I have a huge oak in my soon to be backyard and one side gets all day sun. I would love to grow a climber and clematis up into the tree. I was thinking something that is a little shade tolerant too just to be on the safe side. I am using the oak as an anchor to lead into my planned private space.

I have New Dawn and a Shropshire Lad that could be used me but I am thinking I want a deeper color (and more new roses)
Any suggestions?

Zephirine Drouhin will grow up a tree nicely and is shade tolerant. Here's a pic Sue took of mine and posted in HMF:

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose...

It has the added bonus of being thornless, or nearly thornless, so it's very easy to work with.

And it smells delicious.

will it grow okay in zone 5? HMF says zone 5b so it could work and scent is something I really wanted.

For some reason I was thinking it was a much warmer climate rose.

Some sources say it's even hardy to zone 4. It's a Bourbon rose and they usually aren't picky about climate.

works for me. I checked it out and I can get it through David Austin with the others I want for my "retreat"

Terrific! It's always nice to combine purchases and save on postage and handling.

I agree. Zephrine was wonderful where I lived in zone 9. And overwintered beautifully here in 5. My neighbors, z9, told me one of the reasons they bought their house was that it was in full bloom all along my fence row and the fragrance was so wonderful in their bedroom.

You've also given me a great idea about putting one on a tulip tree here. I'd been thinking the clemtis/rose combo for several years and couldn't figure out where to put it!

I'm a great fan of Zepherine Drouhin and I think it could be a good choice, if it's cold hardy where you live. I doubt that it will exceed 15 or 20 ft. Paul's Himalayan Musk and Treasure Trove are two other roses that can tolerate some shade and still reach 20-30 ft. And they are both reputed to have good fragrance. Their blooms are small, but they can make lots of them. (Many of the multiflora ramblers that fell out of fashion because they bloomed once might work : Newport Fairy, Super Dorothy, Excelsa, Bobby James, etc.)

I liked pictures of the Canadian rose, Quadra. I am trying to grow William Baffin, a Canadian explorer rose, as a climber. Both the Canadian Explorer and the Park roses are bred to be cold tolerant and disease resistant.

Another Canadian explorer rose that can grow to nearly 30 ft is the dark rose colored (almost crimson) Alexander McKenzie.