I don't know about your humidity - we are hot and dry here - but Cl Crimson Glory is very happy in our hot summers (no spray), and is one of the most wonderfully fragrant roses I have ever smelled. Also, I just planted a Grandmother's Hat, and am told it does well in So Cal. Mine is tiny, but made one bloom, and I cut it and the fragrance almost knocked me over.

jackie

Pope John Paul II is very fragrant and seems to like the hotter weather better than the cool for me. It always blooms it's best in the heat of summer here with little bloom spring and fall. But in my garden it does black spot.

The most fragrant roses I have are 2 yellows: Julia Child and Sunsprite.
Another favorite is Change of Heart (light pink) and Yves Piaget (dark pink).
Yves doesn't really like the hot hot weather, but his fragrance and frilly peony blooms are worth coddling him a little.

Sustained summer heat limits cutting roses during our summers but some of the David Austins will still attempt to bloom with good form and fragrance. I don't know how they would do in your growing conditions, though.

The old hybrid tea 'September Morn' is not only my most fragrant rose, but it blooms during the hot summer PLUS the blooms stay large in triple digit S.W. Texas temps. It's an amazing rose for hot climates and is available from:

www.roguevalleyroses.com

It's a light pink rose -- not to be confused with 'September Mourn', a newly hybridized white rose.

Scroll about half way down on the thread linked below for pictures. There are also photos on HelpMeFind.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread about best summer surprises ....

There's more information about roses that will take the heat on the link below. Also more pictures of 'September Morn' are about half way down.

Here is a link that might be useful: OGR in a very hot climate thread

thanks for all the suggestions and the links

Tiffany doesn't sweat the heat one bit. And it is a super-sweet-smelling rose. It definitely will blackspot without protection but seems to tolerate it, that is, it'll keep growing and blooming just fine with the disease. Surely, though it will look neater if some kind of spray regimen is practiced.

Tiffany's offspring, Belinda's Dream, is even healthier without a spray routine, though to my nose a little less fragrant. Still, it has a definite and quite respectible fragrance and is probably as carefree a hybrid-tea-style rose as one can find.

I'll second Pope John Paul II as a great, fragrant white (it does have a butter-cream colored center) that shrugs at the heat. Beautiful form blooms, too, if not the straighest cutting stems. Chrysler Imperial has that intensely damask fragrance that is classic rose, and it does better for me in summer than in very cool weather.

Blue Moon I've only had for two years, so I'm still evaluating it. It tends to go in cycles of a lot of blooms then just an occasional one, then a lot again. Don't know if that is a product of its immaturity or a permanent feature. But it doesn't seem that the summer heat phases it much. And Oh, what a fragrance! I love this one. Beautiful, cool lavender coloring, too; not the pinkish tone of many mauve roses.

Mike

I'm also in a dry heat area. Ones that have thrived here with no spraying and have marvelous fragrances:

1. Crimson Glory (I have two of the non-climbing version unlike Jackie). LOVE them, fragrance is amazing.

2. Pink Promise. Prolific bloomer / repeater, fantastic fragrance, has been disease free.

3. Heirloom. Beautiful shade of dark lavendar. Mine does get afternoon shade.

4. Double Delight - hasn't been the best repeater for me, but the fragrance and the beauty of the blooms I do get makes it worth it!

5. Chrysler Imperial - to die for, but I believe I've read that it doesn't do well with humidity (?)

David Austin rose Evelyn does pretty well in my hot desert garden. It doesn't bloom much in the high heat of summer but nothing does in my experience (roses, that is). But it blooms pretty much throughout the rest of the year. I would say it is one of the best smelling roses I have.

Belinda's Dream for sure. Go to the David Austin web site & look around. After you stop drueling all over your computer, go back and really check out EACH rose. You'll find several that take summer heat very well. There are also a few OGR's that can take the GA. heat. I have 2 Souv. de la Malmaison's on fortuniana root stock that don't slow down at all during the summer for me.

I'll second Austin's Evelyn, and Brother Cadfael does pretty well, too. Frederic Mistral is a great smeller, but just average in the heat. Diane

Memorial Day, Beverley, Frederic Mistral, Double Delight, Firefighter, Barbra Streisand, New Zealand, Evelyn, Sonia Rykiel, Ebb Tide (afternoon shade), Felicia (afternoon shade), Big Purple, Perfume Delight, Stainless Steel, Crimson Glory, Granada, Fragrant Cloud. These all grow superbly and are flower machines in my zone 10 garden with long hot and dry summer heat.

I'll second Granada, and throw in Gold Medal. GM seems to have more fragrance to my nose. Austin's Tamora (top photo) smells terrific, I think, and has done brilliantly here in hot'n'dry land (SoCal). That picture was taken during a spell of triple-digit days last year. Gold Medal's in the foreground of the bottom photo, Granada in back of it.