I've heard the Pacific Northwest is probably has the best climate for roses.

"...this is the chosen spot of all this earth as far as Nature is concerned."

Plantsman Luther Burbank's words about the area around Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, CA where he made his home, and where my mother still resides and has beautiful roses, with much less effort than it takes here in Livermore. Santa Rosa has had a rose parade every year, in May, for 119 years now.

WittyK ........

Good soil helps.

Smiles,
Lyn

Here in rainy PNW is a great place for roses, but remember it's also BS heaven due to nearly year round rainfall (and the capitol of seasonal depression).
From my understanding, New england can have some pretty harsh winters.
If you think you can stand the cloudy weather and are willing to spray, then this might be the place for you. Hope that helped a bit anyway. Personally, I'm tired of rain and northern CA sounds good to me!

My recent post seems to be lost in cyberspace, so let me try here again.

I just wanted to remind anyone growing roses in California (where there is little BS problem) that you do not want to move to BS country--which would be mid-Atlantic and southeastern areas of the U.S.--and include Louisiana also. : (

Fighting BS is one of the least fulfilling aspects of rose gardening!

Kate

I second Kate's warning about black spot. It is miserable to tangle with. Here in N. Texas the disease pressure is so immense it is extremely frustrating. Just when you think you've gotten a handle on things and are finally ahead, something goes wrong. It is nearly impossible to get your garden "settled" per se.

Beware the spot....

Josh

(Also, I'm just going to be that guy and say that there is no one place that is best for roses. Each cultivar varies so widely in its preferences that there will always be roses you want in your garden but cannot have because they don't like your location.)

Not Virginia.

We lived in New Haven, CT for three years and had great gardening success -- mild weather due to Long Island Sound, enough winter cold to kill back the bugs and only a bit of BS in August. I'd be happy to garden there again but the cost of living is rather high.

It all depends on what YOU want to grow.The west coast has to put up with mildew and rust. East of the rocky's it's black spot and a little bit of mildew. I kinda like my area. Along the S.E. face of the smokey mts. Just enough winter to shut things down. The only time it gets above 90 is if we have a south/southeast breeze from FL. Most of the time it stays in the low to mid 80's with a nice breeze coming out of the mountains (25 miles away). Early in the mornings during the summer it is usually around 65. I've been growing some of the best roses I've ever grown since moving up here 5 yrs ago. I'm happy.

Thanks for all the suggestions. San Diego has been on my list as well as Southern CT. I find, as I'm getting older, I'm wanting to be around my family more and CT would not be that far.

There are roses for every climate--they are just not the same roses.

I lived just outside of San Diego in El Cajon, which I considered to be rose heaven, before I moved to northern California . I had no mildew problems unless I sited a rose poorly. Example ... I had a Sweet Chariot standard out in front of my condo which was covered in mildew almost to death because the cool and damp air flow that dropped off of the mesa in back of the condo project and just sat there. When I moved the rose to the back of the condo where I had better air flow, there were NO mildew problems for the rose. The same held true for other roses.

I also had the blessing of the ocean influence. Even during the Santa Anas, the triple digit temps and winds only last for three or four days. Night temps rarely dipped below forty degrees. Silly me, I thought that was cold.

If I could have afforded property in that area with more room to satisfy my rose lust, I would not have moved out of the area.

Kate: There are all climates in all zones in California. There are plenty of areas in this state where gardeners have to fight bs. It's present in my current garden, but since I have hot and dry summers, when the heat hits, it's no longer a problem because bs spores cannot survive the temps above 85 degrees in a dry climate. Every spring is different. Some years, it can be an ugly problem. The roses that get shovel pruned due to bs are the ones that don't refoliate before the summer heat hits. There is no way they can survive without any leaves.

Smiles,
Lyn

I think we all consider (or dream about) moving to the PERFECT garden spot.
I know I have.

Now, just going by photos I've seen on these forums, there is one incredible standout for me. And oddly enough, the garden IS in Virginia!

I found the group of threads that the_dark_lady, z7 Amelia VA posted back in May of this year, but oh so VERY sadly, two of the threads are displaying the "moved or deleted" photo error. All of them together had me wishing she'd convert to a B&B. If you didn't miss them when they were originally posted, you probably understand the feeling.

But the one linked below is still functioning.

I suppose, with my experience with this forum, that there are those that would insist that it isn't perfect, but OMG....

