Bernadette- Welcome to the forum! I'm not in Michigan, but I've recently been asking a lot of the same questions. There's a post further down about climbing roses that I think says "zone question".

The biggest difference we have is that I'm guessing you have hot, humid summers in the 90's, while Eastern Washington has hot, dry summers in the 90's.

Shrub roses are great. I'm no expert, but I am really starting to like the old fashioned garden roses, since they seem to take less work. Some bloom once a year for four to six weeks, while other repeat bloom. Albas are mostly pale pink and white, gallicas come in darker pinks and purple (sometimes changing color) and damasks are usually pinks and white. Portlands, hybrid perpetuals and bourbons (I think) often rebloom. Most of them have a good fragrance, some are wonderful!

Rugosas might be another possibility. They don't like to be sprayed and are winter hardy, plus they usually bloom all summer and have great hips. Some sucker, but I'm checking into some smaller ones for one area of the garden.

Be careful with tea roses. There's a difference between teas and hybrid teas, which was pointed out to me a few times when I first got to the rose forums (LOL) Hybrid teas work better with our cold winters and there are so many to choose from. I like Oklahoma, Tiffany, Sweet Surrender, mostly whatever I find on sale at the garden centers, since they don't always make it through the winter. I need to work on my winter protection technique.

Oh, and don't forget the David Austin roses. They look like old fashioned roses, but have a variety of colors more like hybrid teas. I found a Tamora rose (on sale) and it's beautiful. It's supposed to be apricot, but mine has a lot of pink in it, which is very pretty. Some people love them and others don't but they discuss them a lot on the antique rose forum. They're not really old roses, but they're pretty and almost all of them rebloom.

I'm sure you'll get more expert advice on this question, but that's all I've learned so far. Hopefully I remembered all the info I've gotten here, correctly. :)

Don't go shopping for "T" roses, they won't survive our winters. I presume you mean hybrid tea roses. There is a big difference between the two rose classes.
While the weather is still cold, find these books either at the library or on-line at Amazon.com, "Growing Roses in Cold Climates" by Olson/Whitman, "Hardy Roses" by Osborne/Powning, and "Roses for Dummies." The latter is not meant to say you're a dummy, it's a really good how to grow roses book. Available at many garden centers and big box building supply stores is Ortho's "All About the Easiest Roses to Grow." I got mine at WalMart.
For your climate, look at Canadian Explorer roses, Canadian Parkland/Morden Roses, Canadian Artist roses, hybrid rugosas, and other shrub types. They are all repeat blooming, the rugosas are very fragrant and produce very colorfull hips. Most of my 400 roses were purchased from or recommended by Great Lakes Roses which has since closed and are all hardy varieties that require little if any winter protection. Except for the Explorers, hardy means crown/root hardy and will suffer winter dieback but will grow back strong each spring and bloom at the normal spring bloom time. The bushes get larger as the season progresses with a really nice fall bloom.
All my Explorers stay green to the tips of the canes.
My webpage was written to help cold climate rose growers and contains lots of suggestions for you in zone 5 which is the same as my zone in NW Indiana.
For a separate list of rose recommendations based on those that are hardy and grow well for me e-mail me at the e-mail address listed above or on (MyPage).
I can also recommend climbers that will survive our growing zone.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rosenut's webpage

Karl- Thanks for all the suggestions recently on climbers. It's been very helpful!

Bernadette- One thing I would recommend is to wait to buy roses until you've had time to do some research. I originally was going to get a lot more repeat bloomers, but after seeing some of the beautiful photos on the forums, I'm thinking of adding more gallicas, albas and damasks. They are so different from the hybrid teas and have such a great history, and often great fragrance :)

Hi Bernadette - always nice to see another Michigander on the forum. I live north of you in Traverse City, but am also a zone 5. I grow about 180 roses, all kinds, although not a lot of hybrid teas. The David Austin English roses do extremely well in our area - I have about 50 of them and they have been very hardy, extremely fragrant and most of them generous with rebloom. Some are more disease resistant than others, with the newer releases tending to be more disease resistant than many of the older ones. In terms of climbers, William Baffin is hardy to the tip, Dortmund is extremely cane hardy but needs a little spring pruning, America and New Dawn have more winter kill but spring back quickly. I also train a number of the David Austin roses as climbers. Do check out our Cherry Capital Rose Society for more ideas (www.tcroses.org). We publish an 8-page newsletter each month with tons of tips for growing roses in zone 5. You might want to join just for the newsletter - it's only $15 a year. Sign up forms are on the website. Happy growing!

Here is a link that might be useful: Cherry capital Rose Society

Also look for roses by Dr. Griffith Buck. These roses are bred specifically for our climate. I'm in Mi too, and looking for roses that don't need to be fussed with over the winter. Matter of fact, I didn't know I needed to mulch, cover and protect them from the cold until the last few days of researching roses. Maybe, I will get lucky and the 2 rose bushes I purchased in the late summer will live.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dr. Griffith Buck

Hey, thank you all for the great input! My next step is to look into everything you suggested and see where I come out.

Thanks so much!

I am still searching all the informative links you gave me. I do have a question (or questions!). . . I am having a hard time finding a very hardy red rose (climber or shrub). Can you name one? Also, I would like a climber grow over a garden gate entrance - what would you suggest with the least amount of thorns and very hardy? How about a climber that will grow up a tree with few lower branches? And one last question (I hope I am not asking too many!) what is one of your favorite roses for fragrance? I don't have any particular type of fragrance in mind. Just looking for favorites from experienced rose gardeners from the cold, cold north!

Thank you so much, again, for your help!