Abraham Darby is one of the most beautiful and spectacular and fragrant roses that I've ever seen. I don't even look at tea roses anymore. AD is not hardy enough in my zone, but you'll have no problem. Plant it deeply, and try to layer some of the more lax branches (somewhat difficult with Abraham) to encourage the development of a huge bush. Sativa.

Tea roses, tea roses, tea roses, and perhaps also chinas and tea noisettes. They bloom all of the time in our climate with little care. If you like the banksies, they also love our Meditteranean climate, although they are only Spring bloomers, they put on such a fabulous show (people waling by my garden stop in amazement) I think they are worth it.

! I live in a Mediterranean climate in No California. If I knew what I know now about roses when I started planting them 20 years ago, I would never plant anything except these types in my garden. If you get the new book "Tea Roses: Old Roses for Warm Climates", you will see info on many many wonderful roses that will do well in your garden. These roses, and the chinas, tea noisettes, and banksies, grow well in my garden with no spraying, and very little if any pruning. I just feed them once a year and mulch them heavily each winter. Except for the banksieas, they bloom from early Spring to December. Those of us who live in Med climates are very lucky to be able to grow these roses I have grown Mme Alfred Carriere up huge trees and over my garage. She grew in full shade for the first 2-3 years, until she got tall enough to get to the sunshine, after which she exploded up the trees and over the building. Le Vesuve re-blooms for me all summer and into the WInter, even with no dead heading. Maman Cochet and all of her clones are gorgeous. I think Anna Olivier is my favorite - it is more manerly, and has subtle lovely colors, from flesh pink to pale yellow to buff with brick on the back of the petals, depending on the weather. Celebrate the fact that you can grow warm weather roses - there are few places in the world (the Meditteranean, Calif., South Africa, Australia & NZ & of course the Far East where they came from) that can.

My climate in California has similar weather and the Hybrid musks love it, just allow enough room because they get big. I have some Austins and not all of them do well in the blazing sun, My Heritage is happier with morning sun, and I have to be careful that Golden Celebration gets enough water so the leaves don't burn. If you can look up Morrisnoor from Sardonia Italy you will be amazed! I think he still posts here, his gardens are breathtaking, he is very knowledgeable, plus he is an artist with landscaping. Many of his roses are OGR, I think his climate may be similar to yours, he would know more about that and hopefully he will see your post. If anyone can add a link to some of his posts with pictures please help!
Diana

My climate is probably almost identical to yours. Of the Austin roses I have, Cottage Rose and Sister Elizabeth have done best in the hot summer weather and both are beautiful. Glamis Castle has also done very well. Oh, also Carding Mill, an excellent larger Austin which has just kept blooming and blooming in the heat. Abraham Darby is gorgeous but wilts more quickly. As mentioned, the teas are excellent, although some shrivel quickly. The best for me is what is sold in the states as Souvenir d'un Ami which is also my favorite in terms of beauty. Blumenschmidt and Duchesse de Brabant are also excellent. The China Mutabilis is one of my very favorite roses but mine is growing in afternoon shade. I think heavy mulching and adequate watering will be very important in your situation but you can still have a lovely rose garden. Celine Forestier is grown in the same conditions as yours and is beautiful.

Good luck and please keep in touch and let us know what you've chosen and how your roses are doing.

Ingrid

Thanks so much for all the suggestions! I've looked them all up and they are beautiful. I' ve ordered the new tea rose book and i'm waiting for the Peter Beales catalog from the UK. I'm really looking forward to getting started!

Hi, Erica. I'm glad you are taking into account how different your climate is from the UK. I recommend that you study your Teas and Chinas from a few more southerly sources. In France, there is a wonderful nursery, La Roseraie du Désert, which should be a fine source of information for you. Unlike roses grown in much of Europe, their roses are grown on their own roots. The selection of heat tolerant roses is excellent. I also suggest you determine a few things about your local soils. Northern European rootstocks may not enjoy the long mild growing seasons and alkali soils. I'm sure Europe has its share of cheap, disreputable rose producers as we do in the USA, selling roses all over the EU on inappropriate rootstocks. In southern climates, the R. canina derived roostocks are probably not the best choice.

Here is a link that might be useful: La Roseraie du Désert

Hi Erica-

Wm Shakespeare 2000 and Pat Austin tolerate full sun poorly for me here where summer highs hover in the mid to upper 80's-blooms blow quickly and crisp around the edges. Jubilee Celebration gets a little late afternoon shade but i bet it would do well in full sun-the petals have a bit of substance to them. Molineux has been a solid performer. Take a look at Gruss an Aachen. Not an Austin but could be. Highly recommended on this forum-i love it. Fragrant, floriferous, beautifully shaded in buff, cream and pink.

i don't know if you can irrigate? Forum members who have been growing roses far longer than me describe the Austins as waterlovers and the teas as drought tolerant. My limited experience confirms this.

i took a look at the link Berndoodle posted-WOW-my heart is stolen by Isabella Ducrot. Isabelle Nabonnand and Souv. de Gilbert Nabonnand are also very beautiful and not one available in the US. I'm envious.

Hope you'll post back on your choices and progress!

If you have citrus trees growing where you are, I would guess that you can grow any of the DA English roses as long as you can water them the first 5 years to get them well established. Remember that some of them open and age quickly in the summer heat and the tender petals can burn. I give mine shade in the afternoon and expect that the quality of flowers will be better in the seasons other than summer. Best of success. I would love to see pictures of Spanish Gardens.

Where is melissainnitaly I think her user name is? She really ought to chime in here.

Do try the malmaison family, Souvenir de la Malmaison and her sports, S. de St. Anne, Konprincessen Victoria, SDLM Rouge, and my personal favorite, Mme. Corneliesson, desert roses par exellance.

I have found about English roses, that winter irrigation is critical for good bloom over the summer. If local authorities limit your water use, you might want to stick with chinas, teas, and polyanthas.

The early noisettes make very nice, fragrant, disease resisant, ever blooming shrubs. They do need deadheading, their only fault. Alistair Stella Grey is in bloom in my yard about 10-11 months out of the year.

Many thanks for all the additional suggestions. The Roseraie du Desert site looked really interesting. It's really helpful to have specific suggestions because I'm just overwhelmed by the range of beautiful roses out there. Especially in August, when my garden is looking really exhausted (plants mostly dried out, insects enthusiastically eating the survivors!), it really cheers me up to plan for next year!