You should! However, I'm sure they would just say they do absolutely nothing for it. Isn't that always the way? I'm jealous of either of those pictures. There's no way roses ever look like that here. Too much black spot.

Here’s some I saw in a fast food drivethru last week :) are you sure that rose pic is iceberg though? The shape looks kinda not iceburg-y and there’s some pink maybe?

They might say that they do nothing. They might just be in the right microclimate. They had a number of other plants blooming/budding that should be finishing up also.

Amanda, I had the same thoughts. In fact, when I drove by, I wondered what rose it was, also because of the pink blush. But when I got close, the flowers had the right shape and even more importantly, they had that distinct 'Iceberg' fragrance. ('Moondance' also has that fragrance which it inherited from its parent, but it has as yellow tone to the flowers, so I don't think it is 'Moondance'). 'Iceberg' gets pink tones in the fall when the temperatures get cool. Mine has pink buds and a pink blush.

Maybe in your climate it doesn't get cool enough for the flowers to blush?

If you or anyone has an idea of what else it could be, let me know. If it's not 'Iceberg' and it will bloom like that in this climate, I want one!

That's how the icebergs that are all over my local botanical gardens look too...big and lush and a little pink in the cooler weather...but they are more upright. Maybe that one is a climbing iceberg they just let mound.

Noseometer: off topic, but I just noticed you are in Albuquerque. I’m looking to relocate there and was just out for a visit a couple of weeks ago. How is ABQ for rose growing? Climate wise it seems very similar to SLC where I‘m at currently, maybe not quite as cold. So it would seem to be an ideal rose growing locale, do you find that to be true? I didn’t see a lot of roses on my trip, but maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough.

Here in Texas , Iceberg is a mess, it shatters in the heat and could be used for raising blackspot culture.

Don’t get me started on how great it looks in the sunny parts of California. You will see spectacular plantings of it at every gasoline station , bank , dentist’s office and strip mall. A beautiful view of icebergs can even be had with your order of burger and fries!

I’m actually not surprised at the difference between those two because I have seen that in my garden.

Even in the same garden, soils in different areas in the garden maybe are different. If you are sure you have similar soil quality in your garden, the next thing is how mature each rose is. Then, are they both own root or grafted on the same root stocks? In California, I have seen roses grafted on Fortuniana grow much bigger compared with the ones grafted on Dr Huey. After that, are they receiving morning sun, afternoon sun or mostly in the shade? I have one part of my rose garden that only has afternoon sun and the roses there don’t bloom as much compared with the same ones that receive morning sun in a different part of my garden.

If you are in a drought area like California then how much water a rose received will impact how many blooms it produces. I’m trying to save water so I only give some roses enough water to survive and the favorite roses with a lot of water and fertilizer so I’ll get the max blooms out of them. Helen

reesepbuttercup: the weather here is probably fairly similar to SLC, although I don't really know much about the weather in SLC other than what I see on the web. ABQ is about 2,000 feet higher in elevation. Wikipedia describes SLC as subhumid and ABQ as "cold semi-arid". In terms of rose growing, I find it very challenging here, but I think it depends upon which part of the city. Near the river, the soils are richer and deeper and there is more humidity. In the foothills, the soils are mostly gravel and rock, with very little organic material. On the west side, the soils are mostly sand. True, there are very few problems with fungal diseases like blackspot, but you can still get mildew despite the 5% humidity. My experience is that it is a far from ideal rose growing area. There is the intense sunlight (leaves and flowers alike fry). High transpiration/evaporation rates (hard to keep plants hydrated). Big diurnal temperature swings (small windows of time where it is warm enough at night for plants to grow and cool enough in the day that things don't fry). Spring is very windy and dry, which can shred plants and flowers alike. Summer is too hot for good flower quality. Fall produces some nice flowers. If you live near the river, you'd probably have easier rose growing. A more protected courtyard facing east works well also. This is mainly Hybrid Tea country, their vigor and thicker petals seem to make them more tolerant of this climate. This is exclusively what my neighbors grow. How roses grow can be dramatically different here, such as Abe Darby which is a compact little bush here, compared to monster plants elsewhere.

BenT: yes, in California, Iceberg is everywhere, and for good reason. It's so good there!

bayarea-girl: so maybe I'll either have to settle with what I've got, or figure out if I can buy that house! haha!

Yeah I never see iceberg looking like anything different from my drive though pic, they seem to sort of stay the same size and it never gets pink. I see it enough though that I wouldn’t put it in the yard, I want more interesting plants. Do you have a drip irrigation system? A lot of people say not to use it but in my toasted sandy front yard it really helps if you run it a little bit pretty often. Way better than deep watering less often in the sand. I use the mini sprinklers.

I would still knock and find out what kind of rose it is . Then you will know for sure than it is a bush or climber. At least this will ease your mind a little.
Who knows you guys might be friends :)
I would at least try you never know.
There is a post of a biography of a Rosarian
who posted about how he got into roses in garden. org.
I wish I know how to paste his story here. He grew up in a neighborhood walking to school or catching a school bus. Along the way he always stop in front of a house that has tons of roses and climbers along the fence. He was too afraid but slowly was attracted to roses and try to smell it. He made sure no one saw him but he grew up and work. One day after many, many years he drove to that house. Introduced himself and they had a talk. Very nice people and they have given roses to kids to take it home to their mom's . The whole story is he , I think his name is John. John became a true Rosarian bec of this owners and thank them.
I wish John would have knock on their door long time ago.
I strongly believe that there are many good people out there. I do !
So, I will try to go there and see what happens.
Show them your rose plant and who knows you might be friends with them and share rose knowledge.
By the looks of both your roses. One looks more mature than the other. But that is my guess and I am not good in things like that.
Good luck Nose !!
jin

My first thought was Seafoam. The leaves look a bit too shiny for Iceberg, though I admit to little personal experience with Iceberg leaves.

