We're in about our 5th week of very high temperatures and intense humidity. I'm actually stunned that some of my roses are seemingly unphased by the weather and doing extremely well.
The following ones have done superbly even given the rotten weather:
La Sevilana
Cl, Dream Weaver
Cl. Pinata
Icebergs (of course !) (White, pink and burgundy)
Sunflare
Bill Warriner
Scarlet Meidiland
Livin' Easy

These next ones absolutely DESPISE this weather and it shows !
Cl. Polka
Cl. Colette
Pat Austin (The buds explode and fry in one day) :(
Janice Kellogg
Queen Elizabeth
Fame
Love and Peace
Chihuly

I recently bought a small "Cornellia" and have it in the shade since it appears it aint too thrilled with the weather, either..

Our summers are always hot and very humid - well, our winters are humid too for that matter. I have never had any hybrid teas do really well except Lafter which absolutely thrives (I keep checking to be sure it really is a hybrid tea). Floribundas also gradually fade away here after several years including Iceberg. Europeana keeps blooming but has no leaves. The roses that consistently do well are the old garden roses: Cecile Brunner has bloomed all summer, Katy Road Pink, Mutabilis, Souvenir de la Malmaison, Archduke Charles, Sombreuil, Mermaid, Caldwell Pink, Duchesse de Brabant, Old Blush, among others, all do well every year. Some of the David Austins do okay unless it rains a lot, but they don't keep their leaves as well as the oldies.

Mike, what are high temps for you? I think roses can become acclimated to very very high temps. I have all the roses you named except Colette and Bill Warriner. Those two died in a super wet summer 3 years ago.
Chihuly, Janice Kellogg and Polka have struggled here this summer. Chihuly also struggles in excessive winter cold. I have 2 and they both look awful, and one is in a very protected spot. Janice Kellogg was a very small plant when i bought her, so that may be her problem.
Our temps were over 100 for 5 weeks, and the roses did great. We had strong winds and no rainfall. We did not have humidity of more than 25%, though. Most afternoons, the humidity was around 15%, desert levels. No blackspot issues here, that's for sure!
Rainbow Sorbet, almost all the Austins, Home Run, Julia Child, Scarlet Carpet, the new AARS yellow rose, whatsitsname, and Ketchup and Mustard all kept blooming through the heat. The blossoms were smaller than normal, but the shrub itself looked fine. Just now I see they are putting up larger buds.
The yellow Austins in particular were blooming machines this year. Graham thomas, Molineux, Charlotte, Golden Celebration, Teasing Georgia, Jude the Obscure, Port Sunlight, Evelyn, Charles Darwin, all of those were just wonderful here. Some of those were fairly new in my yard and really didn't get any rain and little irrigation. Westerland, Jacob's Robe, and Autumn Sunset do well no matter what the weather throws at them. Carefree Sunshine, Sunny Knock Out and Yellow Brick Road were excellent in 100% full sun. Our temps don't fall much at night--only to low 80s for most of the summer, so the roses really don't get much of a break. I'm guessing you do get a nice cool down at night.
Winner's Circle, Can Can, Milwaukee Calatrava, Lemon Meringue, and Morning Magic were all constant bloomers on an east wall, protected from the wind and afternoon sun. Those are all Radler's roses and have only been in the ground for 1 year. Cl. Valentine's Day held its lovely deep red color even through the hottest, sunniest days. I have 4 of it, and all were fabulous. Summer Sun and Lady of Shalott were new and they have been blooming for the last month.
Someone else will have to vouch for what happens in a humid situation. In past years, we've had rainfall at night that caused some blackspot. I don't have many hybrid teas just because of that, so I can't tell you how they would do where you are.
Hope that helps.

I am less of no help as I have no humidity. Even when it's raining is my humidity only around 60-65%! WTH? Raining? 65%? Last night it was very humid for us.. I looked on the weather website (I use weatherunderground.com) and it stated that it was 42% humidity.. a major rarity! And you can smell it, too! About 20 minutes later, it rained for about 15 seconds, then the wind picked back up and it went back down to like 20% (norms for nighttime, daytime is usually around 12-15%). And heat.. the heat here was unbearable due to the altitude (6100ft), but I think we're in our last gasp for summer (next week is supposed to have a couple of days in the 90s, but daytimes are usually in the 80s w/nighttimes in the mid/low 50s). Everyone suffered. Only roses that kept blooming were some of my Sterling Silvers, English Perfume, Sheila's Perfume, Melodie Parfumee, Blue Bayou, Summer Holiday, Magenta, Solar Flash, & New Year. Everyone else *did* bloom, but off & on and nothing uber spectacular. Oh, and some of my mini's, but that's because they're in a more protected area (next to the house).

