Mine is 2 years old and has had two distinct flushes, with sporadic blooms in between. It is grafted. I do spray, but when I've fallen behind, it's still been spotless. Be prepared for thick, bolt upright canes that can be trained if you start early enough. I don't detect a fragrance, I'm glad you do because I consider the lack of scent (to me) its only flaw. The blooms last awhile on the bush without looking ratty. IMHO, though, I don't know if it's good enough to get rid of Clothilde Soupert if you like it as much as you do.

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Eric

This is one of my husband Tom's favorites of my roses. It is spectacular in bloom. As is the case with most roses, it has pluses and minuses. In my climate, very different from yours, it is very healthy except for a susceptibility to rust in the fall. Rust is a much worse problem on the west coast than in the east, so you may not need to worry about this.

Mine took several years to settle in and put on size. Frankly, I almost gave up on it but Tom really wanted it to have a second (and third and fourth) chance. I eventually moved it to a spot where a large shrub suited me better than a climber and that is how I grow it. It is very rewarding grown that way; I highly recommend it. At first it bloomed mainly in the spring. As the years went by it began to have a decent second flush and it now has three or four abundant, distinctive flushes each year.

The real problem for you will be that this rose pretty much has no fragrance. I know some people claim to detect a faint scent but those are people with unusually keen senses of smell.

However, I now like it almost as much as Tom does. If I were to make a list of roses I like best despite the fact that they are not fragrant, this one would be near the top, right under Violette.

Rosefolly

Ooops - I see that you are one of the people who find that it has scent. I missed that on first reading.

You are a lucky gardener. I love the scents of the plant world (well, most of them), and wish I had a better nose. For example, I can barely detect Tea at all. To be blessed with a good nose opens up so much pleasure in the garden! It is a gift to be cherished.

Mine's not very old and is own-root. It is growing very well, has very good bs resistance so far but I spray. It reminds me quite a bit of Clotilde Soupert, but with bigger blooms. I also find it fragrant, but not as fragrant as Clotilde. To me the blooms are not prettier than Clotilde but are deeper. Mine has not had good weather since planted so it is hard to give an accurate report on rebloom. I didn't have a good spring flush until the second year. I do think it takes a little time to mature. Thrips like it. I'd give it a try. I have a cl. Clotilde in a pot which I need to plant in the ground.

Patrick:
The Eden in my garden has taken a while to become established. The amount of blooms have increased with age. I only sprayed once this year and it has some BS but nothing to write home about. The plant is only about 5 - 6' tall and the canes aren't very pliable. No fragrance but it is one beautiful flower! I have CS in the shrub form and you can have it. It balls terribly and it is in a prominent spot. Be patient with Eden and you won't be sorry!

Thank you for all the wonderful responses. So lets compare the two:

CLIMBING CLOTILDE SOUPERT
Disease resistance: very good
Flower color: translucent white blushed lilac pink
Flower form: tightly quartered
Fragrance: powerful piercing scent similar to the Albas
Remontancy: very good, repeats the first year running
Vigor: very good, big climber that grows fast
Other: nearly thornless. Blooms in clusters - small flower size - best used for its massing effect

EDEN
Disease resistance: good
Flower color: pastel green guard petals, then translucent white blushed rich pink; "watermelon"
Flower form: globular
Fragrance: light Tea rose scent
Remontancy: okay; repeats after the third year
Vigor: good once the roots become established; again, after the third year
Other: blooms singly and in clusters; large flower size - breathtakingly beautiful when in full bloom

Hmmmmmmm, that leaves Clotilde ahead. Perhaps more enabling?

Image of Eden by Lavender_Lassie-z6b-VA at Hortiplex.

Image of Pierre de Ronsard by Missy GardenWhimsy at Hortiplex.

How about growing both. There must be a spot somewhere you could put Eden. Those blooms are achingly beautiful. I remember seeing it at Heirloom Roses 3-4 years ago and thinking it was a beauty.

Patrick----Have you ever thought about growing them close together and then you could enjoy the beauty of both and the fragrance of CS.

Florence

Patrick ---this is a picture before I had a digital camera but it shows how big Eden grew in my yard sure wish I had a better picture---please excuse the pajamas----LOL
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Florence

Eden has been quite spectacular for us this year and last year. I think it's been in the ground about 5 years now, and definitely gets better each year.

