Antique, Alba, Old Garden Rose 'White Rose of York'

The registration name is 'Alba Semi-plena'. As the name suggests, the 2.5" flowers are semi-double, averaging 8 petals.

It...Read More is a shrub and not a bush. Foliage is described as gray-green or bluish green, not bronze.

'Alba Semi-plena' occasionally sports to 'Alba Maxima', and vice versa. The two differ principally in the number of petals. Both have been considered the white rose of York, the Jacobite rose, etc.

Rosa x alba is an ancient hexaploid hybrid and not a natural species. Its parentage is uncertain, but some think it may be a cross between R. canina and R. gallica.

Albas flower in clusters of 6-8 mainly on short lateral and sublateral shoots produced from second-year or older wood. These roses also regularly produce vigorous arching basal or near-basal shoots, which may grow 5-8 feet in one season.

Dead wood may be removed anytime. Most other pruning should be performed in the weeks immediately following bloom, to avoid cutting off incipient flower buds. Pruning should be kept to a minimum.

Albas are fairly resistant to black spot. They also tolerate more shade than most other roses.

This cultivar does not come true from seed.

I have to commend this rose for toughness! I ordered it from Rogue Valley Roses year before last. It came as described--a wee, tiny thi...Read Moreng, but it's growing quite nicely. This last winter was ugly, with an ice storm that caused a lot of damage, but this little guy came through it all like a champ. It will be a while yet before it gets to blooming size, but its tenacity has certainly impressed me.

From HGTV.com's list of list of carefree roses by Mary C. Weaver:
'Alba Semi-Plena' (also called 'The White Rose of York'): If fra...Read Moregrance is important to you, make room for this exquisitely scented variety, which has been cultivated for the production of attar (fragrant essential oil) of roses. An alba--one of the most cold-hardy and disease-free classes--'Alba Semi-Plena' bears large, semidouble milk-white flowers with showy stamens in spring and a good crop of red hips in fall. The blooms' grace and purity is matchless, and the grayish-green foliage is disease-resistant. It has long prickles, so don't site this substantial shrub where you'll brush up against it. Cultivated before 1867. Hardy to Zone 3 or 4. A spreading shrub 5 to 7 feet in height and width.

Also known as the Jacobite Rose. Good autumn fruit. 16th century shrub rose. 6ft x 4ft wide. Shade tolerant.