I'll tell you right now that 10x10 will not be enough, once you get going, to contain your soon-to-be affair with roses! ;o)

The first thing you must know is that HelpMeFind (link below) is going to be your number one resource, after actual people in your actual area. You can search by plant name, class, color, habit, etc. there are thousands of roses out there. Knowing you (or your wife) wants hybrid tea types helps! You have already done the next best thing, and that is to come here and do some research BEFORE jumping in without looking. There are tons of smart folks here, in addition to the relative newbies like me.

Hardiness may be a factor for you, still, even in zone 6. Can you share your location without being specific?

If you have not already done so, begin amending your garden plot now. make sure your soil pH tests out at or slightly below neutral, and that your N,P,K are in balance. If your soil needs organics, apply it now. Working it in before the roses get planted is MUCH easier than after. Seems obvious now, but it never hurts to state the obvious while you still have the opportunity, lol!

Your zone is getting pretty late to be ordering plants, especially when you want to be sure of what you are getting, first. Prepare your bed, and spend the winter deciding what you want and how many. Some sites are already taking pre-orders for Spring shipping.

Your bed will hold four or five floribunda shrubs at most, slightly more hybrid teas since they generally have a tighter, more upright habit. Given your limitaions, you should know just what you want. You already specified good for cutting, fragrant, and at least some hybrid teas (or similiar form.) How about color? Do you plant to spray for fungicides? This will make a difference on which cultivars to choose, because some will simply not perform without regular spraying, particularly hybrid teas.

Get aqcuainted with the search feature on this forum, too. I have found fantatsic old threads that cover topics I needed to have covered...without posting a possibly repetitious new thread. Try doing searches on "best roses for cutting," and "what are your most fragrant roses?" and "roses hardy zone 6." These will begin to get you a shorter list of options.
Some people (myself included) have done fine with cheap potted or "bodybag" roses from big box stores. You may have success, too. But buying that way must have the mindset that the roses might not do well, or be diseased, or give you one season of bloom, and be done forever. Generally, you are going to get what you pay for. In addition, a reputable dealer will replace a diseased or dud or mislabelled rose.

Now. I will tell you about my personal experience, which may or may not apply to you, but may still be helpful in your journey. My roses are all fairly new, their third year at oldest (one exception) first at newest. This is what I have found so far:

-David Austin roses have done extremely well for me, as they generally do for many midwestern gardeners.

-HT Garden Party was a body bag rose that has done incredibly well for me. It does not have a strong fragrance, but the blooms are beautiful, the foliage is healthy and prety disease-free even without spraying, and the whole thing bounced right back after a brutal winter, even without protection. I. Love. This. Rose.

-Buck roses tend to be very healthy and hardy in the colder zones. I hated my Prairie harvest last year. I really like it a lot this year. Next year I may love it! :o)

-Lavender Lassie and Autumn Sunset are two "climbers" that are very clean and very vigorous for me, although I have no real expectations for their being true climbers for me. Too much cane dieback.

I am going to end there. I don't want to pile on too much information! Hang out here, do lots of reading and searching, and start a wish list.

Best wishes!!

Here is a link that might be useful: HelpMeFind

You need to tell us where you live.

That way, folks who are savvy about what does well in your area can advise you.
Theirs is the only advice that really matters.

Jeri in Coastal Southern California

If you have a 10 x 10 area and plant on two feet centers beginning one foot in from the edges, you can plant 25 hybrid teas. It would be a little crowded late in the season when they had spread out but, proper pruning could keep them in check. For a beginner, I'd plant them farther apart and try to stick with half a dozen plants.
Your and the wife's expectations are the reason, though, so many people say that roses are hard to grow. The average hybrid tea, which is the type you'll almost have to grow to get the florist shop rose shape, with a great fragrance and repeat bloom throughout the season while being able to cut a few pretty well eliminates all other types but hybrid teas. Not all of them are fragrant nor have the florist shop shape.
Repeat bloom on hybrid teas doesn't just happen. They have to be deadheaded often to promote repeat bloom, and pruned properly for strong canes to support the big blooms. Leaves make the sugars that make the blooms and hybrid teas tend to be prone to diseases more than many other rose types. Once you get them and see the leaves become infected and falloff due to blackspot, you'll want to spray fungicides. When insects eat holes in the leaves or disfigure your perfect florist bloom, you'll want to spray toxic insecticides.

