It does force you to rethink your rose selections.
I enjoy those that blackspot easily and when they lose their leaves I cut them back. I end up with a shorter bush but it has leaves for a fall flush.

One reason I have grown Eutin for years, no matter where I lived, is that it really has no disease problems as long as it is grown in the sun. Don't know if red is what you want, but its big red clusters of blooms are quite showy.

I almost never spray Pretty Jessica (short, pink) and Earth Song (pink, taller, fuller). I think they would have very little problem in a no-spray garden.

Morning Has Broken (yellow shrub) has never been sprayed--no disease. I'm not sure how floriferous it is though--mine doesn't bloom that much. You might check with some others who grow it.

Just a few you might consider. Good luck.

Kate

Paloma Blanca (Buck), Lyons Rose, Kosmos (Kordes) all good on diease all lovely and floriferous. Lim Ping Has a very smelly diease free ivory fading to white climber called Macy's Pride. Those are the only whites I have right now that are no spray, we do get a lot of BS here and I'm quickly moving to no spray roses. Last year I picked up a lot of hardy ADR roses. Love them all so far. For northern gardeners it doesn't get any better than Lim Ping (Bailey's) roses, He released a couple this year that are gorgeous. Sweet Fragrance, Apicot with yellow base fading to salmon pink. All The Rage, apricot orange blending to soft yellow center fading to deep pink. ATR has single flowers 5 to 6 inches across and they last several days on the bush. Totally Clean Foliage.

Sammy..how long have you been no spray? I have found with several of mine that they get better as the years go by..maybe you could move your poor performers to a spot away from the front, and give them a couple of years? I hate to give up on any rose, can you tell? I just think it takes them a couple of years to adjust to fighting on their own...Donna

Sammy, just butting in to say I think it's cool that you are going no-spray. :-) Kudos! You will be a great MW reference for no-sprayers.

Kate, I like Eutin also. I have three of them. They are resting a little this year since many branches fell on them from the ice storm, but they are very pretty.

Patty, Paloma Blanca is beautiful. I am going to check it out for my zone, and may purchase it. Thanks.

Karl and Donna, I am with you, and want to try that for Sharifa Asma and Distant Drums. Prairie Star was balking and picking up black spot when i sprayed so I am not very hopeful. Outta the Blue did the same thing. Your point is a good one, though.

Mexicanhat, thank you for the compliment.

I don't know how Bella Roma does in your zone. I am in the St. Louis area of Illinois, which I think is 6b. Mine get some blackspot, and though I've read about a baking soda spray, I haven't tried that yet - I am generally "no spray" as well.

My Bella Roma does get a bit bare lower down by July, but that has never stopped him from blooming. There is virtually no fragrance, which is a bit of a drawback, but the beauty of this rose which blooms profusely all summer long outshines these two drawbacks. A very successful no-spray rose in my area!

Hope this is useful!

Sammy, I think what you're doing is wonderful. I hope more people will follow your example and care more about the environment than insisting on growing certain roses that need to be sprayed. I know it will be a learning process for you and it won't happen overnight, but working with nature rather than against it will in the end, I think, give you much greater satisfaction.

Good luck!

Ingrid

Thanks for the suggestion, Eepi.
I appreciate your words, Ingrid.

My update is that my 6 Prairie Stars are gone as are my Moonstone and Iceberg. I will remove both Gemini and the Distant Drums. It will be painful to watch them deteriorate, and I am going to remove and replace them.

I have had Homestead Purple Verbena planted in where the Sharifa Asma are, and they have prevented circulation. If anyone is still reading, have you had luck with Sharifa Asma, Glamis Castle, or Grand Prize? (as no spray).

We will move Veterans Honor to the back and try to work with them.

I am going to start a different post to ask about replacements.

Thank you all for your support.

Sammy

Sammy, It's nice to see part of your garden, I've never seen your roses before.
I'm SO tempted to buy another Prairie Star, I had such high hopes for that rose.
Paloma Blanca is a good rose but it balls.

Carla

Sammy, It might just be me but my Sharifa Asma mildewed even when sprayed on a regular schedule. GC left my yard last week after 5 years bs disaster if not sprayed, balls if it gets wet. I've never seen cleaner roses than Kordes ADR roses, or Ping Lim roses, as no spray as roses could be. I've had a few problems in the first year but once thier root systems get going their fabulous. The only problem with Kordes their hard to find own root which is how I like my roses. Northland is starting to carry them,thats good. I have maybe ten different Kordes ADR. Its been raining for four days now not a spot on them. Their blooms hold up very well in hot sun as well. GC is being replaced with Lyons Rose or Kosmos. Kosmos is shorter than lyons but so packed with petals if you live in a high rain area I could see problems with them opening. Mine has some blooms on it thru this rain they haven't discolored or turned mushy. Love,love,love them. Haven't sprayed any of my Kordes or Ping Lim roses. Paloma Blanca has not balled for me but I don't know why? For light pink theirs no better garden rose than Quietness. If you ever had to move this rose you'll should see a root system that resembles a tree. Sorry, I know your looking for white. Any one looking for carefree roses where teas and chinas won't live you won't be disapointed. As a side note their very vigorous, this helps a lot when fighting midge.

