i HAVE A NEW FIREFIGHTER THAT WAS PLANTED LESS THAN 3 MONTHS AGO. SO FAR WHAT i CAN TELL, IS THAT THE COLOR AND TEXTURE (DEEP RED VELVET) IS JUST AS EVERYONE SAYS. iT IS ALSO HEAT RESISTANT AND IS JUST COMING INTO ANOTHER FLUSH. (THE FIRST WHEN i PLANTED IT) THERE ARE ABOUT A MILLION BUDS GETTING READY TO EXPLODE. IF YOU REMIND ME, I'LL POST A PHOTO.

i ALREADY HAVE OLYMPIAD. THE COLOR IS LOVELY, I JUST WHISH THE BLOSSOMS WERE LARGER. I CAN'T TELL YET HOW LARGE THE FIREFIGHTER BLOOMS WILL BE, IT'S TOO YOUNG. BUT THEY ARE ALREADY AS LARGE AS OLYMPIAD.

andreark

Crimson Bouquet is my healthiest red. It blooms a lot and is also very hardy. Veterans' Honor is beautiful and very long lasting but it does black spot some.

I have Crimson Glory and Alec's Red - if you want fragrance, both have it. Mr. Lincoln grows very tall, should be available from many places in the fall - like Lowes, Home Depot. I have seen a bloom on Legends - it is huge! Its one I would like to get.

Hi chaoticdreams, a good place to search is Helpmefind for roses. If you are a member, you can conduct an advanced search for deep red roses and specify what class or rose, what size of bush, bloom, fragrance but most importantly it looks as if you are in Florida therefore resistance to diseases like I am guessing blackspot etc. would be important, so you can add disease resistance that to your search too. Scroll through the ones that pop up and when you have found your favorites, ask the members for info regarding their experience with the roses you are considering. I live in a hot dry climate and have sought assistance from folks in a climate similar to mine. The forum members are extremely helpful and knowledgeable. You may get a Floridian or some other person dealing with conditions similar to yours who will chime in with suggestions. You can then go to help me find, search the rose, learn about all of its attributes and if it is popular you may see photos of the bloom and the bush. Because I landscape with roses, seeing the bush is always equally helpful.

Btw.. I have grown Veterans Honor... the blooms are huge and the plant becomes rather tall 6'

Crimson bouquet was bullet proof here and forms a nice looking plant.

Europeana has deep red blooms and dark green healthy foliage

Black Magic is a very deep red hybrid tea. It will grow to become 6' - 7' tall. I have not found it to ever be very floriferous.

Chrysler Imperial and Oklahoma are deep reds... C.I. I believe is supposed to be fragrant but it was not for me here.

Mr. Lincoln has great form and has lovely Hybrid Tea blooms but it becomes huge and will be leggy like many hybrid teas. It is not as deep of a red as compared to black magic but it is fragrant.

Good luck:)

Lynn

I think there are so many good reds it's just a matter of personal preference. Seems like the ones that are less fragrant last a little longer, but I'm sure there are exceptions. I planted several reds this year and am pleased with them all. 2 that have been phenomenal are Liebeszauber and Let Freedom Ring, it's almost like they are competing.. The bushes are vigorous and have grown a lot for first year plants and they keep pumping out lots of blooms.

I have Oklahoma, Papa Meilland, Chrysler Imp, Mr Linc, Firefighter, Love's Promise and Veteran's Honor (I love my reds!) and if I had to pick only one based on color, fragrance, form and bloom production, it would be Chrysler Imperial hands down.

I can't give you any recommendations about red roses that are disease resistant because I live in a hot, dry climate with little or no disease pressure. Also, they have identified five different strains of bs in the US, so you may be dealing with a different bs strain in your part of the country than I have in my part of the county.

However, the suggestion to use HMF is great and I can give you a couple more tips on how to determine whether or not a rose is worth researching further. When you open the rose page, click on the GARDENS tab and see where the rose is being grown in gardens of site members. Many site users do not include the state where they live when they add their gardens to HMF, but many do. It's a start.

Then read the MEMBER COMMENTS about the rose. You can also find a lot of good information under the REFERENCES tab.

Good luck with your search.

Smiles,
Lyn

Hey guys, I appreciate all the suggestions! I have used HMF extensively this year and it's a great site, but the comment section on some of the roses are kinda scarce :) Locally, there is no one in my town that grows non knock out roses anymore, not even my grandmother who had a deep love for them. Her excuse is she just isn't in the shape anymore to properly care for them, but I don't know about the rest of the town. It makes me rather sad and while the knock outs are beautiful this year, I just really love the look of a classic rose. So it's kind of hard to find someone who knows my climate to discuss this with,but I do agree I need someone like that. We have no local rose anything. We have a garden society, but mainly they just gather to chit chat and talk about tropical plants. Palm trees and hibiscus are really popular around here. I love my hibiscus plants, but they seem to be made for Florida humidity and heat, so they are no fuss.

I think I'm just going to wait till the Fall pre-orders start and get the ones I really want instead of get something now just for instant gratification. Next year, I'll be able to stick them straight into the ground anyhow instead of pots. My main issue this year has been black spot. We've had a rainier than normal season and it's proliferated despite my spraying every week or two. All the bugs seemed to think my tomato plants were way tastier than my roses, which is great for my flowers but not so great for my dinner table LOL.

Thanks for the replies! There are just way too many reds to choose from.... Wow.

I grow Red Eden as a shrub and it's spectacular. It's really a "true" red that doesn't turn pink and the blooms last for weeks in full sun here.
The longer I have it, the better it repeats. It's basically fragrance-free or else I would think it was perfect.

I have a few red hybrid teas, and Ingrid Bergman is probably the best one, she does well in heat, doesn't fade in hot sun, and is all over a healthy plant. She even sprouts well in spring after a cold winter. The only thing you might miss is fragrance; compared to the old varieties like Etoile de Holland and Crimson Glory it only has the lightest hint of rose, but the colour last much better. The flower last much better both in the vase and in the garden too, and looks perfect all the time. With regular care she grows fine. I would list Taboo as equally good, but in my area it seems to need a bit of extra care to amount to anything (actually grow and flower). At least worth checking out how they do in your area.

I only have two reds: Chrysler Imperial and Grande Amore. I am really happy with Grande Amore: the flowers are a nice form and true red. they open perfectly and last a long time. The bush is disease resistant and JP do not seem to care for the flowers. The camera just cannot capture the red as it appears in person.

Don't know if you want another climber--if so, consider Dublin Bay--true red and disease-resistant.

As for Crimson Bouquet, I gave mine away several years ago because it suffered from BS attacks after each blooming period. Remember that BS is not a big problem for many California growers, so Crimson Bouquet probably performs much better for them. But a gorgeous bright and true red when it is in bloom!

Myself, I'm taken with Grand Amore in the above pic. If my Chrysler Imperial doesn't pick up the pace a bit (slowest rebloomer in my entire garden!), I may trade it in for Grand Amore!

Kate