I think you "need" 'Mrs. B. R. Cant', 'Safrano', 'Rosette Delizy', "Maggie," Several red Chinas, 'Old Blush', 'Devoniensis' (climbing form if you have space; otherwise shrub form), As many Noisettes as you can stand.

Malcolm is ABSOLUTELY correct. Among the red Chinas, do not fail to enjoy 'Louis Phillipe' and 'Cramoisi Superieur.'

Jeri

Here is Mme. Berkely - she is covered right now in beautiful blooms - others are Georgetown Tea, Wong Fang Yon [beautiful, darker coral shade, most unusual!], Nachitoches Noisette, Crepuscule [a MUST HAVE - gorgeous apricot, climbs, blooms all the time!], Skyrocket, Felicia. But Crepuscule is my all time favorite. I just bought another Mme. Berkely yesterday - she is so beautiful!
Judith

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I agree on Mme. Berkeley. Some dislike her because her blooms are not large -- but I love her because she is almost never without a LOT of blooms. She can be a very big plant, if allowed to reach her preferred size, but all of her is floriferous and disease-free, here in Southern California.

Here is her bloom:
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Jeri

"Antique Roses for the South" by Welch is a great book for history and recs of roses. Also, the Charleston Rose Society has published a book called "Noisettes" (to which, I believe, Dr. Manners contributed a great deal).
Charleston is a national treasure. So rich in history.
Soak it all in.
Susan

Jeri, that bloom looks like a confection out of an Easter basket. Yum.
I have one of order. . .*sigh*
Susan

Le Vesuve is one of my favorites (I have four), also William R. Smith (huge, silvery pink roses), Mrs. B.R. Cant (blooms constantly, Souvenir d'un Ami, Mrs. Dudley Cross, Reve d'Or (beautiful climber, but don't put it against a hot wall), the Bermuda Rose Miss Atwood and Rosette Delizy. Also the delicately beautiful Cels Multiflora and, if you have a large space, the China Mutabilis, a must-have for me.

Ingrid

Take yourself on a day trip to Roses Unlimited, a bit northwest of Columbia. It is the largest dealer in the east, now, for OGRs and esp those that do well in SC. BIll&Pat are very knowledgeable, easy to get on with, and their garden is great, so you can see what things will really look like.

There is a nice little book, Noisettes, put out by the Charleston Horticultural Society.

Welcome to southern roses. You are in for a treat!

Oh my.. You all are so sweet for all of the suggestions... I just love the pictures. How beautiful! I'm so overwhelmed with the choices. I love the pinks, expecially the vibrant pinks and the blends of colors in some of the tea and china roses. I love that Mme Lombard. I was doing some research and I do like the Duchess de Brabant as well as Mrs. B R Cant. Now you all have given me more to google. lol. I've seen some various pictures of the red chinas such as Louis Phillipe and Cramoisi Superieur. Are they more of a deep "true" red or are they more of a crimson? I have not seen any up close as some of the others. I have never grown roses in the South, so I'm somewhat nervous/excited to try. I have seen some beautiful old specimens walking around town and in private gardens. I wish I knew their names... I will certainly look into the books and Roses unlimited. Do you all know any other sources? I ordered the first three from Antique Rose Emporium and they were healthy little plants. They started to bud within 2 weeks of receiving them. I have to do some more research, I guess, on line, but I love all of your suggestions. N

Angel Gardens down in Florida is a great source for Southern Roses and Pam, the owner, is amazing!
Susan

Louis Phillipe is a rich blood red, to my eye. There is no orange tinge to the color -- more a slight shading toward blue-red, if any. The color lightens toward the center. I find Cramoisi Superieur to be similar. ?Maybe slightly darker? Maybe not.
Louis Phillipe, in particular, is a tough, no-nonsense rose that can take a lot of punishment, once-established, and bounce back.
We have a short, south-facing retaining wall which bounces the sun's heat back brutally. That wall killed 4-5 roses we planted there -- but then we stuck Louis Phillipe there, and the wall problem was solved. LP has become quite large, and its foliage protects its canes from the heat.

Jeri

Lucky you! You will love Charleston though the heat and humidity of the summers take some getting used to. What a wonderful place to garden. My favorite tea rose is Mrs. B. R. Cant but allow her some space. She can easily get 10' in diameter. She is not bothered by diseases and is a blooming machine. I agree that cresupule is possibly the best Noisette with the lovely apricot blooms. Also visit the gardens there for ideas, especially Magnolia Garden. Camellias will be wonderful as well as dogwoods, azaleas, gardenias and others. You can easily have year around bloom. Enjoy this wonderful historic area.

Opps! I forgot to add that I do not like Mme. Berkeley. She got shovel pruned from my garden because of the very small and infrequent blooms. She was taking up valuable sunny space in my mostly shady garden. Also consider Belinda's Dream, the beautiful pink Earthkind shrub rose from Texas. Though not an old one, it is very disease resistant and full of wonderful large roses begging to be cut for your home.

BUT Mme. Berkeley blooms constantly in my part of Southern CA. So ... Where you are located -- matters. I don't think she likes dry heat.

Jeri

BUT Mme. Berkeley blooms constantly in my part of Southern CA. So ... Where you are located -- matters. I don't think she likes dry heat.

Jeri

How big does Mme Berkeley get in your garden Jeri?

OH, pretty big! She's only about 5.5-6 ft tall, but she's probably 7 ft. wide. She has eaten her neighbors.

But what a BEAUTIFUL plant! No disease.

She's got a lot of bloom right now, but I haven't gone down to look, because I know she hates desert-dry East Wind.

Jeri

Jeri, I am in hot and humid North Carolina, so we do not have dry heat. I did have good spring bloom on Mme. Berkely this year but decided her small blooms were not to my liking. She had no disease, was probably 3' high and reaching 6' in diameter. As I said, my sun space is limited, so I decided to put in another Belinda's Dream. I lost Mrs. B. R. Cant to RRD two years ago and have now put in another. I love her large blooms with stems long enough to cut. I agree that Roses Unlimited in Laurens, SC is THE PLACE to buy/order roses. Pat and Bill are so helpful and a pleasure to deal with. Do visit their gardens and pick out your own roses.

nikkie, I don't know whether you're familiar with helpmefindroses.com, which is THE most valuable and incredible source for checking out the appearance of any rose you might be interested in. Each rose has several pictures, sometimes pages of pictures for the more popular roses, many supplied by people who are or have been on this forum. I, and I'm sure many others here, simply couldn't do without this site when trying to decide which rose to order.