I like Delbard roses more than Austin: Nahema is 100% clean for me and Camp in England ... fantastic scent, almost thornless.

I like Guillot roses for rainy climate: Lots of people like Mme. Paule Massad, Sonia Rykiel (I have this one, GREAT SCENT, doesn't ball in the rain), Versigny is clean and doesn't ball either. Francis Blaise is 100% clean. We had 49" of rain one year plus 23" of snow.

For diseases-prevention, mulch your roses with a bag of limestone pellets (it has anti-fungal properties, and its high pH prevents black spots-germination). Such mulching also leaches out calcium, which helps with balling.

For deer-prevention, the very smelly toilet-cleaner balls hung in a mesh-bag will deter deer. Drawback? rain will wash the chemicals down the soil. I save my orange and lemon mesh-bags for that purpose. If you have rosemary bush or Russian Sage bush, a few of those branches in a mesh-bag will deter deer.

Irish-Spring Soap doesn't work as animal repellent, they ate it and vomited all over my yard.

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Wed, Apr 3, 13 at 16:33

I love Champney's Pink Cluster -- my only caveat would be that most of the roses in that "family" -- Blush Noisette and its descendants -- MUST be deadheaded, as they don't drop their petals cleanly.

This may not be true of CPC -- but you might want to make sure.

Jeri (who also lives in coastal fog)

Do Rugosa's grow well in the PNW?? You may want to take a good look at this group. The older ones seen to do the best. After growing roses for almost 40 years I finally started growing them 2 years ago. Fantastic group of roses.

I don't know about Rugosas, Ken. According to a quick web search, there's a blog recommending them for here due to their disease resistance. I need to take a closer look at them--thank you for the suggestion!

And thanks for the tip on the limestone, Strawberry! Our soil is a little acidic, so a little lime likely wouldn't be a bad thing in any case. We used some dolomite lime in the holes when we planted grapes and they're doing great.

*waves at Jeri through low-hanging clouds and today's bout of mist falling* Thanks! I thought I'd seen something about dead-heading CPCs, but it's good to know that it's more "mandatory" than "advised". :) I should go down to the local society's rose garden when things are blooming and take a look. Sadly, a few years ago, they ripped out all the OGRs to make the garden "more up-to-date" and more "in line with current trends". Read: "we ripped out anything fragrant and/or interesting and planted hybrid teas because they're the only thing that wins the big prizes in rose shows." :( I only wish I'd known and wanted to plant roses then--I would've offered them a home and/or asked for cuttings.

If you like Blush Noisette you might love
'Spray Cecille Brunner' it has a good damask type fragrance and is a no-spray rose in the san francisco bay area where conditions favor p.m. most of the year and b.s. in autumn after the rains come. My mother and We grew it in Seattle and it never needed spraying for anything.

It can be grown as a 4' tall by 6 feet long hedge, or as an 8' tall bush. Here it blooms fully in spring, summer and the autumn, whereas the climbing form of the same rose only bloom fully in spring with a light flush in the autumn.

More petal substance will lessen balling, so I also suggest
'Grandmothers Hat' a fragrant pink H.P that is not as cabbagy as many of that class, re-blooms faster when kept to c. 4 to 5 feet tall but can also be grown as a climber.
anniesannuals.com sometimes has it. and vintagegardens.com and roguevalleyroses.com

Luxrosa

Praties -- Did you know that there is a PNW Heritage Roses Group affiliate group?

Cascadia HRG.

They meet on-line for the most part -- because they cover so much territory -- but periodically, they do gather "in the flesh." And there is no membership fee.

They might be very helpful to you! They have an informational website at: https://sites.google.com/site/cascadiahrg/

* Cascadia HRG: On-line group of old rose lovers in Oregon, Washington & British Columbia; Meets On Line!

Drop me a private message, and I'll give you more contact information. They're great folks, with lots of knowledge.

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful: Cascadia Heritage Roses Group.

Thank you for the suggestions, Luxrosa. They sound lovely and I will be checking them out!

No! I didn't know, Jeri. Expect a PM, because that sounds like my sort of group. :) *runs off to check the link*

So glad I was able to introduce you!

Jeri

I don't grow Champney's but have Tutta's Pink Noisette, Blush Noisette and Mme Alfred Carriere.

In my no-spray garden setting they get blackspot and drop their leaves; however, they are hardy and great bloomers.

I've seen Champney's at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden and it is lovely.

Thanks, Krista--I'll check those out, too!

And thanks again, Jeri! Looks like a very, very nice group and I'm sure I'll learn a lot. And then there's all the enabling... :D

Happy to have enabled you into a good group. I'm hoping to see some of the group in 2014. :-)

hi, Praties,
I live north of you in Kitsap County - I'm a member of that Cascadia group and think I just said 'hi' to you there.

This is the start of my fourth year up here, so the rose gardening is getting interesting now as some are starting to bloom well for me. My garden is no spray as well, so I'm always on the look out for disease resistant roses.

I don't grow CPC but I do have two other noisettes of that type and just ordered two more, so I obviously like them! I've had them in too much shade so blooming has been less than it should be, I think. The foliage has been very clean, though and I am hopeful that this year will be a better blooming year. I grow them at the edge of a woodland, so I don't particularly care about deadheading, although I know that's a problem as Jeri says.

Something else you might like that blooms a lot and does well w/o disease, is 'Darlow's Enigma.' Or if you like a single species, maybe you would like r. nutkana. It grows wild here and produces a lot of hips. There is a gorgeous example of a 'Darlow's Enigma' at Theler nature preserve in Belfair, if you're ever up there. The nutkana is a once bloomer, of course, while DE reblooms.

Another alba you might like is 'Queen of Denmark' - I look forward to that rose every year too, as well as my 'Maxima.'

I just bought 'Spray Cecile Brunner' from Vintage, so am glad to hear your comment, Luxrosa.

I am just starting to add some ramblers - but do have 'Ghislaine de Feligonde' which does really well here on the north side of a wall and think it is really a beautiful thing.

Good luck, and hope that helps a little. Gean

Darlow's Enigma bloom from the plant at Theler preserve

{{gwi:248434}}

n. nutkana

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deleting duplicate post - I don't know why it posted twice ...

This post was edited by harborrose on Sat, Apr 6, 13 at 1:11

*waves northward towards Harborrose* We have either R. nutkana or R. gymnocarpa or, perhaps, both growing here naturally. I really need to take a look at the leaves and/or hips this year to get a positive ID. I've slowly been trying to identify and photograph all of the native plants on the property, but have been a laggard on the native roses. :/

Thanks for the tip on the Theler preserve! We get up that way a few times a year and I'll be sure to check it out.

Praties -- You likely have R. nutkana. It's pretty ubiquitous up thereabouts. My friend in OR (NOT a rose friend -- a dog friend) calls it "Nootka Rose." :-)

Jeri

:D That's the common name for R. nutkana. The other is Baldhip or Dwarf rose. The other native here is R. pisocarpa (clustered wild rose), but the ground here isn't damp enough (hard to believe, isn't it?) to support it and the roses don't cluster, as such.

At least the wildlings are easier to ID than the garden roses! :)