I'm really not trying to talk you out of growing roses, I'm just trying to talk you in to lowering your expectations and start out with hardy and disease resistant shrub roses. They can repeat bloom and many, like the rugosas and lots of other types, are very fragrant.
As you learn and gain experience, you can move on to hybrid teas but you'll be better prepared to take care of their needs.
Did I mention they are heavy feeders and thirsty plants requiring repeated applications of fertilizer and water?
Hybrid teas are also winter tender so unless you choose really hardy varieties and plant them properly, you'll have to provide some sort of winter protection and the varieties you like may not be fragrant.

If you are going to plant hybrid teas, you will definitely want Double Delight--one of the most popular HT roses. A pure red with it (I have Chrysler Imperial) would be good--if you like a lot of bright color. Both those roses are fragrant and have gorgeous blooms -- and have fairly good disease resistance (though HTs often are not particularly good on that score).

If you like pinks better than reds, try Peter Mayle--wonderful hot pink. I have it paired with Elina which is a creamy/yellow blend (more creamy with some yellow highlights). These two are taller HTs than the two I mentioned above, but have the same good fragrance. They might be a shade better on disease-resistance also.

There are also wonderful choices in the yellow/apricot blend range.

You might decide what colors, in general, you like, and whether you like softly blended effects or dramatic contrasts. That might affect what choices you will make.

Myself, I don't have any problem mixing in a couple floribundas or modern shrubs with my HTs. Gives a little more bulk to the garden--a fuller look--and some of them have better rebloom and better disease resistance. However, they don't usually have the big showy florist's type blooms.

Try not to make a quick decision. Spring is the best time for planting roses, so you have months and months of browsing rose sites available before you need to make a final decision. As you read the posts on this site, start taking notes of which of the discussed roses really interests you, and then do more research on them--such as at helpmefind.com.

Actually, searching for the perfect rose is sometimes half the fun.

Good luck.

Kate

In addition to where you live, we need to know whether you are willing to spray fungicides regularly. Roses meeting the specs that can be grown in Eastern zone 6 without fungicides = null set.

See the link below for a nice article with photos.

Your area is of great importance because of hardiness issues and "zone 6" NJ is different than "zone 6" California. Also the issue of whether you are willing to treat with a commercial, synthetic, fungicide or if you desire to "grow organic".

Here is a link that might be useful: Types of Roses article by Steve Jones

wow folks, this is a great site filled with helpful people!
i am in NJ, and i am ok with foregoing cutting. Actually my wife just prefers the flowers to stay on the plant till we need to remove them to promote new growth.

I was looking at floribundas and see many photos where i do like the shape. We just dont like the english rose shape / center.

As a newbie, i am not sure i want to take on a very heavy maintenance plant. I would prefer one which is easier on me :)

Colors - Any are ok. I love oranges and peaches, reds and lavender.

Also should i try container rose (september plating) or bare root (spring plating) roses for my first one? I was thinking container since that seems to be a bit easier for first timers. (And well then that also means i will have some roses this year hopefully!)

I am planning to send a soil sample to Rutgers university for testing here in NJ. Any other places that you folks suggest here in nj?

What else can i plant along with roses to cover the ground area a bit aroung the edges? Does lavender go well with roses from a soil perspective? I cant mix match plants which require different soil types as the space i very limited.

Thanks for all the help folks.

Container roses are not for fall planting--although some people do that. I would urge you to NOT fall plant--in Zone 6 you are taking a chance that the rose won't have sufficient roots to survive winter.

Here in Kansas Zone 6, I usually plant bare-roots around the end of March and container plants around early May. Actually, since I usually buy my container plants from Roses Unlimited (an absolutely wonderful place), I have no choice about planting container plants before early May because they refuse to send their container plants earlier to my area. They want to make sure their plants will not be damaged by a last late freeze.

In either case, you should get some blooming the first year and even some re-blooming--not as profuse as they will probably exhibit their third year, but enough to keep you excited and happy the first year, so don't worry about that aspect.

I don't grow many floribundas (I'm more into Austin shrubs), but I did plant one this year--Cherry Parfait--because so many people praised it for its heavy and frequent re-bloom and its disease-resistance. The bloom is white with a red edge. So far it has performed as expected and I am pleased with it. You might want to consider it.

Kate

If you grow container roses you'll need to consider where and how you're going to overwinter them.
Left outdoors unprotected, they can experience severe winter damage as the freezing cold gets in from the sides of the pots and the freezing and thawing throughout the winter can break up and destroy the roots.
Much advance thought has to be given before you attempt to grow any plant. There's a lot to consider.
Eliminating your cut roses requirement widens your choices.If you can get your wife to ease her "must have" features a little, you'll have some really nice options with winter hardy shrubs.
Spend the winter with some how to grow roses books.
Look for "Growing Roses in Cold climates," or "Roses for the North. Although you're in zone 6, your area gets some cold spells that can seriously harm the plants. The time to experiment with warmer climate roses is after you gain experience and are successful growing those best suited for your climate.

