My vote would be for Julia Child rose. It's a very soft yellow, blooms alot, no disease and looks quite wonderful in a vase with blue flowers. Should look great in that bed too.

Kathy

Yellow: Sunsprite. Pink; Gene Boerner

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings

i am unfamiliar with how it performs in your area, but Tamora is my favorite in my garden, and the blooms look like they glow. I thought with your iris it would be nice! Id say its like an apricot

I know, yellow would look best. Dang. My tiny collection of roses already includes four yellow roses- two of them Julia Child. More Julia, probably.

Sunsprite is nice too, but I get to enjoy a hedge of them at my dad's.

Tamora is too gorgeous, but it does not take the heat here very well.

Thanks for the suggestions. Any more? Is it Julia again?

Renee

I have a bit of doubt about the pink with so many different hues, some of which might not go well with pink. Since you already have so many yellow roses, I'd opt for a white rose, perhaps one of the polyanthas or White Meidiland. The latter tends to spread but I think you could probably keep it pruned. I loved this rose when I saw it and I think the flat blooms with an old rose look might look more natural with the cottage flowers.

Ingrid

Orchid, blue and violet are colors that would go well with pretty much any color of rose you decide to plant, so the good news is that you can't mess up! Of course, the fact that they go well with everything doesn't make it easier to narrow down your options, now does it?

In my opinion, since you have so many yellow roses I'd go with a pink or white. You know, add a little variety, have something new to look at.

Polyantha I think would be a good idea, perhaps 'Vineyard Song' or 'Little White Pet'? Both very tough, good bloomers, not tall, and fragrant.

I like orange/peach roses with purple & blueish perennials. Personally, I'm hankering for Clementina Carbonieri and Margot Koster but since you're in California, Tamora could be great for you as well.

My Julia Child does not bloom a soft yellow. It is more of a goldish color and fades to a yellow. My Husband likes to tease me by saying it is orange. Happy Child is also a strong bloomer and it is yellow. Not too tall if you want something on the shorter side.

How about Happy Child, Symphony (Austin's), or even Carding Mill?

I love the Austin roses more than any others at this point in my life, but I worry about their heat tolerance. The ones my mom has grown all bloomed sparingly, with small flowers that shattered in the heat.

Vineyard Song is eye-popping, and I just looked at Bolero on hoovb's blog. I am also blown away by Bouquet Parfait, but does it get too big?

Renee

We all have different ideas, don't we? Well, as long as you're polling for opinions, here are mine...

I know you don't want anything as tall as 5 feet, but I'd think a rose that's decidedly taller than your perennials would look the best; avoid anything 2 feet or shorter.

Yellow would be spectacular; Julia Child is the first one I thought of. But since you already have two of those, maybe Golden Zest or Sun Flare would add a little variety while sticking with yellow.

I do think that white would look wonderful, better than the pink would... a true bright white or if it's not exactly white it would be better to go towards yellow, not pink. After reading Ingrid's idea on White Meidiland, I looked that one up and was bowled over by its beauty. If for any reason that doesn't work, perhaps Snow Gosling would also work well there.

Another way of keeping the lavender/purple/blue theme would be to plant a lavender rose. You'd probably have to keep it cut back some, but Sweetness looks wonderful and is fragrant too.

I hope you have fun deciding!

Mary

How about Sexy Rexy? Very full flowers that are a clear soft pink. Gets about 2' high. Another choice would be Escapade. Semi-double orchid pink flowers with white centers and yellow stamens. Both of these are rapid repeat flowering. Escapade is very disease resistant but is a bit taller up to 4'.

Then you can have a look for more details

Here is a link that might be useful: San Francisco Flowers

Maybe you could go with an off-white...? Like the tones of Madam Alfred Carriere, for example...? (a touch of pink inside) Though that rose wouldn't be a good choice for there, obviously.
If you went the white route, you could get a non-climbing noisette, though... Something that's a bloom machine.

or maybe a pale yellow...? I really love Jude the Obscure. I know mine are just babies, but they've been doing well this year for me. a couple mini-flushes of bloom even though they were bareroots this feb. I try to cut the buds off most of them... but I just can't bare to with Jude because the blooms are so gorgeous and smell so good. Maybe Carding Mill would be a good choice?? It reportedly does well in heat
Also, you could crossreference with DA roses that do well for Ingrid, because if they do well in what Ingrid calls her "oven" then they must do well for you.

what if you went with something a bit more orangey... like something a bit like the Alchemist, but a bush? That would contrast so lovely with your blues/purples and still mesh with all your yellows.

or what about Perle D'or? It has a lovely mix of color. :)

How much will the pink be seen mixing with your other yellows in other beds...?

If you decide to go with pink,... Gene Boerner is a bloom machine. It does really well in Descanso (zone 9b)

Some other possibilities are the floribundas Shockwave and Goldmarie. They are solid yellow, non-fading, and do reasonably well in our heat. The Austin Crocus Rose does well, even in our heat. Heat resistance is an issue for many of the Austins, and I have some of them that fry regularly when the temp gets above 90F, but Crocus Rose and Carding Mill hang in there a little better than most of the other Austins and some of my other roses. An apricot that is quite nice is Marilyn Monroe, the rose that took queen at the San Diego ARS spring national a few years ago. I saw it at the show, and it was a real eye-catcher. If you want a white one, Pillow Fight is a delightful rose that has large sprays in small, white flowers. It may be hard to find, but I do know that Heirloom Roses carries it as a band plant now. Good luck with your choices.

Boy, is this fun. Thank you, everyone, for your inspiring ideas.

I'm so torn now that I'm considering removing the bonzai grapefruit tree (no one can eat the fruit now that we're all old and on meds) so that I have enough room for TWO roses. Or one big one.

Happy Renee

the catalogue pics of Crocus rose always look cluttered and nasty and a slightly meh yellow colour. However, in real life, this is a luscious soft cream, not huge blooms and has good, quite dainty foliage. I was surprised at how much I really liked this rose seeing it 'in person'. I think it would also look particularly cool and refined in your iris bed.