Many "hardy" roses are designed to die back to the ground or snow line and grow vigorously the following Spring--at a minimum they need to have their grafts buried a few inches below the soil line for this to happen. Otherwise the rose will revert to rootstock, unless the scion and rootstock are unusually compatible--I'd guess that only a few landscape roses are tested for this. Usually, the rootstock is chosen for the convenience of the grower rather the the buyer.

In zone 5 they will have a better chance if they are not virused.

That's right, Henry. Which, for Brownells, means basically ordering from Pickering.

Brownell HTs planted in zone 5 will need winter protection of some kind while Brownell Everblooming Pillars on the other hand are generally more hardy. We cover our Brownell collection of pillars here in RI when we cover the rest of the garden at Thanksgiving but we know of others who do nothing and the pillars tolerate our zone 6 winter without serious injury.

Most of the Brownell roses are virused. I learned that the hard way and bought Maria Stern from a less-than responsible place (before I knew any better) and she was definitely very virused. I have now shovel pruned her. She was a gorgeous rose though, and if you still want to try them I would definitely second the suggestion to buy at Pickering nurseries. Any where else and you risk a virused rose (if any of them are clean now at all). Here's a pic of my Maria before she got shovel-pruned.

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I will be buying own root roses from Roses Unlimited.

IME, Brownells don't do at all well own-root. They weren't selected for it, and have a worse than usual problem regrowing from the annual winter dieback. The big exception is Lafter. As a New Dawn grandchild, vigor is not among its deficiencies.

Oh well, it looks like Brownells are out. What about the other roses on the list? Any thoughts?
Folklore
Valencia
Beverly
Buxom Beauty
Ice Girl Freelander
Electron
Secret
Sheer Bliss
Mirandy
Royal Highness
Tea Clipper
Lady of Megginch
Strawberry Hill
Falstaff
The Squire

Valencia is a great rose. It's become one of my favorites. It does get big, even up in Wisconsin it was about 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The blooms are nice and big and good for cut flowers and there a lot of them. Not a lot of scent but there is some.

Ice Girl is also a big rose - 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide. The blooms though have been small for me and not very fragrant. It does have a lot of blooms though. It will keep its spot because it is so vigorous.

Folklore hasn't done much for me. It is one of those roses that likes to grow first and then bloom. Last year it was about 5 to 6 feet tall but only about a foot wide with only a few canes. The flowers are lovely multi-colored and this one does have a good scent. It can stay since the blooms that I do get are very nice.

I don't have any of the others on your list. Since you are buying from Roses Unlimited then I'd recommend looking at some of their Delbards. Grimaldi and Edgar Degas have done very well for me - tons of blooms but not good for cutting. Henri Matisse is a nice smaller hybrid tea.

All of my roses die to the ground each year but come back and grow well. I don't do any winter protection.

Just plant them with the bud union 6'down. Then you don't have to worry! I live in Central Illinois and my roses do great!
If you want hardy shrub roses get the Buck roses. They are hardy!

Predfern,
I have 6 grafted Brownells coming from Jungs in mid March. If you don't want to test how they'll grow in your garden, Let me be your guinea pig and I'll let you know next fall how mine did.
I ask questions, then order roses to see how they'll grow for me. I've had roses do well when others told me they wouldn't and visa versa. Example; I can't grow Mr. Lincoln and have tried many. Every time I see a fellow rose society member's Mr Lincoln at a rose show, I try again. I'll eventually succeed or die trying.
I'll plant the bud unions on my Brownells 6 inches deep and they'll go own root by the end of summer. We'll see then.

Thanks for the info about Kordes. It is important to hear that they survive without winter protection. Valencia sounds good but I was hoping for more fragrance. I have tried a few Delbards from RU. I don't think they have Grimaldi and Edgar Degas. I will consider Henri Matisse. Madame Figaro died and France Info is stunted. Madame Bovary gets big and thorny with large blooms that smell like baby powder. Nahema is a good hardy climber. I also have Dames de Chenonceau which doesn't bloom very much although it only gets morning sun.
I have had problems with Buck roses, but a few have survived. Bucks generally don't have much fragrance. Honeysweet has nice blooms. Quietness is good but does get some blackspot. Prairie Breeze has very large blooms but no fragrance. Earthsong takes longer each year to come back. Silver Shadows and Distant Drums are stunted.
I have had mixed results with Austins. I planted some more last spring and we shall see how many survive the winter.
I have also had mixed results with Generosas. I hope Sonia Rykiel survives as the blooms are to die for!

Predfern, I just wanted to throw in that Mirandy is my oldest surviving hybrid tea, planted from a bodybag almost 15 years ago. I love this rose for its deep color and its even deeper fragrance. I get some PM on it, but it's been very resistant to blackspot for me. (I no longer spray.)
Anne

annececilia,
Mirandy sounds good. I am interested in fragrant roses that will survive the winter. Which others do you recommend?
Karl,
Please let me know if any of the Brownells work. I will order from RU own root.

How is Lafter in wet weather? this sounds like it would be one for us

Hardiness and fragrance are hard to come by for me. Although I've never tried Brownells or Bucks, most roses do not survive winters for me without protection. Since I am a lazy gardener, I don't like to bother with protecting them. After too many roses dying, I made a switch to explorer roses. They are completely hardy, no winter protection, and usually, no die back at all. They aren't as nice as the hybrid teas, of course, but still pretty although mine have no fragrance. However, I also grow some hybrid rugosas, which are the easiest roses you can grow. No spraying, no winter protection, no fertilizing, they just grow! My Belle Poitevine (not sure about the spelling?) is covered with big, fragrant pink flowers. Also, magnifica is a good one, dark pink. The fragrance is very strong, old rose. True, they aren't for cutting, but they look great as a hedge, and they are the toughest roses you can buy. I also have a pink Grootendoorst, it is pretty, with clusters of small double red roses, but has no smell. Rugosas won't bloom continously, but I don't mind because by July the japanese beetles eat up all my roses anyway.

hpny2, you may also find that Stanwell Perpetual will grow for you. (Although, if it's happy it will be a big rose bush, that not only will keep blooming throughout the growing season but also will gradually sucker into a thicket, reminding you that at their collective hearts, roses are brambles).

As to the Brownell roses, while I've never grown any of them (and thus could easily be 100% wrong), I've never understood why a rose bred in Rhode Island should be regarded as super-hardy. After all, Boston (not to mention where I live ten miles north of Boston) is colder than any of Rhode Island. If I was primarily concerned with making certain the rose was hardy enough for a zone 5, or 4, or 3, climate, I'd look into the roses bred in Minnesota or Canada.

The reports of awesome, monstrous Stanwell Perpetuals come from California. In a lot of ways, it really isn't a northeastern rose. All the ones I've seen have been quite small, and mine only lives because the area it inhabits has been pretty much left on its own lately.

As for hardy, fragrant, disease resistant roses - those are almost all once bloomers. They really should be more widely grown around here, and it's a real shame that they are almost impossible to buy.

mad_gallica
I have 400 hardy disease resistant roses that are repeat blooming and a large number of them are very fragrant. The hybrid rugosas are among the most fragrant and repeat well for me all summer. They're very disease resistant and don't like to be sprayed. One need not give up repeat bloom to get hardy, fragrant roses.

I am looking for the rare fragrant repeating roses that are hardy in zone 5a.