Although he's farther south than you, Palmetto near Tampa, my son has had Don Juan for more than 15 years. When I was there in late February it was blooming as it was in October of 2008 when I visited previously. He does very little to it, leaving it for me when I visit. He says it almost always has a bloom. I'd say for continuous bloom go for Don Juan. His is grafted on Fortuniana. In North Florida with your cooler winters it should do better. My daughter, in Gainesville, says her roses are leafed out all year long. There again, I clean them up when I visit.

There will also be a Heritage Roses Group Affiliate starting up here in the Mid-Atlantic at the same time. Pam and I came up with the ideas independently of one another, and decided to pool our resources and launch the groups at the same time. We'll have more details toward the end of summer. Florida-weather rose growers ... contact Pam via the link above if you're interested. Virginia, Carolinas, Maryland, etc. ... shoot me an email if you're interested. My link is below. Here is a link that might be useful: hartwood roses

Pete has a point about the neighborhood by neighborhood soil issue. I am absolutely amazed by the variety of soils that exist in Florida. The neighborhood that is located outside the gate of our neighborhood has some heavy clay. Five miles away some people have all sand. Luckily where I am we have some decent soil as we used to be farmland. I also watched my builder like a hawk and told him my topsoil was to be put back on my property after the house went up. I made sure no one touched my pile of dirt. Builders are famous for taking someones topsoil away and selling it, and then bringing in builders sand. When you get moved, have your soil tested to see what it's made up of. I still think you can grow chinas like Cramoisi Superier, Louis Philippe, and the tea Mrs. BR Cant on their own roots. I think I'd be tempted to try some of the Bermuda Mystery roses too. But.... you can't go wrong with fortuniana. If it were me, I would bring all my favorite roses with me, even if they had to live in pots for awhile. I wish something would kill off MY chili thrips! Sandy

Can't possibly thank everyone enough for the responses. In regards to location, we live near Tallahassee, putting us in zone 8b. Unlike south FL, we do have a bit of a fall season and see a few frosty mornings each year, but spring still kicks in blessedly early for us. As a bit of an update my dilemma is that while I don't like the "legginess" of knockout roses, nor do I love the more frilly/full look of many of the English roses that do well here, especially since our yard has numerous camellia trees with similarly full flowers. Knowing full well that the hybrids will cause us (honestly my husband) more work I'm still drawn to them knowing they'll take much more work and will make for turnover in plantings as time goes by. So with the above shared, we have made two picks thus far and have the garden now about half full. One was definitely more of an impulse buy (but with at least a bit of cell phone info review before buying!) while the other was a bit more deliberate. The impulse buy was three "Miracle on the Hudson" rose bushes from our local Costco. They simply looked stunning in the store, with with every customer walking by them stopping to admire them and verbally praise them. The rose itself has what I feel is a bit more richer red than with knockouts while still having a relatively simple flower, while the bushes are not as "leggy" as knockouts and have attractive dark foliage. Quick online reviews showed it listed as highly disease resistant. We'll see. With the "Miracle on the Hudson" a fairly bold / vibrant choice for the garden, we wanted the next rose to help transition to lighter shades / other color options, and with the interior of our home a yellowish shade of paint (Corinthian White), we acted on Irisgal_z9's advice to pick a flower that would look good on the dining room table and choose "Double Delight" as the rose to pair with the Miracle on the Hudson rose. We planted these roses in the half of the space closest to the picture window so will be looking for lighter color roses that are no taller to fill the other half now. We're thinking that with the Double Delight helping transition, we can now go with very soft shades of yellow, pink, or white in the front half of the rose garden area. Absolutely WELCOME any continued recommendations for what might pair well with the space we have left.