I have just ordered this. A half barrel in my container garden just became vacant (courtesy of a prunus Hokusai that was growing too large for its own good, or mine, or the roses') and have been spending the last few days in a frenzy of indecision about which climbing or small rambling rose to put in it. Pax? (What if I hate it when the stamens brown?) Mrs Herbert Stevens, Mrs Sam McGredy? (If only they didn't grow so large). Narrow Water? (Will I shudder at clouds of pink?). Moschata? (But years ago it refused to bloom for me...) Then, on the strength of GST's and CQ-R's descriptions of the scent (respectively, 'extremely fragrant of green apples' and 'delicious scent of ripe peaches') I quickly ordered the last plant of Mme Alice Garnier Trevor White had for sale this season.
Trevor White says it is repeat flowering, and so does Roseland House Garden and Nursery (they seem the only nurseries still to carry it in Britain); and GST says of the group of roses in which he includes Mme Alice Garnier (namely, 'Ramblers and climbers derived from the musk rose or Synstylae section intermarried with the offspring of the China and tea roses'): 'They flower mainly at midsummer, but most of them produce odd blooms until the autumn, especially if not parched or starved; in fact, a thorough soak after flowering will often start them into bud again.' From this, I deduce that Mme Alice Garnier may be a repeat or continuous bloomer in cool and wet climates such as England but perhaps not in continental or Mediterranean conditions. In support of that hypothesis, the Italian nurseries that sell this variety say it is once flowering in summer.
I will provide an update in the next few months about re-bloom or lack thereof of my plant in its first season in my garden (or rather in its half-barrel)...