I can tell you two things.

First that the scent on Heirloom is simply amazing. I grew it this summer as body bag and even though I recently had to compost it the scent was just wonderful. I'll probably grow it again from a reputable vendor one day.

Now let's talk about the b/f and his unnatural attachment to the lawn:) You are doing right by warming him up with only six roses I think. If you add a bed like that every year for the next few years you will be all set in short order! However take my suggestion and when you add your future beds make them bigger than six so you won't have to wait too long for all the roses you are growing fond of now. Your boyfriend will get used to the idea with time.

Best of luck.

Kate

I have Barbra Streisand and Ebb Tide. BS is a classic HT with superb perfumey fragrance, good for cutting. It will probably appreciate afternoon shade if you are inland. Mine took several years to produce well. It has been a little fussy.

Ebb Tide is more of a rose for garden color. It blooms in large clusters and makes a big splash in the garden, but the flowers are not the best for cutting in that some of the cluster is finished before other flowers in the cluster are opening. The scent is not powerful but it is nice. It is a sweet clove, not a bitter, dry kind of clove.

Another rose I can recommend for superb fragrance is 'Purple Passion', which is not that purple, but the fragrance is really, really divine. I like the fragrance just a little better than Barbra Streisand and the plant is more vigorous.

I have seen Heirloom in neighborhood gardens and it is a fine rose, it does get very tall 7'+ in Southern California so keep that in mind as you place it. Barbra is shorter staying slightly under 5' and Ebb Tide is kind of average, around 5'.

Thanks for the input! I did forget to mention one thing: I don't need to worry about the bush being a good cutting bush. I can't take flowers indoors because my cats chomp them and then barf them back up. :P So pleasant. So I enjoy all of my roses on the bush.

I planted four roses in May and one has already reached 7' with two others in the 5-6' range (Catalina, Neptune, and Mardi Gras). I got used to the tall rosebush idea in a hurry. :D The new flowerbed shouldn't have any height issues... it's lining the walkway to the front porch and all the bushes will be accessible from two sides. I'd just need to keep them from spreading into the walkway, but I think I'm making the bed wide enough that it shouldn't be a problem. Purple Passion looks lovely, btw. Argh, decisions!

I am stealing some of the lawn to make this bed, despite the boyfriend's laments - and Kate, that's a good and sneaky idea with the slow takeover! The original idea I had would allow for 20 bushes and leave just a center area of lawn. He really balked at that one. I do think the lawn is pretty, but... roses!

I love Heirloom. When that rose is on, there is nothing like it. It wafts fragrance all around like someone waving a perfume wand and the blooms are beautiful.

It does get tall and it does need spraying in my zone. Its not a tall upright skinny bush either.

I increased the sizes of my rosebeds by making them 5-6 inches wider each year. My wife didn't notice it, she though I was just weeding and working the soil.

You've come to the right place to learn how to be sneaky.

Barbra Streisand has done well for me near the coast. Great fragrance! In fact, I brought a Barbra Streisand in to the office last week; one of my co-workers took a whiff and immediately grabbed a post-it note to write down the name so that she could order it! Also, I've had trouble with passerbys "picking" (i.e., ripping off the bush) this rose to take home.

I live in inland north SD and love,love,love my Barbara Streisand. The roses are perfect, smell gorgeous and even the leaves are lush. It seems to love our climate. Mine is in a container at the moment as I got it this spring. I haven't done a lot of cutting from it because it is small, but it has done great in it's container and is such a healthy little bush. I say plant a Babs!

I also live in San Diego County and another rose you might like is Angel Face, a beautiful rose that smells wonderful. I also have Ebb Tide and the fragrance to me is great. It does benefit from afternoon shade but so do most purple and lavender roses. One of my all-time favorites is Wild Blue Yonder and when it blooms that's the rose I look at most often.

Ingrid

I have all except Barbara....BM is nice and has a good scent. Heirloom is a stingy bloomer and my body bag has almost croaked several times. There are people on here who have tried this rose 3 or 4 times and it croaks each time. I have 2 ebb tides and they are great but not great form or cutting roses, but there are lots of them and I would not give them up.

I have a whole purple bed and 2 others I recommend it purple passion (Intense lemon scent, good form beautiful rounded bush) and Blue river( beautiful scent, gorgeous rose). PP is my favorite and very vigorous and very BS resistant. It would be great for a newbie. In fact I gave this one to my stepmother who is in a wheelchair. It blooms constantly for he with very little care...just water and deadheading.

Thank you everyone for your helpful input! And it has been very helpful. :) I'm not sure I've made a final decision, but I've gotten it narrowed down with some reasons beyond eenie-meenie-miney-moe, and that makes me feel a lot better about making a choice.

Of course, now I need to actually get the bed made...

I loved Barbra Streisand. She produced really well for me, even being a first-year bareroot. She blackspotted pretty hard, but I don't spray.

I also have two Ebb Tides. One just put out three buds, and they are the amazing purple I had hoped for when I bought them! The smell is not very clove-like to me; the scent is lovely. The flowers were certainly more pink in the heat of summer. The bushes took a hard hit after a bad storm this year, and were touched but not decimated by blackspot.

I have a Night Owl that has done fantastically. It has hardly any scent, but is clean as a whistle, very large, very floriferous (except the JB's loved those blooms TO. Death. )

One of my very favorite roses I planted this year was the mauve Angel face. The ruffled blooms were to die for, and the scent was heavenly. It bloomed very well, too, being another first year rose. (Most of mine are.)

Good luck, have fun!

I have to throw my two cents in also. To completely throw you off course. Go to Helpmefind.com and look up Intrigue. It is a florabunda, dark purple with an incredible scent. Look up Melody Perfume, it is between lavender and purple, really yummy scent, constant bloomer. Wild Blue Yonder is wonderful also. Sorry I know you didn't ask for this advise, but I spent the month of march traveling to look at and smell purple roses. I had a slew of purples to choose from when my rose designer planned my garden, and I thought I would pass on her expertise. She named these purples as the ones to bloom the most with the most disease resistance. Scent is her number one requirement. She chose Neptune over BS for my garden. They are all in my garden now and have been outstanding. They will be even happier with your warmer temperatures. I bet the rose garden at Balboa Park has all these roses.
Eileen