Teakettle, I don't know where in SoCal you are located, but I have heard complaints about powdery mildew with Pearly Gates. Since it is a sport of the Cl. 'America,' I suspect that may be true. Renae you would probably have to order -- probably wouldn't find it in a local nursery. But it's absolutely disease-free, and a free bloomer. I grow Carruth's Berries n Cream, and it has good disease resistance. When it blooms, it REALLY blooms, too. I personally find the foliage unattractive, but that's a personal problem, I think. Jeri

thanks all, I didn't even think of cl. "Lady Hillingdon" and I do want the bush form of Lady Hillingdon, but for the house would prefer a more lemony hue to go against the pale gray house. I just added "Lamarque" to my order from rogue valley, yesterday, I'm getting two "Westside Road Cream Tea" rosebushes to flank the front of the pathway to my front door, they will be side by side with "Mlle. Cecille Brunner"( the smaller c. 4' tall form) with an arbor in back of these with yellow climbing roses "Marachel NIel" and "Cecline Foreestier" and French lavender on the other side of the arbor so the view from my front door will be of lavender, yellow climbers, and "Mme. Berkeley" and "Clementina Carboinieri" off to one side, where I'm planting a mandarin orange tree for evergreen winter interest. The yellow climber I'm searching for will be on this side of the house. Originally I planned for cl. "Cramoisi Superieur" but decided I love yellow roses more than red roses. I still can't decide although I'm leaning towards "Alistair Stella Gray"which I've grown before, or "Leys Perpetual" although I swore I'd never again buy a rose that I have never seen in "person". so many beautiful roses, and finite rose real estate. Lux.

Coming in a bit late here, as often--- I don't think of 'Dupontii' as a species hybrid (I don't know whether anyone knows where it comes from) but it's a good handsome rose, sweetly scented, with grayish foliage. Nobody has mentioned R. palustris as far as I can tell after skimming this post. I like this rose, which I believe is native to your part of the world: its willowlike foliage, red canes, and flowers are all handsome; it's thornless, or nearly so; it colors well in autumn, a great advantage here; and in spite of its name it handles drought and alkaline soil gracefully. It roots easily from cuttings, unlike many species roses. My plant is young; I don't know what a mature specimen looks like. I like the foetida cultivars myself, including R. foetida bicolor, which is so exceptionally showy in its bloom period that I'm willing to give it garden room for the whole year on that strength. Black spot is no problem for me, so I can have these roses, but I'd be hesitant about them in an area where that's a problem. On their showing so far I'd say they like my sun, dry summers, and alkaline clay. The flowers of R. foetida are the brightest yellow there is, and the foliage is lettuce green. I love the Musk Rose, though my plant is doing badly and may have to be replaced. I think it's suited to this area, but my grafted plant got off to a bad start and has sunk ever deeper in illness and distress. Or perhaps this is wishful thinking. At any rate, if your conditions suit it it's a lovely rose to have in the garden. It's very fragrant, and once it starts blooming in late summer it goes on until darkness and cold shut it down. The Cherokee Rose is beautiful, I think, with a very oriental and exotic look to the flowers and foliage, the latter strongly reminiscent of that of camelias, which unfortunately I can't grow. This, and my failure to keep the Cherokee Rose alive and prosperous, may be why I long for this rose. If it's warm enough where you live it might do well for you. If R. anemoneflora is the R. laevigata hybrid 'Anemone', I believe it has a similarly exotic look to it, as does 'Anemone's color sport 'Ramona'. The rugosas look fat and prosperous; they rebloom; they have round orange hips, also fat, as well as edible; they have a very good clove fragrance. They're thorny. I would plant rugosas if I thought they were good roses for my garden, which I don't, but am not heartbroken not to have them. When I dared call them fat on the Italian forum, various rugosa enthusiasts countered that they were beautifully exotic and oriental roses. In fact, this is true. They're great shrubs. Perhaps because R. canina is so common here, I tend to take it for granted. It's attractive in flower, and would probably make a good shrub if pruned to shape it. The hips are oval, gleaming scarlet, and handsome: I use them in Christmas wreaths as we don't have holly. Some clones are definitely prettier than others. I've only had 'Canary Bird' for a year, but it's been growing great guns. It has ferny foliage and good fall color, and I think I'm going to like it a lot. R. rubrifolia (R. glauca) has very good foliage and is a handsome plant: I just got one myself. R. roxburghii 'Plena' has fascinating foliage, bark, and hips (the flowers are nice, too) and I've seen it grown as an outstanding specimen rose. These are the roses on your list, or not on it, that I've grown or know something about from direct experience. My growing conditions are different from yours, and I suspect that a lot of roses that grow well for me might suffer for you, and vice-versa. Then there are those that tolerate a wide range of conditions, like R. palustris.

I've been playing with the SW color visualizer tool and came up with a ton of different schemes, but this one is pointing me toward an overall house palette that I really like. It's very "beigey", it isn't at all trendy, but it's very warm, looks a lot like the clothes in my closet - jeans and earthy tops :) - and just might work. If I want to spice it up, I think I can add or swap a gray such as amazing gray or intellectual gray into the mix to bring it into the 21st century. (There's a good amount of gray in the fabric already.) I know that the colors that the app generates aren't exact, but it's a good road map. Waddyathink? :)