Well, I don't grow these in Florida, but I do grow/have grown them here in the midwest so i do have a few notions about them.
Gold Medal is a wonderful rose. Easy to grow as it is vigorous, disease resistant, and winter hardy, and it blooms freely and repeats quickly throughout the growing season. The blooms are large and golden yellow with a light red/dark pink edging to some of the outer rows of petals that is very attractive. There is a definite light scent that I like. The blooms open easily and is not particularly affected by hight temps here though I note that you will more and higher temps and humidity than we experience here. Full sun is very good for this one as it makes it most vigorous and healthy. The bush stays about 6' tall and isn't unruly or out of bounds at all making it a good neighbor.
Mr. Lincoln is a bit different matter for me here. The bush is vigorous enough getting to about 5 1/2' tall and stays fairly healthy though I do see a little BS once in a while and often see some PM in the late Fall when the humidity and temps at nightime are higher. It is very important to keep your leaves of Mr. Lincoln's foliage dry especially at night to discourage fungal growth. Blooms on Mr. Lincoln can be very pretty and always have a strong old rose scent to my nose that is very pleasant. The blooms are of good size but you do have to watch that this rose I think needs a little protection fro the sun when it is at it's hottest as it will cause the petals to blue/brown and crisp up especially on the outer rows if they are continuously overexposed to high sun and heat. I think that Mr. Lincoln is a stingy bloomer and doesn't repeat bloom as quickly as it should so bloom production was always less than what I wanted. I eventually shovel pruned Mr. Lincoln after about 5 years of growing because I knew there were freer and more vigorous blooming dark reds available. This rose just kind of bored me and paid the ultimate price.
Personally I would suggest Veterans' Honor, Olympiad, Beloved, Firefighter, Ingrid Bergman, Liebeszauber, Royal William, or Grande Amore if I were choosing a good dark red rose for my garden. For medium reds I would suggest Pride of England or even Let Freedom Ring as they are reliable garden roses that should do well about anywhere.
Just my two cents!!
John

I love Don Juan and Belinda's Dream, they are both very easy to grow here in Central Fla. I noticed that Nelson's, who do most of the grafting on Fortuniana and have their roses in most Nurseries, is now starting to graft some Antiques, I got 3 Louis Phillipe also a Abraham Darby, I know the L P. does very well here and the fact it is on Fort. is a big bonus, but will see how the Ab. Darby does..... if you live near W. Palm, there is a couple who graft, Cool Roses... they have a web-site, but the best way to contact them is to call and hope they answer the phone..... getting roses on Fort. is the best way to go here because of the nematodes in the soil...... sally

I can see there's a difference between Jon's zone and mine just by the size of his Mr. Lincoln. When I grew mine it reached 8 feet plus. I can only imagine how tall it will grow on Fortuniana with your longer growing season. In Oklahoma's winds the thing was whipped about unmercilessly with roots wind rocked almost to death. My only suggestion to you about where to place it is out of the prevailing winds. Disease resistance was average at best, but with a regular spray routine it stayed clean. The blooms are very pretty and the fragrance is good also...Gold Medal has a reputation for beautiful fragrant blooms but reputedly prone to BS so I have never tried it.

Thanks for the replies. We'll have to see how they perform here. If Mr. L gets above 8' I'll just have to keep him trimmed back by cutting long stems. That is what I used to do with some of the taller growing roses.
I have put him in a area where he will get the most morning sun and hope that the other plants to the west will help shade him from the hottest part of the day. Since most of our strong winds seem to come from the north (except hurricanes, of course) he should be okay planted on the south side of the house. Gold Medal will be placed in a similar location, so we'll hope for the best. I do agree they both have beautiful, fragrant blooms. There was a bloom on each when he bought them. I'm certain that influenced his decision. I cut the one from Mr. L and it lasted for a week in the house.
I don't and won't spray the roses for BS. It's one of those been there, done that things. Even when I was tied down to a regular spray routine, doing all of the suggested things, my roses had BS. Finally I decided enough is enough. They either live and produce without spray or they don't. I will not be a slave to a spray program again. That decision led me to more old roses and they did very well overall. Of course they had some issues, some more than others. But with time I found those roses that did best for me in my location and within my tolerance for disease. And there is always a way to get rid of roses without him knowing I wasn't happy with them. ;)
I do have Belinda's Dream and agree it's a wonderful rose for me. I had one at my old house and he bought me another one for here. That's the one I had asked for because it does so well and gives great cutting flowers. Oh and it's also very fragrant to me.
I'm not too concerned about Fortuniana grafted roses here. Neither of my homes have had typical Florida sandy soil. My other house had very rich dark soil. I did start with grafted roses but soon moved on the own root and they did wonderfully there. This house is situated on heavy clay soil. It had been amended some before we moved in and I'm adding to it as I go. Since nematodes don't travel well under concrete, I don't think they will travel very far in this clay which in areas is as hard at concrete!
Thanks all of you for the advice. I'll hope they do well for me.
Julie

Julie,
Im further south than you are.... Miami Dade... I have a gold medal which grew over 7ft tall and it was very wide as well.... It was the best rose bush from all the roses I had, all the neighbors LOVED it. I say give it a try and TRUST me that you will love it as well!!