I have 'Purezza': for many years I thought it was the double white Lady Banks rose, but then my sister pointed out that it bloomed later and had larger blooms than the double white L.B. It has been flowering a bit through the winter and is now coming up on its big spring flush. I can't make general statements about it, beyond saying that I do like it and it has never given me any problems. It's sandwiched between a drainage ditch (water and nutrients) and a largeish Leyland cypress (greedy roots), and navigates its situation well. Who knows, perhaps one day it will establish itself solidly in the cypress, up which it had sent an exploratory cane or two. I'd love it to be strong enough to achieve that feat.

I have it too! And like it very much -- Though, thanks to where it's placed, my best view of it is from my neighbor's yard!

Dreamy. It's been on my list for ages along with Bobby James and now I remember why. I somehow don't remember it being quite so double. Was it AnnaLyssa in Italy that had a gorgeous one? I know she had Bobby James, but someone had a glorious one pictured as a bush shot. Was that you Jeri?

Nope. Mine goes up the side of the garage.

Oh! I meant a picture of the complete plant growing as a huge climber from far away, rather than being grown as a bush. Sorry for the confusion. Slightly OT, who was it that grew Kiftsgate with another slightly later once-bloomer into their trees with seating underneath?

It's wonderful because where it's sufficiently hot, this is the repeat flowering Banksiae. I love Banksiaes, but unless your climate is appropriate to encourage them to flower over a long period, their flowering is too short. This one picks up where the others leave off and continue flowering because it's hot, rather than stopping when it gets hot. Its pollen also seems a bit more useful with other modern roses than Banksiae's does.

I’m growing Purezza in San Marcos, TX. It‘s entering the third growing season from a band size and has been in bloom for the last five weeks. I’m training it to grow up on the pérgola above the patio. Climbing cramoisi superier is covering the other side of the pérgola. Both seem to take the Tx heat in stride.

jerijen, Is Purezza a rebloomer or continuous bloomer?

Not Jeri, but if your climate is colder, it will flower for a shorter period. Banksiae itself, will flower over a longer period where the conditions are "spring-like", meaning cooler without the heat spikes summer brings. If where you live is hot, like the San Fernando Valley here in CA, it will begin flowering when the heat increases and continue flowering as long as it receives water and heat. When I lived in the LA area where it was hot, Purezza started flowering when the heat arrived and continued as long as it remained. Now I live in the cool Central Coast where "heat" is relative and in short spurts, Purezza flowered when the temps rose into the mid to high seventies and remained until they dipped back into the sixties. Banksiaes, all of them except Purezza, including Fortuniana and Basye's Amphidiploid 86-3, the tetraploid Banksaie X Laevigata hybrid, began flowering again and are still pushing some flowers. So, the appropriate answer to your question Reb. G, is it depends upon your specific conditions as flowering is a function of climate. If you are too cool, it will flower at the zenith of your heat and stop when the heat stops. If you are hot and remain there, it should start and continue as long as it remains hot. Those Tom Thumb genes manipulate the Banksiae flowering genes tremendously.

Thanks roseseek. I'm 6b, so we're high 70's from May to even now, it was 80 yesterday, although nights are dipping to 40's.

I'm not specifically after Purezza, but it does fit what I'm looking for, which is a large, reblooming or continuous blooming, fragrant white climber, single or semi double petal, to cover a big, ugly expanse of fence.

I know it's fully double, but it opens enough for bees, which is possibly close enough.

I've been narrowing down the choices, Purezza and Darlow's Enigma seem to be coming in at the top. Mermaid is also a contender, but seems to be listed as hardy only to 7 on about half the websites.

Plant Darlow's Enigma. I would expect it to be the more reliable bloomer with tremendously greater scent. I grew both in the same 9b mid desert garden and both withstood the temperature extremes there for 18 years (worst low of 15 F and worst high of 115 F) without issues. But Darlow's flowered constantly, even in filtered shade and you could smell it from many feet away. The one down side in my opinion was the mass of self set hips which were EAGER to germinate where they hit the ground. The only rose worse in that respect was The Gift. That combined chronic chlorosis with invasive seedlings requiring constant vigilance to rid the garden of them.

I want the hips! I love feeding the birds. Also, it sounds perfect because this spot is only about 3 ft of soil in a long strip with a fence on one side and driveway on the other. I don't care if the hips sprout on the other side of the fence, and I can mow the strip in front of the driveway if they bother me.

Thanks for the recommendation. Maybe it'll be vigorous enough to cover up the ugly garage nearby.

I think I saw one bad picture of Darlow's Enigma once and decided I didn't like it, but your recommendation comes with several others, so I clearly jumped to my conclusion too quickly, lol.

You're welcome! You may need to plant a second one to cover the garage, or simply transplant a volunteer. If you had high heat, didn't care about no hips or scent, Purezza would be my suggestion but for your use, Darlow's does sound ideal. Enjoy!

We have heat! It's up in the upper 80's by the end of May, 100's for most of July, August, Sept goes back down to 90's, sometimes mid 80's by the end. Still in the 80's for most of Oct. But we also have really cold winters, 2 years ago we had a week of minus 20. We can have blizzards and ice storms too. Last winter was really dry, this spring too, which was unusual. Spring of 2019 we flooded for a month straight.

We have very unpredictable weather in Kansas, in all extremes. Makes for some very strange gardening.