So, I decided to make a nursery run, to put something in those holes which I can change later - maybe. I'm mostly an OGR person so I walked past all the HT's on display - blooming away - because I know from experience I'd be throwing my money away - they just won't make it here except as annuals.
Searched and searched and finally picked up the Fairy, which is unkillable - for me, Ballerina, Sea Foam and a couple of Knock-Outs. Grabbed the garden manager and had another chat with him about why they don't have OGRS - which make more sense up here in zone 5. He said he'd be willing to order some, but wasn't clear about what they were, and also didn't know if his suppliers had any. They mainly order from Star and Weeks - and I know for a fact that Star has:

Gruss an Aachen
La Reine Victoria
Madame Hardy
Madame Isaac Periere
Madame Louis Leveque
Madame Louise Odier
Therese Bugnet
Zephirine Drouhin

If any one is interested - I going back to see him tomorrow.
Check the Star website, and look at the roses listed for zone 5. If you see something you like, want or need and live near Adams or shop there - I'll add it to the list I'm giving him.

Dee

Will add the ones you named to the list. I've never been to Story's - just checked, it is not far from me - will drive up on Saturday and will stop in at Wonderland tomorrow on my way back from Botanical Garden (if I have any money left).

Don't know why folks insist on growing and losing HTs up here - I guess florists and advertising have warped ideas of what "roses" are. I'm not completely anti-HT, there were a few I liked having when I lived further south (am now trying hard to remember what they were), but most leave me cold.

Dee

The best rose selection I've found locally is at Beardsley in Sharon. They are expensive. Phantom Gardener currently only has a lot of 'easy care' roses most of which aren't particularly hardy.

BTW, given the trouble I have had giving this stuff away, I can't imagine trying to make a living at it.

Shaolin, I'd love to start a nursery, not for money - just for the fun of it, but am currently "growing" baby goats. which takes up a lot of time. Anyone who wants "goat berries" (goat poop is great fertilizer) is welcome to come by and load up :) - free. And if you know how to milk a goat, you can have free goat milk too. We got the goats to clear scrub from the property - which they do a great job of - and they are now pets. Only problem is they are multiplying :).

Dee

Another good local plant sale is the weekend after Memorial Day at Clermont. It's June 5, 10-3. Phantom Gardener has a flyer out on the counter. I'm not exactly sure how that one is going to work this year, since rumor has it Clermont has picked up an admission fee for the grounds this year.

And, if anybody hasn't heard yet, the IES spring plant sale is this coming weekend. Friday and Saturday 10-4, Sunday 11-4. Well worth a trip to Millbrook. I've heard they have divided some of their historic daylilies, and there will be some very rare things for sale. They also usually sell some roses from Pickering. Not antiques, but rugosas and Explorer types. It can be a very interesting sale.

I just might take you up on the goat fertilizer someday soon! Have to see if my dynamulch is all they say it is...

Maybe you could learn to make goat cheese and have a dairy/rose business combo! My family kept a couple of pygmy goats when I was growing up and I remember how much energy they took. Sweet animals, but really needy! They would follow us all around our yard and then try to follow us right into the house. I think they would have sat on the couch and watched TV with us if we had let them.

But perhaps if the goats ever get under control you will come round to the antique rose nursery idea again. That would be so amazing to have something like that so close by! I, for one, would frequent it religiously!

I think you have to get to Adams in March or April to get the good roses. They're all gone by now. I will also talk to the manager there about getting hardier roses. If more of us request it, he will be more likely to respond.

Hybrid tea roses are like annuals up here. I just plant very fragrant old roses now. I don't care if they don't have long stems like the HT's. I float them in a bowl of water and just sniff them. I buy roses for the scent.

My Zephirine Drouhin doesn't want to grow well. It's now putting up shoots from the base of the plant. Have others had a lot of climbing rose winterkill? I lost 3 this year.