I cannot say enough about Graham Thomas. It gets a little leggy and can be grown as a climber. The blooms are some of the most beautiful in my garden and it is a very healthy plant. One of my favorites, and I get compliments on this rose all the time. As for Glamis Castle, well, I bought it at my last home because I am an English teacher and I wanted it because it has the same name as Macbeth's castle. It was not as blackspot resistant as I would have liked, and didn't grow very large or bloom very prolifically. In its defense, I don't think it got enough good light where it was planted. I needed a new white rose and went with Iceberg. We'll see how that goes.

Hi Beth - I'm new to this forum, but not new to coastal Southern Cal rose growing, so I'll chime in too. I'm in San Juan Capistrano on the South end of Orange County and about 2.5 miles from the beach in a coastal canyon. So I know all about roses in the marine layer fog. Mildew, not black spot, is the bane of our existence here. The only blackspot I've ever seen in my garden was on florist roses. But I do spray. And the three most fragrant ones on your list -- Double Delight, McCartney Rose and Fragrant Cloud -- will mildew even with religious spraying. But, the fragrance is worth it and I grow all three. No one has told you about the rose societies here yet. There are several. I go all the way south to the California Coastal Rose Society in Carlsbad. That's probably too far for you. There are two other OC rose societies -- the Orange County Rose Society which meets very near to Huntington Beach in Westminster -- they focus on exhibitions and hold their show the last weekend of October every year at Rogers Gardens. There's also another one that focuses mostly on gardening, garden tours and garden parties -- no exhibiting -- which is the Saddleback Rose Society -- that one's a bit inland for both of us. Wholly different climate those folks have. You can get to either one by googling the names, or I've put a link in here for the OCRS. On the rest of your list, I've grown most of them, and they do just fine. But as a general rule, in coastal cool areas like ours, fewer petals is better. Many roses just won't open like they do in hot climes, and sometimes you just die waiting for a leeeetle bit of heat to get them open, which never comes. So, plan to have some that open without heat. As for colors, try these -- Pink -- Our Lady Of Guadalupe is by far the best pink floribunda. But also check out The Imposter and Lovestruck, both of which do well for me. For Hybrid Teas, I like Memorial Day. Purple -- Intrigue is okay, but try Purple Tiger -- it's better and it's striped. It does really well on the coast. For a Hybrid Tea, I like Neptune and one that Armstrongs carries called Della Reese that is a darker purple hybrid tea with occasional exhibition form. Orange -- About Face Red -- I'm still looking for a good one. Yellow -- Julia Child or Midas Touch. Or even Peace, which gets enormous blooms on the coast. Multi -- get some stripes -- City of Carlsbad if you can find it or Cabana if you can't. Have fun. I seem to move every few years just BECAUSE I get to replenish my garden. Enjoy it. Kathy Here is a link that might be useful: Orange County Rose Society

So it looks a LOT like Betty Prior, but the thing is, it's so tiny that I would have sworn it grew from seed. There's another one just like it about 3' away. The other roses next to it are very different, bright magenta floribundas of some sort, with about 15 petals. Now, it's possible that a Betty Prior or similar rose was once there, died, and got yanked when we did cleanup this spring... It's my first full year in the house, so I wasn't there last summer. I'll probably pot them both up next spring, move them to full sun (they're growing under a fir tree!), and see what happens. :)

I haven't found Explorers to be particularly fast to drop petals. Or gallicas, or most things I grow, for that matter. Rugosas and some of the thinner-petalled damasks can have issues, but so long as the temperatures are reasonably seasonal, roses tend to last for a while here.