone 5b, and you’re much higher up than I am. The sun wouldn’t be nearly as intense, and Penny Lane would probably show the lovely apricot shade it has the potential to. Lisa

I just started looking at the Harkness site, and found another Harkness that I grow. This one, I have been totally happy with. Cream Abundance is a shrub rose that blooms almost constantly for me. It’s not even finished with one flush as it’s setting buds for the next. It takes the heat and bright sun just fine. All it really wants is to be deadheaded, average water and fertilizer. It had a little powdery mildew when it was younger, but I don’t think I’ve seen any lately. It’s just an all around good rose that blooms all the time, and doesn’t become enormous in my warm climate. The blooms are a lovely cream color, sometimes there’s a little apricot tinge.

I SO wish I had taken a picture two days ago. Yesterday’s wind and 4% humidity made it so I had to remove over the half the blooms before taking the photo below. It’s a blooming machine!

A close up of a bloom that survived the Santa Ana.

I highly recommend this one! Lisa

Lisa, thank you so much for those suggestions! I did not know about Penny Lane or Cream Abundance. I just looked them up and the descriptions sound like they are fantastic and easy to grow, a win win. Both the subtle colorations and the form are beautiful. I think I would want to grow these.

Is PL stiff caned or lax?

Thank you so much again!

Lisa, I also meant to ask, how big did PL get for you? The size estimates vary wildly.

i love well being and would like to get another. heirloom is out. any other sources in the u.s.?