Carding Mill and The Poets Wife are must have. As far as an "easy" red, I grow L.D. Braithwaite at the end of my shrub/OGR bed. It seems to pull all the colors together for me. But then, I'm kinda weird so you can probably figure color out better then me.

My shrub/OGR bed looking at it from the top. Distant Drums, Compt de Chambroud, Munstead Wood, The Crocus Rose, Lady of Shalott, The Prince, Meloniux and LD Braithwaite at the end.

LD Braithwaite.

I have a few of these roses, all of them have their pros & cons. The main thing you need to figure out is a layout for the space. Many of the david austins get quite large. They are shrub roses. They need some width, but they also get tall. Teasing georgia has great blooms but can climb. Graham Thomas can be even larger. Carding mill is new for me this year. Already blooming & growing well. But the colour can be peachy to pink. Julia child is a great rose, continually blooming. But is much smaller than the austins. Great for the front of a bed. Strike it rich has a very golden "rich" colour. It is taller & skinny in size. The leaf colour is more of a reddish bronze colour which contrasts nicely with other greens of roses. So I think the most important thing is to figure out your spacing & heights you want in your layout.

By the way my front yard is also in these colours - blends of yellows, oranges, reds & white. I couldn't get lady of shalott so I substituted with Pat Austin. Lady of Shalott has better reviews overall.

Easy Does it is such a cool color with ruffled petals

I like your combination choices of LoS, LEH, & Jude. Teasing Georgia is one of my favorite - she is healthy, fragrant, rounded shrub but is large but not too much unlike Jude or LoS. Halloblondie - you grow Benjamin Britten. I can see this shade of red in this mix.

Teasing Georgia is one of my best roses . It does get very large and just a little wild so I would put it on the end if you choose it . Now it does get blackspot but has never looked poorly from it. It blooms like mad and is so gorgeous!

You have a great area there and it'll will look awesome whatever you choose !

I am chiming in about Teasing Georgia: I love it, it is hardy, it is bloomiferous, but it grows into a 8' X 6' shrub here in central Michigan. Also, from my experience I agree with you about not putting roses right next to your sidewalk -- daylilies are much tougher, and don't tempt passerbys to pick/pull flowers.

Sunny

What a color, yum

Jude is usually sort of a buff color here but would go well with warms but he is so STINGY for me and a gawky plant too.

OTOH Julia Child is a generous bloomer, lots of pretty mid green foliage and a nice rounded shape. Am pleased with resistance so far.

I'd strongly recommend Peach Drift, a low grower with pretty dainty foliage and continuous bloom here. It can be kept small by simply cutting it back once or twice a year, or grown into a 4 foot rounded shrub. (Take that with a grain as I'm in 8A SE Virginia).

I can't see going darker but guess it would depend on the red. I think a very pale yellow like Easter Basket or apricot-toned Cream Veranda would be pretty. Or pure white even!

Honestly you can't miss, this is a great place for a bed. Can't wait to hear what you choose.

In this thread Henry Kuska mentions a red climber called "Illusion" that he has had good success with in Ohio, and which the Japanese beetles don't like (bonus!).

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4688333/japanese-beetles-are-there-pest-resistant-classes-colors-etc?n=3

What zone are you there? 6? You might be able to grow the classic red climber Etoile de Hollande (I wish I had a porch like yours that merited this rose). Also consider some different shapes and sizes of blooms, to add variety. Perle d'Or is peachy and adorable (so goes well with your Jude/Hamilton/Lady of Shallot color scheme) and hardy to zone 6. I wonder if you are warm enough there to grow hybrid musks, like Buff Beauty? If you get a lot of black spot in your area, you can expect the Austin roses to have it to varying degrees. I grow Jude the Obscure and Graham Thomas, but I am in such a different zone that I'm not sure what I have to say about them will be useful to you. My Jude is also still quite young, but so far it blooms well, and I really grow it for the scent. Below is a picture of my Graham Thomas, to show you how HUGE he gets in my zone, but surely he wouldn't get that big in yours with winter die back. He only has a light tea fragrance, so if you want a yellow Austin with big fragrance maybe look at Golden Celebration. Also think about non-rose plants to pair your roses with. There are some pretty yarrows that bees love (but give them space) and clematis that can twine through rose bushes (but I'd avoid the big guys -- the montana clematises will eat a house). There is a really pretty integrifolia-type clematis (smaller, scrambles through the flower bed) called "Gazelle" that I have been intrigued by. Its white blooms look quite graceful, and might look nice with your roses.