Here is a link that might be useful: May Garden Shots

This post was edited by sandandsun on Sat, Jul 6, 13 at 13:08

The healthiest roses I ever saw were at a rose garden outside a restaurant in Sonoma. They had just been pruned and each plant was a wagon wheel with around 8 canes. I was very jealous.

No mildew, no rust, no blackspot here.
sandandsun, if you look in the rose gallery for last winter's postings of the rose alphabet, done letter by letter, you will find many, many gorgeous rose photos posted by Marina, the dark lady. Diane

I live in central Coast Calfornia- think San Luis Obispo area. My roses here bloom until december when I prune them and start blooming by valentines day. some people dont even prune and they bloom all year, but their roses look kind of tired. no blackspot that I know of here. just some powdery mildew when the days are too foggy. we have lots of sand but soil amendment is pretty standard when growing roses.

nanadoll,

I'm glad you mentioned those threads for others to enjoy. I didn't miss them.

But it's this one that gives me a sense of walking in the garden with her. I can catch the subtle scent of hay and clover on the breeze and hear the rustling of the tree leaves. How splendid to look up and take in the view of the garden and the vista beyond. And then to plunge my nose into a fragrant rose!

Virginia it may be, but it reminds me of the best of Vermont.

Central Coast of CA. No humidity so basically no blackspot. The summers don't go much above the 80's so the Roses never shut down, and the winters rarely get lower than 50 so you can still get some blooms in Jan.

Roses like Full Sail or Barbara Streisand that are slow growers in the humid south become bloom machines there.

Excellent roses can be grown in Connecticut--John Mattia has won many national awards for growing Hybrid Tea roses.

You can grow all the roses that require cold winters in Connecticut--they may be stingy or non-bloomers in warmer climates. But, the winters may be too harsh for Tea roses.

Disadvantages: Blackspot pressure is high, Japanese beetles are a nuisance, and you may need insecticides to control midge. Hot humid summers. The freeze/thaw at the end of winter can kill tender varieties like Saint Patrick. May need to clear trees.

If I were starting over, I'd only plant bare root roses to avoid bringing midge into the garden.

Advantages: few water issues in most towns, the CT rose society is a very useful resource to many types of rose growers.
The Elizabeth Park Rose Garden is easily reached from anywhere in Connecticut.

I don't think there is any place that is "perfect" for growing roses. We all do battle with some kind of pest or disease. However, I think California roses just seem bigger and better to me. For the first few years I started joining forums I was always bummed out that my roses didn't look at all like the huge, floriforous ones the Californians would post. PNWers are pretty good too but I just think the CA ones seem the biggest and bushiest. It took me a while before I realized that it wasn't me or what I was doing. I have real winters! My growing season is around 5 months maybe six if we get a long warm fall. CA's season is 10 months at least depending on how hot the summer gets. And most places they never have to cut to the ground due to freeze kill. Once I finally got that fact through my thick skull I quit beating myself up about my puny roses, lol!

California, far enough away from the coast to eliminate moisture related issues, close enough to seldom see temperatures above the high 80's. and even then it doesn't last for long, and it never gets cold enough to kill anything in those areas , even without winter protection. I've traveled and visited many rose gardens, but California is the only place where I have seen roses the size of saucers; literally. There are roses described to have 6 or 7 " bloom. In Las Vegas, we have 4-5 months of fairly ideal growing conditions, and I have seen beauties, but I have yet to see roses the size of saucers anywhere except for California.

I'm originally from Seattle and the SF Bay Area, then spent 18 years in Santa Fe. When I decided it was time to leave Santa Fe, I could have gone anywhere. I chose Roanoke, VA because I can grow anything and water is not an issue. The economy is stable, the politics are down the middle, the cost of living/housing is excellent, the falls are New England, spring is long and glorious. It's clean, green and beautiful, people are kind and well-mannered, the pace is gracious, and there are a surprisingly large number of interesting people tucked away here. As to roses, I can grow gallicas and teas, rugosas and noisettes and everything in between. Yes, there is blackspot for those roses prone to it, but not all roses succumb, and some years are worse than others. I don't spray, so I just live with it. RRD is an issue anywhere east of the Mississippi.

I think northern CA might be the most perfect place for the greatest number of roses, but there are too many other negatives, at least for me. But it depends on who you are, what you want besides roses.

Duplicated

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Sat, Jul 6, 13 at 23:29

Thanks to everyone for their comments and suggestions. So far Central Coast Cali, Virginia and Southern CT all sound good to me.

edited

This post was edited by Tuggy3 on Sun, Jul 7, 13 at 22:34