I used to live in Olympia (Washington) and I grew roses there in that Pacific Northwest climate. I haven't grown many of the roses on your list, and almost none of them when I was in Washington. Let's see what I can tell you. Alberic Barbier is a great beauty, lovely foliage and blooms; gets pretty large and has one big flowering with scattered blooms following. I don't remember seeing AB growing in Washington but suspect it does well there. Easy to grow and superbly healthy. Chianti: I've seen this rose a couple of times in Italy and it's spectacular in bloom. It's once-blooming and large and I don't know now it does in the PNW. Konigin von Danemark: this is a beautiful rose, more deeply colored and thornier than most of the Albas, and harder to propagate from cuttings, at least in my experience; but a splendid variety. I had a lot of Albas in Olympia and they were every one of them beautiful fragrant roses, healthy and easy to grow: I recommend them all highly. Nur Mahal: I've had this rose for years and it has never reached its potential, but I've heard (often) that it can be great. I didn't discover the Hybrid Musks until after I moved to Italy, but I bet that they're the PNW shrub roses par excellence. I love this class, especially the Pemberton musks, for their fine foliage and habit, beautiful and sweetly scented blooms, and overall air of grace and luxuriance. They're easy to grow. Queen Elizabeth: this is a fine stout upstanding rose that was common in Washington when I lived there and grows all over here in Italy as well. I had it one time and got rid of it because I couldn't detect any scent. It's easy to turn up one's nose at QE because she grows everywhere and has no fragrance, but I bet she's still going to be around in a hundred years (the rose, not the monarch), and looking quite handsome in old age. Rose de Rescht. I had it in Olympia and didn't love it, but it grew well and I don't remember any disease. I have it here too but my cutting-grown plants are still growing. Fragrant and a good dark color. Sharifa Asma. A pretty rose, pale pink but I always think of it as white, with a superb scent, one of the best. I have SA for its fragrance; note also that it's easy to grow. I had a lot of DA roses in Olympia and adored them, but they were never vigorous for me. I suspect they needed fatter living--more water and nutrients--than I generally supplied my roses, and possibly a sunny warm spot in the garden. Stanwell Perpetual. Had it there, have it here, suspect I've never brought the best out of it. Beautiful little shapely fragrant blooms, pale pink with a button eye, on a wiry thorny open very tough bush that has nifty Pimpinellia foliage and likes to sucker. One of the first and last to flower. For me in Olympia many of my best roses were the once-blooming old roses: I had Albas, Gallicas, and Mosses, and loved them all. I didn't get around to Centifolias (except for Crested Moss, which was superb) and Damasks, but would certainly want to try them if I lived there. Bourbons didn't do much for me in Olympia. I suspect many of them needed more heat than they got: 'Louise Odier' is a far stronger plant here than in Olympia; and I'm finally allowing 'Mme. Pierre Oger' back in my garden here after suffering with her black-spotted wimpy predecessor in my Washington garden. As I mentioned above, I hadn't yet discovered Hybrid Musks when I was in Olympia, but think they would be wonderful. Another small group to look into would be 'Mlle. Cécile Bruenner' and related roses: they're a reasonable size, have enchanting little flowers and foliage, are healthy as can be and aren't like anything else in the rose world. And then there are Kordes's Fruehlings- roses, big fragrant once-blooming species hybrids of great character and beauty, and some of the early-flowering species yellows like 'Canary Bird' and R. hugonis, that bloom, I think, with the lilacs. Most of the roses I've listed are shrubs, some quite large, and many are once-blooming; they're also informal in style and for garden design purposes best thought of as landscape shrubs. These are the kind of roses I love, but they may not be your taste in roses. More upright and contained varieties with large flowers and repeat bloom are more formal: they include most Hybrid Teas and Floribundas, many Hybrid Perpetuals, and the Portlands/Hybrid Damasks. I don't know much about these, but there will be some varieties that will be adapted to the mild wet winters, dry summers, and lack of summer heat of western Washington. I never had much trouble with disease in my garden, and would take with a grain of salt what eastern growers say about disease resistance of their roses. Olga knows exactly what she's talking about, but she has high blackspot pressure in her garden, and in my experience this isn't much of a problem in Washington; a rose that defoliates for her might do quite well for you. I never sprayed my roses. One hybrid Tea that does well in Washington I believe is the old variety 'Radiance', which also has numerous sports. Melissa

