If you are okay with a non-Austin, then consider Bolero. It is a grandchild of Sharifa Asma and is a gorgeous, healthy bush that is constantly covered with large, heavenly fragrant blooms. You will never see any octopus canes on this one.

@Chris Martins Zone6a Chicago Chris, thanks so much, Bolero looks beautiful. I've read that it stays compact in zone 5, around 2 ft or so. Hoping for a larger bush just not one that shoots out the octopus canes. Do you grow Bolero in 6a? It stay compact?

I've been growing 2 Olivia Austin roses and they are the perfectly round medium size bush shapes. Hoping to find something like her but more pure white. Thanks!

I think this is an are David Austin is very lacking in and hope to see some new introductions that fit this description soon. Many of his whites have other tones to them.

I have Fair Bianca coming this month and believe she fits all your requirements except she might not be a very nicely shaped bush

I second desdemona. Stays small, mostly white 90% of the time, sometimes get a touch of pink. Nice scent, good disease resistance if that is a concern.

@dianela7analabama Love your garden! I sure wish to see my roses grow so large and preliterate! Well, I live in zone 4. I hope at least the DAs won't look like sticks forever. ;-) Your Lichfield angel is the best picture I've seen, prettier than in the DA catalogue! It's hardy to my zone, but the catalogue picture didn't attract me enough to order. I did order one Desdemona. You said the Lichfield Angel is your favorite. Can you elaborate? Thanks!

@oursteelers 8B PNW - I agree, it's tricky trying to figure out what color tones they all are when looking for pure white. Fair Bianca looks like a beauty

@dianela7analabama - This is really helpful to see zoomed out photos that show their shape and growth habit. But they all look beautiful, I want one of each now! ;) These roses will be in a warm/full sun spot so if Desdemona fades to white, even better. Are her blooms a different shape than Lichfield Angel? They look a bit rounder? Maybe I'll try one of each, just don't want flopping canes everywhere in this bed.

By the way, your gardens look really beautiful. What is that purple-ish raspberry color rose(?) in your first photo of Tranquility?

@ladybug A 9a Houston area - I think I'm sold! I like the shape of her blooms and the fact that she's good with disease resistance.

I have some other non-Austin roses and I've had to pamper them a lot to keep them looking good with healthy leaves. All of the Austin's I planted haven't had any issues here so I'd like to stick with them for now. Once I feel more confident with roses I'll branch out to other varieties and color combos.

@Bc _zone10b Desdemona was the rose that dragged me into this deep rabbit hole of roses ;-) I've never seen one in person but I love how it looked on the websites, the descriptions, and all the raving reviews. It is highly recommended by many folks here and has a high rating from Right Roses. I ordered one from DA and will arrive in the Spring. :-)

/brendan-cs: Thank you very much, I am glad you like my garden. I’ll be happy to tell you why Lichfield angel is a favorite in my garden. Also I love Desdemona and I am glad I do not have to choose which one to have, because they are both amazing beautiful roses. I think if you have the space you should try both. Also it is important to note the reasons why I love LA here may not even be relevant in your garden. This is why there is so much differences a lot of time between one persons review and another.

Blooms shape for Desdemona: Always globular here. This one is one of my absolute favorite bloom shape. I would buy any rose with globular blooms. They are not the largest blooms but always always look like these. I am obsessed with this shape of blooms.

Lichfield Angel opens fully. Some of her blooms are globular and others are fully opened. I also love this shape.

The biggest reason why LA is a favorite here is because beside blackspot my biggest problem are Thrips. Their damage shows on the lighter roses more than in the darker ones. LA does not show thrips damage here and self cleans. Desdemona shows more thrips damage and also self cleans. Do you have bad thrips in your garden? If you don’t this won’t even apply.

if you have blackspot and thrips in your area then Tranquility is the worse of the bunch. Her petals are very thick which is wonderful for cutting and they last in a base. That means she does not self clean and the petals turn brown on the bush. Also the thrips cause the most damage on the slowly opening blooms.

tranquility today growing no spray. Dead blooms and lots of blackspot

LA today with very nice foliage for no spray here. If you look closely you can see the many spent blooms that have not been deadheaded because I haven’t had time. One single little bloom left from this bloom cycle.

Desdemona is in between these two for blackspot, but she is in more shade so in all day sun she probably would be like LA.

Before I forget the hot pink purplish rose in my picture is Princess Anne. A great Austin when it comes to bloom power and beauty. It does need pruning twice a year to stay at 4 feet.

Always first to bloom here.