The mountains of AZ do a pretty good job of preventing blackspot since humidity is below 50% for ten months per year and nighttime temperatures never exceed 70F. Whether powdery mildew strikes depends on the weather during the monsoons in July and August. This year it has been pretty damp. This six inches of rain in July and the three inches so far in August have kept humidity high at night. Fortunately, we have had a few warm weeks with dry weather and daytime temps exceeding 90F. These, coupled with some copper soap solution have allowed us to restrict the damage brought by mildew.

Zepherine Drouhin seems to have suffered most. It's in partial shade because it really needs cool damp soil to root in. Gruss an Zabern has a bad case of powdery mildew. Thor, Lavender Lassie, and one or two other roses have been touched by it. All of these roses get a measure of daytime shade and are near each other. Permanant Wave was the first to get it, but seems to have fully recovered. Otherwise, all of my roses seem to be doing well in terms of health.

In their first years, these roses have bloomed almost continuously all summer: Marchioness of Londonderry, Gemini, Double Delight, Janet Carnochan, Shocking Blue, Moonstone, Golden Celebration, Graham Thomas, L.D. Braithwaite, and Daybreaker. Other roses that have bloomed for much of the season include Crocus Rose, Parade, Ilse Krohn Improved, Rainbow Sorbet, Rise 'n' Shine, Duftzauber 84, Folklore, Berolina, Toscana Vigorosa, Roxy, Water Lily, Ascot, Europeana, Kimono, City of Leeds, Sexy Rexy, Permanent Wave and Ainsley Dickson.

A few roses are making their second flush of blooms: Abe Darby, Tess of the d'Ubervilles, Scarlet Knight, Caldwell Pink, Scentsational, Casino, Olympiad, Helmut Schmidt, Cherry Parfait, Young Lycidas, Yolande d' Aragon, Valencia, Old Port, and Winter Sunset.

Paradise Found, Grand Dame, and Leanne Rimes all had one good flush this year, but might possibly have another this fall. Don Juan waited for the monsoon, then produced five or six good blooms along with Lili Marlene's two. Both Camelots have bloomed twice.

Roses that have not bloomed at all in their first or second years: Chevy Chase, Orfeo, Antike 89, Thor, Gruss an Zabern, Heirloom Charles de Mills, Nuits de Young, and Great Western. For first year roses - especially those that bloom once a year - my guess is that they arrived after their bloom season of the year. Chevy Chase and Orfeo have been building up from tiny bands - being less than 2 ft tall last spring and more than 6 ft tall at the end of this season. The hope is that once they reach full stature they will start blooming. Antike 89 is growing more slowly. By the end of its second summer here, it looks like it might reach knee-height and might actually produce one flower. Climbing Allgold from VG is in its third season. It has been covered with lovely glossy foliage all season long, but it has put out no new cane growth or flowers in three years and is not yet waist-high. Perfect Moment, also in its first year, has had none.

Rosanna has been a little shy with flowers in it's first year. So has Oranges and Lemons. Again, maybe by next year these roses will reach full stature and begin to bloom. Chanelle, Charles de Gaulle, Belle Epoque, Chic, All Atwitter, Jubilee Celebration, Gingersnap, and Francis Dubreuil have bloomed, but they have been a little spare with their blooms. Titian and Butterscotch (Warriner) have been building up very slowly, producing just the occasional blossom. Mrs Oakley Fisher keeps looking healthy, growing slowly, and producing but a flower a year. The Generous Gardener had twice that last year, but has decided to put up two head-high canes this summer and has eschewed blooming for the duration. Most of these have had some issue that has restricted their growth such as poor soil, root competition or shading. Some, though, arrived undeveloped and/or just seem to be not very vigorous here.

