Pax can achieve some rather huge proportions in our milder, longer climate here. It's also a gorgeous plant when permitted to clamber where it wants. One I've always been partial to, just don't have anywhere to put one! (Nice photo, Lynnette) Kim

I am always curious when Kim or Jeri say Huge in SoCal....just how huge is huge?

12' - 15' into trees in the Valley. Quite pretty, but NOT the "shrub" expected from Beales' and Thomas' books. Kim

Lynette - I am so glad you posted this! Pax is one of my most favorite roses. The blooms open into such graceful soft and buttery semi-double blossoms. Ours is planted in very partial sun in a bed which is at the bottom of our front porch - when I got it I thought it would get maybe 4 feet tall. Well, it shot up immediately, and eventually we put an arch over the front stairs (which go from the level where Pax it growing up one story to our front porch and front door) for it to climb on - it climbed up that arch to the house wall, and then proceeded to grow up the wall until it got halfway up the third story! It was at least 15 feet off the ground - perhaps 20 at one point.

Jackie

I grew pax for a number of years . I think mine came from pickering or hortico, but cant be sure. It does like to throw out long canes but can be grown as a shrub by pruning, as i did. Of all my hundred or so roses, it was a favorite. To me it has a sort of sophistication about it that is difficult to put In to words. The leaves on mine tended to be elongated some compared to most other roses and had a very attractive grayed down, green hue. The bud is beautiful, as is the warmish white tone in the flower. Never blooming heavily for me, mine was in light shade, nevertheless I can't imagine that there is any better garden rose anywhere so long as your climate permits you to grow it. I did not have any particular disease problems. And I should mention that the brutal summer heat and humidity here is most definitely not an ideal rose climate. Hybrid musks, teas and China's do well here though. Sadly, Pax was lost due to the afteraffects of Hurricane Katrina. A giant tree fell on it and lay there for over a month, breaking the plant at its base. It struggled on for awhile. Pax is on my list for replanting, but having trouble finding it. Did I see that David Austin named one of his roses "Pax"? That's bound to cause confusion. I most definitely want the Pemberton cultivar.

Just planted mine today - I fell in love with it purely from the pictures in this thread. Fingers crossed that it is as happy as Francesca is (a second also having been planted today!)

I like 'Pax' very much too, though I have yet to give mine a good enough spot that I see it in full glory (note: take cuttings). I like the arching growth and the elegant buds, the buds better than the open flowers, actually; and the contrast between the pale blooms and the likewise elegant dark foliage. Pemberton knew his stuff.

It has a nice scent, too.

I went to David Austin 's UK website to check out Pax, and found that I made a mistake above in my comments. The rose Austin is selling as Pax is Pemberton 's and not one of the Austin hybrids . I had not realized that David Austin Roses in the UK sells other hybridizer's roses as well as their own. So if you are in a EU country this would be a source for Pax. Currently "out of stock " however.

Pax is beautiful, one of the hybrid musks I was not aware of. The color of the buds so elegant. I will have to look around in the spring!

Can't find a replacement for this favorite rose destroyed by Katrina . If anyone knows of a commercial source in the U.S., I will be much obliged.

According to HMF, your options in the U.S. are Greenmantle (in CA) and Rogue Valley Roses (in OR). Hortico is in Canada, and they ship to the U.S.

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.4701&tab=16&lvl=1

Good luck,

Virginia

Incredibly beautiful. Leonie Bell and Helen Van Pelt Wilson described it as having a "heavenly scent" but questioned its hardiness. I sometimes thing the musk group is the most beautiful of all. How have I lived this long without seeing it in person, I wonder.

Hortico does not have Pax in their present catalogue.

For awhile I was unable to access old gardenweb topics and had pretty much given up on being able to do so. I'm so glad I tried again and I'm grateful for the wealth of information I've found. Thanks to all who contributed!

I may need to replace a white rose in a spot that receives morning sun, some late afternoon sun, then dappled sun the rest of the day. I thought a hybrid musk might be nice there and have thought about Pax. It will go in beside Ivor's Rose. I don't spray. Soil is thin,dry, rocky and off the charts acidic but is heavily amended. (I can grow native rhododendrons easily.) My last couple of hybrid musks have done OK. Are there any peculiarities that make Pax different or more challenging than others of its kind?

I think it would be perfect for you - mine lives in a place where it gets NO morning sun, and then just dappled sun the rest of the day.

Jackie

I have read that the HMs actually prefer a more acidic soil and have noticed some chlorosis with mine growing in very basic conditions.I adore the HMs most for some reason, so am interested to hear further comments. I am growing Prosperity which is about the most elegant rose I currently have.

You have to remember that "hybrid musks" ARE simply hybrid multifloras, just as polys are. Many are very close to the multiflora parent and tend to be as acid preferring as it is. Many can be traced back to Aglaia, with even more of the modern ones being traceable back to Ballerina, which is very "multiflora".

I've only seen Pax once in person, many years ago, and I still remember that lovely shrub. I don't grow hybrid musks in my poor alkaline soil in my increasingly hot and dry climate, but it would be a lovely rose in the right conditions.