You are not alone in having problems with Folklore. One hears sad remarks about this rose a lot.

You will have no problems with Dark Desire but it will be a LARGE bush.

Earth Angel is also clean and no problem in my garden

Memoire IMO has been replaced with better whites. It doesn't seem to have the vigour it once had but still an attractive white.

Winter Sun, both mine got BS on the canes but still grew into a sturdy bush with nice shaped flowers.

Zaide, a favourite, will grow tall with large flowers filled with many petals. I have three and have no problems with any of them.

Summer Romance, Sweet Beauty ( shorter bush so far) are all fairly new so can't make a comment on them.

Berlolina shot up to the sky in my garden. The flowers are a rich yellow and are also large.

Hey Sara! I grow 4 out of your list. They are all healthy for me but I do spray. The first year with First Crush and Summer Romance they didn't bloom much after their first flush. Last year though they bloomed flush after flush and stayed healthy all summer.

Zaide bloomed better but not quite as well as FC and SR.

Plum Perfect was new last year but bloomed pretty well but I'm thinking they are going to bloom great this year.

Kordes really do great in my Georgia climate. I hope yours perform great for you and I'm sure they will by the looks of all of your other roses. Judy

Thank you, oldrosarian, I have been enjoying your beautiful pictures and your expertise recently. And thank you, Judy, glad to know that the Kordes roses have done good for you. For the most part I think they do good for me too, but as I indicated not always. You were an enabler for me ordering Summer Romance, yours is gorgeous. I do enjoy your beautiful bouquets.

So far with my Beverly and Poseidon both, I've been so pleased that they are blackspot resistant.

The upcoming season will be the 2nd for my Dark Desire, Pink Enchantment and Savannah. So far, DD and "Pink" Enchantment almost perfectly clean, Savannah not.

Too soon to judge, hopefully others have grown these for longer.

Very sad to hear Folklore is not performing; it was a jolly giant in my z6 garden years ago, soaring to 7 feet with great big blooms I cut for the house.. when I could reach them!

I just received my Chamblee order of Plum Perfect, two have full blooms on them and the other two have several buds. It looks to be a very healthy plant but I will keep you posted.

I planted Dark desire, Plum perfect, Zaide, and Summer romance last year. All of them were completely clean and healthy in my humid Maryland no spray yard. Zaide only had 1 bloom last year but it grew from a small one gallon to a full 3 foot tall shrub. Dark desire and Summer romance are both tall.

I do appreciate all the input. I try not to expect too much as far as blooms the first year, but am mostly interested in their overall health. Barbarag, when I had healthy Folklore bushes, they were so prolific and the blooms were gorgeous, loved it back then. However, mine never got very tall. Lyla, some of my Kordes roses came Chamblees and the others from Palatine. Looking forward to Chamblees, my first time to order from them. Modestgodess, I don't spray either, that's why I'm trying to concentrate more on healthy varieties.

On the ones I mentioned the leaves were completely clean even into the fall. By October Dark desire and Plum Perfect were in full shade, still clean and still bloomed. I also have Lavender Veranda which defoliated by August and Heaven on Earth which had some blackspot but didn't defoliate and kept blooming in flushes. I think all of mine are own root, not sure about the ones from Lowes.

The Kordes that are own-root and clean no-spray here in Z8:

Savannah (shiny clean plastic looking leaves, blooming since mid-Feb, stayed green through 6F ice and snow in January)

Earth Angel

First Crush

Summer Romance (finally has first buds)

Beverly

Dark Desire grafted on Dr. H and OR Summer Romance were clean even when completely shaded in Dec. An eoseason discounted OR First Crush had BS, but was rough to begin with. It put out healthy new growth once in the ground.

Very impressed with the health of these newer kordes roses. So excited that they have been getting fragrance in with health, vigor, and cold hardiness!! Earth angel can throw up some long canes, so be aware. Summer romance can take longer than some of the others to start bloomimg well. Be patient.

Here's an update on the Kordes Roses I ordered for spring. I am more than pleased! They are doing amazingly. I was mistaken about one rose, I ordered Savannah, instead of Earth Angel.

Here's a few pictures. Doesn't seem to matter whether they're grafted or own root. However, I believe Palatine would be my number one choice for grafted.

