Climbing Tea Rose 'Sombreuil'

I keep trying to add what I know about it and it keeps rejecting some of my entries and only allows me to add 1 fact.

I gr...Read Moreew it in Ontario Canada for 10 years it is hardy to zone 6 (zone 5 in a sheltered spot).

It is extremely double flowered. They are rosette shape and shallow.

Cut the flowers can last up to 3 days floating on the water in a glass bowl of water on the dining table but they are not good in a vase as they fade quicker upright.

It Has a very light tea scent that you have to put your nose in the bloom to smell.

It grows to about 12- 15 feet. It reached 12 feet in my garden.

It has large curved thorns aka prickles.

It needs support because it has weak canes cannot support its weight of leaves and blooms and it can flop down all the way to the ground unless tied to a support.

It does not like hard pruning. I pruned mine hard in August and it sulked and died on me after having lived in Ontario in the GTA for 10 years in my yard. I grew it on the east side of the garage where there was no west wind, full morning sun and sun til late afternoon, it was sheltered by mature evergreens to the north so it did not get any killing winter winds.

It repeats blooms for me it bloomed about 3 times a year first in June-July 2nd in August and 3rd in late September but some years it only bloomed twice.

I recommend wearing long sleeves and heavy gloves handling her because her thorns are sharp and curved and catch bare skin drawing blood if you are not careful.

Sombreuil seemed to prefer to bloom mostly on new wood from the current year. Which would explain her only blooming about 3 times a year in Ontario Canada.

Someone please add her hardiness, color and growth habit because when I add one of those it deletes the other entry so when I go back to plant profile only 1 of my entered info is there and when I try to add the others it deletes that one and adds only the new entry.

Recap of my experience..

Hardiness zone to zone 5a when grown in a sheltered spot in my experience in Richmond Hill Ontario(Survived 10 years not killed by frost killed by hard pruning)

Color white.

Height 12-15 feet.

Scent little to none. You have to put your nose into the bloom to smell the tea scent as it is not carried on the air. It does however have a tea scent if you stick your nose into the bloom and sniff.

Shallow flattened rosette blooms.very very double (over 100 petals).

Hates being aggressively pruned so be sure it is not too near a path edge where she may need to be harshly cut back when she gets big.

I use the temp chart for hardiness and by it (and my thermometer readings) so I am in zone 5.

I am usda zone 5 but recommend it only for zone 6 or warmer because not everybody has the benefit of mature evergreens on the north and west wall to plant on and in zone 5, in a less sheltered spot it may winter kill.

Unconfirmed: some books that I read mention Sombreuil has trouble in hot climates so she might get fungal disease in zones 8-10 or experience balling.

She seemed fairly disease resistant in zone 5 in my experience.

I have 2 of these on a north west facing entrance in a 6' block wall. They are huge..I had to move one or she would overtake my garage!! ...Read MoreI moved the one prior to a 100degree plus heat wave(in June)..She came through it like a trooper!!She is already kicking out blossoms!! Shocking considering the weather kicked out..and still thriving! I did cut it back alot prior to moving it.
The remaining one is well over 12 ft ..comes across the trellis I have over the entrance and running along the wall the other direction. No stopping her. We had several days over 100 and it didn't phase her..
There is a scent as this is the main entrance to our patio..I notice it everytime I walk thru the gate. Not strong but there none the less.
Too keep the blooms prolific..deadheading does help..otherwise she stops blooming to gather for the next flush..with deadheading there is no pause. Yes there are thorns..it is a rose..I'm buying clippers on a pole!! LOL In the spring it is totally covered with blooms.
So you want a big white rose..(slight pink as a bud) you got one here!! I haven't noticed any disease issues either.
They are about 4 years old and I think they will get to about 20 ft. I am more than pleased with this rose and would highly recommend it!!! I do not pamper my roses either..usually forget to fertilize them..

I have grown Sombreuil in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.

Its very beautiful and hardy in my area.

The las...Read Moret time it dipped below temp zone 6 was like once in 1983 or so.(I based my zone 6 claim on on the 1952 shared Canada US USDA hardiness map which rated my temps and area zone 6 because almost every garden book I own uses that climate map)

The internet said it dipped to -30 Celsius that record cold snap around 1982. Usually winters don't go below the -18 to -22 Fahrenheit range here.

I don't know about heat issues since where I am only gets about a week of summer 88+ Fahrenheit (not over 92 degrees Fahrenheit though, even in a heat wave). Summers usually run 76-84 degrees Fahrenheit here in July (our hottest month).

From my own experience in the last 20+ years (but basically since 1995) I've never seen the old Fahrenheit thermometer dip below -23 Fahrenheit. It usually doesn't go below -18 Fahrenheit but, I play it safe by considering my climate zone 6 but borderline so that I plant any borderline hardy plants in protected spots.

In the case of Sombreuil its got a garage wall on the west blocking westerly winds evergreen trees on the north somewhat sheltering it from northern blasts, and our neighbor has a deciduous hedgerow of sorts 30 feet from it on the east although it gets morning and most of the afternoon sun.

This rose is very beautiful has a nice tea scent, but the strength of the scent is extremely variable and usually very hard to detect until your nose stuck right in flower, and is also weather dependent as to detectability

It is usually creamy white to white with quartered extremely doubled flowers.

2 things to be aware of are:

1) that it is very vigorous even where I live (it grows 12 feet or about 3 and a half meters). I measured it reaching 12 feet high in my garden. However, I don't recommend measuring it as handling it can and in my experience did, draw blood.

and

2) it has very large nasty vicious thorns that seem to always catch your clothes and rip at skin when you prune the rose or try to tie it onto a trellis or support.

That said, I wouldn't be without it, just grow it in a protected area of your garden if you are growing it on the edges of its range. In my garden its facing east (winds are usually from the west) and its against a wall of a building on the west side with a evergreen on the north coincidentally blocking any rare north wind as well.

A positive for it, is it looks beautiful floating on water in a transparent globe like bowl on the dinner table and lasts anywhere from 3 to 5 days displayed in that manner (usually 3 days)

Just beware its thorns, and enjoy :)

I edited for clarity on March 16, 2021 primarily to clear up some temperature and climate zone confusions I might have inadvertently caused by not entering my personal climate observations properly in my pre edit posting.

Small bit of trivia for you: Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada was once considered the rose capitol of Canada. You can see why since Sombreuil grows well here.

I may have another variation of 'Sombreuil', but I saw the old tin tag on the mother plant and Sombreuil is what it said. Mine is a clim...Read Moreber and a varigated pink, not very showy, and prone to blossom cabbaging. However! There is no more sturdy plant going than this lady. I was given A Start. It took. I planted it right under the drip line of our house, here in zone 6, and it never noticed that it's flooded or sitting in a block of ice all winter long. Hardy is not a strong enough adjective for this beauty! It's a climber, and is a rather retiring plant as it's colors; leaf, stem and blossom, are all muted, but the aroma is the richest, truest rose fragrance there is, without parallel - and I grow a LOT of fragrant roses. I have it in clay soil amended with lagoonage on a south facing wall, and it does need to be pegged, but it only wants a bit of a soap spray for occasional aphids. Is prone to black spot. Seal all cuts with vaseline; borers love this rose. Thrives on an early spring spray of sulphur and castille soap. I would not trade this rose for a diamond ring.