Sonbie -- This was in the A.C. Postel Garden, across the street from the Mission? Up near the eucalyptus, by the stone wall? If so, it SHOULD be 'Etoile de Lyon.' I planted those roses, and though it was a long time ago, I don't recall SdPN being there. But I AM positive that EdL was there. Here is a very poor photo of Etoile. It's only beginning to open, but you can see the color of the rose -- NOT the coppery color of SdPN -- and the look of the leaves. The leaves are an important clue, because they're quite distinctive, or so I think. Jeri

Hi Tangles, My EdL came as a one gallon own root in the fall of 2014. I potted it up and let it grow in a large container until putting it in the ground spring of 2016. So far, it is much wider than tall, which is common with my teas...they tend to grow out for the first few years and then start growing up. It's probably around 5 ft wide now, but only about 3 ft tall. Mine is in all day full sun and takes that well here (we have average summer temps in the 90s with a day or two in the low 100s here and there; our humidity is very high and we normally get rain every week or two throughout the growing season). Mine blooms in flushes with quick repeat even in the highest temps (seems to prefer heat). Blooms do lose their yellow quickly in heat, though...fade to creamy white soon after opening in high heat. Blooms will ball and turn to brown mush without opening in cooler weather if rain/humidity are high. Fragrance is moderate to my nose. I don't remember it being overly thorny. A few pics of mine from 2017:

Sherry, if "Schmidt's Buff Giant" is really the original Anna Olivier (as it seems to be so far), then I have no idea what your rose is, but if it "never has had any pinkish coloration" then it cannot be AO. My AO (the original Schmidt's Buff Giant) has pinkish coloration on its outer petals about 80% of the time. The rest of the time, depending on the weather, the bush can put out all light yellow blooms, all light pink blooms, and recently, even all almost white blooms! Last week it even put out a couple of blooms with dark/bright pink/orange coloration on the outer petals, just like the cool weather AO pics from Australia. However, the normal blooms are buff with a brick/pink color on the outer petals. So, I agree with Kim - you now have an "unknown" beautiful old tea rose - if you need a label for it, you might label it "NOT Anna Olivier". I have no opinion about the BAO - Etoile de Lyon discussion, as I have never seen EdL. It does look like a beautiful rose, however. I just looked up AO on Help Me Find again. It is sort of confusing that so much info under that page is really about "Bermuda Anna Olivier" , which is not AO at all - perhaps that info should be moved to its own page, or to the Etoile de Lyon page? Just a thought - Jackie

Mary Jane, I agree with Jeanne - its a matter of personal preference. I also have William Baffin (which to me is more of a magenta color, not pink) and have him growing with the white clematis, Huldine. If white isn't your preference, purple is a great choice. I would recommend, clematis, Etoile Violette. In the pics below there's, clematis, Etoile Violette (pic 1), WB with Huldine (pics 2, 4 and 5) and clematis Huldine (pic 3). Both EV and H are very vigorous clematis, but WB is pretty vigorous (almost too much!), too.