I'm NOT in a tropical climate -- far, far drier. But what Nik said: nikthegreek(9b/10a E of Athens, Greece) What the roses may find stressful as plants is not the heat or humidity but the lack of winter coolness That rang true for me. While not tropical, here in coastal Southern California, we also have No Winter Chill. In that situation, Austin roses that were perfectly well-behaved elsewhere morphed here into Jolly Green Giants ... growing 12- 14-ft. tall, and blooming only at the very top. If we cut them down, they responded by hunkering down and growing back to 12-ft., to produce one large bloom or cluster. After a few seasons of that, we had to acknowledge the advice we had received that these were not the ideal roses for our conditions. We still grow a few Austins . . . Golden Celebration is great here (but would blackspot for you). Prospero is one of my all-time favorites, as is Belle Story, and my DH loves Cymbaline.

I grew dozens at one point, but the only one worth of hoot is still crocus rose. I still get a small smattering of bloom on mary rose, abe darby and heritage. gone are a long list of middle aged ones, jude, sceptered ise, sharifa asma, Geoff Hamilton ect ect.. tried a lot of that time frame, most just couldn't hack it, as I tried growing on own roots, a pretty big no no here in the northeast if trying to grow marginal roses. OF ALL the austins I have grown (which included many fragrant ones people have already listed) Abe was always my favorite, Abe is a very unique fruit blend, some compare it to a wine and rose smell, I said it always smelled like grapefruit and roses to my nose. It doesn't quite compare to the best of the antiques to me, but if I had to pick one rose that was a modern to grow for fragrance it would still be Abe.. Below is crocus rose about 50% winter dieback here.. so not 100% sure in z4 it would be terrific honestly, I like crocus smell, its a mild tea scent actually. But if you cannot smell that, then it would do you any good. Some people cant.

Debndal. Went to Weston's this week. A really nice store, and people. The owner helped me. And I came home with Love and Peace, Cherry parfait, Orange Triumph, And a few others I can't recall! Nice place. I'll be back. Nice perennials too. Ogrose, went to Redentas and found a few Austin's I hadn't seen at chamblees. Thx for recommendation. Tried N-H but mainly knockout and a few congested EK...nothing new...but Weston's was a great time. I recommend it highly, and tour the gardens at the home across the street (Theirs!!). Ah. Now the planting!! Thx

Michaela - all sorts of things! My usual bell peppers, eggplants and broccoli, plus petunias, snaps, nicotiana, annual lobelia and some of the zinnias I hybridized - those will all be started in early March. Later, I'll start tomatoes, marigolds, cosmos, cleome, some poppies and more. Will be winter sowing this year with some seed I picked up in a swap - some fancier echinaceas, alliums, gaillardia and others. Would be happy to swap, though I've already got some foxglove, so I don't need that right now. Hoping the ones I've put in will naturalize - I've got them in 3 different locations, hoping one will take. And I'll be direct sowing, among other things, a whole basket full of zinnia seeds, saved from my crosses this past summer - going to be interesting! Anything in particular you're looking for? - Alex