Here is a list and some comments I found from others on the Romantica threads from several years back. As long as I can manage these in the midwest I probably have room for another 4-5. Still in contention for addition to my garden:

Frederick Mistral (already on order). Bush gets tall and wide. Piercingly strong fragrance, constant repeat but late on the first flush of the season. Easy to grow

Yves Piaget Cabbage flowers that smell great, last for a long time. Love this rose. The flowers are so huge & fragrant that they are heavenly. The bush, however, sucks. It looks like a pile of sticks. There are so few leaves that I am not quite sure how it can make those flowers-but it does. Wonderful flower, but don't put it in the front row.

Andre Le Notre/Betty White - LIke a shrub rose on steroids. 6 months after being planted she is a tall giantess,with towerlike columns of 2 canes with 14-16 blooms on each,and a good number of blooms elsewhere for something that has such big blooms, huge glossy leaves, gigantic blooms, nearly baseball sized, of creamy white and pale pink. very fragrant of old rose and rose cologne. Here it only opens well when we have 4-5 days of 80 degrees plus weather, otherwise the buds rot . Haven't done a petal count yet.

Auguste Renoir - balls some but it's a gorgeous deep pink and is bs resistant. very nice rich shade of medium pink, very fragrant, of old rose.

Bolero -Very promising white. Mine is still a small baby but the flowers last long and are deliciously sweet smelling.

Contesse De Provence /Liv Tyler- Moved this year to part shade. Flower burned out immediately for me in the sun last year.

Rouge Royal -Also beautiful red, great smell, Smell is intoxicating, as with F. Mistral and Colette, so far I did not find lasting as cut flower. Needs afternoon shade otherwise the petals burn. Must be sprayed regularly against bs but he improved a lot in his second year. ants to get wide, about 4 feet tall for me. Blooms in distinct flushes, awesome fragrance, beautiful deep color. Needs tlc.

Peter Mayle Beautful, great smell, flowers tend to burn out fast- Grows tall and narrow. Has big very fragrant flowers for me, on a clean bush. I liked mine so much, I've added a second this year. ery healthy, tall, many long strong stems, big stinky blooms, great to cut.

Colette - Very pretty, smaller blooms. Bush or climber.

Tchaikovsky - Gorgeous big white with yellow flower.

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Probably wouldn't go with these, if they really aren't very fragrant or have these problems:

Guy de Mapassant,(sp) is very pretty, unfortunately no fragrance. Neither has Eden.

Michelangelo New this year, but is growing very well. Not very strong smelling to my nose yet. Big yellow flowers that seem to hold their color pretty well in full sun. not too impressed with Michelangelo, at least not yet. The blooms are small and nothing to write home about. Austin's Charlotte is next to him and wins hands down.

Pierre de Ronsard (aka Eden) �no scent, not a good repeater

Guy de Maupassant �no scent, balls

Toulouse Letrec got vegetative centers whenever the whole crowd got their in line drip fertilizer. wonderful citrussy scent, good cut, good repeat. Fungally fragile.

Traviata red flower, Disease resistant but no smell.

Abbaye De Cluny �balls excessively in humidity/rain? in humid climate few buds open, tends to ball a lot, JBs love him as much as FM.

Francois Rabelais no smell

Jean Giono Buttery, canary yellow. Disease susceptible, no scent. Awesome and lasted a long time on bush this spring. Not the best repeat here this summer, but I struggle with pot location and regular care including spray, fertilizer, also this year we were decimated after spring flush with bugs that ate everyone's leaves. Nice big bush some mildew.

Johann Strauss-- I think the prettiest pick rose with a tint of green, not much smell Frgrance isn't that impressive, and here in the torrid south he fades to white far too quickly

Thank you, stlgal, for putting together the above for others to reference. I ordered Firefighter own-root from Roses Unlimited, but I'm not sure it's best for my alkaline clay, zone 5a. I was looking for an alternative and found your list.

I'll wait on Liv Tyler to see how well it survives Krista's zone 4 winter. The Romanticas are impressive in terms of health, beauty of the bush, and fragrance.

Johann Strauss is a non stop bloomer for me even though it has no scent. If you like bouquets for the house or something that you can put in a place that you want a showy bush this is your pink. Plants are nicely shaped too.

Frederick M. (we call him freddie) is a huge vigorous HT but smells great. No disease for me until late Nov. when he gets rust but I don't spray.

Francois is a fine rose. Blooms all the time in clusters with the prettiest old fashioned true red roses that last and don't fade even in afternoon sun. No scent but very delightful and we planted him by the front door because he looks so good on a tidy no fuss plant. All you have to do is snap off the old flowers and you are done.

Did you look at Sonia Rykiel yet? This is very nice and has powerful sweet fragrance. Can get large and spreading but all in all performing as well as my Austins. Does not seem fussy at all.

I had to move my Rouge Royale around a few times to find the perfect spot which is in morning sun. Now he's happy and I hope I'll get more flowers as he gets larger. The shape, color and fragrance are wonderful.

I adore the flowers and fragrance of Comtesse de Provence/Liv Tyler, but the plant has been a weak, diseased disaster. I've tried three plants, and they've all been bad. :(

Yves is very good. It needs good soil and fertilizer to produce those big, heavy flowers. 'Bolero' has been excellent, a real bloom machine with good strong fragrance. Andre Le Notre suffered terribly from Thrips here.

I have two Rouge Royals and LOVE them! They are definitly red-red, so I'm not sure about putting them next to William Shakespear. I have one between a white and a yellow, and the other is between Paw Maw (light & dark pink blend) and Chihuly (yellow and orange stripes) which I really need to move it away from...talk about clashing!!! lol. Its flushes are close together and its been healthy for me.

