A tea I have with a nice shape (perfect vase form without pruning) is Comtessa du Cayla. She also gets a lot of afternoon sun and is ok with it.

Hmmm, I trying to think which tea rose is the most graceful to me. I really like the shape of Souv de Pierre Notting as it is a tall, slender rose with a vase shape. Blooms all the time. Maman Cochet is awkward when young but I find her mature shape to be sort of rounded and pretty. Lady Hillingdon is more twiggy and doesn't do too well in the heat but she is a nice rose. There is a picture on one of the other posts of Mme Antoine Mari which I think is very graceful. She is a beautiful rose.

For grace of bush and bloom I think my favorite is Mme Joseph Schwartz and/or Duchesse de Brabant. Another I like a lot is La Sylphide.

There are many to consider though since teas are generally graceful plants, as a whole.

In my no-spray garden and my neighbors' Luanne, in Richmond, Ca these are among the 10 most disease resistant Tea roses;

Mrs. Dudley Cross'
I have one in my garden and it is quite clean most of the year, I don't spray and a little p.m. doesn't bother me. When it was a small plant and less than 2' x 2' it showed much more p.m., but it grew out of it.

Rosette Delizy
Monsieur Tillier
Mrs. B.R. Cant
Westfield Road Cream Tea
Anna Olivier (most fragrant Tea, that I've ever smelled)
'Marie Van Houtte' very prickly so it needs to be away from clothes and skin.
Maman Cochet and White Maman Cochet
Clementine Carbonieri' fruit punch colors, I've planted mine near Monsiuer Tillier, the blooms are flatter than most Tea roses are.
Sombruiel' the Tea rose, not the climber is quite immune to all fungi, the blossoms do not wow me, though.
I also grow the climber Sombruiel' and it is quite disease resistant.

Light p.m easy to ignore; Lady Hillingdon' against a fence, when grown in full sun it shows very little p.m. as a mature plant locally, and in my own garden.

Usually free of p.m. except in moist weeks of the growing season; but never lessens bloom production;
'Etoille de Lyon' my favorite yellow Tea for beauty, scent and disease resistance.
Le Pactole (grew better resistance to p.m. after a couple of years)
Souvenir de Pierre Notting' I dislike the fact that the blooms form a brown ruff of petals after a couple of days in hot sun, prefer E. de L.

Sold as a Tea-Noisette in the 1900's and I can see why because it is far more evergreen in winter than any modern rose I've studied 'Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria' once called The Brides Rose, huge white blossoms, richly fragrant, even on January 7th it shows no sign of p.m. and has every one of its' healthy leaves still when most modern roses are dormant and leafless, in my neighborhood.
Reve d'Or very clean, can be grown as a shrub, and it is a great beauty.

Borderline, I would chose another rose instead after growing these;
Covered with light to moderate P.m. most of the year: Mme. Alfred Carriere.
Covered with light to moderate p.m most of the year 'Duchess de Brabant' in the first 5 years in my garden, now has moderate p.m. much of the time, I would chose a different pink Tea with more resistance to p.m.
Moderate p.m. most of the year 'Mme. Lombard' but I cannot live without her.
Very bad p.m.;'Georgetown Tea' I got rid of mine because it was iced with p.m. and defoliated and rarely bloomed with more than a handful of roses.

Defoliated from P.M. with great reduction of bloom: Ducher' a China-Tea, for a white Tea. W.R.C.T. is the better rose, locally, I believe, it is also as fragrant as Ducher, with a different type of scent.

I hope this list helps you chose a Tea, it's my favorite class of rose.

Luxrosa

Lux

What does W.R.C.T. stand for? Thanks! I hope a couple you said that P.M. for you doesn't for me. Truthfully I didn't know what it was until I got a new rose earlier this year, it wasn't the right rose otherwise I'd say the name. I haven't had any problem with Ducher so far. The rest are to young to comment on.

Duchess de Brabant, Lady Hillingdon, Sylphide, Monsieur Tillier. Mrs. B.R. Cant is a big lady but I love her. Mrs. Dudley Cross. Georgetown Tea. I love many of the Noisette/Teas. TNTC (too numerous to count).

Alana 7b/SC Just to answer your abbreviation question, Westfield Roadside Cream Tea.

Thanks for the responses. I just realized the picture of the ideal Mrs. Dudley Cross didn't show up.

So many teas and not enough space!

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Mrs. Dudley Cross' photo

This is a very helpful thread. I too am interested in ideas for more tea bushes (although not all mentioned can be obtained in Europe) and especially ones that are not too much of PM magnets (my pet peeve, since teas are very well suited to my climate but too many of them suffer badly from PM which is the fungal affliction prevalent in my area). Keep it coming please!

I wish someone somewhere would hybridize new tea and china like varieties with better disease resistance, the way it's done for other classes of roses, but I know that, at least in Europe, this wish for Modern Teas will not be fulfilled any time soon since most major hybridizers are based in northern countries.
Nik

This post was edited by nikthegreek on Wed, Jan 15, 14 at 1:50

nikthegreek, some of the teas mentioned are obtainable in Europe, but many times under different nomenclature.

Nik, I wish there were more hybridizing of teas and China's as we'll! I've thought that many times! They are such wonderful roses for warm climates.