Steve - I'm surprised that your O&L isn't a blooming machine. This year mine's been blooming constantly all summer. Kinda small, not very lemony (mostly orange) due to the excessive heat, but blooming like mad. Not like a few years ago when I was getting these massive monstrous blooms 4" across. This year, 2-3". Mine's on year.. 4? 3? Either 2008 or 2009 is when I got it.. I'm thinking 2008.

Steve, have you been growing roses in Arizona long enough to see if certain roses do better or worse as they age? Anyone else? Some posters-Zuzu in particular, have mentioned certain roses that do well for a few years, then decline. I don't know if those roses need soil that is enriched each season, or if their climate is not right, or if they are the type of rose that just doesn't have a long lifespan. Maybe that's a topic for another thread, but it comes to mind when we talk about who holds up well in excessive heat. I have not taken good notes about my own roses. One man in our club actually counts and records the number of blooms from each rose and he can compare bloom times from year to year. That sort of data, taken across our varied climes, would be more helpful than what we get from trial fields run by growers.
I would like to know if a rose is going to become a blooming monster, or if it's going to bloom nice for 2 years and sputter out, no matter what I do. I would also like to know if I'm doing something wrong when a rose that performs for everyone in a hot climate seems to self-destruct in my yard.
It took me several years to admit I can't grow the body bag roses, that all the warnings were right--that those roses have viruses or inherent defects, and no matter how much work I put into them, they won't make it. Now I'm buying from better sources....supposedly. Hopefully. It does help when posters here mention where a rose was purchased when they are commenting on success or failure or even just issues.
Roses in Review is a good source of info, and I do report to them. It helps to dicuss successes and failures with people in my local club, but none of them grow the quantities I grow, and almost all of them grow in the city where fences and trees provide a better microclimate.
could our own database here on ATP become so detailed that we can answer some of these specific questions about each cultivar? Take Mike's question into a survey specifically asking about 1. heat 2. humidity?

Cindi - On the rare occasion when I add a pic to the database, I always add a note that it survives my zone, which I feel is very important. Not everyone lives in warm zones and I get so tired of "oh you can't grow that here!". Yes, yes I *can*, I have, and I do! So

That is a good idea, Toni. you have said how the climate can be very different on the other side of town, and we have that same situation here. Our west side has sandy soil, and the east side is clay. I'm in a creek bottom so I have rich clay-ey loam. The wind blows harder here and the temps are actually more moderate. humidity is definitely lower. This was all very noticeable to me when I moved a whole 3 miles from the city to this place barely outside civilization. There's zone 6, and then there's zone 6. I want to know what factors really hurt the roses.
I've noticed Porkpal grows mainly shrub roses, Austins and some OGRs, like I do. Steve seems to be having the most success with Austins, floribundas, OGRs. You grow an amazing number of hybrid teas but you protect well in the winter. you did prove that HT's can take the heat, though!
Porkpal and I have drier conditions and longer seasons, which may be why we lean towards the shrub roses.
Perhaps this is way simpler than I'm making it out to be and someone can come on here and say these do fine in this condition, these do better here...etc. I've seen lists on the Austin website, but those of course just cover the Austin roses.

The rose database would be improved immeasurably by the addition of more comments. Please try to add a comment for every rose growing in your garden, addressing issues such as heat, rain, humidity, pest, and disease resistance. That's my project for this winter.

The roses in my garden that grow well for a couple of years and then decline are mostly hybrid teas and floribundas that were never meant to grow on their own roots and never will reach their full potential unless they're grafted. The shortage of sources for grafted roses is a much bigger problem for me than heat. That's why I've stopped buying roses from Vintage Gardens, Northland Rosarium, and Rogue Valley, which once were major suppliers for me.

I have the opposite experience: grafted roses do not do well for me for more than a couple of years while the own root varieties - mostly old garden roses and shrubs - seem to only get better with age. But I take very minimal care of my plants.

You're right, but OGR's and shrubs don't require grafting and were rarely grafted even when all hybrid teas and floribundas were grafted.

It can make a difference even in shrubs, however. My Kordes fairytale roses (shrubs) from Palatine, which are grafted, are veritable giants, but the own-root nurseries selling them estimate their height at 2-3 feet, and my grafted Austins and Bucks are much larger and healthier than all of the own-root ones I've bought from Chamblee's and Roses Unlimited.