If you want the florist look, choose hybrid teas. On a 10x10 foot plot, I would consider 3-foot centers as each bush will get about 3 feet wide. That would leave room for 9 roses planting the roses 1.5 feet from the edge of the plot.

A good rose pallette for fragrance and form is:

1. Chrysler Imperial (red)
2. Double Delight (red and white)
3. Fragrant Cloud (coral red)
4. Pope John Paul II (white)
5. Secret (white with pink edges)
6. Perfume Delight (dark pink)
7. Tiffany (medium pink)
8. Sweet Surrender (light pink, blooms old-fashioned look)
9. Julia Child (yellow floribunda)

Once again, there are very few or no roses that meet your specs unless you are willing to commit to spraying a good fungicide every two weeks or an organic fungicide every week. So you need to answer that question.

If "no," you probably need to drop the fragrance requirement.

Where in NJ? Send me an e-mail, and I'll see what resources are near you. If you are anywhere near Monmouth County, we have a couple of beds of disease resistant roses in Eatontown that are not treated with a fungicide ("sprayed"). There is also the large new rose Partierre at Deep Cut Gardens in Middletown, I believe those are sprayed.

You could find some of the floribundas that have HT form like Pinnacle or Summer Fashion, but neither are fragrant and both need regular fungicide treatments. Hybrid teas will require regular fungicide treatments.

Alas, blackspot is the major problem in NJ. You'll either have to be on a regular fungicide treatment program, or grow disease resistant (there are some other than Knock Out) varieties. I can provide some help in the disease resistant varieties area if you are interested.

ok did more research today to find sprays that i am ok to live with.
I found a neem oil product that i am ok with using. If that is a good solution to the fungus problem, then i guess i am ok with spraying. I do not want to spray chemical based sprays. I want a all natural garden - too many kids around to take risks in my opinion.
http://www.edmundsroses.com/dp3.asp?c=28&SKU=85112

I like Pope John Paul II
Tiffany
Double Delight
Julia Child
Fragrant cloud
Also i want to have only four roses as this is in front of the house and i want to surround them with a few grasses like lavender so that i have a very fragrant piece of land at the entrance of my house. Still looking and for more options before i decide.

What i noticed is that three in this short list are from J&P. With the scary stories here, where else can i get these flowers or should i try one from J&P and try my luck?

Also I was not planning to raise the roses in containers. I was just looking to buy them for fall planting so that they have enough roots to survive the winter. But maybe i have to wait till spring here in Perth Amboy, NJ :(

Neem oil, in my experience, is not effective enough to control fungal problems on HTs. And to tell you the truth, I'm not sure it's any safer in the garden than myclobutanil or similar paired with vigilant removal of diseased foliage/canes. You can try a sodium bicarbonate spray but they've not worked well for me.

In my estimation, any benefit to "natural" fungicides/pesticides is negated by having to apply them so often. Frankly, I'd rather the kids play in a garden that is sprayed with myclobutanil once a month than a garden where neem is sprayed twice a week.

You aren't growing HTs in these parts with just a neem oil spray. Sorry. Not happening here. Even though PJP II is relatively disease resistant, it will still get blackspot and defoliate. Forget growing Tiffany, Double Delight or Fragrant Clout without a regular synthetic fungicide. Julia Child, maybe.

You aren't going to find many container roses at the local nurseries left at this time of year. They usually get in in mid-April so that they (ideally) can be in bloom right before Mother's Day. Potted, own root roses, it is getting late to put them in the ground here. Potted, own-root are ordered in the fall/winter for delivery in May. Bareroots should be ordered in the next two months for delivery and planting mid-March - early April.

Lavender has different watering needs than roses. I do have lavender in my rose beds, but my roses are on an irrigation system and the lavender only gets rainwater (it has been in the ground for many years).

You are in my turf. If you do get down here, try to check out the bed in Eatontown. It has a variety of colors. Also, our rose show is Saturday September 19th at Deep Cut Gardens in Middletown, NJ. Come down and ask questions. You'll get a wide range of opinions, and our rose society (Jersey Shore) has a few members from Middlesex & Somerset counties. I also keep a list of roses that are said to be disease resistant in the area, happy to share.

From this year's experience, since I haven't sprayed, I can tell you that out of 70 roses, only three still have most of their leaves: Blushing Knock Out, Floral Fairy Tale and Rosenstadt Freising (spotty, anthracnose, but still has all of its leaves). None of the hybrid teas have many leaves to speak of.

