I loved the first flush or two out of our Abe, but I think the spot I have him in gets too much reflected heat. I am trying to decide if I would rather something in front of the wall that reflects or to move Abe. At some point, there will be a grape arbor on the hot lower side of the yard from him. But rather than see him hang on, I might move to a cooler spot. With him I will move Golden Celebration too, mostly cause that particular plant is a dog, should be replaced with a better one, but will give it one last chance... I think they will like this location better but it is on the shady side all summer (persimmon trees)

Lenie, I read your post and read your list of selections. I am a bit south of you, but I do grow all my roses without chemical support. I grow all the roses on your list except Eglantyne and Easy does it. From your list I would recommend the following: Charles de mills Belle amour Comte de chambord Felicite parmentier Fantin latour Tuscany superb Madame hardy Graham thomas Moinuex Pat Austin Sophy's rose Benjamin britten Belinda's dream Charles Darwin Tamora Charlotte I left all of the David Austins on your list because you indicated that you are willing to spray. I am not willing to spray. I do have a rather high tolerance for BS. There are some David Austins that seem to be doing rather well for me without spray: Sweet Juliet Alexandra Rose Comte des Champagnes Benjamin Britten Constance Spry Tess of the d'Urbevilles Teasing Georgia Queen of Sweeden Malvern Hills I'm sure there are more in the garden, but these seem to perform well enough. I would also recommend that you consider: Shailer's Provence The Bishop White Cap Darlow's Enigma Marcessa Bocella Jenny Duval Daybreak Salet I guess I could go on ad infinitum suggesting OGRs for a no spray garden. Good luck. Robert

Wow, thanks for all the feedback, that will definitely be a lot to digest! I guess I should add my short summary of the Austin's I've grown for anyone else researching DA's for this season: Ambridge Rose - Started off in a poor location but since I moved it to a pot it has blossomed. Short grower of 2-3 ft. Once I rid it of rust it has done quite well. Beautiful, large cupped flowers of pale pink cream centers. Petal edges are often scalloped. Medium myrhh scent. Fairly thornless, lovely foliage. Benjamin Britten - Very thorny, strong and upright plant. Color is a very intriguing blend of a saturated raspberry with a tint of orange. Amazing cent is fruity and strong, of apples to me. No disease. Tall growth of 5 - 6 ft. Lots or flowers, ok repeat. Brother Cadfael - Grown as climber, very stout and vigorous. 2-3 major flushes. Huge chalice cupped pink to dusty pink blooms. Completely thorn-free. Interestingly this year, the first flush was scented strongly of myrrh, the second flush had lost that scent and was purely tea. Flowers crisp in heat but fail to full open without plenty of sunshine. Jude the Obscure - Doing great now that I removed the ivy and roots around it, took a bit to get established after ridding it of rampant rust. Grown as a climber, around 6-7 ft in partial shade. Beautiful cupped blossoms with a delectable fruity scent. The very tangy scent is probably the favorite of all my Austins. Unfortunately it seems to start losing its petals as soon as it is plucked. Very few thorns. Ok repeat. Kathryn Morely - Fairly thorny, especially around the base canes. Lovely, delicate blossoms of pink fading to white. Repeats well and often. Mine is a bit straggly since it was planted in a relatively sunny/hot area. Grown as climber, must have hit 8-10 ft this summer. Very light, almost undetectable scent. Carding Mill - My current favorite. Very few thorns, no disease. Constant flush of blooms, huge blossoms, very strong myrrh scent. The color of the blooms is amazing, fading from orange to pink to cream. When the blossoms age they turn a pale apricot, but retain its petals all the way until the end. Lovely foliage. Growth of around 5-6 ft. I love how the petal edges are scalloped, and young flowers often remind my of water lilies. Sweet Juliet - Amazing scent when you can get it to bloom. Mine seems much more bent on throwing out canes and vast amounts of foliage after the first year of blooms. Also seems prone to powdery mildew and BS. Lovely multicolor blooms that are medium to small size. Bushy, growth that needs to be well trimmed. The Mary Rose - This is probably the best bloomer I've had, with the entire bush constantly covered in peony like pink blooms - also always my first Austin to bloom each yr. Each flush the plant which I've grown as a nice arching bush (canes arch beautifully) is completely covered in medium pink flowers that gradually fade to very pale pink. Scent to me is like soap from a boutique shop. Fairly thorny and prone to BS and mildew. Generous Gardener - Tiny own root plant, seems to be a pretty good bloomer. I know I'll love the blooms, now if I can just get the plant to grow. Charles Renne Macintosh - Own root, young and struggingly against mildew. Interesting color of flowers Graham Thomas - Own root, doing quite well. Few thorns and very nicely formed yellow flowers. Lovely tea scent. Golden Celebration - Fairly good repeat, lovely scent. Nice bushy growth. Abraham Darby - picked this one up at costco w/ Golden Celebration. Very vigorous growth, although the huge and heavy blooms are too much for he canes to support. Lovely color and strong fruity scent. The Ingenious Mr Fairchild - twiggy growth with a lot of blooms. Problem is that the spindly shoots are too weak to support the heavy blooms. The scent is an interesting mix of raspberry and others. Fairly thorny, vigorous growth. Can't help putting out its unique and lovely blossoms. No disease. Geoff Hamilton - Nice bushy growth, this one has some lovely flowers. A bright pink inside its compact petals fades quickly to quite. Lovely blooms. St Cecilia - The blooms were pretty nice and it was doing pretty well until it looks like it has succumbed to some sort of spider mite, or something. Blooms turn brown in the bud and the canes and leaves are sticky all over - haven't had the time to diagnose what has happened to it. Othello - Interesting almost pinkish red blooms. We were hoping for a dark red but this wasn't it. Vigorous growth, but holy crap.. the thorns. I had never seen such a thorny plant.. it was growing double rows of thorns rather like the teeth of a great white shark. The original canes had few thorns, but the new ones you could barely see the cane itself. Unfortunately the thorns and pinkish color caused us to give it away. Scepter'd Isle - Lovely petal formation, but the flowers don't seem to last, especially when cut. Currently throwing 10-14 ft tall canes with few flowers. We're waiting to reposition it at which point it'll probably be pruned back very heavily or turned into a climber. Not much scent to the blooms, although plant is disease free and almost thornless.

I have a David Austin rose called 'Heritage' that I have grown for more than ten years now without spraying with anything at all and it is beautiful. My entire yard and garden are grown organically. I think that whether a rose performs well (after making a good selection, which includes buying a rose that is growing on its own roots, not a grafted rose) it is more important to figure out how to prune the bush than anything else, if you are most concerned with having a solid show of beautiful roses throughout the season. I haven't mastered that skill yet, but 'Heritage' still gives me beautiful roses. Sometimes when I accidentally prune her just right, I am rewarded ten-fold. As an organic gardener, I have also learned this about aphids: You will most likely see some aphids in the spring on the young tender growth of your roses (and other plants). Leave them alone for awhile and don't fret. The aphids hatch out a little earlier than the ladybugs, and are the primary food for the ladybug nymphs. If you kill all the aphids, your ladybugs will have to look elsewhere for food, and you will be depriving your garden of an extremely beneficial predator. Learn to be patient and watch and wait. In just a few days the young ladybugs will come crawling for their first succulent meals, and they will clean up all the aphids. It's a wonder to see. Lesson #2 about ladybugs is that if you sweep your entire yard clean of leaves in the fall, they have nowhere to nest and lay their eggs. They like to lay eggs and raise their young under bushes in leaves and debris. Leave some habitat there for them.