TWO DARK DESIRES

SWEET BEAUTY

PLUM PERFECT, bloomed once, ready to bloom again

SUMMER ROMANCE, bloomed once, setting on lots if buds

Cinderella and Caramel Fairy Tale are healthy and vigorous here. My Folklore is not very vigorous and is bs prone. Buxom Beauty succumbed to cold damage.

Folklore ...small flowers on the top of tall, blackspotted skyscrapers that only a bird or airplane could enjoy. (Only giant canes, thorns, and disease at human level). After I just shovel pruned it last year, Edmunds sent me yet another one the next week by mistake...it just won't away!

Earth Angel, perfect little intricate blooms, blemish free (so unusual for such alight color), very clean dimunitive plant...perhaps the anti-Folklore.

Even though in the past I think that some Kordes roses were healthier than other roses, I'm not even sure the older Kordes are in the same league health-wise as the newer ones. Years ago I had two Folklore roses that I loved, they did good and seemed to be fairly blackspot resistant, I've tried to replace those, because I do love the blooms, and have not been able to get anywhere with three different ones. However, I do think that Liebeszauber, Sunsprite and Royal William, three that I currently have are good roses, but they aren't on the same par as the newer Kordes roses. I planted Memoire, which I believe is an older one, seems okay, but not sure how it will do.

I'm sure not all the newer ones are great roses either, but I sure want to learn about all the ones that are.

Kordes began its intensive breeding program for health in 1990. The first really good results took about 10 years to develop which is normal in hybridizing - nothing happens quickly. I think you will find that the roses introduced after 2000 are more disease resistant and the more recent introductions better than the older roses. As Kordes has become more known in the USA I have seen a lot of older varieties being grown to sell in the market - some much better roses than others.

The Veranda Collection are not as disease resistant as the garden roses (for the most part) but still good. These were introduced to be patio container roses. The most disease resistant is Cream Veranda which I think is really under appreciated. The least disease resistant are Lavender and Sunbeam but people love these for the bloom color.

Hi Sara-Ann, from your list I have grown Dark Desire (3rd year) and Folklore (3rd year), though I had to move Folklore last year in the middle of summer because of a walkway project. It sulked for a few weeks, but started to grow again in the fall and gave me some flowers. Both DD and Folklore are own root.

I love Folklore, for me it is a fairly healthy rose BS wise. It has some damage on the lower parts, but overall I wouldn't say more than 20% for me. It does grow tall and slim, which I really like, because it fits in nicely where I moved it, in front of a tall screen and behind daylilies and Caradonna Sage. The flowers are not huge, but also not small either. They make perfect cutting flowers, long straight stems :-) The color is harder to describe. It's orange, but of a pleasing nature, not harsh or jarring. Yellow reverse helps there as well. Great rose to tuck in someplace where you really don't have any more room for another normal sized shrub..:-)

Dark Desire - don't need to say much about it, it's a great rose. I bought just one three years ago to see how I like it and next spring I will order more to plant in a different part of my yard. One word of caution though, just yesterday I really whacked my arm on its thorns by not being careful. Bloody mess everywhere. Other than that, I really like it. Oh, and a scent that is amazing!

Europe banned cosmetic spraying many years ago and that really started a major push into hybridizing of disease free roses. Kordes came up with a unique breeding programme which has proven to be very successful. I agree with Chris about clean roses after 2000. I have a very large Kordes rose garden without any problems, as most of my roses are Kordes after 2000.

I grow 5 of the ones you listed Sara. They are just too young to say much yet. I cav say for anyone in a colder zone five that these have been healthy and came back fine from winter (-14 F) just fine. Those are DD, PP SR and new this year like yours is Zaide and Winter Sun. For a newbe in the garden Zaide is looking great.

I can't wait to see more of your blooms.

Thank you everyone! I look forward to my Summer Romance looking like yours, Kelly!

EA and Mme Anisette are completely clean for me. First crush got a little BS. I have baby Cream Veranda, Plum Perfect and Quick Silver so it is too early to tell, but seems OK.

Absolutey delighted with my Plum Perfect in its first season; well clad plant with clean foliage and lots of blooms. The color is terrific and blends well in the bed.

Savannah may not be perfectly clean but oh my what vigor! Seems to be trying to build up to bush size overnight (I have to keep snipping away at it to curb this enthusiasm!). Lots of marvelously fragrant blooms; I gave up on disbudding.