Rugosas, too, I think.

Most of my hybrid rugosas are disease resistant and extremely hardy. AAMOF, spraying damages their leaves. They don't like to be sprayed.

I don't care what kind of rose you grow here where I live, ALL roses and including Knockouts get blackspot. Neighbors have them and come July and August they are defoliated with just a few yellow leaves hanging on.

I have 6 - 7 Belinda's Dream and they do very well and bloom constantly, they get a bit of BS but not bad... they were developed for humid Fla. and Epcot I understand..... another one is China Doll, but they are not in the market anymore which I don't understand, but they bloom constantly and BS doesn't seem to bother them.....also Don Juan does pretty good.... sally

Roses in my gardens that rarely, if ever, suffer from BS are:

Mayflower (Austin shrub)
Mortimer Sackler (Austin shrub)
Blythe Spirit (Austin shrub)
Pretty Jessica (Austin shrub)
Queen of Sweden (Austin shrub)
Eutin (floribunda--Kordes?)
Morning Has Broken (Clements shrub)
Elina (hybrid tea)
Sweet Diana (mini)
Green Ice (mini
Earth Song (grandiflora)
Pink Prosperity (hybrid musk)

There are a few others like Buff Beauty and Dublin Bay climber and Austin's Molineux that have occasional minor bouts with BS, but they are definitely "minor" and easily fixed.

That's nearly half my roses (I have multiples of some of them), but the other half are not disease-magnets by any means. However, they need several sprayings in the spring and in the fall to keep the BS at bay--but that's about all the spraying they need--fairly good disease-resistance, in other words.

I also have a few newer roses that are looking quite promising disease-wise, but I haven't had them long enough to make any confident assessment yet.

This will be interesting to see other posters' lists also.

Kate

Julia Child.

In the Mid-Atlantic and here in southern Appalachia, disease pressure is higher than in Texas, where the Earthkinds are evaluated, or in Minnesota, where the Easy Elegance roses are bred. For example, Belinda's Dream has foliage problems here. However, those two groups should generally have above-average resistance to blackspot. Buck roses are generally about 10 degrees hardier than typical HTs, but only some of them are unusually disease resistant. Among old roses, many gallicas and albas are blackspot-resistant. A number of hybrid musks and old ramblers are relatively resistant, as well as most rugosas (but not Robusta or the Grootendorsts).

-Many of the Explorer series roses
-Most Rugosa's
-Most of the newer Kordes line of Fairy Tale roses (particularly those with ADR awards.)
-Almost all of the newer Kordes Vigorosa series roses (again, look for ADR certification)
-Most new, post year 2000 Kordes roses period.
-A small handful of the newer Austins

Forgot to add, a good number of Polyantha's are also very resistant to BS.

I have seen Pretty Lady blooming at the Herman Memorial Garden in downtown Houston at all times of the year with clean foliage. I grew it for 3 years at my home in this area and it was as clean as the Knockout series. It has one of the fastest repeats of any rose that I have grown and do not understand why it is not more popular.

Looks like we have a lot of good info so far - great to see!

Noting differences in performance between different regions of the nation is a great help. I bet that failure to do this is one of the main causes for "disease resistant" roses to be ravaged by diseases when taken away from where they were first bred and evaluated.

Ceterum,

Goes to show the vagaries of climate. In the Atlantic, east coast of Canada, Austin roses as a whole, do exceptionally well and are often free of BS, rust and mildew, which are afflictions that can plague some of the varieties elsewhere. Interesting to note that the warmer and perhaps more humid southern Atlantic climate in the U.S. is less suited for them.

Even in my Ontario garden, blackspot on my Austins has never been much of a problem. Late season mildew yes and early season rust at times, but that is largely my own fault for having them too cramped. They have been very good performers by and large for me in terms of disease resistance to BS in particular.

It all depends on where you are. There are differences even between MD and VA. Pa and NJ, etc. I gardened in 3 different states, all zone 6-6b (KY,CT, MD) There is no comparison between these three states in terms of BS pressure.
In my MD garden out of all repeat blooming roses I tried (200+, all claimed to be resistant), only Knock Out, Darlow's Enigma, Quadra, several rugosas (those that are not heavily hybridized) are completely BS free. Several others have OK resistance (not great but reasonable): Laguna, Carefree Sunshine, Home Run, Arethusa, Earth Song (up to 50% defoliation), New Dawn (can completely defoliate, but recovers).
Many others, claimed to be resistant in other areas fail BS resistance test here, including many rugosas (Hansa, Robusta, Fimbriata,etc),Mayflower, Belinda's Dream, Earth kind roses, etc, etc.
Many oncebloomers are healthy here - some gallicas, several albas, damask Ispahan, many Wichur. ramblers, early oriental yellows, some spinosissimas.As soon as you take repeat bloom out of your requirements list, you are in good shape.

Olga

I have "Easy Does It" and it has proven to be very strong and disease free.

Another good one for me is "Cinco de Mayo."

My Westerland has been very disease resistant so far. NO BS at all!

Morden man mentioned the Canadian Explorers. I don't know about them in general, but do grow one--Lambert Closse--and it is completely BS free. (It also turned out to be much taller than the nursery description claimed--but I found a good place for it in the back.)

Kate

Easy does it is too new to form a well established, sound opinion of it. I have it in a pot, so far so good, but since I got it from Chamblee's just this spring along with Julia Child (also clean so far) I withhold my opinion for another year or two.

