There is much, much more to climate than a simple zone number. So the first thing to do, is to figure out where in the world you are. Then pay a lot more attention to advice from your part of the world than anybody else.

Thank you. :-)

We are in the US Midwest. I haven't found any nurseries in our area that have a great deal of roses. The local nursery I visit most often is about 5 miles from our home. They said we are actually 7a. I'm guessing this is because we are far out in the country, away from any cities, and we are in a hilly area just southeast of the Ouachita mountains. We get about 50" of rain each year, with 2 wet seasons in April-May and November-December. We've lived here 11years, with temperature extremes during that time of up to 114 and as low as 9.

Is there anything else I need to figure out on our climate? It does get pretty humid here. Today is ick.

One of my favorite roses is flamenco Rosita. It gets very big but it is amazing! Always in bloom,little to no thorns, light pleasant fragrance and no disease here in Nashville. I really recommend it!

my favorite Austin is teasing Georgia . It will blackspot but never awful and it too blooms so like crazy.

Good luck with your roses! Sounds like you are already off to a great start

Thank you Lily. :-) We are in about the same neck of the woods. Yay!

Im so happy to hear about Teasing Georgia. I already have one I ordered because I thought my husband (my favorite flower snob) would like it. I haven't put it in the ground yet. May hold off for a bit with as hot as it's getting?

My first purchase was 2 Abraham Darbys. I planted them in the old wheelbarrow the first week of June. They seem to love it. They've easily doubled in size and my flower snob counted "at least 35" buds on them yesterday. The performance of the "Darby twins" has enabled the flower snob and I; our wishlist on Heirloom is way too long. Need to figure out how to trim the list before Fall.

Antique Rose Emporium would be a great source of roses for you; they are located in Brenham, Texas so they're in a hotter climate but they ship nationally. You need to supply your zone information to order; there are on line apps which will confirm your zone based on your zip code. They have modern shrub roses and can give you good recommendations.

Sounds like you're in Arkansas or SE Oklahoma--? Do you have snow cover during the coldest part of the winter? That would help your roses survive your extreme cold.

May I suggest looking at roses unlimited website as well ? They sell lovely one gallon roses , much cheaper if you are ordering a few the shipping and cost balances out to about 25 a rose . Also please feel free to post your wish list here as we would love to help pare it down or make it longer ;)

Welcome from another newbie. My only question at this point is how large is that wheel barrow? Are you planing to keep the two Abes there indefinitely? I just wonder if it's big enough to accommodate one Abe, much less two. However, it's obviously working short -term. : ) Take a look at this link to see Abe when he's happy and more mature:[Abe Darby[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/abraham-darby-dsvw-vd~4732858)

P.S. Just now saw your post. The Balloon flower looks really good planted with roses, btw.

Sorry but my advice is a downer... please read up on Rose Rosette Disease (RRD) so you can spot early symptoms and prevent spread. I believe RRD is prevalent in the mid-west. Your roses look very happy.

Hi Barb! :-)

Yes, we are in Central Arkansas west of Little Rock. We don't usually have snow cover. The most snow we've gotten at one time was a foot, and it was all gone after a few weeks. Usually we get an inch or three a few scattered times each winter.

Im trying to find roses that will be able to deal with our potential cold and heat extremes. We got a late start this year because of pool building complications pushing the back landscaping and our first grand baby (yay!). But I'm figuring I can still get some new roses and just baby them out of the extreme heat until it cools a bit?

Ive added Antique Rose Emporium and Roses Unlimited to our window shopping lists. :-) Thank you both!!

Thank you Cecily and Vaporvac.

We will definitely read up on RRD.

The wheelbarrow is approximately 40"x24"x16". I thought it might be a bit snug, but my hope is they will be very full, overflow the wheelbarrow and climb up the shed wall? I added the small cedar trellises to each to give them some support toward that fullness. If I have to move one that will be fine though. We have about 3 acres to play with and the (deer free) fenced area around the pool is just over half an acre.

Oh! And the Balloon Flower? Thank you! I'm loving it. I told the flower snob it just jumped into my cart one day when I wandered through Lowes. lol

Here's our list:

Abraham Darby*

Pretty in Pink Eden*

Teasing Georgia*

Golden Celebration*

Joseph's Coat*

Hot Cocoa*

Florentina*

Diamond Eyes mini*

Earth Angel

Jude the Obscure

Rock & Roll

Voodoo

Lemon Spice

CL Iceberg

Alexander Mackenzie

Westerland

Pat Austin

Wollerton Old Hall

Double Delight

Twilight Zone or Ebb Tide

Tower Bridge

Distant Drums

*already ordered, most not planted yet

One piece of advice I've learned this year is to wait (if at all possible) until your plants bloom before deciding their position. Although initial blooms often look different than more mature one in many ways, subsequent ones can help get a pleasing colour continuum. I second Kelly's Kordes suggestion; you already have a winner there with Florentina. You may find some of them at Lowe's. They are great mature plants there. Climbers are my favourite and you're off to a good start with your choices. It's so much easier to grow and care for them along a fence, also.

My concern with the wheelbarrow planter would be that the soil surrounding the roots is going to get a lot colder than the ground soil, so even though you are well within AD's hardiness zone they might not survive the winter outside. The soil will also tend to freeze and thaw more often than the ground which can damage young roots, especially if the container fails to drain properly once the soil freezes. One heavy rainfall followed by a cold night and the expansion of waterlogged soil freezing up can literally crush roots. If you can wheel them into a barn or garage for the winter I'd do that.

I'm rather new to rose growing as well, so I can't offer much advice on particular roses. But I wanted to say that your landscaping is beautiful! Had you planned on growing any climbing roses on your fence?

Thank you Ebharvey.

I have wondered about the freeze potential, especially being off the ground. My thought was that it should be ok because we are in zone 7, but Darby is rate down to zone 5. The flower snob and I have also discussed wrapping/skirting the wheel barrow with burlap or a heavy tarp? Just to be safe?? Also we really probably could roll it into the shed if I keep it pruned smallish.

My biggest concern has been that the wheelbarrow has a thick coating of dried concrete inside the basin. Someone just never washed it out after mixing. It was left here when we bought the house and I've had to repeatedly keep my flower snob from taking it to the dump. Have always had a mind to use it as a planter. Anyway I've been keeping a close eye on the Ph because of the concrete.

Oh wow! Thank you Rosylady! :-)

The flower snob and I have done the majority of the landscaping ourselves. Mainly by walking around the 30 acre nursery nearby, seeing things we like, and then researching how they might do in our space.

I've been able to get him on board with most of my ideas or we've found a good compromise. Using the wheelbarrow, pallet, and old kid wagon as collection of planters (junk for the dump) was a big sticking point. Now he only slightly groans and raises his eyebrows when I say "I have an idea". I think adding the pretty pretty roses helps him come to grips with all the junk. lol

Yay!!! I think Hot Cocoa and Florentina are Kordes? (Edit: on further research HC is not a Kordes, but Florentina is.) HC seems very happy on the deck. I may plant it in the yard sooner than I'd planned because of that.

We did plant Pretty in Pink by the fence. I think it will be gorgeous there. We put it in an 24"x16" whiskey barrel so it has it own space.

The flower snob wants to do 3 Westerlands in whiskey barrels along the back fence behind the waterfall. I think Westerland would do well there because that fence line tends to be sheltered for the hottest part of the afternoon. Although I think doing 3 is excessive?

btw We are doing containers in some places because our yard is so rocky. The bushes and trees planted in the ground are planted in raised beds we built that are 18"-36" deep.