I bought a mislabeled rose 3 years ago from Lowes. It was labeled White Lady Banks Rose but it has thorns. It blooms only once in Spring, and its a very vigorous plant. I was wondering if anyone could ID it? The blooms have a very slight fragrance to them, but its not really noticeable. I've pruned it several times since I've had it, and it grows incredibly fast and large.

White Lady Banks has thorns.

Wow I didn't know that. Thanks Jay.

Horntoad said:White Lady Banks has thorns.

Sorry, I beg to differ. All the online and printed sources report that all four varieties of Rosa banksiae are normally thornless.

Is it a possibility its another type of of rose Sue?

All these pages say it has thorns. The first one says it is called “Fortuniana”.

http://cals.arizona.edu/mohave...

http://www.monrovia.com/plant-...

http://www.ph-rose-gardens.com...

http://www.examiner.com/articl...

http://www.paghat.com/banksros...

I agree with Jay...from sad personal experience I can attest to thorns on the white Lady Banks....when I worked with a landscape company, one client had a LB white that she wanted removed as it had taken over....we unfortunately went with the idea that it was, like "Lutea" thornless......it didn't take but a couple minutes to discover our error, but quite a lot longer to remove dozens of small thorns from skin and clothes.

Mine definitely looks like Fortuniana. Thanks so much. I'm glad I have a name to my rose.

Fortuniana, aka Hybrid Banksia, introduced by Robert Fortune in the UK in 1845 and often labeled as a Lady Banks white http://www.helpmefind.com/rose...

and White Lady Banks aka Rosa banksiae banksiae, introduced in 1807 (Tall, climbing, thornless) http://www.helpmefind.com/gard...

are 2 different plants, obviously easily confused by using common names.

Fortuniana is probably one of the healthiest roses around, it has small double white violet scented blooms.The canes are gawky and need support, growing into a straggling, scrambling climber. It is mentioned that it has few prickles, not entirely thornless. It is quite similar to Rosa banksiae except that all it's parts are larger. The flowers are somewhat messy close-up and much larger than other banksians and sometimes display a button eye. It is widely used as rootstock in warmer tropical areas with sandy soils and the southeastern corner of the US, Florida being the most popular.

White Lady Banks was the first Banksian rose to be introduced to the West in 1807 by William Kent, who worked for the director of Kew, Sir Joseph Banks. It has large clusters of very double flowers, also violet scented, and is enormously vigorous and is the one grown in Tombstone.

Thanks everyone for the information. Last year it didn't bloom much for some reason. I really look forward to seeing blooms on it again this year. Its the only rose I have in my garden and I'm amazed at how well it tolerated the drought and extreme heat.