Sonic, those Heathcliff blooms are just breathtaking with their rich color and frills. This is the first time I've paid attention to Heathcliff, and, wow, I'm impressed.

KS, what a vigorous and beautiful Graham Thomas you are growing.

Ken, I love your flower beds and the roses in them-- they are so healthy and well maintained.

I just wanted to say that Jude the Obscure can get huge over time (it's slow on the take off), depending on your zone, of course. Mine can get up to 8-9X6 feet. Julia Child can grow very large, up to 6X6 feet. So if you are zone 6 or warmer, bear that in mind. Diane

I agree with nanadoll on Jude's size, a vigorous guy here!

Greta, Jude's color is definitely warm here also, a deep peach, so that should work with your lovely setting. I wanted cool colors but grow it for the fragrance.

Beautiful pictures Sonic, KS, Kristine, and Ken!

Thanks guys. :)

As an aside, when I bought Carding there were some of the other roses listed- Lady of Shallot and Graham Thomas, plus Molineux, and Golden Celebration. Of the three yellows that were there GT is the one I chose because it was a more inviting yellow and Carding really impressed me over Lady of Shallot. It's not that Lady wasn't lovely, as were the other roses, but Carding was the one that really impressed me in scent, color, and form. And thus far it has been a blooming machine.

@dave - you should just get benjamin britten. I know you want it, hehe!

Benjamin Britten smells fantastic - fruity! The color is like a cerise. It's more unique but it could pick up on the tones of peachy roses.

Yes, I'd love to grow BB! With the petals pale reverse, being an orange red, and with those yellow bits, I think the combo would go very well.

You all are full of great ideas and advice, thank you! I am definitely adding Carding Mill to my list, excited to hear it has performed well for people.

I am feeling torn on what yellow to choose! Maybe one lighter yellow and one darker yellow? Teasing Georgia and Julia Child both sound like they have worked well for people.

Any other thoughts on adding a darker toned rose to this bed? I do a lot of quilting and am always thinking about multiple tones for contrast and balance, but maybe that is less a consideration in roses because the foliage is green?

Something purple

I'm a quilter too and think your instinct of adding another color is spot on and the way to make the base flower colors pop. And I consider the green foliage to be more of what we would call the background color. (usually white cotton...right? lol)

I've already planned to put lavender and purple clematis on my Graham Thomas, Jude The Obscure, and Carding Mill. I'll bet a warmer purple/lavender based red, a plum, or even a more purple-ish colored rose would go very well to set off your warm toned roses.

Agree with Sonic

If you want a strong contrast, look directly across the color wheel, as Sonic suggests. The roses you are choosing are all orange and yellow, so the compliment of those colors would be blue-violet. You could provide color contrast with other plants (beautiful blue delphiniums, or cornflowers, or blueish-violet clematis). If you really want a contrasting rose consider something in the more purple range, like Night Owl, or perhaps you could let Vielchenblau climb up your porch supports. In the end though, plant things you love. Even if the color isn't "perfect" it will be perfect for you! Color rules were made to be broken. :)

easy does it and julia child please!!!! u will not regret ..

Purple and yellow, of one my favorite color combinations. Diane

Julia Child and Twilight Zone

Love the purple yellow combination

So this morning it occurred to me that I could provide you with some
"color studies" from my own garden on the theme of yellow and violet.
Maybe making some bouquets of similarly colored flowers will help you
get a sense for the combinations you like? Unfortunately, I don't have
blooms yet on Munstead Wood nor Lady Emma Hamilton, since they are new.

First, I held up a little (new, so probably stunted) clematis "Arabella" near Jude the Obscure so you could see how they look together.

Love these purple pairings! Twilight Zone looks amazing. What are some of everyone's favorite purple roses?

I see that its praises have already been sung, but I can't skip an opportunity to suggest Carding Mill. I had no interest in this rose based on its yellowy-orange picture in the Austin catalog, but then I saw it in person....what a difference. Here it blooms a peachy pink but with such a variation in tints and hues throughout the blossom that it seems to glow, as if there's a burning ember inside each flower.

Also, it seems to go with everything and anything, even purply/lilac pinks that you'd assume it would clash horribly with.

Plum Perfect is a warm purple (i dont have the best photos because mine is a band) but it might be smaller than the austins you chose.

For larger size, Violets Pride is getting great reviews and has some magenta color blend.

I have Jude, Los and and TG. I think Salvia Caradonna goes really well with them.