So far you've named large-flowered modern varieties. Of these 'Madame Alfred Carriere' is good in Seattle, so is 'Alberic Barbier'. The first has a tendency to be moundy/shrubby, the second more snakey. If you have room for one-time bloom 'Madame Gregoire Stachelin' would also be required, it is perfect for fences behind other plantings in particular.

But my faves are wild musk roses (Synstylae) and their primary hybrids. Most spectacular of these is 'Kiftsgate', you could eventually cover most of the fence with this one plant. Another that has been grown in Seattle in more than one location and done well is Rosa brunonii 'La Mortola'. This has nice foliage.

If you want double flowers instead but still on a huge plant try 'Paul's Himalayan Musk'. I have it growing through a purpleleaf plum (for a good color harmony), and an empress tree. It's also gotten onto a weeping katsura and covered the top of it with a pile of canes, which is not so good.

Another good one is 'Mermaid'. It used to be trained against the old women's restroom at the Seattle arboretum. Walk the arboretum side of the fence between Broadmoor and the arboretum next June, from near Foster Island to about where the witch hazel family collection starts to see various other candidates in flower.

It's a rambler rather than a climber and it gets to be a BIG rose, but I'd consider 'The Garland'. Not remontant (a single bloom), but it makes up in flower power what it lacks in a long bloom season - I've never seen a rose bloom quite so heavily. The foliage is virtually totally obscured by the flowers when it blooms. Clusters of tiny, double baby pink flowers, lightly fragrant. I grow a Clematis montana through mine to extend the bloom season. And like many of the OGR's, I've yet to see this seriously affected with the more common rose diseases - no blackspot or powdery mildew to speak of.

For a more modern climber, I like 'Polka', which is a gorgeous mouthwatering apricoty-orange color. And 'Sombreuil' is always a good performer here.

Usually the only problem with 'Mermaid' is that hardest winters will get it. I've never seen it with cruddy leaves. Same is true of Banksian roses (not fully hardy), plus they can have foliage problems fairly often, actually.

Leaf fungi mutate rapidly, also said to be affected by nutrient levels, resulting in varying experiences in different locations with same varieties of roses.

There is a Climbing Eden around the corner from me and I love it. Beautiful large flowers most of the summer. I must find room for one at my house!

Your place doesn't have its own little Eden already?

Great suggestions! Keep them coming.

Yes, I do tend to reliably select larger-flowering modern climbers, so that's why I posted, to help get myself out of that rut and get some different perspectives which I really appreciate.

'Polka' is absolutely beautiful and has a color scheme that would work with my new garden, and 'Madam Alfred Carriere' is stunning. I've grown yellow 'Lady Banks' before and you're so right about the foliage being nice and fairly un-rosey, though the blooms didn't impress me that much. Still, I kept it (last garden) and enjoyed it immensely. It was obviously a house-eater since it grew so aggressively. From a distance it doesn't even look like a rose, really, due to the nice foliage.

All of the others are great (love 'Climbing Eden' from the pics I found online. I now believe that's the rose down the street espaliered against a retaining wall--fantastic! (yes, I checked for tags, hah hah, but couldn't find any labels)). 'Pauls' is terrific (and I love bboy's color combination, it reminds me of my faint pink clematis in my burgundy Japanese maple), though I'm scared of the house-eaters these days. I might have to think about it though. :)

I couldn't find an online photo of 'The Garland', just tons of Judy Garland the person and the rose. I'll check with my Atlas Of Roses book this evening.

Keep the suggestions coming, or just continued opinions on some of the roses mentioned. I'm definintely going to purchase several of your suggestions.

Thanks again,
Grant

'The Garland'

Wills UK 1835

R. moschata X R. multiflora

Vigorous, spreading climber flowering in early July in great profusion. Masses of small, semi-double, daisy-like flowers, creamy-white, sometimes tinged pink. Very fragrant. Foliage mid- to dark green and not as large as in most other Moschata hybrids. Stems are well armed with stout, hooked thorns. An excellent rose.

--Peter Beales, Classic Roses (1997, Henry Holt)

Where 'The Garland' is mentioned.

Here is a link that might be useful: Your favorite rambler?

I don't know if this is helpful, because I haven't grown these roses yet (in fact they just arrived on my doorstep a few days ago), but these are the roses I decided to order after doing extensive internet research on disease resistance, & suitability for our climate:

Large flowered climbers:

Mme. Gregoire Staechlin deep pink, once blooming
Clair Matin pink, repeat blooming
Royal Sunset apricot, repeat blooming
Cornelia pink, repeat blooming (this is a shrub rose that can be grown as a climber)

Ramblers:

Pauls Himalayan Musk
Alexandre Giraut (deep pink)
Albertine

I got most of mine from Rogue Valley Roses which will have descriptions & pictures. I choose a lot of them based on shade tolerance too, but any rose is going to be happier in the sun. I'm glad to hear you like Zephirine Drouhin because I ordered one of those too. I share your dislike of blood red roses, although tiny ones can be charming. Gotta find a sunny spot for Joseph's Coat! Wherever you order from, don't wait too long, I found certain roses were already sold out at some places.

