Lisa, Ego recommended Pickering Roses to me a few years ago and I ordered from them for the first time this year. They ship bareroot in the spring and are finished shipping for the season. I am very impressed with the health so far of the roses I received. I have had less than stellar results from potted roses that I've bought locally. I do see they offer 'Fair Bianca' see link below. If you don't find it locally and can wait until next spring, they are a good option.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pickering Nurseries - 'Fair Bianca'

Fair Bianca isn't a very vigorous rose (to put it mildly), so you do want to get it from a good place. For New England, Pickering is about as good as it gets. It also has what Austin calls a 'myrhh' scent, which smells like licorice to me. It's not something I would go out of my way to get.

mad gallica, could you suggest an alternative rose? I've always liked the look of that blossom too.

Lisa, I remember when I was told to order from Pickering and I was intimidated by bareroot and I didn't want to wait another year, pretty disappointing. I bought local and then waited. One of three roses I bought local is working out.

Hmmm, I did all this reading and found all good things about Fair Bianca, now am suddenly reading (here and elsewhere) not so great things about Fair Bianca. Ugh.

What I'd like is a fairly compact rose with a good, strong fragrance for my front steps. It needs to have some shade tolerance. I'd prefer white, but a light pink might be ok too. My favorite roses have that cabbage rose style flower, but I like other old garden looks too (don't really love the HT pointy florist type rose flower). I'd like one with a continual or strong repeat bloom too.

I know, I'm not asking much, am I? :-) Any suggestions??

Thanks tons (and I'll ask this over in the rose forum too, but you all understand our growing environment!)

Clotilde Soupert might be what you are looking for. It's a light pink polyantha, reasonably disease resistant (growable no-spray, but not perfect) somewhat fragrant, with cupped flowers.

For some reason, there aren't a lot of good whites. It should be a fairly easy color, since there are perfectly hardy white species roses, but any time I have to 'name names' it's hard. Good small roses are also hard. Most roses are kept artificially small by the climate, so climatically adapted roses can shock people by their size.

Lisa, we seem to be looking for a similar rose. I am trying Mme Plantier that I just ordered from PIckering. I can't say how it will do for me, but so far I just planted it in April bareroot and it already has a healthy amount of foliage. Not even sure it will bloom for me this year. It's supposed to have strong fragrance, disease resistance and tolerates part shade.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mme Plantier

Sorry the link didn't go to the exact page. Just do a search for Mme Plantier.

Most of my roses are ordered on-line, and my hands-down favorite supplier is Heirloom Roses out in Oregon; all their roses are bare-root, and I have
learned from growing theirs just how much stronger and more disease resistant
bare root roses can be. Yes, it WILL probably take an extra season to reach
some size, but it has been worth the wait in every case, for me. Their catalogue is sumptuous, but the web site is equally enticing; they carry quite a few of the David Austin roses, many of which have that full, "blowsy" look you're trying to find - I grow 'Graham Thomas', 'Heritage' and 'Jude the Obscure' - however, last I looked they did not carry 'Fair Bianca'.
Still, check them out !

Carl

Here is a link that might be useful: Heirloom Roses

Heirloom sells own root, not bare root, and in a colder climate, where the roses usually die back from winterkill, it can take decades for those babies to 'catch up'. Like a lot of other things, it's climate dependent.

Mad Gallica is quite correct; I mis-spoke. . .Heirloom sells OWN root roses. . .
as for having to 'catch up', you're going to have to tell that to the Heirloom Roses in my garden here in Z.6, which have always flourished ! :-)

prairiemoon -- someone on the roses forum suggested Bolero to me; might be what we're both looking for! Looks pretty good.... I just noticed that you've already planted the mme plantier; let me know how it goes, as the season wears on! I'm always looking for fragrance for part shade (got a lot of that going on!)

Lisa, I have mine planted in a bed against the back foundation of my house facing West. It will get about 4 hours of sun in the afternoon. I'm hoping it will bloom at least moderately. If not, I will move it. I will take some photos as the season continues and post for you. Thanks for the Bolero suggestion. :-) I have a lot of part shade in my garden too.

I am in NW CT, the icebox of CT. I always order bareroot roses. If you order from reputable places, like Pickering, Sam Kedem (who no longer mail orders), or David Austin US in Texas, not only can you get what you want, you'll get excellent stock. The time I save by not having to drive or call around to find out if nurseries stock what I want is worth the money I pay for shipping. That's the way I look at it. Heritage is my favorite David Austin rose -- I don't have many as I tend to buy hardier roses to be sure they will winter over. It has everything -- form, fragrance, color (light pink, if you like pink), and I think it may be one that does well with less sun. It's a winner. However, there are other light pink roses that bloom for a longer time. That's a consideration for me too. It is fun to have some old English roses -- love them.

I may have seen Fair Bianca at Andrews in Amherst, MA...not sure.

I LOVE this white shrub rose. Fragrance, blooms its head off... it's a Weeks rose so kinda hard to find in MA but Roseman nursery in Carver can get it for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pillow fight