THanks Patty. I have never heard of Kordes ADR or Pin or even Kosmos roses. We don't have much of a problem with mildew here, but black spot is awful.

My zone is 7, and teas and chinas love it here. I think I run a risk of winter problems the first winter with some of them, then after that they are fine. The only one that comes to mind that is winter sensitive the first year has been Mrs B.R. Cant.

My new short list will be maybe Le Vesuve, Perle d' Or, Blush Noisette, Champneys Pink cluster, Rosette Delizy, and on and on.

I think I want some old roses, but I realize that it is getting too late to plant this year.

Do you think the Kordes roses or the others could take the weeks of 100+ temperatures?
Sammy

Sammy, if you want to plant OGRs I would not hesitate to plant Gallicas in my zone 6 garden. If you got bare root plant from say, Pickering, you could do fall planting.

My Le Vesuve stays fairly clean in my garden; not bullet proof, but acceptable AND it blooms constantly.

Pickering also has Kordes roses. Look at the Fairy Tale series. They are new this year and in your zone 7 might do OK with bare root planting.

Good luck,

Barbara

Sammy - you know that there are lots of old threads on no-spray roses so those would be places I would start. But in our zone, although I'm out east, Morning has Broken is pretty good - very little BS at all and it blooms nicely. I've SPd a few BS prone roses this year. Hurdy Gurdy, although I liked it, was completely bare in July and it went. More are to go.

Crepuscule never has BS. Knockout obviously. Mons Tillier never gets BS but it gets really big. Marie Pavie and Perle d'Or are also great.

And don't overlook la Marne. Almost no BS and it blooms longer than any other plant, not to mention any other rose. Blooms into the late late fall/early winter. Great rose.

Good luck.

Sammy, Ping Lim is a hybridizer who hybridizes roses for Baily nurseries. He has developed a line of hardy relatively disease resistant roses sold in many nurseries. The hardy tree rose, Polar Joy, is one of his introductions. Jungs carries many of his roses, including Polar Joy.

Hey Carla, thanks for the compliment.
Barb, I need to broaden my selections. I am not familiar with kordes roses. I keep thinking that I want fall planting, and I could do it, but I am going to remove most of the roses, and then move some successes from the back to the fron.

Roseninny, I keep thinking I need to search for those threads since I started many of them, but when I have something to say, I just begin writing.

I do have Crepuscule, and La Marne. La Marne never looks real clean to me, but I haven't SP'd it. The little flowers just get dirty looking. I agree that Mons. Tillier is great, but Marie gets spots, drops leaves and regrows them for me. There is a huge difference in climates.

Karl, is that rose also suitable where it get really hot? I grew up around Indianapolis, you know. Indiana can get almost as hot as anywhere, but it doesn't start as early as Tulsa or last as long.

Sammy

The tree rose Polar Joy, if that's the rose you are referring to, takes the heat well in my area in the summer. It can get quite hot here, same as Indianapolis. Mine is planted in a very large black tree pot and the top has gotten quite bushy. It repeats well and shows no signs of disease. Even the Japanese beetles left it alone this year.
Even though you get very hot summers early, your winter cold can be quite severe and that's what you have to plan for.
You should check the flower form though as the flowers are pink singles. It's rated zones 4 to 9
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Here is a link that might be useful: Polar Joy

Karl that is very pretty. It reminds me somewhat of Basye's Blueberry.

We are fortunate to have fewer problems with the cold than you do. Our misfortune is that we will have a sudden freeze just as the roses are budding. Or better stated, the temperatures are so warm in Jan. and Feb., that the roses begin to grow, then we have a sudden hard freeze.

Sammy

Sammy,
I've got quite a few roses and I'm growing them no spray starting this past spring. I don't know how far you are away from Texarkana, but feel free to email me and come over some time to check out how they are doing.
I always wanted to throw HTs in with my OGRs, but going no spray is meaning that many of my HTs are going to get the shovel this fall. Some of them are really really not doing well - not just leafless, but dying back - now that I'm not spraying. I've been looking for more teas to add to the garden, though in reality I've already got most of the teas that are available that I like the color and flower shape of.
Carrie

I am so thrilled that another rose gardener has gone no-spray. I've never sprayed any of my 200+ rosebushes with anything that is not organic method, usually Cornell, but I don't have the problem with blackspot that is so common in the midwest, we have mostly p.m. where I grow roses. I've grown mostly Old Garden Tea roses, Noisettes', and Hybrid Musk roses.
I just started using a new organic method solution against aphids using 1 quart of Listerine, 1 quart of water and 1-2 tsp. Canola oil, and it has worked very well for the last week, even on my white roses.

Luxrosa