ok… thanks again Robert 
Actually, there was one other thing I was hoping to bring up… I was at a very old garden that had a few plants of Fun Jwan Lo (aka American Noisette, aka Rosa Indica Major, aka odorata 22449) and from which I was allowed to take a handfull of cuttings… all of them struck. Looking at its background it looks to be an F1 gigantea cross (of Rosa odorata var. gigantea which looks as though it is an old synonym of R. gigantea). This is a very strong healthy rose in our climate that doesn’t grow too tall… tall and still a climber but not to consume-your-house proportions. I was wondering if anyone had ever used it? It roots like a weed too (which I guess is why it was often used as a rootstock).
Its health depends on the climate it grows in. Here, it Mildews like no tomorrow, and so I would never use it in breeding, personally. (Fun Jwan Lo)
I get very little mildew of anything here (except Dr Huey) so it’s hard to judge this kind of thing. Here FJL grows without any disease. I have, however, seen photographs of FJL taken by Margaret Furness in South Australia showing a bit of mildew on a flower bud but that’s it. I have contacted a few people that live in different places in Australia and asked if I can send them a plant to see how it grows for them without intervention.
Some twenty years ago at INRA (french national research institute for agriculture) I saw a half dozen fully remontant selected seedlings unquestionably from Sonia Meilland x gigantea F1…
Quite older HT like.
To my knowledge even if not sterile they were never used for further breeding.