Nvsravank if you are a newbie I would really suggest visiting the Rose Organics forum. But I really truly believe that MichaelG is like the total expert! when it comes to both organic and synthetic fungicides and insecticides. He has knowledge of both. Perhaps you can email him if you get stuck on specifics? Also the internet is a very powerful tool in terms of looking up toxicity reports.

About organic fungicides (potassium bicarbonates), they are much! safer than synthetics in terms of application timing. You have to wear overalls gloves goggles and other protective gear when applying synthetic fungicides. Mancozeb is safe to bees, but you have to wear protective gear when applying. Bayer Rose and Ornamental Spray is toxic to bees upon application according to the instructions:

Bayer fungicide and the bees

The organic Neem oil does not! work as a fungicide. It is an insecticide. It will kill bees if you accidentally spray a bee. It is very! safe for humans but when the bee brings too much contaminated pollen to the hive, it can make them sluggish and very disoriented. This is not a good thing. If you decide to use Neem oil, I would urge you to only spray in the late evening when the sun has gone down; bees are very hard workers and will be there at crack of dawn. Neem oil requires a drying time of 4 hours to be "safe" for the bees. I think there are better alternatives to Neem but unlike most people, I am content to live with a bunch of holes in my rose leaves so long as I still get huge lovely blooms! I just let the spideys do all the hard work for me and spray my blooms with hot wax pepper spray to protect against thrips. Next year I'm going to use Milky Spore as a preventative against Japanese Beetles thanks to this forum's input. I don't have JBs yet, but I do know that JeffAurora in New Jersey has a battle with a few JBs. He has drop-dead GORGEOUS roses. This is JEFF'S Julia Child which you are choosing.

The huge downer news is that organic fungicides can't battle BS in rainy climates and where you don't get as much sunlight. I hear that New Jersey is Blackspot territory. I use Greencure fungicide and spray like a maniac with the Greencure even before the first spring leaf unfolds, but Greencure can only keep the roses exposed to blazing sunlight clear from the blackspot. My shade-growing roses are a disaster zone. Blackspot loves! the shade. Be sure your roses get full open sunlight, it will make your battle against BS less maddening!

Karl Bapst and Jim1961 also use sea tea as a foliage spray/ buffer against blackspot. Jim's roses have not gotten any yet, Lucky Jim, unlike his blackspot ridden neighbors! He uses DrammaticK. His roses get both East and West sun (full exposure) and the DrammaticK (which uses unprocessed pure fish oils) so I am thinking that those 2 factors are really helping him out.

Besides the organics/fungicide consideration, there are a few things you will need to do-- a soil analysis on the content of your soil. Then you need to amend your soil with goodies like compost, nursery manure, etc. Healthy soil means healthy roses that can survive insect and fungus attacks. And as Karl, my likewise favorite expert, says-- hybrid teas are HEAVY FEEDERS!!!!

Mvrasank, you will be very! happy with Double Delight and Fragrant Cloud in terms of hardiness, easy-to-care, and great fragrance. Plus they are prolific! bloomers. I have FC and love its health! You have made excellent choices for those 2. I love my Tiffany too. It is supposed to be "disease-resistant". So far it's living up to the "healthy" classification. I love her perfume but my favorite of all fragrances is Mr. Lincoln--in my opinion he beats all the Austins at my local nursery and all the hybrid teas I've smelled and the floribundas, but sadly, he gets a bum rap from tons of people here because he is too tall and lanky. Tall you can't control, but you can! have fat bushy Lincolns--I feed mine with Gardenville Sea Tea to make them fat!

What about Bordeux mixture, a lime sulfer compound, which is approved for organic growing, for blackspot. Is it effective?

If I were starting a rose garden in zone 6, I would look for Kordes and Tantau roses. Both those companies are in Germany, and have to breed for winter hardiness. Kordes has released some spectacular HTs.