I realized that I didn't really answer the original question of the thread. I'm zone 9-10, SW 18. hot and dry summers, mild winters! Apologies as this is NOT the OGR forum and some of my faves are OGRs or old HTs. :) :) :) Ones I really liked this year: Lavender Lassie - I saw a charming specimin of this at Descanso Gardens that I feel in love with. It was absolutely wonderful. I bought a 2 gallon from ARE and planted at the end of 2010. She's put up at least two 5' or so canes with such beautiful clusters of blooms at the end. She seems really strong and vigorous. I can't wait to see what she does next year. La France Cl. - Just gets more beautiful and beautiful. It has some little bit of something that makes it more romantic than a typical hybrid tea to me. Mme Berard - So beautiful. Growing fast and blooming frequently. Tipsy Imperial Concubine Just a baby but keeps blooming! The blooms are such a lovely mix of colors. Sombrieul now in it's 2nd year it's really starting to throw up huge canes,... like 6 feet. I'm in love with it. It's blooms are so beautiful. They have it growing up a huge arbor at Descanso, it's to die for. So many petals... ! Duftendes Weisskirchen Planted 8/10 as a band... it's just a charming little thing. It's blooms are such a vibrant purplish hot pink. It wants to bloom all the time and just is very happy. Eden Cl. and James Galway cl both put on a LOT of growth and bloom this year (they were planted early '10) The Faun (Bossa Nova) this blooms more than anything in my yard and I love the fully double old-style blooms on it. I love the low shape of the bush. Great for a border plant so far. Archduke Charles I love you, Archduke! The blooms change color and even though it's perported to be a slow grower, I'm still getting some growth on mine. Such a charming thing. Madame Joseph Bonnaire the most beautiful creature. Threw out a couple big canes and a big root down through the pot and into the ground. A vigorous thing! Bounced back after I repotted it and I can't wait to see what it does next year after I get it in the ground. The blooms are GORGEOUS. Madame Alfred Carriere Despite being in partial shade, throwing up huge canes... can't wait to see what it does next year. Delicate beautiful flowers,... such strong growth! Dissappointments: Tiffany - an own-root since late '09... still super tiny and rather upset. Might replace it with a grafted one. William Shakespeare 2000 1 of 2 died and the 2nd one hasn't grown (both put in the ground early '10). I'll see what it does next year. Yves Paiget Had to pot because the bed wasn't ready and it outright died, almost immediately after getting it. :\

Secret Garden Musk climber Reve d' Or *** Either Should do what you want admirably. Grandmother's Hat *** This is more a bush than a climber, tho it can be espaliered on a fence or trellis. But it will be a LOW climber. Barely filling that area. More for your smaller space. OTOH, it will be dependably free of disease, and will bloom almost continuously, if deadheaded. Candidates for my smaller space - a 7' trellis by 8-10' wide area facing east with 3'4 day full sun: Cornelia Blush Noisette *** For us, this was a bush. If you want a real climber, you need Setzer Noisette. OTOH, either of them MUST be deadheaded, or the blooms will turn brown and linger forever. Pinkie? - maybe too big? Climbing Rainbow's End Red Robin *** You mean "Ragged Robin," or 'Gloire des Rosomanes', right? It will definitely do this, and will do you proud. I can't think of a finer SoCal rose. Seriously. I've had a Joseph's Coat climber before but when it got big & thorny the pruning and dead heading was WOW! Candidates for my big space along a 4 ft. high wall by 20 ft. fence (it can have spaced trellises if necessary - faces south, sun pretty much all day): Old Blush *** Cl. Old Blush? LOVELY rose. It will mildew all year here. Ghislaine de Feligonde Jaune Desprez (can fall over?) *** Wants heat to bloom. I finally got one to grow, but -- three blooms a year? Really? 2 Rev d' Or *** Superb choice. 2 Mutabilis? *** VERY BIG SHRUB. Does not climb for us, and I've never seen it used that way. I read differing opinions on mildew concerning MAC (Madame Alfred Carriere), *** MAC will, as Kim notes, mildew at a low level ALL the time. Lamarque is far superior in this climate. FAR superior. And Sombreuil does not ball in my (Camarillo) conditions, or suffer from Botrytis, and I have grown it for almost 24 years. It can occasionally be touched by infinitesimal amounts of mildew, but that's so rare it's not worth talking about. OTOH, it is the prickly rose from Hell, along with being lovely and fragrant, and good in a vase. :-) YMMV. Jeri Coastal Ventura County Southern California

Funny how different our experiences can be with the same variety of rose. I had mentioned that Moore's Striped Rugosa doesn't tolerate spray, and Paul (Trospero) corrected me by saying it does. OK, MINE chemical burned from it, and I've heard others say the same thing. I smiled, too, when Sunnishine mentioned Livin' Easy & Easy Goin' being bad blackspotters. My Livin' Easy never got more than a trace of it, even growing next to a bad BS'er. Just goes to show the value of taking everyone's advice with a grain of salt. We each have particular growing conditions that can greatly effect health outcomes. And sometimes our particular plants even differ in constitution from others of the same variety. That's why its good to get as wide an array of input as possible, and even then treat none of it as gospel etched in stone. Mike