Hi, Evie - Welcome to the world of roses! One thing that you will find is that we rose lovers are an opinionated breed - and sometimes rather picky about details (like spelling . . . Else not Elsie.) Anyhow, I live near Salem, fairly close to Heirloom. Where you live will dictate more of what you will be able to grow. We have lots of rain and therefore, diseases especially black spot are a real issue. I do use a drench early in the season when the rain is bad, the Bayer all in one (Lowes has a larger container than other stores -- it can be rather spendy but if you don't have many roses. . .) Once it gets sunny I stop. Just don't like to deal with the spraying. Here are some of the roses that I have which are most disease resistant. The Fairy -- never spray it and it blooms constantly for me. It has a shrub form and climbing form and is very vigorous. Tiny pink non fragrant flowers. If you want a fragrant pink climber, try Lavender Lassie. The flowers are really pink. I've also had good luck with Livin' Easy and Easy Going as well. These are floribundas. Easy Going is a very good yellow. I also have Julia Child which has been very disease resistant. These are not in your preferred colors but if you get the bug you will be moving on to more and more roses. I have several Austins, but the rain is harder on them and they are not a good cut rose. I have to laugh at some of the comments. Rugosas are not the most common roses here. They do well near the coast, I suppose. But I have over 50 roses in my garden and nary a rugosa. With regard to Tiffany, I am probably going to shovel prune her because she balls so badly in the rain. Haven't been very happy with her. Does anyone know a good hybrid pink that is rain resistant? With regard to Heirloom and Rogue Valley, they do have a very wide variety of roses, however they are bands and you will have to wait two to three years for them to really produce. I do buy a few from each, every year -- but I put them in a pot and wait to see how they perform before putting them in the garden. I will buy some grafted roses because I am impatient and then get the specialty varieties from H and RV. Near me, I have purchased roses from Garland's Nursery near Corvallis, Willow Lake Nursery which is in Keizer. Many of the independent nurseries carry only Jackson Perkins which haven't done well for me during the past few years. Well, I hope that some of this has been helpful. Good luck and happy rosing. CJ

Belinda's Dream is great for Texas, but in the northeast it gets more fungus disease, is of doubtful winter-hardiness, and suffers from rotting flowers in cool wet weather. I really like Mother of Pearl, which is peachy pink with a pleasant fragrance to my nose. It is very hardy and disease resistant. The cut flowers last longer than any rose I have grown. If you want super fragrance, the best bet would be The McCartney Rose. Disease resistant pale yellows with some fragrance are Irish Hope and Prairie Sunrise. All these are available from Roses Unlimited. Here is a link that might be useful: HMF Mother of Pearl

Pink Rose, I know Cool Roses sells a wider variety of roses on their website. The ones on their site is ones that they ship. If there is a certain rose that you are looking for, I would at least suggest calling and asking if they have it. Also, Geoff will do custom grafts. I second SoFl that you should call them; they will bring things to the sale in Orlando. SoFl I love my Nahema and Dames De Chennonceau! They are doing great. Though, I tried to rescue a Nahema that someone else shovel pruned and left by the side of the road. It did not make it. I also lost one that I purchased that was in my "rose pond". I think the roots don't like it if you try and move it. I am glad to know that Edenmy eye on that one. Duchess De Brabant is beautiful, but hated my yard. I think it puts down really deep roots, because it died back in wet time of the year, even though it was not in the pond. Quietness, does well on own root. I dont think it likes to be sprayed though, but it seems to be tough without it.

Michael - I am in the SF Bay and go to Regan Nursery for roses too. I have 1 Desdemona and 9 Bolero as hedge. They both grow well here. Some differences: 1. Desdemona is the taller of the two. Although you can prune Desdemona, she is happiest around 4- 5 feet tall. Bolero can be kept at around 3 - 4 feet. Bolero is a bit slower growing initially than Desdemona. 2. Disease resistance: Bolero is susceptible to thrip damage here. If you are in a SF microclimate with lots of maritime influence, Bolero can get rust. My area has lots of morning fog and is in general very cool, even in the summer (sort of like in the City but I don't live in the City). Bolero was clean in the first year, but broke out with rust the second year. Rust is well controlled after I started to spray fungicide. Meanwhile Desdemona is disease free. I never see thrip damage either. If you end up getting more Bolero, I don't suggest using sprinkler water because of the chances getting the lower leaves wet and thus may aggravate any fungal disease. 3. The blooms of Desdemona is a bit more loose. Bolero has nicer and more packed blooms than Desdemona. They can both have a blush color in the middle during cool weather. I don't notice major differences in the fragrance. Both are very fragrant. 4. During the first year, Bolero took longer to rebloom but catch up quickly. Desdemona is quick to rebloom from first year on. Now after 4 years there is no difference between them. Since you have Bolero already, I can post a picture of Desdemona though I never managed to get a whole bush shot because there are lots of other roses around it, plus my lemon tree pot is right next to it.