Bboy, sorry, I disagree,it depends on your climate and other things. Here mildew is not a problem. My yard is small and I do care about yearround interest. Still my gallica hedge looks good even now in October. I do put a lot of campanion plants with it for interest. For example now there are dahlias and chrisantemums (the big real ones, not regular grocery store mums) I also have clematis behind and daylilies and oriental lilies in front, but they are not blooming now. So there is something blooming all the time. I think gallica hedge would be the last roses to leave my garden if I ever decide to stop growing roses. They are also not high maintanence for me, because most of them are grafted and don't sucker. I just prune them each spring taking approx 1/2 off to self supporting wood and enjoy flowers in May/June and beautiful leaves the rest of the season. The make a wonderful background for other blooming perennials. I have small suburban lot.
Olga