Lucky you, zuzu! I am so jealous. All of those roses and a housekeeper also!!!

Andi - You & me both sister! I wish I could get a housekeeper... and have time for all those beautiful roses!!

A clean house and great roses. I only have both because hubby gets sick of it an vaccums.

Sherry - LOL, wanna see if you can get your DH to train mine? He'd has no comprehension of cleaning house...

"That's women's work," comes to mind.

PPal - No, it's not woman's work.. it's lazy-itus. LOL. Maybe it's a geek thing, 'cuz ever geek I've ever known was a semi-slob. Keeping him presentable is almost a full time job in itself. LOL

"Pink Peace" and "Pascal" came with the house and never did very well, so I got rid of them. Though I an not ready to get rid of it, "Moon Shadow" does not do very well. It puts more effort into sending out suckers than growing the legitimate plant.

BTW, both my house and my roses need work. Remember back in the day when they said that computers would save us time?

Kelli - If you want to get rid of Moon Shadows, I'll buy it off ya!! Seriously! Is it a grafted rose? Sound like, if it's sending out suckers, then Dr. Huey's trying to take over. I had a Lagerfeld that Dr. Huey took over.. but I kinda like it because I get 2 sets of blooms at once!

Yes, it's grafted to a Dr. Huey and I'm not as diligent at cutting off the suckers like I should be. (Yes, I know you are supposed to pull them off, but I don't know who in reality has the strength to do that.)

I know! You have to pull downward and, since they come from the bottom, the ground is there! (I have quite a lot of Dr Huey.)

I have actually dug out a couple of roses, pulled the suckers off, and replanted the roses. Guess what: The suckers come back anyway. I think it's a lost cause.

Good to know.

So I'm not inept after all. It really is an exercise in futility.

After posting that, I went outside and dug up those bad roses for the last time. I just threw them into the waste bin. Life's too short for exercises in futility. There were two with Dr. Huey suckers and one with multiflora suckers. I feel quite resolute and self-satisfied now that they're gone and can't irritate me anymore.

NOT RECOMMENDED ROSES.

For the Northeast here are ones I tried that were pretty much hopeless or just not worth the space and effort:

Gloire de Mosseux - This centifolia had wood too weak to hold up its globular flowers but it was also a fungus propagator. When I removed it from the garden many of the roses that had suffered most sailed through the season untouched.
Double Delight - died of blackspot over and over despite some organic treatments.
Gemini - ditto.
MAAB - ditto.
Belami - ditto.
Mr Lincoln - not sure what he died of.
Tropicana - The local AARS test garden could not keep it alive and looking good.
Lagerfeld - took two years to die of disease and bad weather, but it became just as dead.
Marijke Koopman - just didn't grow and bloom.
Sunset Celebration - ditto.
Betty Boop - died its first year, though it was probably my fault. Didn't much like the flowers.
Any rose shipped in May from Hortico - they simply get desiccated long before they can establish.
Any bare root rose shipped in June - ditto.
Any hybrid tea rose shipped on its own roots.

In alpine AZ fungal disease just doesn't seem to be a problem. Humidity is low and so are nighttime temperatures. What kills a rose here is setting leaves too early in the spring. And drought. So, here's a provisional list of roses to avoid:

Teas and Noisettes, even ones rated for zone six, except for Mme Alfred Carriere and possibly Lady Hillingdon (against a wall).
Hybrid tea roses grown on their own roots - unless the root system is pretty robust when the rose is planted. Except for Belle Epoch I've lost every HT band I've planted here.
Precocious roses - roses that leaf out too early. I've lost Graham Thomas, Playboy, Thor, Excellenz von Schubert, La Marne, Conrad F. Meyer, Dame de Coer, too many to remember. Interestingly, some nearly evergreen roses such as Le Reve and Rise 'n' Shine have been completely unfazed by yo-yo spring weather.

Great lists Steve! Thanks.

I've had Betty Boop for a few years now and it didn't impress me much, but I'd have to say that this year it was really spectacular -- probably because it stayed pretty cool during its major bloomfest. And I really wish I'd taken a picture of the whole plant, but unfortunately this is the only one I took. But I do love Betty Boop now, because the plant was covered with blooms and they all looked like this!

Thanks for the photo! I understand why people like Betty Boop. When it is at its best there is nothing quite like it. It really is a show-stopper. As I said, I probably did not give it a fair chance. Maybe I need to find just the right spot for it in my garden.

I put BB in front of an old juniper stump to give it some color right there. It's next to my Ruby Ruby & two roses from Henry Fonda. I can't wait to see it blossom this year. I really liked it.

One I would put on the Yuck factor based ONLY ONLY ONLY on SCENT!! is Hot Tamale. To me, it smells strongly of black pepper & the scent sticks to your hand even after you wash them. I made the mistake of deadheading my HT that I just picked up by hand and couldn't get rid of the stench for about an hour.

Roses that have done poorly for me this year (meaning coming back, but not well): California Dreamin' (green, no leaves), Tuscan Sun (green at the bud union, no leaves), Mister Lincoln (kind of a weak rose for the bad temps here.. but smells SOOOOOOOOO amazing & easy to find), Oklahoma (doesn't like the cold), Memorial Day (lost 2 of them), Neptune (lost 2 of them, this will be the last year I'll try it), RedGold (not seeing much growth, doesn't like the cold), Ambassador (HUGE disappointment here)

Roses that are coming back with a vengence: Picante (amazing for a bodybag!), Tequila Sunset (already over 2' tall.. but it's not a climber!), BlueGirl (all non-bodybags coming back nicely), RubyRuby (100% greened up, expecting first rosebuds any day), Heinrich Karsch (100% greened up, sending up new canes), Blueberry Hill (poor abused rose.. keeps coming back every year even though I take horrible care of it.. I vow to baby it this year!), Stainless Steel (all are doing well, with 6" of mulch or 1" of mulch), Sterling Silver (all came back with a vengence), Heirloom, Shockwave, Charisma, Our Lady de Guadalupe, Orange Velvet (gets way too much shade, need to move it)....

I'll keep a running tally, especially after this Memorial Weekend as it's supposed to be in the 80s after all this rain. Everything SHOULD get one hell of a jumpstart! Just need 2 days of dry so I can feed & prune!!

Memorial Day seemed borderline cold hardy to me when I lived in zone 6b. But it did well after that. Here, however, it is just hanging on by a thread. I lost Tuscan Sun here, too. But I was never sure whether it was because I kept digging it up and moving it. That seems to be a sure way to lose roses on Dr Huey rootstock.