Dianela - I am absolutely obsessed with the globular bloom shape, also. I got Desdemona last year because of the globular blooms. She hasn't bloomed much yet, may be in too much shade.

I couldn't decide about Lichfield Angel, but after seeing your pictures I may need her, too. Just beautiful.

I, also, would like to know which rose is the dark pink one in your photo of Tranquility above?

BirdsLoveRoses thank you! I am glad you like Lichfield Angel also. She is very pretty. I love Desdemonas blooms so much that I gifted her to my mom on her birthday this year.

I do not know which other globular roses you are currently growing and your area is much better for growing any variety than mine. In case you haven’t tried these I would recommend:

Earth Angel: she is not an Austin but her blooms are very romantic and are on the same color range of near white. Some times they can be solid light pink, but mostly close to white.

Grows taller than Desdemona here. She gets canes that are 6 feet tall here, but can easily be pruned to stay smaller. Magnificent scent and disease resistance. Takes a while to bloom well unless grafted from Palatine roses here.

@dianela7analabama

Thanks so much for all of this info, and the beautiful pictures! Helps me understand their growing habits way more than DA photos. They all look beautiful.

I've recently been falling for globular flowers too. I think the Austins I have (first year here) that have shown those got me hooked. But they've also made me lose interest in my other roses like New Dawn. Beautiful plant, but the flower can't hold a candle to the complexity of the Austins.

I like the pink tint to the Desdemona, but also the pillow like fluffy quality to Litchfield Angel. I had a bit of thrip damage at one point in the summer and spent a lot of time deadheading everything on all my plants when I noticed, tossing the buds into a trash back. Seems to have helped get rid of them a little. No blackspot on the Austins (fingers crossed).

That Princess Anne is impressive! I like the pic of the flowers all clumped together....to form one massive flower. Great color.

Earth Angel looks impressive too, what a nice subtle tiny of pink. I have to look that up and see about my zone.

I tried 3 Claire Austins this year....and the blooms really are pretty beautiful, with their cup shape. It has a yellow tint sometimes but when it's pure white, it shines like silk. I love it but wish it had a better shape, less flooppy and more bush or upright shape. Going to leave them where they are for another couple of years just to see what happens, but hopefully Desdemona's a more upright plant than Claire. LA looks good form.

Speaking of white Austin roses, does anyone grow his Susan Williams Ellis? Some people on Helpmefind seem to like it a lot. Others not so much. It is a sort of informal flower -- said to be powerfully fragrant, a point in its favor with me, at least theoretically. It is also reputedly very hardy, which many fragrant roses are not.

monarda, I’m getting Susan in the spring. Supposedly it can take some shade and that is always something I’m interested in

FWIW, Earth Angel was miserable here. It didn't want to grow. With heavy pampering it did grow a bit, but the flowers were disfigured or entirely destroyed by thrips and heat. This does not seem to be the experience of others, in other parts of the country though. I wish mine looked like Dianela's!

Desdemona, on the other hand, just wants to keep growing, putting out new growth as flowers are fading. The flowers stay blush pink for most of their duration for me.

Winchester Cathedral is a tough plant, that has endured moderate neglect from me. Flowers can be very beautiful with a button eye, but in the heat of summer can lose their form and get small. The flowers of mine have a buff tinge to them, and turn white just before fading. They have an odd fragrance though, and you may wish to smell it before buying.

Bolero may be the most susceptible to thrips of all the roses that I have. But that may be because of my growing conditions and the plants don't get as much water as they want. All summer the flowers on my plants are mostly disfigured.

But when Bolero is at it's best, the flowers are dreamy. The flowers smell like marshmallow creme at times (to me) and sometimes like waterlilies.

Fair Bianca was a tiny plant for me, growing about 15 inches tall after a few years. Flowers were intensely licorice scented, and very well formed (but not globular). Unfortunately, I have no photos. They needed dead-heading and were not fast on the repeat. I remember them blooming once in the spring and once in the fall before I gave them away. I'd want to try them again, in better conditions though. Incidentally, Pure Perfume (not an Austin) has similarly shaped flowers for me, and a much more vigorous bush. Flowers smell like Smarties to me.

Claire Austin is supposed to be a white Austin, but it bloomed yellow for me (it was confirmed by DA Roses to be correctly labelled). It was a good grower, and had a nice fragrance, but I really didn't like the yellow fading to buff, so was removed. Others say that their Claire has white flowers. I was very disappointed because the DA catalog/website shows such beautiful white globular flowers.

