It's lovely, Steve, and I'm glad you finally could get it IDed.

Oh I just love that rose ! I had it on an arbor in Pa . Great great rose. Glad if does well for you in the shade !! What other musks do you grow ? They are my favorite class .

Moonlight, Erfurt, Buff Beauty and two others that are deer food. One of them is Ballerina but I don't get enough flowers to be sure. Moonlight and Lavender Lassie are tall enough to have protection from the deer. I rediscovered Buff Beauty and caged it last year. It has some catching up to do. Buff Beauty and Lavender Lassie are two of my favorites.

Sorry to be the one to say it, but I'm pretty sure that isn't Lavender Lassie. The foilage is entirely wrong and the bloom and bud form is a little off as well.

Lavender Lassie has more oval shaped serrated foilage as opposed to the more pointed and elongated serrated foilage shown in the pic. The foilage really isn't similiar at all.

I looked at a lot of pictures and they look awfully close.
I see what you mean about leaf shape but it is still close.

foliage from another site:
http://petalsfromthepast.com/magento/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/l/a/lavender_lassie.jpg

http://www.rosebuddies.com/images/LavenderLassie.jpg

If you are in blackspot country and the foliage is clean, it is probably not LL. Also LL normally doesn't repeat much.

Steve,

I agree, in retrospect, the foilage is somewhat close, but just too narrow, elongated and pointy for LL. At least when I compare it to the 2 that I grow from Pickering Nurseries originally. The leaves are much broader and rounded in shape.

Also, the bloom doesn't look right either. LL tends to open and then show the stames in the center of the bloom. I've attached a pic for reference.

How large are the plants you believe to be LL?

Lastly, LL only really has 2 flushes a year. One very heavy one in spring and then another fairly heavy flush in fall. It is not a fast repeating rose.

This post was edited by the_morden_man on Mon, Jun 2, 14 at 14:10

from the pickering site:
http://www.pickeringnurseries.com/web_store.cgi?cod=19lav

Blooms continuously - check
Strong Fragrance -check
Picture - check ( I will see if I get the stamens).

The bush is about 6x6 and the lower stems are bare which might be the deer.

Most of my OGR were purchased from Pickering and Hortico around 1987-1989. I did purchase a few bushes at Vintage Gardens in Sebastopol and the annual celebration of old roses in El Cerrito.

When I was rose crazy, I planted roses anywhere that got some sun and where there was more shade, I planted Hybrid Musk. I had two large Monterey Pines that shaded the area. I got rid of them and the roses were happy If the mystery rose is Hybrid Musk, based on color it matches well with Lavender Lassie.

I don't have black spot and only the HT have any fungus issues.

I seriously doubt that anyone growing Lavender Lassie would agree with Pickering that it "blooms continuously," however generously that is construed.

The Lavender Lassies in the pic I included are about 11 years old and originally grafted on Multiflora from PIckering. They receive about 8 hours of direct sun a day. They bloom twice a year with deadheading. Has been that way since year 1 and only the volume of blooms changed with age. It is by no stretch a continuous bloomer. They also blackspot mildly every summer in the bottom 15-20% of leaves, then drop the leaves cleanly and regrow new ones. The same experience with an LL I planted in the east coast of Canada in every regard.

I still think the rose in your pic is a bourbon, but whatever it is, as long as you're happy with it, that is all that truly matters.