If you dig your holes now, you can fill them with alfalfa, compost, etc. mixed with your native soil. The organic amemndments should well c omposted by next spring.

nastarana
You stated, "Both those companies are in Germany, and have to breed for winter hardiness."
They are both in Germany but most of their offerings are for the cut flower industry and are grown commercially in South and Central America. Hardiness was an after thought and not a requirement. While it may seem to the contrary, Roses they grow and sell for the home garden trade make up a small percentage of their sales. Unlike home gardeners, the cut flower industry rips out and destroys their roses when they become less productive. They buy new stock and replant.
While we may buy tens or hundreds of thousands of rose bushes individually, the cut flower industry buys millions of plants in large quantities of hundreds of thousands of a single variety each year.
Most new offerings by Kordes and Tantau are for the cut flower industry and that is the major purpose of their breeding program.
We are poor step children. Should a variety show potential as a garden rose or the florist rose become a most wanted variety it may be grown and offered for the home garden consumer. Prior to this it will be tested for hardiness, disease resistance, and the ability to survive in the home garden environment where it doesn't get the toxic chemicals and overfertilization required to produce those florist roses.
Edmunds, J&P, Weeks, Hortico, Palentine, etc., send their experts to Kordes, Tantau, and other European growers to look for roses that they think might do well here as garden varieties. They continously look for that special rose that they can sell as an exclusive offering,then license to grow and sell it.
The seedlings resulting from the breeding programs are not all of florist rose potential. Many, although very stunning, may not produce well, have short stems, bloom in clusters, not singly, or are just not commercially viable for the cut flower industry, but, they could be great shrubs, minis, hybrid teas, or other good garden roses. These are what most often find their way to us. The majority of the florist roses are not sold as garden roses nor can they be found.
Their propagation is jealously guarded and just not offered for the home trade. Should you or I try to take it upon ourselves to propagate or sell comercially one of these protected roses, we'd be sued and be legally restrained from propagating or selling them.
Many that are propagated from roses purchased from florist shops do make the rounds from person to person but often under a different name but unless out of patent or licensed this is unlawful.
Even J&P had a big operation that bred and sold wholesale only to the cutflower trade, and, like the German companies, these varieties were J&P's biggest source of revenue and volumn sellers.

I have found Jackson and Perkins to supply very healthy roses. I have also gotten good rose plants from Edmunds and S&W Warehouse at: http://www.sw-greenhouse.com/

Since you like lavenders, consider Melody Parfumee'. This has been a very productive, fragrant, and disease resistant rose for me.

The product linked by Serena is a combo product with an insecticide added. Combo products are marketed to beginners and generally should be avoided. My link is to the Bayer fungicide product that is often recommended here. It should pose little or no risk to beneficial insects.

Bordeaux mixture and other copper products such as Soap Shield are effective, but probably no safer than the better synthetic chemicals. With weekly use, there might be a problem with copper building up in the soil.

I used sulfur (considered organic) for 12-15 years and can recommend it. With very faithful use, it will let you grow most HTs in the East, including Double Delight and Tiffany. These would keep 75% of their leaves by late season. I had to discard some varieties that couldn't live with that regime. See the FAQ on the Organic Roses Forum.

Consider The McCartney Rose, which is somewhat resistant to blackspot in most gardens.

Some non-fragrant roses that are fairly resistant are Elina, Earth Song, Quietness, Prairie Harvest, Winter Sunset, Paloma Blanca.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bayer Disease Control

And with ANY fungicide, organic, organic-based or synthetic, you should wear protective gear over the eyes, nose and skin.

No hybrid tea will be truly disease resistant here. I have two Tiffany, they have 5 leaves between them right now. There is "said to be" and there is real experience growing in NJ or areas with similar disease pressures.

Also, even if the plant is "disease resistant" that doesn't always mean that the leaves will be totally clean. There may be some spotting, but no defoliation. You want plants that will keep their leaves mostly green for as long as possible.

I forgot about Marchesa Boccella, it hasn't beep sprayed all season and it has a lot of leaves. I think Florence (zeffy_rose), who lives outside of Philly, grows The McCartney Rose no-spray.

It's true, what Michaelg has stated about Prairie Harvest. Mine has almost zero blackspot, even though Honey Dijon, a very close neighbor completely defoliated weeks ago from blackspot. HD has regrown foliage, but is already getting ready to lose THAT to blackspot. Prairie Harvest is good, as is Garden Party. Neither has a strong fragrance, though. Last year's Pope John Paul II was a vigorous, completely heathy bloom MACHINE for me. VERY frgrant. Died over winter. :o(

PS, I have never sprayed for fungii in my garden. Not to say I won't ever, but I haven't.

How about the John Clements (yellow rose) "Morning has broken" I've read where it is very disease resistant???
Size is 4' high x 4.5' wide though.

http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/pl.php?n=4392

JIM

One of the smarter things to do would be to invest in a copy of Roses For Dummies. Although I have been in roses for 40 years and am an ARS CR Emeritus, I still treasure my copy of this worthwhile book. Everything is explained and in language a layman can understand. I bought my copy from Amazon and had it shipped right to my door. Great book, believe me.