Wow, I'd forgotten about this thread and a LOT has changed for my ratings in the last four years. Vaporvac - sorry it took a while to get back to you about your question. Disneyland lasted about 3 years for me grafted from J&P then died, so I replaced it own root about 2 years ago. It didn't come back last winter but that's one that i still pine after and will probably replace whenever I can. There's something about the solid "pow" of color that makes my heart sing, and to top it off my son wrote the name tag for that rose when he was about 9 so it has a sentimental value that way too. Moses, glad this is helpful, but to be really helpful I need to update the listing above quite a bit. For starters, very few Harkness roses are hardy for me in zone 5, with the exception of Samaritan and Volunteer in a normal zone 5 spot and Savoy Hotel and Well Being which are grafted and in my zone 6 pocket. A few of the climbers by Harkness are also hardy - Perpetually Yours and The Prince's Trust are several years old and Ginger Syllabub has survived my zone 4 pocket - but they almost never bloom. Olive is a better bloomer (a few blooms a year) but it's no more than 4' tall after about 4 years. I still do have some Harkness survivors in my yard that surprised me when I did a search - Apricot Abundance and Honor Elizabeth, International Herald Tribune are just barely hanging in there and Easy Does It and Livin' Easy have lasted sporadically but usually die off after a year or two. Armada, Bridge of Sighs, Carris, and Pride of England have only lasted one winter and that's not enough to consider them hardy yet. I've started to nix roses bred by Harkness on principle as marginally hardy in the way that Viragharavian roses simply aren't bred for my climate. It sounds like I have a lot of Harkness roses but given how many he bred and how many roses I have, it's not that many (compare that to 50+ thriving roses each for Kordes, Lim and Austin and you get the picture). OK, so here's my updated list from above with notes on whether I'd still rate them in the same group or not. Floribunda Roses hardier than expected in zone 5 (those w/ an asterisk are in a zone 4 pocket) 1 - cane hardy (w/hybridizer) Black Cherry - Zary (probably a 2 - not cane hardy but reliable after winters) Black Ice - Gandy (probably a 2 - not cane hardy but reliable after winters) *Bolero - Meilland (probably a 2 - not cane hardy but reliable after winters) Bonica - Meilland Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale - Kordes (50/50 if it has surviving cane or not) Champagne Moment - Kordes Cherry Parfait - Meilland (50/50 if it has surviving cane or not) Cinco de Mayo - Carruth (probably a 2 - not cane hardy but reliable after winters) Easy Does It - Harkness (put this one a 3 for me - needs my zone 6 pocket) *Eutin - Kordes *First Edition - Delbard (probably a 2 since it died in that cold spot) *Floral Fairy Tale - Kordes Grand Duc Henri - Lens (was cane hardy but the graft died out and I can't replace it) Gruss an Aachen - Geduldig *Hannah Gordon - Kordes *Heaven on Earth - Kordes Heimatmelodie - Tantau (I'd bump this one down to a 4 - only lasted a year or two) *Hot Cocoa - Carruth *LavaGlut - Kordes Pink Emely/Bad Worishofen - Kordes Pink Gruss an Aachen - Kluis (50/50 if it has surviving cane or not) Pinocchio - Kordes (was cane hardy but the graft died out and I can't replace it) Pomponella Fairy Tale - Kordes (probably a 2 - not cane hardy but reliable after winters) Pretty Lady - Scrivens Puerto Rico - Delbard (I'd bump this one down to a 4 - only lasted a year or two) Rainforest - Moore (I'd bump this one down to a 3 - I've replaced in my zone 6) Sunsprite/Friesia - Kordes (probably a 2 - not cane hardy but reliable after winters) World's Fair - Kordes (was cane hardy but the graft died out and I can't replace it) Flori2 - root hardy (w/hybridizer) Amberlight - Le Grice Anne Harkness - Harkness (not hardy more than 1 year even in my zone 6 pocket) Bahia - Lammerts (probably a 3 - lasted several years & I'm replacing into zone 6) Bengal Tiger - Kealovetz (totally wimpy rose never more than 1-2' and finally died) Blueberry Hill - Carruth (probably a 3 - lasted several years & I'm replacing in zone 6) Burgundy Iceberg - Swane (not hardy more than 1 year even in my zone 6 pocket) Chic - Boerner (was hardy but the graft died out and I can't replace it) Chihuly - Carruth Chrysler Imperial - Lammerts Colorific - Carruth Confetti - Christensen Disneyland - Zary (probably a 3 - lasted several years & I'm replacing in zone 6) Elina/Peaudouce - Dickson (was hardy but the graft died out and I'm replacing it) Escapade - Harkness (not hardy more than 1 year even in my zone 6 pocket) Everest Double Fragrance - Beales George Burns - Carruth Guinevere/Louisa Stone - Harkness (probably a 3 - lasted several years, don't want to replace it as it wasn't very exciting) Hettie - Barden (probably a 3 - lasted several years, I'm waiting to see if RV has it) International Herald Tribune - Harkness (had to replace once, probably a 3) Julia Child - Carruth Lilac Dawn - Swim & Weeks (was hardy but the graft died out and I'm replacing it) Marieken - RVS Mardi Gras - Zary Melvin - Jerabek Moondance - Zary October Moon - Barden (has survived several years in zone 6 spot) Olympiad - McGredy Oranges 'n' Lemons - McGredy Pillow Talk - Weeks (wimpy 2a rose, but it was in a poor spot and died over time) Playboy - Cocker (not hardy more than a year or two even in my zone 6 pocket) Singin in the Rain - McGredy (not hardy more than a year or two even in my zone 6 pocket) South Africa - Kordes (not hardy for me - I simply can't overwinter this Kordes) Tempi Moderni - Barni (not hardy more than a year or two even in my zone 6 pocket) Trumpeter - McGredy Wishing/Georgie Girl - Dickson (was hardy but the graft died out and I can't replace) Flori2a - root hardy but wimps (w/hybridizer) Ebb Tide - Carruth (bump this down to a 4 for me - has died in my zone 6 pocket) Hiroshima's Children - Harkness (not hardy more than 1 year) Irish Hope - Harkness (lasted a couple of years in zone 6 pocket but wimpy) JC Thornton - BEES (bump this up to regular 2, in zone 6 pocket) Kiss of Fire - Gaujard (not hardy more than a year or two ) Our Lady of Guadalupe - (own root OLOG is doing better than grafted one) Valentine - Swim (same as above - I'm replacing mine this year in zone 6 pocket) Flori3 - root hardy in protected site - zone 6 pockets (w/hybridizer) Drop Dead Red - Carruth (iffy for me, probably a 4 - both times grafted) Flash - Barni Grimaldi - Delbard Hot Chocolate - Simpson (not hardy more than a year or two) Innocencia Vigorosa - Kordes (probably better, but wimpy rose) Isabella Rosselini - Poulsen (iffy for me, probably a 4 - both times grafted) Lili Marlene - Kordes Minuette - Lammerts (iffy for me, probably a 4 own root) Sammy - Athy (iffy for me, probably a 4 - grafted) Summer Dream - Warriner Tickles - Dykstra Tiki - McGredy Wavria - Lens (iffy for me, probably a 4 - grafted) Flori4 - hardy only with protection (w/hybridizer) Atlantic City - Jolly (lasted a few years then faded) Daily Sketch - McGredy (might be better) Erfordia - Matthews (This one bumps up to a 2 - a rock star all summer bloomer) Guy de Maupassant - Meilland (bump up to a 3, has lasted in zone 6 pocket) Gypsy Carnival - Suzuki (dead) Little Darling - Duehrsen (dead) Mauve Melodee - Raffel (lasted several years before fading, might be a 3) Mellow Yellow - Carruth (might be better) Outrageous - Zary (might be better) Pride of England - Harkness (on its second try) Purple Heart - Carruth (dead) Spice of Life - Dickson (dead) Tenacious - McGredy (This one bumps up to a 2) Tuscan Sun - Zary (This one bumps up to a 2) Zambra - Meilland (lasted a few years then faded) That leaves the following as the floribundas that are the hardiest for me for the most years in zone 5, down to zone 4 if * (I haven't checked the ones planted since 2013): Bonica - Meilland Champagne Moment - Kordes *Eutin - Kordes *Floral Fairy Tale - Kordes Gruss an Aachen - Geduldig *Hannah Gordon - Kordes *Heaven on Earth - Kordes *Hot Cocoa - Carruth *LavaGlut - Kordes Pink Emely/Bad Worishofen - Kordes Pinocchio - Kordes (was cane hardy but the graft died out and I can't replace it) Pretty Lady - Scrivens Anyone surprised to see Kordes leading the pack? I didn't think so... Cynthia

