Truthfully, I love all roses that grow well in my somewhat-difficult conditions.
It just happens that the "evergreen" sorts of roses are best suited to my climate, so Noisettes, Teas, and Chinas are at the top of my PERSONAL list.
There are some other older roses, particularly among the "Found" roses, which I love for their history, and also for their toughness and resistance to disease.

Jeri

Bourbons and hybrid perpetuals for me. I have teas and chinas but they're most likely going to leave. Too powdery mildew prone for me and they get too large for the space I have.

Barbara

Even though I'm still a newbie - 3rd year growing roses - I have a strong favorite. The beautiful BOURBONS. And I'm in your zone, though considerably to the West, and probably drier.

I am actually a bit surprised how much I adore the Bourbon class because early on I was sure I would favor the Gallicas with their wild colors, history, and romance. A little later I became obsessed with HPs - their voluptuousness, I suppose. And my first favorite rose was actually the Hybrid Musk, Cornelia - still a sentimental favorite. My Bourbons were slow to start - esp. Zephirine Drouhin, of which I have two - but WOW!!! They are so worth the wait. I have had zero disease problems with them, while my poor gallicas have mildew issues, varying from mild to severe. I only have 3 HPs (General Jacqueminot, Paul Neyron, Souvenir du Dr. Jamain), and none have problems, but they just don't bloom as heavily or repeat as well. I am wondering if maybe the reason I have no disease problems with them is that my climate dries up very suddenly after heavy spring rains. But I really don't know.

My reasons for loving them the most: the blooms are equally, if not more, impressive than any of those other highly touted classes. But their spring flush is massive, and their fragrances are much stronger on the average. The only roses I have that are as strongly fragranced as my bourbons are Jude the Obscure (English rose) and Comte de Chambord (Portland). Here is something really neat - before the Great Easter Freeze, my bourbons had all put out jillions of fat buds, all of which were hit and lost, as were so many of my once bloomers, as well. Only, the bourbons took a two week or so break, and came back out with an equally big flush!!! The once bloomers that had buds already when the freeze hit just decided to call it a year, regardless of whether they had one bud or many. I wish I had pics to post.

The bourbons I have are Zephirine Drouhin, Madame Ernest Calvat, Louise Odier, Coquette des Blanches, Madame Isaac Pereire, and La Reine Victoria. They are all just awesome, but maybe if I had to pic faves I would choose Louise and CdB for perfection of bloom, purity of color, exquisite fragrance, profusion of bloom, and in the case of CdB, continuous repeat.

One more thing - I think their foliage is uniquely pretty (esp. MEC - lovely purple and deep blue-green), and I love how MEC and MIP look when pegged. - a festooned swag.

I hope none of the more experienced OGR people are going to tell me that it's too early to tell whether I will continue to escape major problems with these roses...maybe the diseases just haven't found me yet.
Good luck!

The chinas & the teas are the best adapted for my hot summer, mild winter climate.
But there are some from other OGR classes that I personally am really fond of. In fact, my favorite OGR of all may very well be a hybrid perpetual ('Reine des Violettes').

Randy

Yes, I do have a favorite class and it's the Chinas. Partly their history, but their strongest point in my climate is their addition to the landscape overall. When we started our garden, I wanted roses that would bloom and be beautiful bushes even without flowers in the garden setting we have. Chinas, with lushness of growth, are my favorites.

It depends upon where you live. In cold areas (like zone 4/5 and colder) the once bloomers shine but sulk in the deep south. When I gardened up north, gallicas, damasks and albas (and most species) were carefree. Most bourbons and HPs have blackspot and tenderness issues up there too. The teas, noisettes and chinas have BIG tenderness problems up north. Down here the teas, chinas and noisettes are very happy in this heat. However the damasks, albas, gallicas, etc., will not bloom here. I have found one bourbon that does well without spraying here: SDLM.

While teas, noisettes and chinas are most frequently recommended for my area, I'm not really that fond of them, for the most part. Chinas tend to be scentless, and a rose has to be something pretty special before I overlook this flaw. Teas have a scent, but it is one I don't detect very well, so they may as well be scentless for me. Besides, they mildew like mad here. I do like a few of the noisettes, Narrow Water being one.

My favorite roses are the old European once bloomers, albas, damasks, and gallicas; and the repeat bloomers most like them, bourbons and hybrid perpetuals. I am also very taken with climbers and ramblers of all types. Is there anything move evocative than a wall of roses?

It should go without saying that there are good and bad roses in every class.

Rosefolly

Right now I think I am lusting for bourbons and HPs. I am not sure how they will do in my humidity. Don't you always want what you can't have? Maybe I'll just try one of each.

It will not surprise you to learn I have a fondness for the albas. I have one, which I had feared was dead and gone after this winter, but just a week and a half ago I saw new growth at the base. It's Rosa x alba semi-plena (aka the White Rose of York). When I lived with my parents in the Philadelphia area I planted Maiden's Blush, which still blooms for them every June some 20 years later.

I also love many of the Hybrid Musks I've seen. I think in your climate they're likely to make terrific flowering landscape shrubs. There are other individual roses from many hybrid classes that I love, but the above two classes tend to really catch my attention.