Here's a few more in your face blossom photos.

Claire

I've been searching and I think maybe it's Rosa Excelsa, which was introduced by Michael Walsh who apparently was famous for developing "Cape Cod Rambler Roses". My garden is in the Cape Cod region, just north of the bridge. It does have a little white in the center of the blossom, and some references say it's sometimes sold as "Red Dorothy Perkins".

Claire

Yes, too dark for 'Dorothy Perkins' and more like 'Excelsa'. But there is a whole set of these.

Thanks, bboy. Do you have any names I can search for? I'm pretty much googled-out without a name.

Claire

Hi Clair, I think it's probably Excelsa. I have it in my yard, planted long before I came here. And though I only ID'd it from pics off the internet, it just has the right color and a certain look in the way the flowers clusters hang.

It grows like a weed here in north FL without any care whatsoever. It sends out suckers (a lot in my climate) and can come back from a little piece of root. It's possible you have seedlings comming up but I think more likely they are suckers.

Donna

Phillips & Rix rose books and other rose books with lots of pictures, for leads. Then bring in some that may not have hundreds of illustrations but more detailed or illuminating descriptions. You should also be able to search web sites by type of rose, in this case I expect Walsh Ramblers or even just Ramblers.

Thanks, Donna, Excelsa is very reasonable, given that it was bred in Woods Hole about 30 miles from here. My mother was a knowledgable gardener and would have known what was available in this area and what was well-suited to the local conditions.

It's almost a weed here too, or would be if the Carolina and multiflora roses weren't so rampant. I'm not sure where I found those "seedlings" - a few years ago I moved several foundlings to a nursery area and just waited for them to bloom. Two of them turned out to be Excelsa, one was multiflora and several Carolina. I kept the Excelsas and moved the others to the coastal bank where they're on their own. Even now there's a Carolina rose peeking out from one of the original big Excelsas.

Thanks, bboy, but I already searched web sites using all of the obvious terms plus some not so obvious - that's how I got to the Excelsa identification. Since Excelsa is very likely, I don't want to go crazy looking for rose books. If I had a specific name, I'd google it; otherwise, I'm content with calling the rose Excelsa.

Claire

Claire, I ran across these older articles, if you haven't already seen them, you might find them helpful in researching other possibilities.

I wonder if the ramblers are still there at Woods Hole. If you are close it might be fun to go see them. Donna

http://www.bulbnrose.org/Roses/breeding/Walsh/walsh.html

http://www.arsyankee.org/yankeedoodle.htm

Nice references, Donna! There is supposedly a small memorial garden in Woods Hole and I just might go there one of these days (it's reasonably close, and there's a good bagel store on the way).

Claire