I don't know if I should even be answering this post since our conditions are so different, and I would hate to encourage you to buy a rose where you would have to use poisons that are toxic to the environment in order to keep it healthy. I hope you'll receive lots of responses from people in your area who have roses they can suggest that don't need spraying. Three favorites in my garden are Lavender Dream, a hybrid musk, Mutabilis and Grandmother's Hat.

Hopefully the Marylanders on the forum can help you out here. A lot of the gallica clan are superb here so you should invest in at least one. A lot of people like 'Charles de Mills'

I really like 'Tuscany Superb' and the moss 'Henri Martin', both have great color and vigor and there's very little to dislike. Totally no spray.

'Mutabilis' and 'Arethusa' are also good for a china roses. I've heard great things about 'Ispahan' and various albas too.

While it dates from the early 1900's, 'Roseraie de l'Hay' is a fantastic rugosa I might add.

I would choose a damask like Celsiana or La Ville de Bruxelles, a gallica such as Belle de Crecy or Jenny Duval and an alba, maybe Felicite de Parmentier or Great Maiden's Blush.

From what I've seen on this forum, most OGRs don't need to be sprayed, since they usually bloom in the early to mid summer. If your garden is not just roses, the other plants can help hide the foliage if it starts looking bad later in the summer. I like OGRs and hope to plant some in a mixed garden with lilacs, peonies and other plants that bloom throughout the summer. Each plant has their time to shine and then it's on to the next group. If your roses lose their leaves, put some taller annuals in front of them to become the focus as summer progresses.

For us it is Felcite Parmentier, Fantin Latour, and Rosa Mundi. I need to move Henri Martin to someplace where I can use its big thorny canes.

'Mutabilis' and 'Arethusa' I believe will have hardiness issues in 6A zone,
I would recommend to choose from the following (all don't need spraying):
Albas: Semiplena ( lots of big hips and very fragrant) or Maxima (double blooms, but very little if any hips)
Early Yellows: Rosa Primula (species ),Rosa Hugonis, Canary Bird, Cantabrigiensis. All have beautiful fragrant flowers in April/May and beautiful foliage and hips later
Gallicas: Charles de Mills, Tuscany Superb, Rosa Mundi, Belle de crecy, Alice Vena
Mosses: Henri Martin, Captain John Ingram
Damask:Ispahan

Olga

Senko, it looks like you're getting some great choices. I won't even bother telling you my best 3 because they'd be total losers in your garden, but I wanted to tell you how exciting your garden with roses is going to be - without even having to spray! Can't wait to see your photos! I like the idea of roses blooming in stages - early, mid and late. And other plants doing the same. There's a lot to be said for a shorter season garden, I think. You can cram a lot of blooming into your spring and summer. Sounds wonderful.

Sherry

If you like baby pink, and have room for another big alba (Alba semi-plena & Alba maxima will both grow about 8' X 10' or more if they're happy) with blue-green foliage (the other two have foliage that is more green than blue-green), you might consider Great Maiden's Blush.

You won't find anything with a fragrance more purely sweet. I don't think it gets as big as the other two "Albas" will get, but I could be wrong about that.

If you like little Polyanthas you might want to consider The Fairy. It isn't really an OGR, but it's been around since WWII. It has no scent, but it's often a pretty dependable grower, and it repeats like a good hybrid tea or floribunda. Its flowers are very small, but it blooms in big inflorescences of them so it makes a good landscape rose in the right setting. I live in zone 6A here north of Boston and I see it blooming dependably every summer in front of another house maybe six blocks away.

You should definitely grow an alba, either Great Maiden's Blush, Maxima, Semi-Plena or Felicite Parmentier for the gallicas I love rosa gallica, or and Rosa Mundi, La belle sultane, and love love Leda not a gallica but a damask.. You might also like Jacques Cartier, Fantin Latour. All are lovely and have great scent. You do not need to spray any of them and give four season beauty. ALso get some species the first being rose glauca.

Take a trek to Hartwood Roses in Fredericksburg, VA and talk to Connie. There are no "best" OGR's. There are ones that will do better in your area than others and some are hardier than others, but all else is personal preference. So go look at them and talk to someone first hand about the pro's and con's of what you like.

I wouldn't try any ones that like hot climates if I were you, like the chinas, hybrid chinas, noisettes, or teas. If bourbons do ok in your climate, Souvenir de St. Anne's is a beautiful one that doesn't need dry heat to open up.

Souvenir de la Malmaison. Superb performer even in hot and humid North Carolina where I grew it the first time. Immensely beautiful and a very good repeater, lovely sweet powdery perfume and quite healthy. It's been fabulous not only in NC but also in southeast England where I live now, and in northern Germany where my mother grows it. Should do very well for you in PA. Get a grafted one from Pickering.

Andrea

Um, I sound like a broken record, but Marchesa Boccella (also sold as Jacques Cartier). It makes a nice plant and stays in bloom.

Also, send me an e-mail, there are people in the Philadelphia area (maybe a little warmer than you) and some in Reading who grow a lot of antique roses and could also give some recommendations.

I second Jacques Cartier for the same reasons, and especially for his health even in the southeastern US.

For more and deeper colored blooms and a stronger perfume, I can recommend Comte de Chambord. I like his flowers (and perfume) better than JC's, but he might need protection against BS in a warm-humid climate (he's not bad though in damp Britain without spray).

For a hybrid China, take a look at Sophie's Perpetual. It produces small but beautifully shaped flowers that are of a deeper colored pink at the rims and of a subtle porcelain pink at the center, gaining intensity of color with increasing UV exposure in true China manner. It's a terrific perfomer with one of the most deliciously tropical perfumes. Might need some BS protection in warm and humid conditions.

Another terrific performer for me in North Carolina was Vick's Caprice. Big lovely and subtly striped pink flowers carried in repeated abundance on a lax arching shrub. Quite healthy, although might catch some BS if not sprayed, but not disfiguring.

Andrea

My best performer continuous heavy bloomer Kronprincessin Viktoria white sport of SDLM.

Thanks everyone! I made a nice long list which will need to be shortened, but that is the fun part. I will always have next year too. Unfortunately the pictures will not be posted for 2 years. Anticipation is part of the enjoyment.