I tired Crepescule in my Florida garden. It grew like it would take over the world. In 3 years it only got 1 bloom. Maybe it needed more sun. It was in my best spot though. The one bloom was before I planted it and it was up on an upstairs balcony, different position than where it was planted. It looked like the right rose though. Thanks Buford for these suggestions.

Mine took awhile to get going. I also had it in a spot that only got a lot of sun in the early spring, so it didn't get much of a repeat bloom.

That's good to know Buford. It sure is a pretty one.

Don't know how helpful this will be in Florida, but here in zone 6 Kansas my absolutely non-spray roses are a mixed lot:

• Home Run (shrub)--but a prickly son-of-a-gun!
• Green Ice (mini)--I have seven scattered around the garden, at the feet of the taller or more bare-kneed HTs.
• Double Knock Out (shrub)--well, you asked, and it is BS free
• Queen of Sweden (Austin Shrub)
• Munstead Wood (Austin Shrub)
• Fru Dagmar Hastrup (hybrid rugosa)
• Felicia (hybrid musk)
• Ghislaine de Feligonde (hybrid musk/hybrid multiflora/rambler)
• The Fairy (polyantha)
• Cecile Brunner (polyantha)

Hope that helps.

Kate

Thanks Kate. Munstead Wood is on my short list. I'm glad it is good for you,

The Cracker rose (Louis Phillipe) Grows like a week for me and the roses are so scented that you can make rose water out of it.

In the area where you are going to be, Pink Pet would be bullet proof. Also all of the Knock Out's (I have 3 different ones). Rosa Rugosa and Rosa Rugosa Alba. All of these are great roses but like ANY rose, a little dead heading and watering will keep them looking great all season long.

I agree on Louis Phillipe. Also Mother of Pearl, Zephirine Drouhin, The Fairy, Pearl D'Or, Mutablis, Bishop's Castle, Belinda's Dream, and several other of the Earth Kind roses tested by Texas A& M. In Augusta these roses may get some black spot but they keep growing and blooming and don't seem to b bothered too much. I plant my roses in mixed beds so they blend in and are hidden if they have a few weeks of looking sparse. I don't seem to have mildew here.

Good luck! Munstead Wood is on my list too!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'm familiar with some and not others.

Own root R. rugosa s really are much happier and productive in sand than in clay, even with the clay is heavily emended.

What I read again and again is that the best classes of roses in the southeast would be Chinas, Teas, Noisettes, Tea-Noisettes, some Hybrid Musks, and some Polyanthas -- especially those with Tea ancestry, like 'Cecile Brunner' and 'Perle d'Or' among the Polyanthas, and 'Prosperity' and 'Buff Beauty' among the Hybrid Musks. These are CLASSES of roses, so within each are many different individual cultivars. For shadier areas, of the types I mentioned, look for old non-Tea Noisettes of the 'Blush Noisette' family, Hybrid Musks, as well as some Polyanthas for smaller plants. And look to see if 'R. moschata' would fit in your Georgia garden. It starts blooming in mid to late Summer and continues to frost. When it's mature and established, the fragrance on a warm humid night would be heavenly.

As far as any other roses go, it's very hit-or-miss within a class -- there may be a handful among the Hybrid Teas, Floribundas, Shrubs, etc. that work, as well as many that don't. Generally, the OGR classes are grouped more by ancestry, whereas the modern roses are grouped more by appearance. Hybrid Musks and Polyanthas are technically modern, but they do have similar ancestry -- both being basically derived from Multiflora with China, Tea, Noisette, and/or early Hybrid Tea (in the case of some Hybrid Musks) mixed in. Consider roses from these groups as generally being "safe bets" for filling the garden. Carefully research which cultivars of other groups are known to do well for your area, and don't take that to mean that ALL or even MANY of that group would also do well. For example, the Austins are a really mixed bag. There may be a few which work for you, but likely many more which don't.

:-)

~Christopher

Easy Does It is an amazing rose for me in South Florida. Also Heritage, europeana, olympiad, duchess De Brabant, dick Clark, quietness, belindas dream, granada, the shepherdess, pat austin, colorific, calico, & dames de chenonceau. Also all the drift roses do well for me.

Another vote for Easy Does It & Belinda's Dream in this hot & humid central Virginia no spray garden on clay-based loam. More roses that stay clean without intervention here, bloom generously & often and have good to excellent fragrance, with the tallest first:

Talisman, Climbing (Western Rose Co. 1930) http://tinyurl.com/zvpd482

Westerland http://tinyurl.com/pr5b3ak & its sport Autumn Sunset

http://tinyurl.com/gvcr6pg

America http://tinyurl.com/ohpautu & its sport Pearly Gates http://tinyurl.com/z3u242a

Rosarium Uetersen/Seminole Wind http://tinyurl.com/z7ov6a5

White Cap http://tinyurl.com/julu35p

Aloha (Boerner '49) http://tinyurl.com/nvku2ed & its sport Dixieland Linda/Lady Ashe http://tinyurl.com/hx6kcgu

Golden Celebration http://tinyurl.com/zco9mzu

Lafter http://tinyurl.com/noyxpaz

Firefighter http://tinyurl.com/p22pxfw

Belinda's Dream http://tinyurl.com/zyqpvvy

Easy Does It http://tinyurl.com/plol4rb

Abbaye de Cluny http://tinyurl.com/omkn47y

Julia Child http://tinyurl.com/ha63j4a

Sunsprite http://tinyurl.com/jqyog2d

The Endeavour http://tinyurl.com/golethc