Thanks for the article Henry; interesting. I hope the Brownell roses get marketed...I want another shot at Maria Stern and I'd love to see what else he might have bred.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings Blog

A few years ago I went to Little Compton, RI the former home of the Brownell's to visit Dan Russo an in frequent poster on this forum (Northeast roseman?). His parents had/have a cottage there.

I've grown a few B's and currently have two, Rhode Island Red and Show Garden (a gift from Dan), It is by the way one of my tough roses and a lovely peachy pink and a near climber. A little puzzling as the CRL lists it as pink. I suppose that is close enough. I planted a couple of others that haven't survived.

Yes, there's some interesting things afoot with Brownell roses. I've been working with Dorrie on this project for some time, contributing non-virused budwood from my collection.

Dan Russo

Years ago I used to see the Brownell roses mostly in the Gurney's and Jung's seed catalogues. I haven't gotten the Gurney's seed catalogue since I was a teenager, so I have no idea about that one now. I also haven't seen Jung's recently, but when I last looked at one that I can recall (maybe four years ago) I don't recall that they had many of them (or maybe none, I'm not sure now).

I've always thought that talking up hardiness out of Rhode Island seemed a little peculiar (not that this has anything to do with whether the roses are worthy or not). I'd go with Buck or Canadian roses first if I was primarily concerned about hardiness. Sure it's chilly in Rhode Island, but it's colder in Boston, and significantly colder in Portland, ME.

I'm interested in 'Rhode Island Red'...what's the scoop on this Brownell? Would it like my Zone 5? How well does it rebloom and is it true red or more blue? Any other comments to share?

I couldn't get the link to work for me, but did try Googling Brownell roses to see if I could find the article. Nope. But I did find this article by Dan Russo
http://www.heritagerosefoundation.org/4resources/Rosa%20Mundi/3/RM3_Russo.pdf
and it brought up an interesting point that we had been discussing on another thread about the fact that some roses are/were not intended to be grown on their own roots. The article states "When grown as the Brownells instructed in their catalogues, i.e., grafted on multiflora rootstock with the bud union placed several inches deep, they have indeed proven to be very long-lived, floriferous roses."
Even though this has been mentioned very recently, it had not truly registered with me that a rose might actually have been designed to be grafted.

Wow...sorry, but that's a mind bender for me. I'm still only gonna grow own root roses, but a serious crack in my mental fortress has been noted....

Here is a link that might be useful: Dan Russo article

Mike & Angie Chute (RoseSolutions.net)have been propagating Brownell roses for sale for the past few years. They have quite a few varieties. Last time I spoke to them at A Rhode Island Rose Society meeting, they said they might not continue as business was not good. Another reason to support the small business'.

I'm a fan of Dr. B's 'Nearly Wild' because it has proved to be hardy in my z4 area & is a nice little landscape rose that's almost always in bloom. I've thought about trying some other roses by him but there has been a lot of talk about them being very heavily virus infected. Is there a source that sells any Dr. B's roses that tries to provide virus free plants?

Wirosarian, I know the Dan Russo article I linked to above is a bit old, but it does address the issue of Dr. B's roses being virus infected and what has been done to repair that. I don't remember the details, but you might check the article.

terryjean: 'Rhode Island Red' has a nice deep red color shaded maroon, good repeat & good fragrance. The flowers tend to "ball" on the first flush, though. In terms of winter hardiness, the Brownell roses in my experience are cane-hardy down to the -5 to possibly -10 degree range.

Thanks for the info Neroseman, especially about the balling issue....I have the same problem with Aloha.
-t