I framed much of my front yard with a cedar and copper fence/trellis that is 6' high and I chose a number of climbers/ramblers to train on the fence. Last year was their first and I'm anxious to see how they mature this year. I chose a Darlowe's Enigma, a Scent From Above, a Stairway to Heaven, a Lyda Rose and an America. I also have a Joseph's Coat and an America climbing up opposite sides of an arbor that should meet in the middle on top this year. The one America is the only one that struggles a bit and I think that's probably because I planted it on the north side of the arbor and it doesn't get as much sun as it probably would prefer.

Grant, you might want to check out Village Green Perennials when they open for the season (in West Seattle, off of 26th SW). The nursery changed ownership a couple of years ago and I'm not sure how that affected stock, but prior to that, Theresa grew and sold an assortment of ownroot OGR's, including 'The Garland'. Or you might want to check the Antique Rose Farm in Snohomish.

A single blooming rose is not everyone's cup of tea, even one that blooms as profusely as 'The Garland', but after gardening in this area for going on 40 years and growing my share of roses, I have to say that this is the most trouble-free rose I've ever enjoyed. Other than an annual pruning to keep its robust growth in check, it requires NO additional care.

Note that it's "Darlow's Enigma", a study name Mike coined himself after I showed him it wasn't the Rosa moschata 'Plena' he had been selling it as. He got it originally from "a lady in the Willamette Valley", forgot/lost the name she had on it (if any).

My favorite climbers (they got chosen to move to the much smaller garden so they must be faves) are Aloha and Buff Beauty. Fourth of July almost made the grade but not quite.

Aloha is a moundy archy shrubby rose with fully double, hybrid tea like peachy salmony pinky blooms. Gorgeous. Some fragrance too and very little disease, here in Olympia which is the blackspot capital of the world.

Buff Beauty is a hybrid musk, so a small climber, almost totally disease free, buff colored double flowers that are much larger than the average hybrid musk.

Fourth of July of course is the red and white striped climber. Not bad disease wise, no fragrance though.

I had Sombreuil, I love the flower form and fragrance but man o man was it always covered with blackspot. The flowers shatter quickly too, I don't know how anyone exhibits it. It got left behind.

I had Royal Sunset too. It got left behind. Blackspot City.

Zephirine Drouhin gets mildew up the wazoo here in Oly. Must be different in Seattle. Hardly anything gets mildew here but she does. We specialize in blackspot, mildew is rare and rust almost totally unknown.

I used to grow Mermaid in a warmer climate, she has wicked thorns like fish hooks. I once recommended it to someone who wanted to put up razor wire around his nursery but the city wouldn't let him - Mermaid would have done the job! Love the flowers though.

I had Cornelia too. Very nice. The only reason she didn't make the cut when I moved was that Buff Beauty has larger flowers. I do have a photo of her prominently displayed in my new home though.

Thanks for the new posts. I'm really enjoying them and I'm sure plenty of people reading along are too. You know, I've looked at 'America' in catalogs and lusted after it, but forgot about it in my recent rose frenzy, so thanks for mentioning it.

All of the others really sound great, and a big yes to Zepherine being a favorite. I've grown it in every garden here for the last 20-something years when I bought my first house here in West Seattle. The color can be a bit hard to place (I call it "Barbie Mattel" pink like the hideous pink of Barbie doll packages), but it's pretty enough, and wondefully scented, and nearly thornless with a long bloom time, so what's not to love? I think some people have problems with mildew on it, but I never have.

I used to shop at Village Green all the time, but haven't been back in several years. I will go check it out. I still carry along several plants (via cuttings/divisions etc) that I purchased from Theresa, including many that she sold which were from her grandmother's garden. I will definitely check them out--it's been too long so thanks for the reminder.

That 'Aloha' is really nice too--good suggestion. Reg, it's great to see who made the grade enough to move with you to a newer garden. Very good info.

I tend to not be attracted to the one-time bloomers, climbers or otherwise, (I know, I know, a lilac only blooms once a year and I always have several) but your enthusiasm for 'The Garland' is contagious. I will give it a try. If nothing else, it should be a nice trellis for some Chilean glory flower (Eccremocarpus scaber) that I always grow to excess (orange, baby!) and run out of things for it to climb on. And I always prefer a plant that needs to be controlled rather than one that needs to be kept on life support.

Keep the ideas/opinions coming. What do folks think of 'Golden Showers'? I grew it at my first garden and if I remember correctly the blooms were a bit too open and fell apart quickly, and it was a bit naked-looking.

Thanks again,
Grant

'Golden Showers' gets blackspot. And it has the generic modern hybrid tea appearance.

A good use of space where there is a fence with an established lilac in front is a climbing rose on the fence, and a large-flowered clematis on the lilac.

I have a number of climbers on a west-facing deck. Most are in shade a lot until they get tall enough to get up on the deck railing and get more sun.