Have you thought of Windermere? I keep hoping to find a space for it, but I haven't tried it.

I love both Bolero and Desdemona but they are definitely more in the blush camp here.

Claire is coming in the spring and I really hope I get the white version.

Rose Marie was new to me this year so I don’t know a ton about her but she seems more ivory. Still, closer to white than Desdemona and a shade closer than Bolero

Dianela - We must have posted at the same time as you answered my question before I asked it! :-) I always seem to like Princess Anne in others' photos, but then on the website, decide that it's too bright a pink. (I also love your vase!) I love a dark pink, just don't want it too, too hot pink. If it is the color of your photo in real life in my garden, then I would be very happy. Guess I'll just have try...

I did get Earth Angel -own root- last year. Still small and hasn't bloomed much, but the blooms she did have were very pretty and nicely fragrant. I'll give her more time. Yours is gorgeous! But 6 feet? I hadn't counted on that size, I thought she stayed small - uh oh...

Noseometer - sorry Earth Angel wasn't successful for you. Your Desdemona is gorgeous, though. So strange about your yellow Claire Austin. I wanted to try it because of the white globular blooms - not yellow. I did get Windermere this last spring and it had a few blooms end of July. Pretty, don't remember any fragrance, but still very new. She has a light yellow cast as opposed to the light pink cast of Desdemona.

Claire Austins flowers are definitely more white than yellow for me. There is a slight yellow tint from the inside when it's extra hot, but most of the time they're nice, white globular flowers. Mine is only a year old that came in DA large pot from my local nursery, so I'm going to watch how it develops. The white was definitely not dirty or muddied looking on any of my 3. Pretty clean white. It just has thin long canes that flop, which I don't love. But again, they're young and newly planted. I'll take some photos tomorrow of any blooms for you all, when the sun's out.

Love this thread. Beautiful pictures! I hope at least SOME of my roses will do well for me, otherwise, if I keep hanging out here and staring at Zone 7 roses, sooner or later I'd want to move just for roses! lol

Followed by the above post, I now begin to wonder, which state in the U.S., and which country in the world are the best places to grow roses? California? England, Taiwan, Japan...?

@northlandyogi_mi5a I'm too new to rose growing to really help, but I can recommend Neptunes Harvest Seaweed+Fish combo, along with their Rose Formula (when you notice buds forming) for your roses. I worked as much as I could on good compost and mulch for my roses this year too, but using those 2 liquid fertilizers mid season were the only thing I changed (using Rosetone before), and gave me the boldest colors in my latest flush of blooms...and a lot more flowers/buds, than any of the ealier flushes I had this season.

No real proof that this alone caused the roses to look better, but that definitely seemed to make my flowers themselves bolder, bigger and more fragrant. Lots of new green growth too.

*I also sprayed them a couple of times with the Netpunes. Not sure how that helped exactly, but maybe kept blackspot and other diseases away, didn't get any of that on them once I started using it. The few roses I had that had bad leaf damage earlier (none were Austins), cleared up and new growth is healthy green.

Here are some pictures that show the color range I'm getting with one of my Claire Austins.....in the heat of summer they seemed to start off more yellow, and then as they opened they'd be yellow but then quickly turn to pure white(first few pictures). The last two are of flowers today when it's been cooler, and the flowers seem more white. Could also have a lot to do with my feeding/watering.....but I didn't change too much.

Poor plant is getting eaten by what's around her, may move her next year or see if she can battle her way up next year now after her first winter in the ground here. Overall, I like this "white" Austin much better than the other white I tried, Imogen. That plant flowers an average amount but the flower form is nothing as complex as Claire, and it shatters in a day, if that. I don't even have too many pictures of it because I found it so 'meh'. This flower, while yellow at brief moments, is really a beautifully shaped flower that pops out beautifully against all of my other plants.

Hope this helps, will be interesting to compare these Claire's to whatever I get for next season.

Can see the more yellow buds here...and then the open flower turning white as time goes by

Cooler temps, or just no Neptunes Fertilizer lately = whiter flower. Sorry for the annoying sun glare-

In my zone 5b garden, I grow Fair Bianca and Bolero. Bolero (not an Austin) is shorter and wider, tends to get thrips. Fair Bianca gets about 3 feet tall in my garden, has good repeat. I have 3 planted in a triangle and they have a mannerly growth habit, smells of Black Licorice. Of the two, I would recommend fair bianca.

I have Winchester Cathedral and Milwaukee Calatrava. The one thing I'll say about both is that they get flushes of pinkish red on the blooms. I love that though :)