I don't know how own root hybrid teas or floribundas would do for me; I don't think I've ever had any except a few cuttings I rooted from fading favorites that ultimately failed - unless my Lafter is own root (?) - I think it might be as I got it from Vintage Rosery... However I heard the past president of the Houston Rose Society speak a couple of years ago, and she said that in this area grafted roses often have a life span of only six or seven years while the own root roses are "practically immortal". So far that has been my experience too.

I've had 50/50% with own roots. Also depends on how big they are when I get them and how much effort I put into keeping them alive. I'm getting more roses from RU next year & I'm going to baby them carefully so there's no excuses for them to croak on me.

I've never lived in one place long enough to see a rose take off, do well, then go downhill simply from age. In NJ, if a rose was prone to black spot, it usually died inside two years. If it didn't die, it generally went on to do well for years thereafter. I have seen roses planted in thin soil stop growing. In NJ I grew Champlain on four inches of clay soil atop about a foot of gravel and then subsoil. It pretty much stopped growing after the first year, but it bloomed faithfully for a decade. Similar conditions prevailed for Raubritter and Great Western. Actually, I sprayed bits of that bed with Roundup to kill bindweed and/or thistles in year three and Great Western never did fully recover. I lost very large and healthy instances of Mme Plantier and Dortmund to Roundup also. I had some albas that grew quickly, but sort of outgrew their space. Their blooming glory tapered off a bit as they got crowded. I'm pretty sure that careful early summer pruning would have restored them to their full glory, but I never did it. It seems to me that all the cases of decline in that garden could be traced to a known cause such as an observable disease, shade, encroachment/crowding, or bad chemicals. (I certainly do not mean to imply that it doesn't happen. Or that it had anything to do with my own gardening skill which I judge to be very limited - if not in theory then certainly in practice.)

Here, roses tend to die of drought or of freeze-thaw cycling. Established roses tend to be less prone to the problem. This last season I was more careful to deliver adequate water and fertilizer to all my roses, and I've seen a general upward trend in the health of every one. None has grown here long enough to produce a dead cane, none has required rejuvenation by heavy pruning. A few young roses have been crowded out by neighbors and want to inhabit new territory.

I think rootstock can play an important role in rose health and longevity. With two exceptions, every hybrid tea rose I've planted here on its own roots has died quickly. Amatsu Otone and Belle Epoque are the exceptions and after two full seasons in the garden, neither is yet knee-high. It's definitely not disease that keeps them from growing. And this year, it was not dryness either. I just think most HTs are not capable of growing quickly on their own roots. I've planted HTs from both VG and RVR, so I think it's more of a thing about the rose material than it is about the supplier.

Some floribundas, I think, might be better. Geisha certainly is not one of them. Sexy Rexy and Parfait might be. Maybe Kimono. City of Leeds seems pretty vigorous. Centennaire de Lourdes - given adequate moisture certainly is. Pink Parfait does a bit better than HTs, but not much. I've lost six Iceberg on their own roots here from two suppliers, so I'm not planning to grow Iceberg here for a while. By contrast, in its first season Europeana on multiflora rootstock has grown over two feet high and bloomed all summer long - and in the same area where Iceberg died. It's much more vigorous than any floribundas on their own roots. Certainly Rainbow Sorbet has proven vigorous on both multiflora and Dr Huey rootstock. Who knows how these grafted roses will be doing twenty years out, though.

I have had a few roses die at the very end of their first year - in late March or early April. Playboy set out an impressive flush of lovely purple foliage after a long warm stretch in Spring 2010. Then frost hit. And that was it. Much the same has happened to Don Juan on its own roots last spring. Interestingly, Don Juan on Dr Huey rootstock remained completely dormant through March and April looking totally dead. Then in May it perked up a little. Finally, when we got good rains in July it started growing vigorously. Much the same thing happened to an Ambridge Rose that was buried during construction. It emerged in July after the monsoons started. A very similar thing happened to Graham Thomas. On its own roots, it set foliage in March. Then late frost killed it. On Dr. Huey rootstock, by contrast, I have seen it wait for good weather. It's unexpected, but rootstock can play an important role in the the hardiness of a rose in places that have bouncy spring temperatures and late frosts.