Tammy

I'm trying a limited number of them this year, to see how they like my garden--Frederic Mistral, Liv Tyler, Yves Piaget, Peter Mayle, and Colette.

I confirm the observation that Rouge Royale is intoxicating, but it is not a good cut and doesn't like the heat.

Get Yves Piaget, it has an amazing scent and reblooms very well. I grew him in California and he was one of my favourite roses. I can't find an outlet for Romantica roses in England, but I miss Yves Piaget so much that I am considering paying for the shipping charges to have it sent from France.

I also grew Liv Tyler, which had a good scent and big flowers but had problems with rust; Guy de Maupassant, which bloomed continuously and had amazingly beautiful flowers but no scent and also rusted; and Eden, which is lovely to look at but, again, no scent and rust prone.

Yves, an amazing rose. When I was in Switzerland last year they were sellling it at a florist shop, I recognised it immediately and confirmed it was Yves... bought one very expensive bloom and carried it around with me for two days, delighting in its fragrance.

cheers,
robert

I don't think Rouge Royale would like our steamy and/or scalding hot summers here then. I can't wait for these to arrive and get to growing this spring-they sound gorgeous and fragrant!

I second Hoovb's compliment on Bolero. In the alkaline rose park nearby, Bolero has the most bloom per area of the bush (more flowers than leaves). Austin roses have the least bloom for the space that they occupy. Frederic Mistral does well in the park's alkaline clay soil: vigorous and many blooms, plus thornless long stems.

Thanks Kitty for recommending Sonia Rykiel, she's coming here with Bolero this May along with others odered from Roses Unlimited.

Yves Piaget is wonderful, especially if you plant companion plants near it to hide its skimpy undercarriage. One of my favorite blooms of any rose.

I don't have Bolero but it's so universally praised I would get it if I wanted a really great white modern rose (I grow mostly antiques).

Fredrick Mystral- Give Freddie lots of room, he likes to spread out. He is late to start blooming, but once he gets going, he's almost constant. If you have a thrip problem,they will find Freddy...
Yves Piaget- Yves was a fun flower to smell, but a little bugger to grow on his own root. Maybe a grafted one would be better I don't know.
Comtesse De Provence- A polarizing scent. Either you love it or hate it. I love it. Easy in my Chicagoland garden. A dependable plant.
Rouge Royal- I love it, I hate it, I love it I hate it. Mine are own root and lot very vigorous. I'd like to try a grafted specimen. I'm not sure why others have a hard time cutting it. I find it to be perfect for cutting, if you cut it before it is open. If you let the flowers open on the bush, many of them look bad. Better to cut most of them and bring inside. They open slowly, last a long time and the scent is absolutely unbelievable. I don't think it would be a problem near William Shakespear, they are very similiar color in my garden.
Peter Mayle- Is a rose everyone should grow. The scent is unbeatable, the cut flowers last a long time, and it doesn't take much space. This rose grows tall and narrow. Not super winter hardy, but I live in Chicago and mine has lived for about 10 years now.
Bolero- A great, dependable grower. Kind of a subtle scent, but it is there in quantity. This is a very easy rose to grow in my garden and grows less like a hybrid tea and more like a small rounded shrub, very much like julia child, only white and a little bigger.

Sounds like I may also have to put Sonia Rykiel and Bolero on the wish list even if I don't put them in this spring. I'm now zone 6b it seems, so hopefully the cold hardiness is not an issue.

Speaking of Yves Piaget.... it is a rose I really, really like! I need a new one, though, but have noticed that the nurseries I've checked with aren't carrying it this year. A quick check on the Star Roses website showed that Yves is no longer listed on their site! :-( Guess I'll have to go mail order through Regan's or someone......
Bolero makes a beautiful display in the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden. Glad to read the good things about it on here, too!

I found it at Roses Unlimited, but that was early December, so they may be out of stock by now. Would be worth dropping them an email if you wish to check.

I'm glad to hear from Robert, England - and Al from our Chicagoland. Both are rainy places and it's good to hear Liv Tyler isn't affected by rain. It's nice to know that Peter Mayle survives zone 5 winter for 10 years, thanks Al.

Hi Stglal, Roses Unlimited carries the Romantica release in 2007, Sweet Promise (peachy orange). I overlooked it since it's a Hybrid Tea. Then I saw that it's hardy to zone 5, plus gorgeous shiny leaves, and yummy apple scent -I'll wait on that one for next year. If anyone grows Sweet Promise please let me know about the thorns. If the thorns are chubby and wide-spaced apart, then I don't mind. Only if the thorns are sharp and long like needles and got stuck in my fingers then I do mind - those are really hard to get out once imbedded.

I'll add to the praise of Bolero.
I grow mostly antique roses at this point, but I started off with about half moderns and half antiques. I think that Bolero and Francis Dubreuil are the only two moderns that haven't died in my garden. I don't spray and disease usually takes the moderns down after a few years.
I think Bolero is wonderfully scented and has a beautiful bloom. I wish there were more roses like this one.
For the record, I've tried Traviata, Abbaye De Cluny, Francois Rabelais, and Johann Strauss.
Can anyone tell me about the black spot resistance, growth habit, and fragrance of Tchaikovski?

Roses Unlimited stated that Tchaikovski is fragrant in their brochure. There's a picture of Tchaikovski in the Rose Gallery with the person's comment that they like it a lot.

I don't see how Sweet Promise rose can be afflicted with any diseases: It's foliage is super-glossy, very healthy, not a speck of diseases. It's hardy to zone 5b. The young leaves are pretty-red, the older leaves are dark green. The stems are sturdy, it's beaufifully-shaped even without flowers! I don't see any thorns whatsoever in Sweet Promise own-root from Roses Unlimited - what an incredible Romantica.

Chicago is rainy?????