I grew it in humid East Texas and found it was quite disease resistant. Ours are grafted, I've never tried it on its own roots, though we plant our roses deep here so they may be on their own roots by now. It's one rose that does bloom quite well with a little shade (ours are shaded on one end by Paperbark Birches). Like so many others here, I cannot detect even a slight sent on it, though I can smell Clothilde Soupert.

It can be grown all kinds of ways, but does really well both as a freestanding shrub or fanned out, like we've done. Below is a photo this Spring, it's kept blooming like that nearly all season, including now, for us.

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--Ron

Patrick, Niels did a post on Pierre de Ronsard recently on his blog. Check it out below - chock full of info.

Anne

Here is a link that might be useful: Niels on Eden

Patrick, let me put it this way. If you want a reliable, trouble free car but don't mind the mundane drive and low key appearance, there is any number of cars you can get from the likes of Honda, Nissan, etc. However, if the thrill and fun of the drive is what you are looking for, in a car which simply shouts "I am here!", and, you are more than willing to put up with some of the quirks and attention seeking behaviour, get a Mini Cooper!

Eden is like the Mini Cooper, at least for me. Everytime I see an Eden bloom, my heart rate speeds up. There is something about this rose that makes me emotional everytime I see it. In fact, this is the very rose that got me started on growing rose, just 10 years ago. I did not get mine until 5 years ago. It remains one of my favourites - never mind the lack of fragrance.

The canes are thick and tall and ram rod straight when it first emerges. They are prone to splitting. And if not handled carefully when young, break easily. But what amazes me is no matter how thick the cane is, I am usually able to pull it down to a near horizontal alignment the following year, to a railing about 2 1/2 feet high. It has a heavy, breath taking flush in June, and a second flush late August, early September. Ours usually has some blooms on it between those flushes. The petals don't do well in sustained rain - I provide protection during the crucial month before the spring big flush. It seems to be disease resistant - some black spot, but not too bad. I haven't seen rust or powdery mildew on ours.

In our garden, it is the rose which grabs everybody's attention, even when all it has is a single bloom.

Mine just got too much rust and it had no fragrance, no fragrance at all.

I have had a very bad year with my Edan and will be sp-ing it this fall. Here in the north it doesn't reach climber stage, with winterkill down to the ground some years. I know that's not your issue, but mine got a severe case of bs this year to the point it looks dead.

The only good quality is the individual flowers, they are gorgeous. But I detect no fragrance whatsoever.

My Eden is a monster, but the spring flush is wonderful. It is easy to tie the long canes down horizontal.

The fragrance is like a cool evasive refreshing wave, that has one wondering if there is any at all.

If CCS is anything like Clotilde Soupert, well you are in heaven.

I like Eden from my deck looking down in the valley. I like Clotilde Soupert up close to my nose.

Foghorn

P.S. Yes, I do have to do a modified tip with Eden, and Clotilde Soupert is an annual, here in Iowa. I suppose I could tip it also. Hindsight is 20/20.

Pierre de Ronsard was grown everywhere that I went in France, and was always gorgeous. We have one in the cemetery, and it is spectacular when it blooms, although it's rarely seen because it's in a remote area, not part of the Historic Rose Garden. I like to cut a bouquet to enjoy them up close.

I'm not a fan of Clothilde Soupert, although I don't know the climbing form. Every spring, I swear that this year is my shrub CS's last, as I look at the powdery mildew and unopened, balled buds. Those flowers that do open hang on forever, dead, brown and ugly. The fragrance is piercingly sweet, a bit cloying, really. I get a couple of good flushes in the late summer and fall, and then give the rose a reprieve for one more year (I HATE to shovel prune).

So, for me, the choice would be very easy: Eden, aka PdR. Of course, Sacramento's conditions are very different... and so are France's!
Anita

Powdery Mildew has never been a big problem for my Clotilde Soupert rose bushes. Yes, she sometimes gets a bout of it but the disease is easily wiped out with a single application of fungicide. My biggest problem is black spot and In terms of black spot, Clotilde Soupert is really resistant. Yes she gets a little but it is mostly confined to the lower half of the plant. Spray occasionally and the foliage will remain clean as a whistle.

As for balling ... well, that is price you have to pay for Clotilde's brand of floral decadence. That FRAGRANCE!!!

I think I've just made up my mind. Thanks folks!

Patrick

Eden is a fabulous rose with one major weakness: thrips. The two that I have put out huge globular flowers that are ruined by the slightest visit from the thrips. Because I do not spray, my Eden does not look at all like the ones in the catalogs. Thus, if you have a serious thrips problem, Eden is not a very good choice, unless you are fine with spraying and using systemics.