I love the rose South Africa for its vigor, disease resistance, and generosity in bloom. But it does require a lot of bright sunlight to do well.
I'm amazed by Larissa for its ability to grow into a dense shrub quickly, for its ability to flower through the season, and for its disease resistance.
The only HT rose which I would say displays any vigor at all in my garden is Selfridges grown on multiflora rootstock (Palatine). Somewhere behind that might be Folklore whose flowers I admire a little more. In both cases the flowers display that high-centered, scrolling petal behavior that I find completely essential in the class. Gemini and Moonstone might place third and fourth, but my experience with them is categorically worse.
Rainbow Sorbet takes some special efforts to train into a pretty plant, IME. And it is a rose whose foliage is much loved by deer. But it is a tireless bloom machine and its blooms are among the more photogenic in rosedom, IME. Not much bothered by fungal diseases here in my Arizona garden.
I think of the roses almost never mentioned as faves, I'd nominate Crocus Rose or Water Lily.
While it is only in its third year, Teasing Georgia seems quite promising in my garden. I love the color of the blossoms: bright and cheery, but still very garden-friendly.
Lady of Shallott, strikes me as being vigorous, disease resistant, generous in flower, shrubby, good at repeating, photogenic, and fragrant. It's hard to do better than that.
As Lynn suggests, each person will have a different experience. It is helpful to understand how climates are similar and how individual cultivars behave differently in different conditions. I think Carol and Margie might have more insight on good plants for zone 6 near NY than most of us. I can say that I remember growing Olympiad in zone 6 NJ and was quite pleased with it. Ballerina, Quen of Denmark, and Felicia did well, too.
