I have enchanted evening on order and can't wait to see it! I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I'm gonna put with my lavenders so this should be interesting to watch.
April

I, and most people I know, found Barbra Streisand to be a disappointment.

Jeri

Just plant another Ebbtide; it's remarkably disease resistant for the color class, has a nice shrubby habit and divine fragrance. Ebbtide is in a class by itself IMHO. I strongly dislike disease prone roses and if you do searches on the ones you list I think you'll find prior posts with negative comments....like you I'm always on the lookout for a healthy rose this color. New in my garden and healthy so far is a neat shrub rose called Lavender Dream-- check it out too!

Do you mean the Warriner Intrigue? We inherited it with the house. It was completely neglected, dry every summer and in complete shade. It bloomed. Not spectacular, but about three blooms on a stick. They were very fragrant, and blooms were very pretty, we dug it out and replanted it into a better spot. It had almost no roots, but if it doesn't make it I will buy another in a heartbeat.
Masha

Intrigue has lovely flowers but I find the bush to be awkward and unattractive. I got rid of mine. Lilac Dawn which I got from Vintage is a floribunda with beautiful and fragrant flowers. Wild Blue Yonder has gorgeous flowers on a much larger bush which did very well in its first year and has some blossoms even now but reportedly gets even better as it gets older.

Ingrid

Lavender Dream is a truly lovely Shrub Rose, but in our climate, it is VERY BIG.
It's said to be "Four Feet."
Here, it is a good 6-8 ft wide, and gets upward of 6 ft tall or even more.

We tried shortening canes to make it more compact.
It did have that effect, but those canes were never again productive.
Completely impervious to rust and/or mildew.
A beautiful thing, and always in bloom, year 'round.

Jeri

'Intrigue' has beautiful flowers but it isn't the greatest plant.

'Barbra Streisand' has been good here, though the main attraction is the really superb fragrance. Not quite enough petals for this microclimate.

'Royal Amethyst' has been a very reliable lavender here.

Generally of all the purples/lavenders I have tried, they are never the most attractive, vigorous plants. It is possible to add a lot of purples and lavenders to the garden without them being roses.

I bought Neptune and Nicole Carol Miller at the same time and they are in similiar beds with the same care. NCM is a huge bush, blooms well [they are not huge, but smell good and she blooms well]. Canes on NCM are very large. Neptune is down to one spindly cane. I will continue to nurse it along.....but the difference in plants is like night and day. Not saying I wouldnt get another Neptune....but for me, NCM is by far the better rose. Pretty color too.
Judith

Neptune took a while to get started here, but does produce some nice HT blooms. It is slowly becoming a bushy plant.

Heirloom thrives here and blooms heavily. But, I have heard that growers are less successful in warmer climates.

Neptune

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Heirloom

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As much as I love mauve roses (especially Royal Amethyst), I would go with either Cinco de Mayo or Hot Cocoa. I like HC because it stays in foliage from the top to the bottom of the bush. And I REALLY like the blooms.

I have Neptune and I really like it. It has a nice fragrance and beautiful flower. It doesn't seem anymore disease prone than any other HT.

For what it is worth, here are my comments/suggestions on what to look for or try.

Intrigue: nice color and fragrance, but blackspot prone, and bush is somewhat lanky.
Enchanted Evening: turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Bloomed regularly with nice color and some fragrance on small plant. Second year should be better.
Sweetness: don't have; can't comment.
Neptune: died as result of horrific freeze of Easter 07. Flowers never did look all that great or smell all that great. Maybe it needed more time. Appears to like more coastal climates.
Heirloom: a so-so rose in my garden. It does okay, but nothing to brag about.
Nicole Carole Miller: hasn't recovered well from the Easter 07 freeze. Prior to it, the plant was tall and had fragrant, but rather flat flowers. Nice color.
Barbara Streisand: does well in California from what I have seen; mine very prone to blackspot unless sprayed with Messenger; has not recovered from Easter 07 freeze. It produced nice flowers up until that point.

Other roses for consideration:
Blueberry Hill: very nice lavender floribunda. Does well for me, but needs spraying (like everything else).
Simply Marvelous: If I were to only have 1 lavender floribunda, this would be my first choice. Very nice rose.
Fragrant Plum: another reasonably good lavender that has a nice smell; has not recovered from that Easter 07 freeze.
Plum Crazy: a beautiful darker lavender hybrid tea that does well in California; lost mine in that Easter 07 freeze; would like to replace it.
Silverado: this one is a nice one. It can be a show rose in some areas. Mine did eventually come around to making a good recovery. Has a pastel lavender blended color with a white reverse.
Shi-Un: plant gets rather large and has plenty of flowers; usually healthy and quite hardy.
Lemon Spice: I mention this one as an alternative to the lavenders because it has a soft yellow color for contrast and a strong, yummy fragrance.

Take your pick.

Melody Parfumee has done very well for me. Its color is somewhat variable depending on the temperature--between lavender and a dark pinky-mauve. It smells wonderful, and has had only a little end of season blackspot in my no-spray garden. Seems like when I was looking for a purple that a lot of people said good things about it. Big fat beautiful smelly blooms on an attractive bush. Here it is at helpmefind.

