Ingrid -- 'BISHOP DARLINGTON'!!!
I don't know why I forgot him.

He is big, graceful of habit, and a good bloomer. Great disease-resistance. Prune him hard, or not at all.
A GREAT rose!

Jeri

From my experience, Bishop Darlington is indeed a great rose. I love him and he did well for me in So. Cal as well as up here. Another HM that prospered in both environments--Erfurt.

Colleen

I really love Cornelia. Mine are not that old, 6 - 18 months, but already bloom consistently and the foliage is beautiful. I've got 3 of them, one on a chainlink fence, one clambering over a wall, and one on an arch. The color changes are lovely, ranging from strawberry to pale pink and even salmon in the heat. Really like this rose. I also like Buff Beauty a lot -- it's gorgeous! -- but it makes a very big, strapping octopus bush-climber in southern California, so be prepared to do some training. The foliage is magnificent, super lush and green and the flowers are exquisite: strong scent and beautiful range of hues, from gold to creamy yellow and even some reddish tones.

Funny thing, mudbird. Cornelia is lovely, but she's never excelled here.
Her best bloom period for me is -- well -- NOW.
She's never grown as I expected her to.
I'm sure the problem is mine, and not hers.

Jeri

One hybrid musk that I know that does well up and down the west coast is Sally Holmes. I would suggest that one because it can really be spectacular when it is happy.

What about Jeri Jennings?

Here is a link that might be useful: Jeri Jennings at Old Garden Roses and Beyond

Sally Holmes is a wonderful rose, IF:
1. You are patient enough to wait until it is mature, to get maximum bloom, and
2. You have space for her. In full maturity here, she is a tree. Not, IN a tree. She IS a tree.

I think Jeri Jennings is going to be top-notch for the West Coast of CA. She has a graceful habit, and NO disease problems. I love the color, and the fragrance is wonderful.
I'm not being prejudiced. It's a great rose for our area.

Jeri

Jeri - you know, I've had very mixed experiences with Hybrid Musks, sometimes it seems that one nursery simply has a healthier version than another. My first hybrid musk was purchased from the old Rose of Yesterday & Today: Lavendar Lassie, grafted, and may have had mosaic virus, but it was a monster of a rose: 12 ' x 15' and a wall of flowers. I've been trying to get one to grow where I now live for over 9 yrs and it's still just a scrawny 5 footer that squeezes out a few flowers twice a year. This LL is ownroot, so perhaps grafted is better for this particular rose. I really should just shovelprune it already and try again. My microclimate shifted from where I grew that first LL, just a block from the beach to a couple miles inland where it's a bit warmer -- but whatever the reason is, LL's not happy here.

I have an own-root Lavender Lassie in my yard. It has gotten to be quite large. I don't think that how well it does is simply a matter of grafted vs own-root. I notice that it really blooms best in spring and fall when it isn't blast-furnace hot. In summer it spits out occasional flowers, but it mostly sulks. The flower color is better in cooler weather; it is clearly more lavender. In the heat it is pink. I think that this rose is quite climate-sensitive in terms of being its happiest.

I agree about Lavendar Lassie being very sensitive to climate change. The monster LL gave us two huge blooms, spring (absolutely magnificent) and fall (merely great) with just a couple flowers in between. We basically lived in the fog belt then. I'm going to shovelprune the underperformer this week -- thanks for helping me make up my mind finally. Oh, and one last thing about Cornelia: it doesn't like wind. It does best in a sheltered warm spot. I have to strategize my rose planting due to strong coastal breeze here. Certain parts of my garden are too drafty and the roses hate that. I've been trying to set up shrubs as wind shields to the roses.

I tried to access the Huntingdon Rose Garden inventory of roses by class, and it came up with pages of truly miniscule print. If any of you can read it, it might be worth referencing because the garden is in Southern California.

Luxrosa

There have been enormous changes in the Huntington's rose gardens, I think. It's my understanding that a lot of the older modern roses are gone, and new things have been planted. But I don't guess I'll really know until I've gone there.

Jeri

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions. At this point I don't feel an overwhelming desire toward any particular hybrid musk which means that the right rose hasn't come along yet. I'm learning to wait for roses that truly thrill me. I'll be visiting the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden in April and I'm looking forward to seeing many roses for the first time, and to being able to make comparisons between the different roses and varieties. I'll be taking lots of notes!

Ingrid