Dcrosby, You may be right at the edge of zone 5/6. Check the map here. If you are still zone 5, you just need to do some winter protection. It should be fine. Climate affects disease susceptibility. In dryer, more arid climate like AZ or CA, they don't have to deal with fungal disease like we do here in humid East Coast. When you read people's recommendations, you want to see where they live. Different climate gives different results to the same rose variety. Spraying for roses every week or every two weeks is not my kind of fun (anymore). I didn't even want to smell the blooms after I sprayed the bushes. Now I don't spray, most of my roses esp. Austins look naked by mid summer. Here is a link that might be useful: MA new plant hardiness zone map

Rebecca, I've had Felix LeClerc for about 9 years and I echo the fantastic comments of everyone about him. He's among the first roses to bloom in late May here in zone 5, and he's totally cane hardy and pretty indestructible. It took about 4-5 years before he rebloomed very well, but now I get blooms pretty steadily into July, and scattered blooms off and on even into November. As for height, I think we'd be in the same boat being in close zones. Felix is hardy to zone 3 at least so I think you're still looking at cane hardiness. Mine is about 8' tall and he puts out laterals pretty well, so if you pull the main canes horizontally along your 8X4' trellis you should be able to get it fairly well covered after a while. Like all climbers, he takes a good 4 years to come into his own so be patient. Also, I find his canes to be pretty stiff so I wouldn't expect to do the zigzag canes you can do with more flexible climbers like Crown Princess Margaretha. You also want to make sure your trellis is pretty strong, given that those sturdy canes can pull down an average wood trellis in the wind. You didn't ask for pictures, but here's one of Felix trying (and not succeeding) to pull down a 6' fake iron (aluminum) fence. You can see that even 4' or so away from the fence he can easily reach the top. For years I didn't realize he was supposed to be a climber so I kept pruning him lower to keep him in line. Fortunately it made him bush out and he's forgiven me since. Mine was from HCR too and he's absolutely fine on his own roots. Have fun Cynthia

Michaela - all sorts of things! My usual bell peppers, eggplants and broccoli, plus petunias, snaps, nicotiana, annual lobelia and some of the zinnias I hybridized - those will all be started in early March. Later, I'll start tomatoes, marigolds, cosmos, cleome, some poppies and more. Will be winter sowing this year with some seed I picked up in a swap - some fancier echinaceas, alliums, gaillardia and others. Would be happy to swap, though I've already got some foxglove, so I don't need that right now. Hoping the ones I've put in will naturalize - I've got them in 3 different locations, hoping one will take. And I'll be direct sowing, among other things, a whole basket full of zinnia seeds, saved from my crosses this past summer - going to be interesting! Anything in particular you're looking for? - Alex