I have Fragrant Plum planted on the northwest fence, full sun exposure is too brutal for it, really burns the blooms. But I don't think you get quite as hot as I am.
This rose does very well until I hit the 100's though. This is from Sept, fewer petals from that temp.
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Angel Face always has done beautifully for me, though I have it in full out sun, no disease problems.
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Then there Sweet Arlene, though it's a mini, the blooms are large and I can't do it justice with a camera. I'd call it a 9 in fragrance Look up Digger Dave's pics in HMF. This rose grows between 4-5'tall for me.
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There is Burgundy Iceberg, depending on the season I get several shades with it, sometimes all at one time. Here are two pics, first is from last April when we'd already hit the 90's and the 2nd in Oct when we were still floating around that and the high 80's. So far this is a great little bush, stays under 5' tall and wide.
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Leslie

Thank you everyone for your input. I was searching around today online and thought I might get Wild Blue Yonder. Then I found a "buy 2 get one of equal or lesser value free" deal at a local nursery and that did it for me. I bought Melody Parfumee, Sweetness and got Cinco de Mayo for free. Now I need to figure out the rose puzzle. What moves, what stays etc.

If you have the room for one more, I would suggest Shocking Blue. Both my father and I have it in our So. Cal. gardens and love it.
It is a performer, and heat tolerant too!

Here is a link that might be useful: Shocking Blue

Congratulations, Peachiekean, on your new "children." I'm a little late to chime in, but who knows, for future reference. Of your list at the top, I would vote for Enchanted Evening, mostly because I am eager to try it myself.
I just got Blue Moon, which is supposed to be a warm-climate alternative to Blue Girl. No one mentioned Silver Star (2000). If you don't need fragrance, that one could be a winner.
I have Sweet Arlene, the mini-flora, and it is nicely fragrant, super easy to grow, tolerates some shade, and is pretty.
Barbra S. was terrible for me, but it's supposed to love your region.

Thanks all. I want to plant every mauve, plum or lavender rose mentioned above, but of course that will never happen. I sp'd Iceberg, and after giving it to my next door neighbor, planted Melody Parfumee in same location just in front of my Ebb Tide standard. In front of that is the Cinco de Mayo. To the left are Brass Band and Julia Child. I hope it's not too loud. They rarely all bloom at once anyway.
Today I began removing an old gardenia shrub and ran out of steam. It will not budge. It must have been planted when the place was built which was in 1974. I'll find a gardener person around here to help me. Then I will plant the Sweetness. It will be between Veteran's Honor and Irish Hope. I have no theme or plan here, just roses I like.

I agree with so many of you on the mauves...I so far haven't found any I really am crazy for!

Intrigue-beautiful flower and scent, but somewhat stingy & lanky.
Heirloom-even with constant preventative spray for BS, it is the FIRST in our garden to defoliate. Going to get rid of. Have given it too much time and attention.
Neptune-jury is out...thought it would be a great rose, but after 2-3 years, I've hardly had a decent bloom! It is own-root....perhaps it would fare better on rootstock?
Lagerfeld-was gorgeous, very prolific & TALL. but I gave it away, as the JBs went after it 24/7, and then of course, the thrips turned the blooms brown.

The closest I think I'll probably get to purplee will be my Austin "reds"-William Shakespeare 2000 and Falstaff.

I have to say that Distant Drums has some gorgeous mauve tones alongside the peachy pinks. It has been a great rose for us.
:0) Phyl

I had Intrigue in a container in the foggy part of the Bay Area. It's lanky -- blooms on a stick describes it. But the blooms were wonderful! Neat color, gorgeous fragrance. I would want to plant it with some other stuff to hide the knees. I had moderate blackspot, nothing to get excited about on my virtually no spray program.

Heirloom grows great around here (Portland). It's not my fave color but it sure seems to do well.

You know, I'm not sure why I did not mention 'International Herald Tribune'
in this thread -- other than it's more purple than mauve or lavender.

In Southern California, this little gem is impervious to disease.
It is the foundation from which Tom Carruth bred his poiples,
but IMHO, it eclipses them in many ways.
Its only fault (if it is a fault) is that it is a very short, upright grower.
IHT should be deadheaded and pruned with great restraint. If so treated,
it will produce sprays close to soccer-ball size (and smaller sprays,
as well, all year 'round.

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I have wondered sometimes if Harkness knew what a little jewel he had created.

Jeri

Oh I have just the place for it! But I am not buying any more this season so it goes on my list! By the way, Jeri, my little Frances Grate's Tea bloomed this week and the color made me very happy - an orchid pink. It held well in a vase too. I will post the pic one of these days.

I am trying several new mauves this year: Blue Chip, Seven Seas, Nimbus, Shocking Blue, Paw Maw, English Perfume, Blueberry Hill [VID from Heirloom], and Vol de Nuit, Pillow Talk, Amy Vanderbilt, Royal Airforce, Twilight Zone, Magenta, Blue Bayou, Lilac Dawn. Some have arrived and are growing in pots.....it will be interesting to see the different colors of mauve and lavender. I will report on these as I see them bloom. Anyone grow any of these?
Judith

I had Blue Chip and am replacing it. It died from the Easter 07 freeze. Plant is compact, repeat flowers fairly quickly, flowers prone to bull-nosing and burning in our hot summer heat. Otherwise, it is a nice florist's rose for the garden. Seven Seas almost perished from the freeze. It has many ruffled petals but is not very vigorous. Shocking Blue almost perished from the freeze, but it is trying to come back. It was doing fairly well. I actually did get some small sprays. Vol de Nuit I had at my other house in Washington. Flowers were okay; I thought it was an average rose for that climate. Can't speak to a hot, humid climate for that rose. Blue Bayou I had to plants. The grafted one perished in the big freeze; the own-root plant barely hung on. I am getting another one of these also. Flowers are very silvery and have more of a pale blue cast to them when compared to some of the other lavenders which have more red to their color. I have not seen any large sprays on this variety either. That is all the comments I have on your list.