If I had to choose one rose today (since I'm always changing my mind it seems) I'd choose Pat Austin, one of David Austin's English roses. It has been my favorite for 3 years running!

I'd choose this rose because of it's bloom's color. It is a beautiful, warm, sunny apricot hue, with supple fine leaves as well. There are many reasons I love this rose, some reasons I cannot fully explain. Besides the usual good resistance to BS and all that, I mostly like it because of the bloom and color.

Betty

If I had to leave my half-acre garden with its 200 roses and go back to the patio garden I had before this, I would pick the only rose I grew in that tiny garden, Zéphirine Drouhin. I had ZD outside my bedroom window and woke up every morning in summer to find the deep pink flowers beckoning to me. I would hope that conditions would be the same and that I would find a good plant, but it's not likely. I've had no success with ZD in my present garden.

Marianne in Sweden

Today only, (tomorrow it might be a different story!), my
"only one rose" choice would be my most recent purchase,
TOPSY TURVY. Ir was just planted in early summer, and has had non-stop blooms ever since. (Similar to Julia Childs, a blooming machine.). Bright red blossoms that slowly fade to pink, then almost white--cute scalloped edges, and new growth always coming on. Heat resistant too!
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Like some of the others, my answer might be different tomorrow, but I am really loving SDLM right now. I don't typically like pastel colored blooms, but there's something about this one that just makes my heart melt everytime I pass by.

Laurie

Louise Odier(Bourbon). For the reason of pure romantic sentimentality. It was the first rose I ever grew entirely by myself in my own garden and I have always cherished it in bloom and for its fragrance.

Crown Princess Margareta - English rose. The peach color of the blooms, the many swirls, beautiful foliage (here anyway), lovely lemony scent. What a rose!!!

Carol

Truthfully, if I could grow only one rose, it would have to be "Grandmother's Hat." This rose should in every California garden.

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The color is very changeable, and it is often paler than you see it here. It can grow as a freestanding bush, or will espalier as a low climber. It's almost never out of bloom, cuts well for a vase, is intensely fragrant, and is resistant to mildew and rust. Oh, and it has few prickles.

I've lost count of how many of these we have, but I am certain that for us, this is "THE" rose.

Jeri

Grandmother's Hat LOOKS incredibly fragrant too! Maybe that's because it looks like an antique rose. How big are the blooms?

Carol

A simple answer for me , Mr Lincoln
I have Three. I love the cool colors and scent.
If you have lots of birdfeeders near by then you dont have to spray insect control and If you just spray water with a teaspoon of baking soda he stays free of disease. simple
Mr Lincoln
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Only one?
Tea "Mme. Berkeley" would be my first choice.
I would go for a Tea class rose, because Teas have the longest bloom season here, of any fragrant rose class. The blooms have an "exquisite delicacy" as one writer put it.

My second choce would be a Polyantha:
"Spray Cecille Brunner" This can be sheared to create a 6 foot tall wall, covered with thousands of fragrant pink rose blossoms. Come to think of it, a few of those plants could be arranged to make a splendid garden room. Hmmm.

Luxrosa

Jeri, How does Grandmother's Hat stand up to blackspot and mildew. It is beautiful and hardy to zone 5. I think I may have to get one. Does it realy get 5-8 feet tall? How full is it? a bush or long and leggy? Thanks for the picture!!!!! Amy

GramHat's blooms are fairly large. I haven't measured, but ... I'd guess 3.5 inches across.
It is VERY resistant to mildew. Mostly resistant to rust. And can blackspot some (but not fatally) where that is a problem.

It is an upright bush which -- yes, in California can hit 8 ft. You can prune it more or less like a HT, if you wish, but you'll get more bloom if you let it grow tall. Espaliered, along a wall or fence, it will bloom even more.

There are two pale sports, 'Larry Daniels' and 'Tina Marie.' We prefer Tina Marie. Those two have been given ARS AENs, but "Grandmother's Hat" herself has not.
Sometimes sold as:

Barbara Worl
Mrs. RG Sharman Crawford
Cornet (Rose Cornet)

(I can't argue with Luxrosa's choice of Mme. Berkeley. I love her, too.)

Jeri

I would have to go with the only rose that has withstood our winters, neglect, bugs and diseases for 15 years and never showed signs of stress. Additionally, it repeats, gives nice rose hips, smells good birds love it - rosa rugosa.

Madame Hardy. I have only a very young one, first year own root. But I planted it in memory of our infant son. Nope, don't think I could part with that.

Today I would say that it would be Day Breaker. I is still new to me but has 20 buds on it right now. I love the sunny colour and it lasts well for me. I can't wait to see what it does once established.
Liane

Lavaglut - perfect bloom shape, awesome color, blooms all the time, blooms last 2 weeks, every one comments on it, I love it...

Only one? In that case, I think it would have to be the Archduke Charles since it blooms constantly and changes colors so often it would be like having many more.

Colleen

I've had a few days to think about this question and every day I come up with the same answer. The HT Moonstone. Big strong bushy bush. Great foliage and what I consider the finest bloom out there. Don't get me wrong. I don't keep a rose in my garden unless I REALLY like it. But if I ever get to the point where I can only grow one rose bush, it will more then likely be Moonstone.

