Hi, Evie - Welcome to the world of roses! One thing that you will find is that we rose lovers are an opinionated breed - and sometimes rather picky about details (like spelling . . . Else not Elsie.) Anyhow, I live near Salem, fairly close to Heirloom. Where you live will dictate more of what you will be able to grow. We have lots of rain and therefore, diseases especially black spot are a real issue. I do use a drench early in the season when the rain is bad, the Bayer all in one (Lowes has a larger container than other stores -- it can be rather spendy but if you don't have many roses. . .) Once it gets sunny I stop. Just don't like to deal with the spraying. Here are some of the roses that I have which are most disease resistant. The Fairy -- never spray it and it blooms constantly for me. It has a shrub form and climbing form and is very vigorous. Tiny pink non fragrant flowers. If you want a fragrant pink climber, try Lavender Lassie. The flowers are really pink. I've also had good luck with Livin' Easy and Easy Going as well. These are floribundas. Easy Going is a very good yellow. I also have Julia Child which has been very disease resistant. These are not in your preferred colors but if you get the bug you will be moving on to more and more roses. I have several Austins, but the rain is harder on them and they are not a good cut rose. I have to laugh at some of the comments. Rugosas are not the most common roses here. They do well near the coast, I suppose. But I have over 50 roses in my garden and nary a rugosa. With regard to Tiffany, I am probably going to shovel prune her because she balls so badly in the rain. Haven't been very happy with her. Does anyone know a good hybrid pink that is rain resistant? With regard to Heirloom and Rogue Valley, they do have a very wide variety of roses, however they are bands and you will have to wait two to three years for them to really produce. I do buy a few from each, every year -- but I put them in a pot and wait to see how they perform before putting them in the garden. I will buy some grafted roses because I am impatient and then get the specialty varieties from H and RV. Near me, I have purchased roses from Garland's Nursery near Corvallis, Willow Lake Nursery which is in Keizer. Many of the independent nurseries carry only Jackson Perkins which haven't done well for me during the past few years. Well, I hope that some of this has been helpful. Good luck and happy rosing. CJ

History of Knock Out RoseWilliam Radler Develops Hybrids That Are Knockouts By STEWART DEMPSEY From the July 9, 2006 edition of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel It is hard to imagine a garden without roses. Their captivating beauty and lore are entwined in the hearts and minds of gardeners everywhere. So strong is the connection to this flower that gardeners would often spend more time and effort growing their roses than any other flower. But today, in large part because of one local man’s lifetime work, we can enjoy the beauty of roses with little of the effort once required. William Radler is responsible for many of the easy-to-grow new roses that are extremely disease-resistant, drought-tolerant and ever-blooming. In 2000, the All America Rose Selections committee named Radler’s original red Knock Out shrub rose as one of its winners and it quickly became the best-selling new rose on the market. Last year alone, some 3 ½ million Knock Out were sold, a total only this rose can claim. Radler’s Pink and Blushing Pink (a paler version) Knock Outs followed to equal acclaim. And Radler’s Rainbow Knock Out was just named an All America Rose Selections winner for 2007 and will be available next year. Radler spent his earliest years living with his family at 7th and Burleigh streets in Milwaukee. They were living in Whitefish Bay when he bought his first rose at a local A & P store with money he saved from his allowance when he was 9. His parents warned him that the plant would not survive the winter. Radler was confident it would, and the following year the plant thrived. From this early fascination, he developed a lifelong passion to develop and improve upon the rose. He went on to earn a degree in landscape architecture and served as the director of Boerner Botanic Gardens, all the while working on breeding roses as a hobby. Hundreds of Roses He now is a full-time rose breeder. His 1 ½ acre lot in Greenfield with its hundreds of rose bushes is his laboratory. In 1992, when he moved to his current home and garden, it was the yard and not the house that drew him to the property. He calls it the Rosarium. His basement is a facility for developing new roses and an incubation area for seedlings waiting for evaluation and possible inclusion in the outdoor Rosarium. These roses are tested and evaluated for disease resistance, repeat blooming, winter hardiness, resistance to insects and many other desired qualities. “I keep on selecting the best and continue crossing and crossing,” he says. “There are five hundred or more rose seedlings in the basement at any given time.” What does he look for in a rose seedling? The three most important characteristics at this early stage are breaking, habit and flower. Breaking is how, when and where the plant naturally sends out additional shoots from the main stem. Habit is the overall growth pattern of the plant (dense and bushy, or tall and spindly, for example). Flowers are rated on color, size, petal count and fragrance, among other things. Initial evaluation is critical, but some characteristics will change once the plant is grown outdoors. Developing a rose, even for someone with a horticultural background, is not an easy task. It takes a rare individual with the skills to recognize what he is looking at, and someone with an enormous amount of patience. At its introduction, Knock Out set the standard for Black Spot resistance and repeat bloom. This beauty has single, bright flowers all season that seemingly float above dark green, lustrous and disease-free foliage. Knock Out is winter hardy, and is self-cleaning (no dead flower removal is necessary). Its path to market was long and painstaking for Radler. “The very first crosses I made were in the 1970s,” he says. “Knock Out first saw the light of day in 1989. Knock Out was the only seed in a hip from a reluctant female.” It can take years to get the right crosses, and there are so many factors including weather, temperature, viability of seeds and genetic unpredictability that can impede the quest for the perfect rose. Making it disease-free To ensure disease resistance, the roses in the Rosarium are inoculated with disease pathogens. “I encourage disease on the property,” says Radler. Infected leaves are dried and ground in a blender then spread on the healthy plants when the leaves are wet. Overhead watering during the growing season guarantees the spread of disease. Resistant plants are easily observed and documented, then used in future crosses. “In the fall of the year disease and insects are at their peak. Does a rose still look great? It has to look good. That’s what people are looking for,” he says. The plants are further tested and analyzed by the companies responsible for propagation and commercial sales, such as Conard-Pyle Company/Star, the company testing and producing of many of Radler’s introductions. This year’s introduction is Bright Eyes. It is an upright, pillar-type shrub rose that also can act as a medium sized climber, suitable for smaller gardens. Its flowers are a delicious salmon-pink with a lighter central eye. In addition to superior hardiness and disease resistance, Bright Eyes is a repeat bloomer and has a lemon-spicy aroma. Other recent introductions besides those in the Knock Out series include Carefree Sunshine, and Ramblin’ Red. Some of the roses credited to Radler actually are mutations of his roses. And what does Radler say of his success? “I’m overwhelmed,” he says. “I can’t believe this has really happened to me. What started as a hobby for me has resulted in what has been called the most sought-after rose in the country. I’m beyond proud. “But what’s truly wonderful is that something that has brought such joy to me has also helped gardeners who never thought they could grow roses.”