Of the the other new acquisitions, Aloha Hawaii looks good, Jasmina just started to bloom (no scent though), Octavia Hill is charming and so far clean, Heaven on Earth looks great and faultless but then again the humid weather just started. One needs 3 years to pass a judgment.

Mordenman, Austins here just don't cut it, maybe the new intros will do well, I do hope they will. This spring up to yesterday we had an unusual "California like" weather: sunny, dry, low humidity and very windy. That meant that Geoff Hamilton, Abraham Darby and Christopher Marlowe had no blackspot (miracles sometimes happen) Pretty Jessica and Sharifa Ashma are still clean but Ambridge rose did blackspot, so did Crown princess Margareta. I was busy and lazy so I didn't spray as yet, now I have to do double shifts for weeks on those roses that look bad or lost all leaves overnight. Prospero is still the best.

Kordes' Cindarella with its pristine foliage fried all its 500+ blooms and buds due to the strong winds and sun (I felt Ingrid's pain in California mountain region). Yesterday we got rain, so now the bs resistant Clotilde Soupert balled and looks horrible. And I have bs on Summer Snow that is quite unusual. In the HP, Bourbon bed the only rose that has bs this year is Prosperity that I have never sprayed since I planted about 10 years ago.

Due to the unusual weather most of my spring flush is already over so I have to deadhead anyway but I never had the spring flush over so early. The faithful Perle d'Or and Arethusa is ready for the second flush so is Marie Daly. Elle is blooming again, Frederic Mistral looks better after the rain, so things are returning to normal.

I can tell you this about what really did good both during the growing season last year and over winter. I have three (white) Climbing Iceberg and a new Burgundy Iceberg from last spring. Not only did all three grow like champs with the absolute minimum or even absence of disease last year but they were the first to look really perky this year. I realize that this variety grows especially well in our CA climate but at appr. 3500 feet elevation with very traditional four season weather they truly go the distance.

Hope this helps.

Kate

Austin's Heritage is practically blackspot free in my no spray zone 5 northern Ohio garden.

There was a TV show a while back on a rose garden in Minnesota in August. The hybrid teas had all defoliated and the rugosas had cane borers. Three Buck roses, Carefree Beauty, Prairie Harvest and Country Dancer were completely healthy. I seem to remember a post about Stanwell Perpetual that said it did well on the seashore, even when salt water washed over it occasionally. Does anyone grow Stanwell Perpetual?
I purchased Reine des Violettes at Home Despot a few years ago and it is doing fine in my no spray garden. Martine Guillot is healthy and vigorous. Martha Stewart likes Generosa roses.

Predfern,

Yes, I have grown Stanwell Perpetual. It does very well in harsh sea air exposed climates, but can get some minor BS. Doesn't seem to care much and keeps on blooming. However, with the high winds usually associated with such a climate, it tends to throw very low basal canes that make it even more of a spreader than it already is. Needs lots of room.

I will swear by the Easy Elegance Series. They are extremely hardy & vigorous & only Grandma's Blessing had a blackspot problem last year. A lot of my Bucks got bs last year. (We had the worst blackspot last year ever). Some of Weeks floribundas did very nicely, Pretty Lady, Cinco de Mayo, & Julia Child. Mother of Pearl, a grandiflora, spent he entire season with beautiful, clean, glossy foliage.

In addition to the Buck roses Carefree Beauty, Prairie Harvest, and Country Dancer meantioed above, I'd suggest Earth Song, Les Sjulin, and Winter Sunset. Paloma Blanca has been recommended, but I haven't tried it. In some gardens, but not mine, Quietness and Prairie Sunrise are OK without spray. Mother of Pearl is 1/2 Buck rose, and it has been clean for me so far--very beautiful as well.

Buck roses tend to be susceptible to cercospora spot, but that's not usually a major problem. (Here it is a substantial cosmetic problem.)

Lots of mildew & BS problems in this area, but not a spot on my 'Kiss Me' Easy Elegance Roses or my Rosa Rugosa 'Alba' and 'Rubra'. Quietness gets a little bit which looks to me like cercospora spot, not BS, towards the end of the summer. Hybrid rugosa Theresa Bugnet got covered in powdery mildew and Roseraie de l'Hay got BS. I just planted 'Earth Song'and 'Marchesa Boccella' roses in my yard because they were supposed to do well. Too soon to tell.

Golden Unicorn
Mordens Blush

These have been absolutly carefree for me, when other 'carefree' 'easy' idiot-proof roses havn't been.

Michael I got Paloma Blanca from Heirloom Roses, and since this was the biggest of the three bands (best roots I mean) I hope it will make it. So fa so good, I hope by next year I will be able to post a still tentative evaluation on it.

My Quietness is small but so far is clean. I love the blooms (both colors and form) - it is amazing that such a small rose is able to produce so many blooms.

I enjoyed reading, but saw only mention of climate causing difference in disease-resistance. Actually a much more important problem is that there are so many different strains geographically, that BS resistance in one location can mean absolutely nothing in another. This is why the Vigorosa roses are reliably blackspot resistant--the breeding program includes testing with a variety of BS strains.

It would be really helpful to organize this discussion by states, etc.

Secondly, I am wondering how many have heard that organic gardening techniques actually do more for roses in resisting disease than spraying in many cases. In a truly organic bed (no chemical fertilizers or pest & disease sprays) the soil organisms that thrive and multiply tend to push out or decrease the populations of pest fungi & bacteria.

I sure hope this works for me as I have just bought a new home and am in the process of preparing a large rose garden.