What a gorgeous rose; it looks lovely in that pot. Jeri, does that site have a specific category for roses or antique roses?

For Roses, it does. Not for Antiques, but honestly, I don't mind having other roses thrown in.
https://garden.org/forums/view/roses/
So far, it seems very user-friendly.

"De la Vina Mystery" is one of several roses that are all dismissed as 'La Reine.' Only, there are differences between them -- so they can't all be 'La Reine'.

Thanks for the through explanation, Jeri. I seem to remember your saying that this rose can get about 8 feet tall; correct? Isn't that cool that now, your plant's child will be growing in my garden in Italy? I also have 2 Gma's Hat from Bierkreek-children of your plant, perhaps?

The mother plant was found growing out the top of an 8-ft-tall Eugenia hedge. But I don't think that's its normal habit.
And, yes, your Bierkreek plants of Grandmother's Hat are children of the one we got from Bob Edberg circa 1990.

And HIS plant, I believe, was grown from the original Huntington Gardens Study Plot plant grown there by Fred Boutin.

I wonder if Garden.org could start an antique roses forum.... Carol

What would you guesstimate it's "normal" height to be, Jeri? Here there are two "extremes"-the plant growing through a tall hedge in order to get sun, and your own (beautiful!) one growing in a pot ,which might be keeping it on the small size?

I asked Hetty (as she has the oldest plant) and she said between 4 and 5 ft.

You're right on about the pot keeping it smaller. If I had my 'druthers, it would be in the ground. But heck, even "in the ground, it would be in a pot. We can't plant directly into the ground, here. Anything not in a pot or at least wire is doomed -- because we have a plague of gophers.

WARNING: THREAD HIJACK----Jeri, that's a remarkable picture! I'm looking at alternatives to H. and one of them is Garden.org.

Sorry, Bart, I had to say that. Now that I've recovered my manners, I'll say that I'm glad to see your thread; I haven't run into your recent posts, possibly because I've been busy myself, as well as sick of H. We're having an awful tick season here (four visits to the emergency room so far), which discourages getting out in the garden, and also my niece is visiting from the U.S., getting her first taste of life in a foreign country. She likes art and likes to cook, which makes her an appreciative guest.

I don't know what your weather has been like down in Tuscany. Here we've had the rainiest June I've seen since we moved to Italy in 2000. As a result the weeds, the brush, and the bugs have been amazing, but on the other hand temperatures have been generally pleasant, and while I fear that the garden is getting hopelessly out of hand--I have hopes that when my niece returns home I'll be able to focus on cleanup, at least for the few days before I leave myself--the plant growth has been impressive. Also we've hardly needed to water. According to the forecast the coming week will be dry and turning hot: summer at last. The propagating beds and pot ghetto are absolutely jammed, and I'm already looking forward to the fall planting season and a reduction of our huge backlog. First, though, cleanup.

I was wondering how large your roses get. The discussion of "De la Vina'"s potential dimensions how brought this to my mind. Many of my Teas and Chinas are poor starvelings, victims of terrible planting in the early years, but more favored plants get gigantic: 'Mme. Alfred Carriere' is a universe all by herself., and I'm trying to train 'Mrs. B.R. Cant' as a climber and think I'll succeed.

Finally, a confession: I'm listening greedily when you talk about your rose varieties, and wonder if you'd be interested in a swap of cuttings/suckers, possibly by mail? Last winter was good for propagation, the best year in a while, and has somewhat revived my interest. The latest batch is mainly cuttings of roses I ran into on my local rambles.

Melissa -- you found your way to:
https://garden.org/forums/view/roses/  ???

Because, I wanted to say, I like it A LOT.