Evie -- You sort of live in Rose Heaven. :-)

Two good rose sources that know your conditions would be Rogue Valley Roses, and Heirloom Roses (in St. Paul).

I know that rugosas seem to be the roses most-commonly used in your area, but there are likely other great choices.

Jeri

Thanks Jeri!
RVR has a great website with lots of information! Gardening in the valley is heaven! We can grow sooo much here! Now I have to decide....so many options!!! So many pretty roses!

If you look up roses by the breeder who introduced it just about any rose from Kordes of Germany or Delbard in France will do great.

Weeks roses has spent a great deal of time over the last ten years or so breeding for health and easy growing roses. They are easy to find in your local nurseries and should be coming in around the end of next month.

David Austin roses that have been introduced in the last ten years are also a good bet for health and fantastic fragrance. His roses that were introduced before then are a little more hit and miss.

Heirloom as already mentioned is close by to you and they breed their own roses which are grown no spray in the test fields. They do have a good number of single petaled roses from climbers down to mini's and they will grow great for you because they are almost growing in their own back yard.

Lance

I immediately thought of elsie poulsen, or one of the poulsen's that are a single or nearly, very disease resistant, grow taller than a regular floribunda, I believe might even be listed as an earthkind rose. It is a pink. I get some of the poulsen's mixed up. I don't believe they are as popular as they once were, but are a really fine rose, maybe because they are too simple, pink and trouble-free, LOL!

Else poulsen, not elsie.

Hi Evie, disease resistant in that basic color range to fit in with a more cottage garden theme:

Crepuscule (peachy-yellow noisette, shrub or climber)
Jude the Obscure (peachy-yellow, David Austin shrub or climber---amazing fragrance & healthy, BUT a stingy bloomer for me)
Mrs Oakley Fisher (single, apricot-gold HT)
Pink Gruss an Aachen (light pink, very double blooms, thornless, compact)
Molineux (lemon yellow, David Austin shrub, extremely floriferous)

If you want "exhibition style" hybrid teas for cutting:

Sunset Celebration (peachy-pink upright HT)
Tiffany (soft pink/yellow upright HT)
Compassion (peachy-pink/yellow, best as large freestanding shrub, but can be climber)
Winter Sunset (peach Buck upright shrub)

I've had success with all the roses listed here. All are fragrant & very disease resistant no spray (here, anyway.)

As you may already know, white roses can be tricky no spray. If you don't spray insecticides (I don't) thrips can ruin a lot of the lighter color blooms, & the damage is most visible with whites (the blooms get those icky brown edges.)

One last thought-if you're looking for a more cottage garden....for vertical interest do you already have tall bearded iris & salvia? And a perfect May-Oct blue blooming accent for your roses is Rozanne geranium. (I have a lot of part shade areas & have this plant everywhere, it really helps to tie the garden together.) If you don't mind pulling up the "volunteers," erigeron karvinskianus (aka fleabane, Santa Barbara daisy) is a great low mounding plant that is also very drought tolerant.

Best of luck! Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Crepuscule

Hi, Evie - Welcome to the world of roses! One thing that you will find is that we rose lovers are an opinionated breed - and sometimes rather picky about details (like spelling . . . Else not Elsie.) Anyhow, I live near Salem, fairly close to Heirloom. Where you live will dictate more of what you will be able to grow. We have lots of rain and therefore, diseases especially black spot are a real issue.

I do use a drench early in the season when the rain is bad, the Bayer all in one (Lowes has a larger container than other stores -- it can be rather spendy but if you don't have many roses. . .) Once it gets sunny I stop. Just don't like to deal with the spraying.

Here are some of the roses that I have which are most disease resistant. The Fairy -- never spray it and it blooms constantly for me. It has a shrub form and climbing form and is very vigorous. Tiny pink non fragrant flowers. If you want a fragrant pink climber, try Lavender Lassie. The flowers are really pink. I've also had good luck with Livin' Easy and Easy Going as well. These are floribundas. Easy Going is a very good yellow. I also have Julia Child which has been very disease resistant. These are not in your preferred colors but if you get the bug you will be moving on to more and more roses. I have several Austins, but the rain is harder on them and they are not a good cut rose.

I have to laugh at some of the comments. Rugosas are not the most common roses here. They do well near the coast, I suppose. But I have over 50 roses in my garden and nary a rugosa. With regard to Tiffany, I am probably going to shovel prune her because she balls so badly in the rain. Haven't been very happy with her. Does anyone know a good hybrid pink that is rain resistant?

With regard to Heirloom and Rogue Valley, they do have a very wide variety of roses, however they are bands and you will have to wait two to three years for them to really produce. I do buy a few from each, every year -- but I put them in a pot and wait to see how they perform before putting them in the garden. I will buy some grafted roses because I am impatient and then get the specialty varieties from H and RV.

Near me, I have purchased roses from Garland's Nursery near Corvallis, Willow Lake Nursery which is in Keizer. Many of the independent nurseries carry only Jackson Perkins which haven't done well for me during the past few years.

Well, I hope that some of this has been helpful. Good luck and happy rosing. CJ

Betty Prior is a very good single pink rose from the thirties that has never lost its popularity (I got mine from Home Depot last year). A carefree rose that fits perfectly in a cottage garden settings.

Darlow's Enigma was discovered in Eugene. It grows tall, blooms constantly--all year in CA--and is very fragrant.

My father grew roses in Oregon City. He liked the hybrid musk group, and his always looked healthy and disease free. Most grow tall, can be trained as climbers, and most have single, or semi-double, bloom form.