I like wild or species roses, of that I like Austrain copper, Rosa glicia and a few others.


What are your favorate roses in which zone and why. I'm in zone 4.

I'm in zone 9 and I prefer hybrid teas, floribundas, and modern shrub roses. I've never grown species roses on purpose, although a few have sprung up here and there. Most OGRs leave me cold, except for a few gallicas and tea roses. The bourbons and noisettes are the worst culprits as far as vunerability to pests and diseases is concerned. I've lost my affection for most of the Buck roses because they get too much black spot in my garden. Polyanthas are easy to grow and to keep happy, but their blooms don't usually thrill me. Hybrid perpetuals are pretty, but they have virtually no disease resistance in my garden.

I have lots of room and not much time to tend my roses so I prefer the Chinas , Teas, Albas, Noisettes, Hybrid Musks , and Old Garden Roses generally who can take care of themselves. I'm in zone 9 too but a much more humid area near the Gulf Coast.

Okay.... every zone has its pluses and drawbacks I guess. I wish I lived in FL with warm hot summers and nice mild winters. but the services are so bad over there for the disabled or so I'm told.


I also like the persain yellow rose I'm getting it hopefully sometime this or next week

My favorites have lots of petals and smell divine. Unfortunately, a huge percentage of those don't perform very well here. Roses for my garden need to survive northern winters and southern heat and humidity. There was a time when my answer would have been Austin roses, and if I lived somewhere else that might be the case, but here most Austins behave like an OGR that later gets lots of blackspot and occasionally spits out a pitiful summer bloom or two. My current answer is Kordes roses- they seem to like Kentucky! And lots have that full petaled, old rose look, and quite a few are fragrant.

I should add, if I sprayed, it would probably be a different story, but I'm not into using chemicals.

Neal - I don't see why your roses won't survive for you. Mine survive quite nicely for me and my winters are probably as bad, if not worse, for me than for you 'cuz, while I don't have humid winters, I have longer ones w/dissicating winds. That's one thing that really destroys things here.. the length of my winters & the drying winds. But you have much more difficult summers than I do with the humidity & buggies.. I don't have 99% of the bugs out there that eat roses and definitely don't have the humidity, so rust, mildew, & BS are almost foreign to me here.

My favs are the HTs.. specifically in the blue or orange families.

Toni, Roses that are hardy in this zone typically do survive just fine, but many don't look healthy without spraying or don't re-bloom in summer heat and humidity. So it's not a matter of survival for me, its just that I ditch any that look unhealthy most of the time. I'm not sure what sounded like roses don't survive for me- perhaps cane hardiness of climbers? That is an issue here when we have tough winters, but even then the plants survive. I did deal with Rose Rosette Disease a few years ago, which in itself didn't kill any, but I removed the infected plants...

Austins and Kordes

In 2004 when I started gardening, an elderly friend sent me three bare-root hybrid tea roses to plant, one each yellow, rose and red. Even after meticulously, though nervously, following the instructions I soon killed all but the red one. Each year the red rose would come back and bloom fairly well considering that I don't use pesticides and sometimes don't get around to fertilizing. In recent years, the plant shrank in size and did not bloom as well. My friend died in 2014 at the age of 100, and I thought the rose might die too. However, I was delighted this June to find a single blossom blooming.

That surely makes it all the more special and meaningful. So many plants in my garden came from gardeners who have now passed.

It's so hard to pick a favorite... I've got a lot of old HT's and Floribundas that I'm quite fond of. Also many Austins are good performers (not all though). The only species I have is Rosa glauca, and it merrily seeds all over the place if I leave the hips on too long. I prefer roses with fragrance and disease resistance.. Some with high petal counts ball up, and some don't.. High on my favorite list would be 'Sombreuil', 'Shot Silk', 'Iceberg', 'Julia Child', & 'Festival Fanfare'.... 'St. Elisabeth of Hungary' was going gangbusters until the deer got in the garden.. I suspect it will be high on my list in coming years..

My favorite rose today is Buck's Honey Sweet. I love the blended shades of coral on the blooms and the form of the plant. Mine is an own root rose from Chamblees. It survived two moves in a year and two severe polar vortex winters!

My favorite new roses are a grafted Ingrid Bergman hybrid tea and Bolero floribunda on its own roots. Both are from big box stores. They haven't weathered a winter with me, yet.

