My guesses would be Mr Lincoln or Olympiad, I've seen them both look like that. It's a really pretty rose and looks healthy! Sorry to hear you have goutweed, that's a beastly nuisance!

I think its Mr. Lincoln l. i have one plant and the leaves look quite similar. this is supposed to be one of the most desease resistant hybrid teas. worth saving, but he tends to grow tall and lanky. the perfume is very strong in the early morning and evening hours and in cooler temperature. in summer heat, middle of the day i find it tones down quite a bit. When in bloom, i bring some cut flowers indoors and enjoy the fragrance all day.

Here is my first bloom from may.

Although the blooms and leaves appear similar, Mr. Lincoln is highly fragrant, even in an arid desert setting, so I would tend to rule it out. Also, if it is healthy and mature, (roots etc. winning among the weeds) in SW Ontario, it should be at least 5'?. What is it... I have no clue as there are so many hybrid teas with fairly redundant looking blooms, however, they differ in performance, fragrance, growth habit etc.

More info.could help narrow it down...

Thanks everyone for your input!

Lynn - very helpful notes about Mr. Lincoln fragrance and growth habit. Mr. Mystery has never been more than 3 -4ft tall and this rose is more than 5 yrs old. It does seem a little stunted as it never seems to put out multiple canes or blooms, but that could be because it gets eaten down to nubs by rabbits every winter (free pruning service I guess?). I do have other floribunda roses nearby that get devoured by rabbits too, but they bounce back much more vigorously than Mr. Mystery.

Tina, check the fragrance in the morning. for me it’s much stornger in the morning compared to afternoon. another surefire sign of Mr. Lincoln is the dark red new growth. its very tempting to deer and rabits. i had to protect my plant closely for 3 years before it finally reached the current 5.5 feet height. The rose also reblooms for me infrequently until frost.

the below is what i could find. i had to blwo out the original picture quite a bit to highlight the new canes but this should give you a fair idea of how red the new canes look:

Hmmmm...I don't know what it is...the long narrow canes that aren't very filled out makes me think of Mr. Lincoln. Mine wasn't very fragrant when I grew it.

Too bad about the goutweed.

"there is a mild fragrance"

Then it ain't 'Mister Lincoln'. That boy is intensely fragrant.

Mr Lincoln is extremely fragrant. Florist’s roses cant come anywhere closer. To me the scent is sweet, fruity, but not like the classic rose fragrance we are familiar with. one single bloom can perfume entire patio early in the season. the fragrance does deminish as weather gets hotter and more blooms come along, but still always noticeable. the petal count doesn’t incraese beyond 50 or so. and he is very tall with no foliage or side branches in the bottom 2.5’ or so.

He is hardy to zone 5 when grafted, but ownroot is not as cold hardy. mine is grafted and i dont provide any special winter protection.

now im thinking may be your mystery rose is not Mr Lincoln afterall.

Tina - I grow roses in pots. You don't protect your roses...wow! That's great...so much less work. :)

Rosecanadian - yeah it’s a bit risky, but I’ve been pretty careful about choosing hardy roses….until lately. I’ve been successful zone pushing with a few z5a and z5b sited against a south and west facing brick wall. I’ve been bolder this year and have acquired a couple of z6 roses and may site them in the same spot or chicken out and overwinter in my unheated attached shed if I can’t get backup cuttings to root :P

Tina - LOL yup, the zone pushing. A lot of people here will have 3 inch styrofoam walls that they put up around roses in their garden...then they stuff them with bags of leaves and put styrofoam on top. It works. :) :)