Evidently there are no (active) forum members in Alameda. Are Jeri's conditions similar to your friend's? You might ask her if she could help.
Melissa

Hi Jackie,

Let's hope Luxrosa sees your post. She lives near Alameda and would be the best person to advise your friend.

I used to live in Alameda for many years before I moved across the bay. The place where I now live has a micro-climate very similar to that in Alameda. It's foggy or overcast until mid-day and the summers are cool.

Since I am fairly new to growing antique/old garden roses, I don't have a list based on my growing experience that I can rattle off. My first set of OGRs are only a year old but I did a lot research and reading before getting them to ensure they would do well in my location and for my situation - roses have to be Powdery Mildew resistant and need to stay small to fit in my small garden.

Marchesa Boccella and Rose de Rescht both appear to be winners here in my garden. I have read that Portlands as a class do well in areas that have cool summers and fog.

Mme. Antoine Mari - It is too early for me to recommend this Tea rose to your friend based on my experience in growing her. This rose is very highly rated by many forum members and is reported to stay small - I couldn't pass her up. She didn't do too well in her first year, but she does look better this year and, in fact, she's very lovely right now clothed in her new plum-colored leaves. I have an impression that she'll need some protection from harsh afternoon sun.

The modern Golden Celebration was at the house when I moved in. It's a real workhorse for me. With compost twice a year and regular deep watering and dead-heading, he pretty much flowers all the way until December - not in flushes but continuously. He's also in less than an ideal spot - he gets a few hours of sun for most months in the year, and full shade in winter. And, oh, he's does best with minimal to no pruning. He does tend to get some blackspot late in the year.

The ubiquitous Iceberg, of course. My Icebergs came with the house - they are beautiful for me for most of the year but the leaves don't look that great in late summer. My neighbor has a bush that looks nice all year (mine are in full blazing sun; don't know if that makes the difference).

Morcom Park in Oakland is close by - it would be great if your friend could visit a few times over the course of the year so that she'll have an idea of the roses that grow well in the area and those that don't.

Please let your friend know she can email me directly if she'd like to. I'd be happy to share some of my notes with her.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Jo

Thanks so much Jo! I sent your message to her, and suggested she look up the roses you mentioned on Help Me Find. I will keep encouraging her. Thanks again -

Jackie

The closer ones' garden is to a large body of water, in the East Bay the more the conditions favor powdery mildew. I suggest you avoid these 3 roses, they defoliated from in my garden from p.m..
-Ducher, Duchess de Brabant. "Le Pactole". and Luanne gave away "Alliance Franco-Russe" for all the powdery mildew it was covered with.

Healthy roses for growing in the S.F. East Bay (west of the Caldicott where conditions favor p.m. and b.s. in warmer weeks of the year,
include:
"Anna Olivier" a fragrant apricot blend with pink hues. Tea is my favorite rose class and this is on my fave top 12 list. A mature plant is only c. 5 miles from the coastline and never gets sprayed and its healthy with gorgeous apricot-pink, fragrant roses.
These are healthy in our organic rose garden with only Cornell.

"Westside Road Cream Tea" far superior in disease resistance than "Ducher" where conditions favor P.M
Etoille de Lyon
Mutabilis will get p.m. but not enough to defoliate or reduce bloom production.

These Pernetiana roses do well with only Cornell. Gruss an Coberg, Mari Dot, Soleil d'Or"

In general I suggest you mostly chose roses with 5 -35 petals, because they will open in our cooler summers, if you have a warm sunny spot in your garden than perhaps up to 40 petals. I suggest you avoid roses such as and including "Souvenir de la Malmaison, they won't open and you'll be disapointed.
"Sombreuil" the Bourbon-Tea does open and is healthy.

Noisettes:
Nastarana" avoid unless you care to spray it every other month.
Blush Noisette" healthy but I think there are prettier roses in this class including
La Nymph and Catos' Cluster which has very beautiful foliage, soft and abundant.
Champneys Pink Cluster" healthy and has started blooming in March! thats a bit early for this class.
"Lamarque" very healthy.
"Reve d'Or" locally quite a bit more resistant to disease than "Mme. Alfred Carriere, though the later catches up (almost) eventually, as a mature plant.
Crepescule" gets more p.m. (and a bit of blackspot) as Reve d'Or, though Crepescule can be grown no spray here as well,
Hybrid Musk roses grow well here, I've grown 14 different H.M.s and never had problems with any.
H.P.s: Mrs. John Laing,
also you might ask Luanne to post here, as well, as she lives in Richmond, near the Bay. She is a heck of a nice lady and grows beautiful roses including many Austins and some H.T.s.

Luxrosa

'Le Pactole' stopped mildewing here in Camarillo once it got into the ground, and got BIG.
This is fairly common with Tea Roses we've observed.
NOT pruning them helps them resist disease.

Red Chinas are bulletproof here.
Old Blush and Le Vesuve mildew drearily.
So does Mme. Alfred Carriere. (Did. Did. These roses are No Longer With Us)
Mrs. Dudley Cross mildewed.
Marie van Houtte, similar, but bigger, does not.
Catherine Mermet mildews.
The Cochets never mildew, but may have trouble opening.

Mons. Tillier and Rosette Delizy are stalwarts.

Jeri

Thanks Jeri and luxrosa - I sent both of your advice to my friend. I told her that if she wants Anna Olivier I would be happy to root one for her, as I have three in my garden, and it is so difficult to get commercially.

I have a baby Rosette Delizy, Jeri. I saw 2 blooms last summer - they are gorgeous! The deer ate on it all winter, but it has finally gotten about 2 feet high, and the deer have decamped, so I am anxiously waiting to see what it does. Glad to hear it is good near the coast.

Thanks - Jackie

Jackie

Austin's Golden Celebration is magnificent in Alameda, no PM, no BS, blooms almost all year. It's a big boy though.

Leonie Lamesh is also carefree and a very pretty rose, my favorite.

Sidonie does well for me, mostly spring bloom with sparse blooming during the summer. General Gallieni also does very well.

Shot Silk (1930s Hybrid Tea) is also clean and always the first to bloom. I have both the climbing and the bush versions.

Crepuscle is almost clean (a little PM but nothing to write home about.) Phyllis Bide also does well but is horribly prickly and badly behaved in terms of growth pattern (there is none!)

Moving this up in case anyone still cares... I lived in Berkeley, zone 17, straight across from the Golden Gate, very foggy, for several years. Golden Celebration did mildew and blackspot, but still bloomed like mad and I loved it. There are a gorgeous Graham Thomas and Abe Darby at Berkeley Hort, same zone. Buff Beauty was a total champ, and so was Cl. Royal Sunset. Buff Beauty is floppy for a hedge application, and Royal Sunset is really a climber. But Royal Sunset is amazing in this climate -- scent, tons of pretty flowers, vigorous, and pretty much disease proof. People in the neighborhood grew Mutabilis with impunity and it blooms about 10 months a year there. I bet the other resilient Chinas would do as well. I had to grow climbers because it was a small lot and pitch dark on the ground.... also had some in big pots on the deck and Intrigue did remarkably well there - I was even able to bloom some nice Double Delight. Hope some of this helps.