Cold hardiness

Future

2050

2100

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Published baseline for this location from 1991-2020.

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Well-suited

2050

Zone 7a

Plotwright

Projected zone for this same location in 2050 (2041-2070) using SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry).

Well-suited

In plain terms: This location is in Zone 6b today. Its hardiness profile is cold winters, and coldest nights are typically around -3°F. By 2050, the projected hardiness zone is Zone 7a based on SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry). That is a +0.5-zone shift from Zone 6b to Zone 7a by 2050.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Future

2050

2100

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 40 ecoregions — 35 climate-resilient through 2070 · 5 suited today. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Blue Mountains forests

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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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Colorado Rockies forests

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Cross-Timbers savanna-woodland

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What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun / Part shade

Water

Moderate water

Spacing

60"

Habit

Upright to arching, fragrant, once-blooming Old Garden (alba) shrub rose

Care tips

•

Choose it for toughness, fragrance, and foliage rather than a long show: it blooms once in early summer and does not repeat, so plan companions that carry interest the rest of the season.

•

Skip the heavy modern-rose care routine — alba roses are markedly disease-resistant, largely free of the black spot and mildew that plague hybrid teas, and need little spraying.

•

Prune lightly and only after flowering: it blooms on old wood, so a hard spring cutback removes that year's flowers.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant in spring or fall in full sun to part shade in moist, well-drained soil. Unusually tolerant of part shade and poorer soils for a rose, alba roses are forgiving of sites where hybrid teas struggle; give a single shrub roughly 5 feet of room.

Transplanting

Move plants while dormant in late winter or early spring; set at the original depth and water deeply through the first season to establish the root system.

Early growth

Water through the first season to establish, then it is largely self-sufficient with only moderate watering. Train the arching canes loosely and remove dead or crossing wood; it needs none of the heavy spray-and-feed routine of modern roses.

Maturity

Matures to a 5-8 foot upright-to-arching shrub that flowers once each early summer and is markedly more disease-resistant than hybrid teas, largely shrugging off the black spot and mildew that plague garden roses. Because it blooms on old wood, prune lightly only after flowering — hard spring pruning removes that year's flowers.

Propagation

Propagated from hardwood or softwood cuttings, by layering the arching canes, or by seed from the hips (which usually needs cold stratification); cuttings and layering are the reliable routes to a plant true to the parent.

Pollination

Self-fertile

The fragrant flowers are perfect (carrying both stamens and pistils) and self-fertile, so a single shrub can set its red hips on its own. The open, fragrant blooms are readily worked by bees for nectar and pollen, which improves fruit set; leaving the hips on the plant gives the fall display.

Plants don't grow alone

Pollen forage

Bee

European honeybee (Apis mellifera)

Honey bees work the open, fragrant alba flowers for pollen during the early-summer flush; single and semi-double Old Garden Roses are far more accessible to bees than packed modern blooms, though the tie is not individually documented for this hybrid group.

Pollen forage

Bee

Common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens)

Bumble bees forage pollen at accessible single-to-semi-double rose flowers; the open alba bloom suits them well, though the tie is plausible rather than individually documented for this species.

Shelter / habitat

Bee

Stem-nesting native bees (multiple genera (Ceratina, Hylaeus, Osmia, etc.))

Native bees nest in the dead, hollow or pithy stems of roses; leaving some cut canes standing can provide nesting habitat, as it does for other Rosa, though the tie is plausible rather than documented for this group.

For people

Parts edible

Grown chiefly as a fragrant ornamental, but its hips and petals are edible: the red hips are used for preserves, syrups, and tea (very high in vitamin C), and the fragrant petals for rosewater, syrups, and preserves. Remove the irritating internal hairs and seeds from the hips before eating, and avoid any plant material treated with non-food-safe sprays. The rest of the plant is not eaten.

Climate notes

•

Established horticulture (consolidating the GBIF taxonomic backbone, the Wikipedia article, and standard Old Garden Rose references) places Rosa x alba at roughly USDA hardiness zones 3b-8b; it is an ancient European hybrid group of garden origin grown for fragrant, disease-resistant, once-blooming white-to-pink flowers — not a North American native, and not profiled by NC State Extension.

•

Exceptionally cold-hardy to roughly zone 3-4 and one of the toughest of the Old Garden Roses, it also takes summer heat through zone 8; the heat tier is capped at hot rather than extreme because, like most roses, it prefers air movement to the hottest, most humid Deep-South sites.

•

Far more disease-resistant than modern hybrid teas, largely shrugging off the black spot and powdery mildew that disfigure garden roses, and tolerant of part shade and poorer soils that defeat fussier roses.

•

Site it in full sun to part shade with reasonable air circulation; it is durable and low-fuss, but the single early-summer flush means it earns its place on toughness, fragrance, and foliage rather than a long bloom season.

In the designer

Growth over time

60-96" tall · 48-72" spread

A mature 5-8 foot specimen blooming heavily for its single early-summer flush, set against the diagnostic blue-green foliage, with a strong red-hip display in fall.

Design roles: Focal point · Border

Seasonal interest

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Filled = the plant has seasonal interest · ▾ now = your current season

White rose

At a glance

Related products

Why it matters

Cold hardiness

Heat tolerance

Where this plant fits

What it needs

Lifecycle

Pollination

Plants don't grow alone

For people

Climate notes

In the designer

Seasonal interest

Sources & citations