Alright, chiming in from Central Texas about my experiences with HOT and DRY (all of last year). Since we were on water restrictions, my roses got root soakings once a week. Here's what made it:
Blue Girl: Stunted growth all year, one meager bloom in the spring, but still pulled through and is now 4' tall. (a bagged rose)
Mr. Lincoln: One cane survived the summer. Two blooms in spring. Now 6' tall after our spring rains and new growth from the root. (bagged rose)
DA Evelyn: She was a Chamblees rose. Not sure if own-root or grafted - didn't pay much attention to that. She actually pulled through the summer very well and branched out all over the place this spring.
Caldwell Pink: Grew slowly last year but still flushed a few times and now needs to be pruned hard after the past spring.
Spice: I think this rose actually prefers to be watered sporadically. It grew like a beast this spring but never broke outside it's little 2'x2' window although it did grow to be 4' tall.
Nacogdoches: after my second attempt, the "Yellow Rose of Texas" just does not want to be my friend.
There were some that did not make it, but that was partially my fault for taking so long with my second bed so it was already scorching by the time they made it into the ground. Bad juju. I've replaced with DA Golden Celebratiion, a Belinda's Dream, and DA Abraham Darby.
As for roses in cool damp conditions - in San Francisco, the roses at Golden Gate Park were some of the largest, incredibly fragrant blooms ever, and the roses themselves were impeccable. Saw several of the larger private homes in Russian Hill that had rose bushes (usually a climber) that looked just as healthy as the ones at the park. Some day I'll get around to uploading all the pictures.