I will HAVE to say (for today, anyway) that I couldn't be without STAR OF THE NILE. Nothing like it. Just incredible, blooms are exquisite (color just glows and form is so full), scent very unique to my nose.
Tomorrow I'll say WELL BEING shrub rose....another one unlike any I have ever seen before....extremely interesting coloration & bloom form! Love 'em! Phyl
PS Last week would have been WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 2000, and last month....how about ROUGE ROYALE? LOL

Well today for me, it would have to be Savoy Hotel. Lacks fragrance but gorgeous blooms and all round healthy large rose bush.
.........then tomorrow and the next day, I love Chrysler,Mr. Lincoln, Double Delight for fragrance and beautiful blooms. I am also very in love with Amber Queen! So your see, if you are talking about just today, then it would be Savoy Hotel. :)
Pauline - Vancouver Island

My favorite type is floribunda. I like lots and lots of blooms, over perfection.
My favorite is Outrageous. If only you could see it right now. And it's in a pot, too.
Kathy

Last year it would've been Veterans' Honor. This year it is "probably" Black Magic. My Denali, which I got last year, is in the midst of a surprisingly, beautiful flush that is breathtaking! Also, a couple of weeks ago, Hilde was loaded with blooms that were soooo gorgeous! I almost feel like I'm betraying the other roses in my garden by choosing a favorite.

conrad ferdinand meyer. extremely vigorous. a rugosa hybrid with tea-like silver pink flowers that are continuous with the most potent overpowering perfume. It's rugosa heritage ought to get it through the winter. one of the parents of cressida, a DA rose.

Tiffany because I love the color and fragrance. Also, my mom grew it when I was young and it was the one rose she could remember by name. We didn't have much extra money then and it was a big deal for her to spend that much on a patented plant. She surely loved that rosebush and I have to say it's in my top 5 as well.

It's an interesting question. Do you keep the sexiest rose, the one you most treasure when you get some good blooms, or do you keep the best good-soldier rose? It's a question that bears on other life choices.

I thought for a while and decided the last one I'd give up would be Clair Matin, who looks like a Plain Jane in closeups but is actually very beautiful, and does more for my garden that anybody else.

Not surprisingly, there are two roses competing for the title of "just one rose." Surprisingly, they're both once-bloomers. I'd never have guessed it would come to this, but indeed, I'm torn between Alchymist and Celsiana. The first is shockingly effusive, full of such color that it nearly makes me weep with the pleasure of seeing the blooms against a blue sky or a soft northwest sunset. The second has flowers so utterly soft and pink that I'm inevitably drawn back (many, many years) to my daughter's infancy, a time when the innocence and purity of a new life was in my keeping and somehow brought out my own innocence and purity. How does a flower do that?!

Sue

Crimson Glory Hybrid Tea. Luscious fragrance. Deep velvet color.

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I think I would pick COQUETTE DES BLANCHES because it has not gone one day this season without blooms - most days it is loaded with them. Even blooms steadily in 100 degree heat. It is the most delicate pink, with a green button-eye, varies from perfect quartered and swirled cups to camelllia shaped blooms. The fragrance could be stronger, but is lovely in quality, and the spent blooms have a strong, spicy fragrance that makes deadheading a joy. Also - good vigor, pea-green foliage outlined in red, and clean, clean, clean all season. Wish I could post a pic, but am still tech challenged.

If we don't count minis, I'll pick one of those too. The old mini BABY DARLING from Ralph Moore has many of the same qualities to recommend it. Reliable, healthy, blooms without pause. Delicate apricot blooms of a camellia or water lily shape, and a strong and piercing lilac fragrance.

On bad days I have considered redoing my garden with only these two roses en masse (oh, and maybe HOT COCOA...).

triple b
sorry about your son - but now, come to think of it, when our 7 1/2 month old daughter died, on her tombstone we had carved a rose, as she was our rose.

Seems odd, now, about 10 years later am starting to grow roses.

George

George, that is very touching and a beautiful tribute to your daughter. Thank you for sharing. Sally

At this point in time, I could not choose between 'Pink Gruss an Aachen', David Austin's 'Heritage', or his 'Golden Celebration'. I would have to have all three.

Randy

Perle d' Or. Not because of huge blooms but because it's so dainty and beautiful and doesn't stop blooming.

Carla

If I had room for only one rose bush,
I'D MOVE!

Only one would be awfully hard. I feel cheated as it is by the fact I only have room for a maximum of 3 dozen.

Let's see, my favorite bloom form is classic hybrid tea/florist style. My favorite color is red, deep and vibrant and velvety. I greatly appreciate the fact that minis and mini-floras tend to produce more blooms than larger bushes. But minis rarely have fragrance, and those that do are not of the best HT form. But I love big blooms. OK, let's assume if only room for one plant, it at least could be as big as I want. How about a big, healthy, virus-free, and extra-prolific "Papa Meilland?"

My answer is sure to change tomorrow.

Portland from Glendora/Joasine Hanet. Fragrance that knocks you over, blooms so quartered that they look like four-leaf clovers, and nonstop bloom. I first knew this rose by a found name, "Aunt Sally," and for years would visit it in the Sacramento cemetery just like you'd visit an old friend. Finally got the courage to plant one for myself - it's a big plant, and there's really no room in my yard, but there she is, and I love her. I will always think of it as "Aunt Sally."

Anita

Hm, let's see-- make it a big, healthy bush with lots of flowers. I love pink, apricot, and lavender. So.... Distant Drums which is a different color every hour of every day and includes all these colors and more. I am captivated by this rose-- Distant Drums!