The rule seems to be that hybrid tea roses need to be grown on other rootstocks. On their own roots perhaps they can survive if one is willing to go to great extremes to assure soil fertility - see also the regimen recommended by Roses Unlimited. Of course, if one lives where hot humid weather and blackspot will otherwise kill a hybrid tea rose, rootstock will make little difference to the outcome. Some of the exceptions are interesting. The large flowered climber Orfeo - which looks to me like a very long stemmed hybrid tea rose - arrived here as a band in spring of 2011. I was sure it was not going to survive. In fact, at one point it accidentally popped out of the ground in its first year and I noticed that it had about a cup's worth of roots that were about two inches long. I was sure it was a goner. But a year later it has two or three six ft canes and is growing vigorously. So here is a rose that is essentially a HT, and yet it seems to grow vigorously on its own roots. Good to know Lafter does, too. I've seen it growing at Antique Rose Emporium.

OGRs certainly can grow vigorously on their own roots. Mme Alfred Carriere has set the record here for first year growth, setting three or four six foot canes in its first year - another own-root rose from ARE. On the other hand, my understanding is that in the Gulf states neither Dr Huey nor R. multiflora is suitable for the kinds of challenges posed by the soil - its diseases, its parasites, and its tendency to burn organic material quickly. There is a question in my own mind, though, whether the idea that "grafted roses are always worse than own-root roses" applies equally to grafted roses on other rootstock such as fortuniana.

At the end of the day I think it's really hard to make any sort of blanket judgment about whether grafted or own-root roses are better - in general. I think one can consider a rose cultivar and a location and make a judgment about which kind of rootstock is likely to give a rose its best chance of growing vigorously or surviving a long time (sometimes the same thing, sometimes maybe the opposite). There certainly are a lot of OGRs that do perfectly well on their own roots. Many grow vigorously, some build up slowly but surely. Furthermore, there aren't that many cultivars that are offered on multiple rootstocks. Sometimes there's not a lot of choice.

I love the idea of growing roses that will persist long after I'm gone. I also need some success with roses in the present tense and in the near future. I pretty much avoid buying hybrid tea roses from VG and RVR. Since the weather here works for HTs, though, I grow them when offered on multiflora or Dr Huey rootstock. I do buy own root OGRs, shrubs, and floribundas from VG, from RVR, from Heirloom, and from ARE. And I delight in all the different kinds of effects offered by the plants that succeed.

Right now it's physically raining. And the weather people agree that it's raining. But they're also reporting that it's only 20% humidity right now. In the rain.

Steve, I admire your detailed record of rose-related observations! I'm sure my roses would do better if I payed them such close attention. Alas, I have very little time to tend them so they have to get along largely on their own - and I am learning which ones can!

Cindi: Sorry I took so long to respond to your questions. It's been stifling hot and humid here and too hot to stay indoors at night and sit at the computer ! That's the big problem here: It gets into the 90's and hundreds with extremely high humidity (don't know what %) but it DOES NOT rain. IF it does, it's for about 3 minutes, ("spitting" rather than "rain") then it's horrible again. The air is so heavy it's like breathing peanut butter...and I'm a 4 minute walk to the ocean. During these periods it's still in the low 80's at night with zero air movement. August through mid Sept. are the worst.

My roses are all grafted, except one climber: Sunrise.
Any rose with more than 50 petals just shrivels here in the heat. FB's do best for me. Powdery mildew is a huge issue here and so is rust, but I try to buy roses that are supposed to be resistant to both. We don't have good rose nurseries here, except one about 80 miles away, but the ones I have came from Weeks and they all seem to do just fine.

I wish someone could explain to me why they can grow such incredible roses in ENGLAND where it's damp and rainy so much of the time. That type of weather, coupled with the fog we get, is the kiss of death for roses here in the winter and early spring.

Mike - Probably because it doesn't get that cold, doesn't get that hot, just stays nice and clammy. Freezing temps are unheard of really in England and the summers rarely get above 90degs.

So...plants that suffer less stress due to extremes aren't as apt to get severely damaged by disease or pests, further reducing their chances of survival.

Makes sense to me.