You might check out Molineux. It does sometimes fade out to a creamy white/yellow-gold combination, but it is not unattractive. What is more interesting about Molineux is that it seems to change colors almost every day. Some days it is gold/apricot--almost orange; somedays apricot-nearly pink; most often it is some degree of yellow/apricot/gold or yellow/apricot/cream. It's kinda fun to see what color it will be that day.

Molineux's other virtues are that it is a good re-bloomer and is fairly disease-resistant (although not perfect in that category). It is a somewhat narrow bush, so I bought 3 of them and planted them in a tight triangle (about 18 in. apart). Makes for one nice wide bush, about 3-4 ft tall, that blooms a lot.

I strongly recommend Molineux.

Kate

Charles Darwin is much the same here, but there's hardly any left of it after this winter. I have two yellows that are have better colour; Lucia (Kordes 1966), and Candlelight (Tantau 2002). Allgold is often mentioned as a standard when it comes to non-fading yellow. Sunsprite is not bad either.

I would love to try more of the old pernetiana roses, some of them have very good fragrance.

Taste is such a personal matter, in fact, I love the color of 'Charles Darwin' and the way it fades! That's being said, what I have seen Graham Thomas holds its color relatively well and Golden Celebration, too. The latter is a great rose here in California, but I don't know how it would perform in your climate zone.

Good luck finding exactly the yellow rose that you love!

Christina

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Garden Dreams

The correct answer is none. There are no yellow, gold or orange Austins that don't fade. In fact, there are virtually no yellow, gold or orange roses from anybody that don't fade some.

For me, Austin's Happy Child has held its color better than the others, but it doesn't bloom all that much. If you want a good one, Sterntaler/Golden Fairy Tale is much better at blooming and holding its color.

I have Charlotte and Jude the Obscure and I have not noticed any particular problem. Here is another thread on the topic. Midas Touch, Graham Thomas (Austin) and Prairie Harvest were mentioned.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/msg0623033315491.html?6olRzY

Here is a link that might be useful: non fading yellow rose

'Molineux' is very good. It doesn't fade much at all here in all day full sun.

For an "orange" rose I would pick the salmon colored Carding Mill which has gorgeous blooms, holds up beautifully in the heat and just turns a softer salmon but is always beautiful. It makes a wonderful cut flower and only lacks scent to make it perfect.

Jane Austin, lovely coppery orange

Thank you all for good places to start my research. I did like Charlotte when I had her years ago but the deer killed her and I'm looking for something with a little more of the gold or orange in it this time.

It would be so nice if the label or the catalog would tell you how it faded! Of course that would say something like "soft ivory" rather than "grayish parchment" but "fades a lot" and "holds its color well compared to" would be helpful!

Molineux and Crown Princess Margareta are the two best Austin's in those colour tones in terms of least amount of fade.

If you really want a true yellow rose that tolerates heat, holds on the bush and barely fades at all before dropping cleanly, Roberta Bondar is a very good choice. It is not an Austin.