Zepherine Drouhin- 7 yrs, multiple 12' canes, first and last to bloom, continual bloom, can defoliate from BS briefly then grows more leaves and keeps on blooming
Reve d'Or- 5 yrs, stretching out a lot last year, several 8-12' canes, more blooms, lovely apricot/salmon centers.
Crepuscule- 4 yrs, 6-8', apricot/salmon centers, lovely blooms,
Sombreuil- 5 yrs, on shop, lots of shade, one long 10' cane and a few 4' canes, not many blooms but large with many petals, planted with Niobe clematis
Dublin Bay- 4 yrs, 4', fantastic long-lasting vibrant red blooms, not many though, slow growing but hopefully starting to get taller,
Awakening- 4 yrs, 3', I feel totally mislead about house-eating reputation, smallest and least blooms, blooms not spectacular, light pink
Westerland- 1 yr, started as an own-root, set back by those very hot spells last summer, still very small and in the ground, hope it makes it over winter since the photos of the flowers are sensational.
Fourth of July- 7 yrs, 5-6', Not really a climber in my book, but blooms a lot and a very nice vibrant red/white, clusters, flops without support, thorny

I love Sombreuil and mine is generally covered with blooms. It is great when the sunshines but blooms deteriorate rapidly during rainy spells. It begins blooming in late spring and continues until past the first frost.

Zepherine Drouhin is generally my first bloomer. I have it under a honey locust with the result that i get a great first bloom but as the shade deepens it stops blooming....oh, well....it looks very good in that spot.

The first time I ordered Buff Beauty (which is a great performer but which I keep as a shrub vs climber) I got an extremely robust and aggressive single yellow climber and I moved it to where it can climb a very large and well established cedar. It turned out to be Mermaid which is beautiful but has terrible thorns....I enjoy it but probably would not have chosen it.

I have my eye on Galway Bay...does anyone have experience with it? I'd love to hear how it has done for you. I understand it is somewhat shade tolerant.
jwww

I don't have Galway Bay but I sp'd Queen Elizabeth, one of GB's parents- sure the blooms are very large and lovely but there are so few with no rebloom and it was a massive plant with long arms that grew out and snagged anyone it could- I think this is called an octopus. I like GB's color better on helpmefind, though, than QE's.

Heirloom Roses lists Galway Bay as continuous bloom but I notice they also say that of parent QE. It is also rated higher on the aroma scale as well as being shade tolerant.
Anyone else have experience with this one? jwww

I had constant blackspot on Joseph's Coat so I ripped it out. Replaced with Sealed With A Loving Kiss which is a climbing miniature. No blackspot or PM so far.....

I love Jeanne LaJoie which is also a climbing mini. Nothing mini about it but the sweet little blooms. It did get PM though...

Penny Lane, Westerland, Teasing Georgia, Parade are among my most prolific repeat blooming and healthiest climbers. Many once bloomers also are healthy and worth growing if you have the space.

My best climber is Cl. Iceburg. Huge, almost thornless and lots of big white fluffy blooms. Mild blackspot.

I also have J.Coat (blackspots)
Dream Weaver (gorgeous, but blackspots)
Lace Cascade (very nice, tall and good hips)
ZD-First to bloom, no disease, smells great!
Dublin Bay-very bright red, no disease, no scent
Westerland-smells great, no disease, lovely color, still small

Good luck in your search!
Kathy

I didn't report on my other climbers grown on trellises one on each side of a path progressively shadier-
La Biche- 5 yrs, a few canes 8' at most, balls early in the season but keeps on blooming a long time, supposedly is Mlle. de Sombreuil,
Dream Weaver- 5 yrs, sensational some years, last year had some trouble defoliating with blackspot (I have a no-spray, sink or swim garden), 4-5', small striped red/white blooms,
Marechal Niel- 3 yrs, not very vigorous, one or 2 3'canes, maybe one or 2 flowers last year.
Champney's Pink Cluster- 3 yrs, 6+' multiple canes, lots of blooms for perhaps one long flush, then just a few,
Jeanne La Joie- 2 yrs, rather close to a large cedar, 4-6' canes, sparse bloom so far is all I can remember,
Climbing Cecile Brunner- 1 yr, several 6' canes, once blooming, also in the last shady spot. I hope to see more bloom on him this year.

Cecile is a feminine name - Cecil would be the masculine equivalent - your him is really a her :-) Technically, the original name of this rose is Mlle. Cecile Brunner, but somewhere in the intervening years, the Mlle. morphed to Mme. then was dropped altogther. And now and again poor old Cecile will have even undergone a sex change and will appear as Cecil! But it's hard to consider something also referred to as the "Sweetheart Rose" being a masculine presence under normal circumstances :-)

I thought it was masculine because of something I read once about the hybridizer. I guess I thought it was his name, not his wife's. LOL. It's certainly not a masculine flower, so small and dainty.:-)

More information on The Garland and a great resource for photos and rose details is HelpMeFind.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Garland at HMF

Hi,

Where can I buy "Parade " Climbing Rose, I live in MD and I just saw one in DC near to US Capitol. It looks good and and ding great.
I want to try this out.
Thank you