I love roses with very full quartered blooms like many antique roses, Austin roses , Kordes roses and Romantica roses.

For a bargain, I like mini roses from the grocery store. Many are winter hardy. It cheers me up to buy a cute new rose for less than the price of a new tube of lipstick. My favorite mini is a red and white striped one. I am squeezing them in my new gardens at the front of the borders.

Most of my existing roses are having their first flush of blooms now! That is over a month later than usual. Early in the season I had troubles with caterpillars and assorted wormy things. I also have an ongoing struggle protecting my gardens from the local deer. All of the blooms are smaller than usual. I expect that to change as they grow stronger root systems in their new locations and as I feed them with RoseTone and other natural products.

Andi, I haven't been following the Cubits thread, are you out of that horrible house?

Andi, your description makes me want to try Honeysweet! Folksinger is my only Buck rose; it performs well and has me thinking I should try others. Sue's pics of Distant Drums has me wanting to try that one too.

I have a couple of contenders for my favorite new one, but at this moment it is Beverly. I never thought I'd be saying that about a hybrid tea, because I wasn't convinced any would grow well enough for me to hold it in such high regard. This beauty has turned me around! This bloom, and some others have been mostly spared by the Japanese beetles, and even rain damaged, are still lovely. The fragrance is classic rose and strong. And look at that foliage! I have only fed and composted, no spray or chemical use. It has rained every day for weeks, and it is very humid, but thankfully not too hot. If she's winter hardy, Beverly may become a real favorite!

Which horrible house? I moved a couple of times. I am finally in a nice lake community with wonderful neighbors. My roses and I are tired of moving!

Beverly looks beautiful. I will have to research her!

I tried Distant Drums. It had an interesting form, but was a weak grower. I would like to grow more Buck roses. Especially if they are like Honey Sweet - blooms and form like a healthy hybrid tea with the resilience of a shrub rose.

Another strong grower is Queen Elizabeth. I have read good things about her. When I found a healthy specimen at a bargain price this spring I brought her home. She is getting ready to bloom - living in the outer garden with Bill Baffin and some rugosas.

The one that had so many problems and the landlord wasn't all that cooperative. It was around the time Sharon was ill. Maybe I'm remembering wrong?

I use the Bayer systemic product on my roses. It comes in granules that you work into the soil at the base of the plant. I used it when I planted my roses and every month on the 15th. I give them RoseTone on the first. Even though I planted some new hybrid teas, I haven't had blackspot. The foliage is beautiful this year in spite of the terrible humidity and constant rains. I tried growing hardy roses organically in my first garden, but got frustrated with the blackspot ruining the foliage.

The only pest so far was various caterpillars and white wormy things. They seemed to paraglide from neighboring trees onto new blooms.I sprayed just the blooms with neems. Problem solved.

The biggest challenge is the voracious, calm deer in the neighborhood. They are extremely tame. I was three feet away form a group of them across the street from my garden. I seem to spend more time mixing up diy bambi-be-gone than I do cooking these days. It works if I spray constantly - daily lately since it has been raining every afternoon.

That is this house. The landlord became much more cooperative. He also got sick of the hippie handyman and hired a good contractor. The new contractor doesn't take short cuts. I had trouble with corroded water supply valves and a full septic when I moved in. Then, I had trouble with the heaters. The hippie handyman wired three electric registers to one thermostat and connected them to a single fuse. Of course that didn't work! It works now, but I bought 2 infrared heaters that work better.

Things are alright now. It was a rocky start, but I am glad that I didn't have to move again. I like my neighbors and I am tired of moving.

In the current real estate market, it would be smart of me to buy. I am looking a bit, but the places I have seen are not what I want. There are deals to be had from foreclosures or pressured sales, but there are also a lot of vacant houses with neglected leaky roofs. I am keeping watch on onlin3e listings, but not rushing into a new nightmare.

My aunt said that I should meet a nice man with a nice house. Smart advice, but I am allergic to couch potatoes! Lots of frogs in the Pocono dating pool.

Glad to hear the situation has improved.

Neal - Get Honeysweet. You'll love it. I got mine as a own root from Roses Own Root Unlimited out of SC. They're pricy for shipping, but I love their roses.

Andi - Distant Drums does really well for me! But mine's an own root, also from Roses ORU.

HoneySweet


Distant Drums