It's possible that there is more than one 'Iceberg' shrub there, closely planted next to each other.

The most gorgeous 'Icebergs' that I've seen were in Boston, gracing quite a few front yards in Beacon Hill. It's not so much about the abundance of blooms on each shrub, but they're usually planted in groups of three or so which makes them look like they are packed with blooms. The color is pristinely white with a nice contrast to the leaves especially in partly shaded areas where they still bloom prolifically. The leaves were slightly shiny if I remember correctly. Don't know if it's the soil or something else, but they looked equally gorgeous both in "manicured" front yards and others that evidently were not getting much special care.

If it was in the east and had leaves, it probably wasn't Iceberg. I had to go to Texas to see Iceberg with flowers and leaves at the same time.

There are a couple of Meidilland shrubs that are also candidates.

mad_gallica, I always like to read your comments for I learn a lot from you but I am a bit surprised about your experience with 'Iceberg'. Our friends in Boston grow it (they bought it in a reputable local nursery) as do their neighbors. It could be that theirs are regularly sprayed... Northland Rosarium also shows a great photo of 'Iceberg' with abundant leaves and flowers in zone 5.

Now I'm seriously thinking it's not 'Iceberg'. It doesn't have the bush form, flower poise, or leaf color of Iceberg at all. Maybe the flowers just smell the same. I still want one. Don't the Meidiland roses have no fragrance?

Maybe you could ask them for some cuttings either way? Whatever it is looks like its amazing in your area!

P.S. Just found the photos from our last visit to Boston, These are all over the Beacon Hill neighborhood and our friends bought them as 'Iceberg'. If they defoliate for some others in the Northeast, then it must be that many of these in Boston are sprayed because they look magnificent.

(I took the second photo more for its Beacon Hill plaque than to get the best of the 'Iceberg' shrubs in the area.)

I love Boston and often go there on business. There are great Iceberg roses in a gated area just 2-3 houses down from Cheers on Marlborough St. They looked beautiful.

Noseometer, if I were you, I would just ask the neighbors for a couple of cuttings to see if they have a better Iceberg plant. No harm in trying.

I’m not an expert on much but I do see about 100 icebergs a day and those do look icebergy :) does boston have lower humidity?

I live in south Louisiana so everything feels like lower humidity to me :-). But even I noticed that the Boston summers can get hot and humid.

Update: I did go ring the doorbell today. The guy there said he did think it is 'Iceberg' and that his girlfriend just puts MiracleGro fertilizer and root stimulator on it once in a while, but as far as he knows, she doesn't do anything special other than "she prunes it all the time." We have had some below freezing temperatures this week, and his rose bush is still blooming away! BTW, vesfl, it is just one plant. I'm totally jealous.

Take a look at what the direction is it's facing. If this is getting more sun on the masonry wall behind it and on the hardscape below it, the plant is being kept warmer and doesn't "know" it's been freezing. If yours don't get the same radiant/reflected heat to keep them warm, yours won't respond the same way. And, don't pooh-pooh Miracle Gro. Say what you want, but with enough water, the stuff WORKS.

after last night's 15F, I can't imagine that even their Iceberg is blooming. My Icebergs are in an East facing courtyard, and theirs is exposed east facing. I live in a quiet neighborhood and their Iceberg is on the corner of a very busy main road, getting constant air movement from the passing cars. Hmm, I wonder if it is getting extra carbon dioxide? Still, somehow theirs must stay warmer. I think mine get more root competition from surrounding trees/shrubs.

I used MiracleGro on some of the roses at the beginning of the season last year. I don't really know what it did. I may try a more controlled study next year with certain Icebergs getting it regularly through the season, and the others getting organic. I did use it on my Hippeastrums in the past, but I found that it made the leaves grow so fast that they were easily broken by the wind, so I stopped using it.

Wow yours does look like that. The drooping down is what looked strange to me.

Roseydreams, we can only dream of roses looking like that! What are the other Beauties in your pictures? It's true the white does add a freshness to the scene.

Roseydreams, I'm sooo jealous! Sigh.

When I was living in San Diego, I would get the LATimes Sunday paper and loved their garden articles in the Sunday magazine. It seemed that just about every garden they featured had at least one Iceberg! I loved the way the rose would set off surrounding plants and flowers. I got one when we finally bought a house (hubby wanted French Lace, but I couldn't find one & got Iceberg instead, to his annoyance). It was a great performer there.

I read that it doesn't do well here, so I haven't tried it. I agree with Rosydreams' description of its good points, in the right location!

Hi Amanda! Yes, the drooping down is different than most the roses I’ve seen. I really like it tumbling down like that. I think it’s because Iceberg has these long thin flexible branches that bend down from weight and they move a lot in the wind. Very few thorns too.

Yours is beautiful :)

Thank you all for your kind comments! :) We were evacuated from our home because of the Woolsey Fires, I’m so thankful to be back and have my home and garden intact.
Vaporvac, the pink rose is Belinda’s Dream. I love it so much, I have 3 bushes and a rose tree of BD. I think it’s size and bushiness complement Iceberg well. I’m still looking for other roses with a similar round bushy look.

I ha no idea but I'm so happy to hear you and your home were safe. Belinda's dream is fantastic! I got one this year and have been so pleased with it myself. It's very healthy even with all our rain and
Heavy black spot pressure. I have it growing next to Awakening and Marie Pavier &I think they look really good together.