I am wondering if your friend’s gorgeous old rose is a climbing Madame Caroline Testout. Carol

It looks sort of like Madame Caroline Testout to me, but the pics are so fuzzy I can't see much when I blow them up. The incredibly thorny canes are correct, and the bloom form is close, as is the shape of the leaves, but somehow I don't think it is MCT, unless it is such an old cultivar that it has changed a bit in the meantime. Also, what is that red rose doing there? Does not seem as if it could be Dr. H, if the rose is that old, but you never know. Pic of my MCT below (the yellow bloom is one of Anna Olivier's which came over to visit).

Jackie

MCT occurred to me, but I've not grown it, so I only know it in photos. The red rose is interesting, and I'm going to ask her about it.

Catspa . . . That's helpful. Not having personal experience with MCT, I'm a bit at a loss. But historically, that would be a logical supposition.

Does it repeat?

Sounds like some repeat. From the OP, "Has a big burst of flowers now with occasional flowers continuing in the summer."

I used to have the climbing sport of ‘Mme. Caroline Testout’ (killed in the 2015 freeze) and it reminds me of this rose. I’m used to seeing darker, more Emerald green foliage on MCT, but the brighter green foliage as seen in these photos could be an environmental factor at play.

The climbing MCT rebloomed only sparingly. The way the apical leaflet cups downward is also an MCT trait. Old wood is thorny like in these photos.

I studied the middle picture again, and am now almost sure it is Cl MCT. As I recall, that rose was planted in Portland and environs by the thousands for some civic reason (can't find why on the internet, so I will look in my rose library) a LONG time ago, so an old specimen in Seattle makes a kind of sense.

Jackie

Ha! I found it! Here is a quote:

"About half a million pink hybrid tea rose bushes, all 'Mme Caroline Testout,' were planted along the streets of Portland for the Lewis and Clark Exposition. Many of these remain today."

The Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition was a sort of World's Fair, which was open in Portland from June to Oct of 1905. So, it was not thousands of MCT which were planted, but five hundred thousand! Seattle is not that far away....

Jackie

I've emailed "Juli" and asked her to take a look at pictures of MCT (and one or two other roses) at HelpMeFind. I'll let y'all know.

one of which appears to be the largest in Seattle

Back story?

Embothrium . . . What I know is above. I'm just trying to help the owner.

I would imagine that if it was so popular, in 1905 and literally planted all over Portland, the local nurseries near Seattle would have had it in stock.

Jackie