gorgeous! I especially love the Edith Krause & the Mme Jean Goujard. You're so lucky to live where hybrid teas are lush & beautiful; our summers are so hard on them.

Good question to ask here on the Antique Rose Forum, Aimee! I enjoyed reading the answers of other ORG lovers and discovered some really exciting roses this way for myself! Here is my input: Hybrid Teas: Anna Pavlova. This one is a real gem in my opinion that found its way into my garden by accident. I do believe it is a rarely grown HT even though it was just released in 1981, that deserves more attention. Very beautifully formed, pale pink, full bloom and a surprisingly strong damask fragrance to die for. Frederic Mistral. A winner in my garden, light warm pink color and strong fragrance. Vigorous grower. Memorial Day. Deep pink color, huge blooms with a very intense perfume. Moonstone. Huge and I mean really huge classic white HT blooms with a pink edge. Very good cut flower. Unfortunately I only can smell a very faint scent. Mr. Lincoln. Dark red, that fades to blue-ish red, which I love, with a super strong fragrance. If you are looking for a red rose to give to the very special person in your life, this is the one. Pope John Paul II. My favorite white modern HT. The flowers are humongous and the fragrance knocks your socks of and is wafting. Vigorous rose in my garden that has been never without flowers since the first flush this year. Floribundas: Iceberg and Iceberg, climbing. I love them because they are so floriferous here in SoCa. Always give you a reliable punch of white color, where you need it. Only flaw in my garden susceptible to mildew at certain times of the year, but the advantages outweigh this drawback. Nimbus. Very unusual flower color. Brownish-mauve at times. It is a very special interesting rose, that I am sure will not be loved by everyone, but if you are into unusual colors it might be the one for you. Our Lady of Guadalupe. Silvery shine on cool pink flowers that open in a very elegant way. Grandifloras: Sweetness. Relatively new introduction. Produces very beautiful lavender colored blooms with a strong fragrance. What stands out for me is that this rose is completely healthy in my garden. That is very rare for a lavender colored rose, which are known to be disease prone. Shrub Roses: Belindas Dream. Very awesome, full pink flowers. Strong fragrance. Cymbeline. Older David Austin rose with a very unusual elegant almost pink-grayish color, that is hard to describe. Eden Rose 88/Pierre de Ronsard. To me one of the most beautiful modern roses with an old-fashioned look. Flowers are large, cupped and very full. Color is a creamy white with pink in the center. Even though many people claim that this rose has no scent, I can clearly detect a pleasant, mild, fruity, fragrance. Pretty Jessica. Small bush with exquisite, clear pink, very cupped, flowers. I like that this rose doesn't get the monster size of many other David Austin roses. Scepter'd Isle. Very elegant, pale pink, cupped shaped, flowers with a strong myrrh fragrance. It shows it yellow stamens in a very charming way, when the flower gets older. My plant is still very young but so far I love it. The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild. Also new to me, but already won my heart over with its strong citrus fragrance and beautiful, pink (darker in the center), cupped shaped, blooms. The Prince. Another new arrival in my garden, but boy the very dark crimson flowers fading to a wonderful dark purple color of this rose are just outstanding. It looks almost like velvet and the intense fragrance is another nice addition to the already very impressive blooms. Christina

He likes a little pampering, in the way of lots of organic fertilizer and compost, and plenty of water in the summer -every day, unless you get a ton of rain. Actually, all the old roses thrive on that, but Francis will reward you with prettier foliage and more flowers if he gets those two things. If he's neglected some, he'll still be fine, as I haven't been out in the heat much this year, although I gave him some "goodies" about 6 weeks ago. Slow release fertilizer is a HUGE help this time of year. I have all my roses on automatic drip irrigation.

We have 2 Savannah (Kordes) in our muggy, Maryland yard and they are lovely, albeit large. One gets partial sun, the other gets all day (the latter is the biggest). Both have excellent re-bloom, scent, and form. I haven't had them long enough to say what their final size/shape will be, but they are both extremely healthy with minimal spraying. Bonus: the deer seem to avoid them! Pros: Healthy, excellent scent and re-bloom, long-lasting blooms, deep green foliage. Cons: Tends to get large, color can get *too* vivid in deep summer, blooms tend to flatten as they age. I don't have any photos to post but Google image search results are fairly accurate.