I have both Twilight Zone and three Ebb Tide roses, and TZ does not fade nearly as much as ET. I have a number of lavender roses and the one which, to my surprise, did beautifully in our hottest overall summer on record, was Angel Face, more of a mauve than a lavender. We do not have blackspot here, so that's not a problem with this rose, but I don't know about your area, and, of course, Texas is hotter than here. Another good lavender that is very vigorous and doesn't seem fazed by the heat is Blueberry Hill. Diane

I have Ebb Tide, and it is very purple. However, mine gets some afternoon shade, so it doesn't fade. I also have The Prince which also does very well. The colors do vary with the temps.

Neptune - lavender color

Angle Face is a Floribunda that is lavender and it can handle the TX heat. Blue Girl is also a lavender and lot of Texans grow it, However it is a HT.

Twilight Zone is amazing. Very rich velvet dark purple--when the afternoon sun lights it up it glows. And it has a great fragrance. Bushy growth.
Full morning until afternoon sun. Not the intense fry of late afternoon tho. I bet it would do well in Texas.
Susan

Go with morning sun, afternoon shade. If you are really passionate mad for deep color, consider a shade structure over the plant. I've been experimenting with shade cloth over certain plants as the professional growers use shade cloth structures in this area so much. What an amazing difference in color and foliage health!

My favorites in heat (that I grow at least) - are Heirloom and Angel Face. The first is a larger bush, blooms are medium purple - darker than lavendar, but not deep purple. Fragrance is amazing. Blooms do not shrink in size in summer (like Blue Girl which for me does NOT do well in the heat - it just shuts down). My Heirloom does get a few hours of afternoon shade.

Angel Face (which I sadly lost this year to gophers, and WILL replace), is lighter lavendar, floribunda, not that large, very prolific, and thrived in my heat and full sun. Wonderful fragrance. I really miss her.

I have Blueberry Hill, and for me it naps in the heat (and since all the other purple/lavendars I have have fragrance, its lack of is disappointing).

Neptune is on my wish list. Blooms are large and unbelievably fragrant. Twilight Zone started with a bang (but the gophers got to it, and it spent this summer growing back its foliage). Ebb Tide is new for me, but I have seen how smokey its blooms get in full sun.

I also have Heirloom. It is new this year, so the jury is still out for me as to how well its blooms can handle heat. So far, in bad heat, Heirloom's blooms fry almost instantly...but when weather moderates, its blooms are gorgeous, and I agree with everything harmony said about it. But it's no Angel Face (also pretty new) when it comes to the heat here. That is one tough rose in this climate. As for my Ebb Tides, they fade to awful magentas and sick pinks when the sun is at its hottest, not the smoky look. I would go for Twilight Zone over Ebb Tide now, judging from its performance for me so far. Nevertheless, I will stick with all of them because of the good qualities they do have. Diane

All of those will require spraying. The only no spray purple roses that I can name will be Veilchnblau, Hansa, Violet Hood, and Yesterday. None of these do that great in heat. You WILL get great spring and fall flushes from them though, and with almost no fussing.

It depends on where you live as to whether these roses need spraying. We don't have fungal diseases here, so I don't spray any roses, including purple roses. Diane

I second Diane's Angel Face report. A stunning rose - one of my fav's. I understand it gets diseased in humid areas, but if that's not your case, it is hard to beat the bloom quantity and quality and the fragrance. For a darker redish/purple both IHT and Outta the Blue have been great in the heat. Outta the Blue is very robust and a non-stop bloomer. Ebb Tide - as all have noted - is a crispy critter for me in the heat. For a smaller rose, Sweet Chariot is hard to beat for a purple. I did plant a Purple Splash this Spring and have been very, very impressed. Very vigorous, and covered with blooms all summer. We'll see how it takes the winter.

A second for 'Angel Face' and a suggestion of 'Blue Skies', a beautiful lavender Griffith Buck rose. See the link below for the latter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings blog on Blue Skies

Sweetness is a floribunda purple rose that is very heat tolerant. It also seems to be very disease resistant from my experience.

Since this thread was first posted, Love Song, a lavender floribunda has come on the scene, and I've found it to be quite heat resistant in our hot, dry summers. In fact, I got a second Love Song this spring, I liked it so well. LS continually produces large lavender blooms all season that are tougher than they look. Her rounded, neat growth habit is pretty appealing, too. Diane

professorroush - I really enjoyed your garden musings!! Thank you very much for the link!

Carol

My pleasure. I hope you enjoy the info and the writing!