I agree that "tried and true" roses are much more likely to be successful than the latest unusual one. However, some roses may be "vigorous" in one climate, and not in other climates. Roses like different climates - cold, hot, humid, etc., and if you buy ones that like your climate you are WAY more likely to be happy with them.

A famous rose nursery man in England, for instance, once dismissed tea roses as "no hopers", which in his climate they were. He failed to note that in many parts of the world teas are disease free, bloom for 10 months, and live for 100 years!

In your climate I would start with a list of really cold hardy roses, and then choose the color, growth habit, etc that I want from that list.

Jackie

I agree! I've bought a succession of the latest and greatest only to be very disappointed in them. Many didn't even survive for me. They grew backwards until they disappeared all together. Others didn't look at all like their press pictures. I'm learning to wait and see how they will preform for others now before I jump in.

"In your climate I would start with a list of really cold hardy roses, and then choose the color, growth habit, etc that I want from that list."

Wow, Jackie! What kind of subversive are you?! LOL! A total turn around from the traditional (not necessarily YOUR tradition) method of selecting roses and other plants. So often, it's the "pretty face" of the flower which generates the "want" in us for a new rose, whether it's suitable for where we are and our gardening styles or not. This is the change in thinking and selecting which results in wiser choices and more trouble-free gardening! It is so much more fun to grow things which are HAPPY where you are! Kim

This thread reminded my of what Kim once told me about Ralph Moore wanting to breed healthy plants FIRST, and THEN put a pretty flower on it, as compared to the hybridizers at a certain English establishment. I'll let Kim tell the story if he likes, I can't tell a story worth a darn.

So, whether it be cold, or in our case mildew & rust, it all amounts to the same thing regarding vigor. Walking around our coastal garden, I think of this story a lot this year due to a few new additions last year.

Julia Child. I happened upon her at Lowe's and, yes, it was an impulse purchase. So glad I did, she could not possibly have more vigor, more disease resistance (pretty dark green shiny leaves) and I can't recall her without a flower except after a good hair cut. I think of butter every time I see the flowers.

Walking on Sunshine. Jeri recommended it to me to get before JP went out of business as Keith Zary had mentioned it being one of (or his best?) creation. Again, could not be more disease resistant, you can almost see yourself in the shine on the leaves. Pretty flowers. It's still small in it's first year.

Rock & Roll. DH fell in love with it at Cliff's last year so I put in an order for it after he announced the closing. It was in a pot already, but didn't skip a beat after it got scalped getting it in the truck. Couldn't ask for a healthier bush - finally the DH has a red and white stripe that doesn't suffer with fungus.

Interestingly R&R is next to Julia which is next to WWII Memorial Rose. Without fungus pressure from weak neighbors, WWII is the healthiest that I have ever seen it (knock wood ;-)

Best of all, now that DH has seen resistant roses, he is finally getting it now that some roses you really don't have to pluck the leaves off every so often and start over. And, when we were at Cliff's and he asked about a particular orange and I said, no, we can't have it because of mildew, he believed me!!!

I have had a lot of roses get stunted and die. I am disapointed with St. Cecilia which some on this forum have touted as very winter hardy. On the other hand, Evelyn is surprisingly vigorous and nobody mentions growing it in colder zones. A more recent Austin that is very hardy is Gentle Hermione, its only fault being that the blooms smell bad. A lot of the Buck roses aren't very hardy either, although Honeysweet is bigger this year than ever. Generosas are generally marginal here but Martine Guillot is very vigorous. Delbards are a mixed lot, but Madame Bovary is vigorous.

What's with the DVD ad!! This site has become so commercial.

Anyway back to vigor. At the far end of the vigor scale is Rugosa Alba. No hybrid rose comes even close. I have what was one and is now a total bed growing near a shale out crop where the soil is inches deep. I apparently made a mistake this Spring and threw some horse manure on it. It has responded with maybe a hundred new sprouts.

It is a rose that is super hardy disease free blooms all the time and in shade. And the flowers are beautiful and very fragrant.