I know this is an old thread but its been very good and useful so I thought I'd chime in. All the roses i recommend have been mentioned here but I live very close to you in Zone 10 Florida so I thought I'd let you know what has worked in my garden. I have over 50 roses and my best performer is by far Belinda's Dream (you probably have it by now, if not, get it!). Always in bloom all year round, doesn't mind heat/humidity or rain has perfectly formed blooms AND its fragrant. It has it all! One of my other good performers so far have been some Ausitns. My BEST bloomer is Huntington rose, but it does get black spot a bit. I don't spray her so i just prune her a bit after every other flush and she keeps bouncing back. Queen of Sweden has been excellent. Not as big a bloomer as Huntington but NO black spot at all. She does grow TALL though (huntington grows WIDE), So Far she has stayed very narrow and tall. Jubilee celebration has done well but she is too new to tell if she'll get through the rainy season without too much BS. Wollerton Old Hall, great fragrance great BS resistance but bloom color is not my cup of tea (kind of a tan/beige). Alnwick rose has done well too as well as Abraham Darby (tried and true). All my Austins are in planters though, none in the ground. As for HT roses my best performers have been Mr. Lincoln, Olympiad (very good), Gold Medal (also very good), Queen Elizabeth (kind of gangly but blooms alot), iceberg and brilliant pink iceberg are great but grow wide, not tall (they stay short though). Pretty much all my HT get some black spot in the rainy season but i just trim them come fall and they do well all the way until the following May. If you are looking for a more bushy rose try the new KORDES varieties. I have had ABSOLUTELY no black spot on Lion's Fairy Tale and Mandarin Ice, and I hear all the Fairy Tales are just as good as lions. I'm getting a few more this year from that series. OH also don't forget BUCKS roses. Superb! I have Polonaise and Golden Princess and both are great with BS (very very little) but by far the best one has been Quietness! She has NO BS and beautiful fragrant blooms. Very Fragrant! Some roses to stay away from would be Oklahoma, Double delight (every one raves about her but she's a BS magnet in my garden) Angle Face (same). Cherish (love her blooms but same BS issues). I grow most of my roses in planters so you may need to see if you can find any of these on Fortuniana RS. I highly recommend the Kordes ones though, they have really thrived own root with NO disease they stand out like champs. They almost don't even look like rose bushes they are so leafy. Duchess du Brabant has been another good one. She does get a little BS but she seems to shake it off quickly. I just also got Rosette DeLizzy and clotilde soupert but they are still babies so too soon to tell. Good luck and let me know what does well in your garden!

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. The 5 ft depth is not critical since the rose could extend beyond the stairs. So Mrs BR Cant is still in the running especially with pat's photos. Barbarag thank you from reminding me to check on Ascot's disease resistance in my area. Florentina looks promising but I dont think my friend will have the time to train a climber so a free standing bush is better. Duchesse de Brabant is lovely but too pale pink for my friend. Vincent is bright pink but a bit short.