Mrs. Dudley Cross has huge flowers with many petals and can be cream or cream with pink or sometimes with some yellow. The only problem is keeping it upright in a vase since the flower is so large in comparison to the stem. It lasts well in water.

How do Teas do in Seattle? I hesitated to try them when I lived in the PNW because there's not much summer heat there.

Are you looking for old roses, or are you open to moderns? How about the David Austin roses and similar modern roses with the flower forms of old roses and with fragrance? If you have modern roses, particularly Hybrid Teas, in mind, you might ask over in the Roses forum, if you haven't already done so.

Hi Shmooey - the rose that sprang to mind is pink, not white, it's one of the best cut flowers in my garden, as well as being an all-around terrific rose: Belinda's Dream.

Another favorite is Souvenir de la Malmaison--not an awesome vase life, but respectably long lasting, I think--and it's a pinkish white. And it's such a beautiful flower and such a redoubtable shrub. Not sure about its performance in your area, but where it's happy, it's wonderful. Check out its sport, Souv. de Saint Anne, as well. We plumped her in the ground this fall, and she's never yet been out of bloom.

And I'd second Melissa's comment--newer hybrids often have better vase lives. Some of the Austins, for example, make long-lasting cut flowers; especially the deliciously fragrant Abraham Darby. Tidy and compact Sharifa Asma is pinky-white and also smells wonderful, though I'm not sure that it has quite as long of a vase life as AD.

If you are willing to consider modern roses, I will suggest my favorite white HT. Pope John Paul II is a huge, heavily petaled rose, as intensely fragrant as the best old garden roses, and is even reasonably disease resistant. I see rust in the fall but the rest of the year it is fine for me here. Average HT vase life.

Rosefolly

Melissa- Im not really sure about Tea's! I haven't bothered to try any of them either for the same reasons. (And I've never seen one that I'm really in love with).

I have used a few different Austin's, and am not thrilled with any of the whites so far. Claire austin shatters as soon as they open, Lichfield angel has really thin necks and all the blossoms tend to be rather downward facing. Fair bianca seems like it would be worth a shot this season though!

Plectrudis - SDLM is definitely on my list, my only hesitation is 1- unsure about vase life, and 2- how it would deal with our dry but relatively cool summers.

Modern roses definitely seem like a safer option, but I do love to plant OGRs when I can!