Matt is very likely going to be THE most informed and experienced advisor about that subject you will find. He GROWS all he sells and he endures your climate doing it. The hot, impossibly dry summer conditions do fry soft, papery petals no matter where you encounter them. I have grown (or did my absolute best trying) Old European Garden Roses in the So Cal mid desert and the petals fried quickly. I can well imagine how fast they crisp for you. Your climate has the advantage of offering the snowy winter reprieve and a short "hot season" over my old mid desert one. That was the land of endless summer and the cold lovers hated it. Listen to Matt. He won't steer you wrong.

I can only speak to brutally hot summers but not cold winters. Here, my Albas generally finish blooming before it gets really hot (like 110F two days in a row last week, then "only" 102F the third day), so it works out, but that's because they start early (March) due to NOT having a cold winter. If they didn't start until May/June, it would likely be hopeless. I still plant the ones I have ('Jeanne d'Arc', 'Semi-plena', and "Sappho") in part shade and they do bloom well. But, it's not a class I plan on expanding in my garden.

I've given up on Gallicas, and Rugosas for that matter, entirely after trying a few (they loved Massachusetts...) and have just one Centifolia sort of moss rose, for sentimental reasons. Some years its blooms manage to squeak by before we get hammered by the heat (it blooms in May), but most years it gets fried.

Does anyone have a functioning portal into the Netterverse?

Ditto what Kim said about Matt being the expert. And honestly, you can get much of the same Alba garden look from Damasks alone. Same pinks, blushes, white. Gads, they are beautiful! One of my absolute fav Albas, Konigen von Danemark, is pretty much Damasky. I’d start with these: La Ville de Bruxelles (the beauty leaves me speechless), Ispahan, Madame Hardy, Botzaris (okay, they all leave me speechless) and something semi double-flowered that opens for the bees. Since I am me, I’d try a High Country Roses purple Moss like William Lobb just to squeeze in some purple. Carol

@Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR Well thankfully I do already have one alba (Mme. Plantier, planted as a band this spring) so I will get to observe how it does and go from there. And I bought a sampling of a few other classes as well to learn from. But as a beginner I still don't feel confident enough to say I really know anything about any roses, so I feel compelled to ask. If you look around my neighborhood it's about 40% Dr. Huey, 40% knockouts, and 20% other, and an unlabeled rose garden in the next town over. So it's hard to know by looking around what actually can thrive here.

Do you have a favorite alba?

Alba Maxima is great. Maiden's Blush too but no photos.

I'm with you in that no one I know in person grows the roses I am interested in here.

Magpie, you’re in good company here on the forum. This is the place where everyone gathers who wants to experiment with historic and, frankly, just uncommon roses, where we can share what we’ve learned by trial and error and where we can ask those more experienced for advice and feedback. My go-to gurus are all on this forum!

Personally, I think your approach of starting with some recommended roses for your area (like Damasks) but also branching out a bit and experimenting with M Plantier and other rose classes is a great way to sample and grow roses and learn about them. Hands-in-the-dirt rose school.

Dr. Huey must be the universal 40% rose. Ha, ha. Rootstock will rule the world! It still amazes me how homogenous rose plantings are. If you dropped me in any grocery store parking lot or next to any municipal planting, the roses wouldn’t offer even a hint of a geographical clue. I could be standing in pretty much any city in the US. It’s a little spooky.

I’d love to know what you are growing and hear updates on how the roses you planted fare in your area. And for the record, I’ll bet M Plantier thrives!

Carol

Aw, @portlandmysteryrose, you're too kind! I very much enjoyed your comment, thank you. Right now I am growing...

Polka

Sally Holmes

Reine Victoria

Mme. Ernest Calvat

Mme. Plantier

Strawberry Hill

Jude the Obscure

Moonlight in Paris

Le Petite Prince

Gruss an Aachen

Ispahan

Sidonie

Erinnerung an Brod

John Cabot

Therese Bugnet

Munstead Wood I sadly lost this year

Indigo just purchased.

They're all new to me except Munstead, so I'm very excited to see them grow and learn about them. I plan to buy a few more next spring (maybe Alchemist, HC Banshee, Rose de Rescht, maybe Ghislaine de Feligonde) but then I want to sit back and watch them for a few years and just get to know them more intimately. I went a little bit overboard with rose shopping this year since my garden is in its infancy. Buying new roses and filling up a new garden has been such fun, but the fun of "new new new" has actually started feeling tiresome and a little hollow now. I think familiarity will bring a longer lasting comfort and happiness. I can't wait to watch the bands grow up into gorgeous mature roses over the years.

Magpie, that’s a wonderful range of beautiful roses! Your collection will make a solid test garden and a lovely pleasure garden. I look forward to hearing how everything grows and blooms for you! On your list, Polka, Sally Holmes, Gruss as Achen, Ispahan, Sidonie, Erinnerung, John Cabot, Therese Bugnet, Munstead Wood and Madame Plantier all grow pretty much trouble free in Portland. Gruss an Achen gets some blackspot but shakes it off. A few on your list are roses I’ve never grown or planted in others’ gardens. I am looking them up on HMF because now I’m very curious. :-) Carol

If you are looking for albas that can handle the cold and the heat, I highly recommend talking to Heather at Split Mountain Farms in Jensen, UT (which is actually where HCR originated). When I was down there last we were chatting roses and she mentioned that she loves to grow albas in her personal garden. I think Jensen is technically a zone 6 but it's harsh desert and I've been there in summer when it's hit 115F.