Thanks, Ann! Good to know about Perfume Delight and Ingrid. I don't have any lavenders (and never thought I would want one until I saw Blue Moon)... so I may just give it a trial run and see what happens.

I'd love to know what your best performers are, if you'd like to share! :)

I used to go for 'bests' and then I learned about rootstocks. A lot of my bought locally roses were on Dr. Huey rootstock. They didn't do well. They didn't do well because my soil is an acidic red clay with some top soil on it, but the business roots of the rose are going to go down into that clay for the moisture and nutrients. Dr. Huey thrives in slightly alkalin soil. That's why it was THE rootstock of choice for growing roses for resale and that was done in the alkaline playa lake beds of inland California.

For Virginia roses....there are acidic red clays in a number of places. There are also sands, and there may be some alkalin soils. In your neighborhood do you see roses that have reverted to Dr. Huey? Do you see wild Rose multiflora (zone 7 Virginia would have had multiflora blooming back in early May.

Next question: are you willing to spray fungicides every two weeks.

Last question: Maybe take a chance with R. x fortuniana rootstock, unless you get serious freezes in some winters.

There are two Hybrid Tea roses that I find to be all but bullet proof, and they are pretty in different ways.

La Traviata: no scent, healthy foliage without spraying, and carnation like deep red blooms that do not have the classic HT form, but which look like carnations and last on their long straight stems for two weeks, even in summer. (The blooms and stems are so strong, they hold water after summer rains and it needs to be dumped out or the petals will stew in the summer sunlight.

The MacCartney Rose: Scent!!! strong pink, open well. Strong bushes that thrive without spraying. Not a show rose, but it's so good it doesn't need to be. Glows in the sunlight when it's backlit by morning or evening sunlight.

I do have red clay, though I've amended the soil when planting roses. I'm new enough to rose gardening that I don't know if I would recognize a rose that was reverting to Dr. Huey, unless the owner told me. :) I am fairly certain there must be multiflora somewhere near my neighborhood since we've had RRD on some of the knockout roses in two common areas near one another. (Thankfully the infected KOs were removed this week.)

I am willing to spray, though I'm not looking to do it constantly. Once every couple weeks seems OK to me. I'm currently spraying neem oil sporadically, only when I think it's needed. I'm willing to put up with a small amount of black spot or powdery mildew if the rose is amazing and I can keep the issue under control fairly easily.

A newbie question: Should I assume that any rose bought in a nursery or big box home improvement store (HD, Lowes etc.) in my zone is on Dr. Huey? How do you find out what the rootstock is when purchasing locally - or when ordering online?

Thank you so much for the helpful information. I love this forum.

I am in Raleigh NC, so climate could be quite similar to yours, depending upon in which part of Virginia you live. I have a no spray, nearly organic rose garden, currently with 23 roses. All are own root. I say nearly organic because I am using up my chemical fertilizers this year and won't be buying any more. You don't have to spray chemicals to have nice roses here. I use buttermilk or soyr milk diluted with water 1:5 and spray top and bottom of leaves after a rain and that really helps control blackspot (which is rampant here), and I spread used tea leaves and coffee grounds under the bushes as well. Choosing disease resistant varieties is important, too, although I have a few varieties I reallyreallyreally wanted so they need extra fussing. My rose garden has been added to slowly each year for 3 years, so most of mine are still young. However, a few that really do well in my yard are: Cynthia, Eiffel Tower, Harlekin, Grande Amore, Sugar Moon, Hacienda, Veldfire, Livin Easy & Sunset Celebration. I am just a week out of surgery, so I can't get out yet & take new photos. Imho, Cynthia is the unsung hero of the HT world! Huge, deep rose pink highly scented blooming machine! She's right next to my front door, and was one of the first roses I planted in 2013. This year, she is about 5x3.5 and is very happy! I worked the soil for a year before planting roses, and drove my friends nuts deciding what varieties to plant. Happy hunting!

Just saw typo - it's sour milk, not soyr milk. Has to be cow's milk, not soy, to help w/blackspot. Made the leaves really shiny on some bushes. Did leave a few with white spots of dried milk. I use the sprayer on fine mist setting & that seems to reduce the white spotting some.

Yes, the large percentage of roses sold in the big boxes are grafted on Dr. Huey, although you might find the rare potted plant that is own root. Other rootstocks are available via mail order.

Try contacting Connie at Hartwood Roses. She no longer sells roses, but still has a display garden in Fredricksburg. She is hartwoodroses here on GardenWeb.

Do you have Pretty in Pink Eden? A very pretty rose with long lasting blooms. I collected 5 so far, really like it. :-)

summersrhythm, YES! I have two Pretty in Pink Edens (just got them last month) and I'm totally obsessed with them. Those blooms are to die for!

Holly, thank you for all the helpful info! And I may have to check out Cynthia, sounds wonderful! I'm in central VA so our climates are fairly similar, though I'm guessing you tend to get ice in the winter when I'm getting snow.

Diane, thank you for the links!