Thanks for the advance notice Ben! They start taking orders a week from Monday so it's time to sharpen our pencils and make those wish lists! Some of these have been off and on Palatine lists in the past. I grow or have grown about 70% of the Palatine list, so obviously I take seriously the notion that I buy what catches my eye from Palatine first. As a cold-zone gardener, their ratings tend to be more accurate than most for hardiness although there are roses on their list that won't survive for me.

With that in mind, I'll comment on some of my highly recommended roses on their list that I consider less commonly recommended. I include photos and reasons why they're recommended and encourage others to do the same.

Acropolis - I've sung this rose's praises before but Palatine is the only one I know that sells it, and it's a truly intriguing roes. The blooms start out a medium pink with light interior and they evolve to a pink-tinged greenish-buff indescribably haunting color. The bush is a solid 4-5' for me and bushes out well, blooming even in the heat. Look at that clean foliage even in July. The buff tones aren't present in this particular shot but you can see the progression of blooms from bud to full bloom. Hardy to cane hardy most years in zone 5.

Anne Henderson is one that I also enthusiastically praise and it's one of the best reblooming floribundas I have. Mine stays around 3.5' tall in full sun and is hardy to cane hardy. It is a non-fading apricot with some hints of russet tones that creep in during the fall. It's one of the few floribundas that put on a nice show more or less all summer with periods of rest in between. There is a nice dark contrast reverse that gives the blooms character and some yellow tints that pop in now and then. Here's a shot that shows the variety of blooms and buds, with an average sized flush - this one was from June this year but it's doing more or less the same thing here in August, which is usually the doldrums for my roses.

Bon Appetit is in its first year for me so I can't tell how well it overwinters, but the first blooms have been the same kind of glowing nonfading apricot with greater variety of yellow and coral tones. I don't really expect it to rebloom in its first year so I can't comment, but since it's not a widely grown rose I thought I'd give it a plug here.

I've already waxed rhapsodic over Garden Delight, a Kordes rose that's probably in my top 10 roses out of 1000. My word, this rose loves to bloom nonstop and it's rock solid cane hardy in zone 5. The blooms are a kaleidoscope of apricot, yellow, gold, cream, orange with a hint of pink that never has two blooms the same and yet looks integrated to me. The blooms often have a dark edge that I love and it looks variegated even though I don't see any striping. It wants to be 5-6' tall, which is already extraordinary for a floribunda in zone 5, and I'm experimenting with some pruning strategies to keep some of the canes shorter so there's a cascade of blooms rather than the high clusters I get so far. Still, I really enthusiastically recommend this one and I don't know anyone beyond Palatine that sells it. I think I've taken more photos of this rose than any other besides Edgar Degas, just to capture its many moods. Here's a random top of bush shot that shows the light reverse as well as various permutations of the blooms and buds:

Let's Celebrate is a Fryer rose that doesn't look nearly as good on hmf as I find it in my garden (I really need to post some pictures). It doesn't bloom as frequently as the others I mentioned earlier, but the blooms are fascinating when they appear. I've seen totally handpainted streaks on blooms, white reverse, truly mauve blooms, and multiple combinations of white and mauve. Mine are rarely the flat pink in most hmf pictures, but mine is also in part shade. That could account for the infrequent but deeply colored blooms I get. Mine is hardy even under these adverse conditions in an average zone 5 spot. Here's a bush shot with an example of what this rose can do in variety and novelty.

Purple Rain is an under-appreciated little landscape rose that also chugs along with blooms all summer in the same tough part shade conditions as Let's Celebrate. I'd call the blooms closer to pink than purple, and they're small and not individually exciting. As a bush it lightens up this part shade and gets to arching over neighboring roses by the end of the season, almost like a climber. It's almost always cane hardy and totally clean, undemanding, and a frequent bloomer. This was from June this year and it blooms like this more or less all season.

Razzle Dazzle is another first year rose that has impressed me enough to show it here. It's one of those rare unfading apricot roses, fading to no more than a soft gold color rather than the mucky cream or dull pink most of them show after a day or two. The blooms have creative form as they open and I even like them fully opened, when most roses that show their stamens turn "meh" for me by then. It has a nice glow to the peach color and is a 'notice me' rose. I'm hoping for good hardiness.

Rejoice is another rose that doesn't get much press that is a faithful rebloomer and almost totally clean for me. It's light pink with darker pink edges, and it can have Peace-like yellow glow from the interior at times. It's also mostly cane hardy for me, and blooms at the top of a 4' or so bush for me most of the summer. It can have a high-centered look in early stages, like in the photo below, but I also like this one fully opened.

I've already sung Soeur Emmanuelle's praises on another thread, and it's one of about 3 pink roses in my "pink bed" that draw my attention. It's in no more than part sun, but sends out very long floppy canes in every direction with big full pink flowers. I suspect it would be a climber or very large rose in warm climates since it's as tall as Ascot, Wedding Bells or Beverly even under these adverse conditions. It's hard to tell how tall it could be since it's still a floppy two year old but I'm guessing 4-5' in my zone and taller elsewhere. Also mostly cane hardy and lovely dark buds to contrast with the lighter flowers.

I save my last spot for a yellow rose that has won my deep respect, with the caution that others don't like it as well as I do. Sweet Jane is the kind of bushy tall robust healthy floribunda that we cold zoners can only dream of. My hardy floris that bush out are not this tall, and the ones that are tall (like Wedding Bells or Beverly) are narrow and a bit top-heavy. Sweet Jane is totally cane hardy and has the triangular vase shape that I wish all my roses would have. She's mostly a creamy lemon sherbet color, with occasional gold tones. She's never totally out of bloom but for most of August that has been a few blooms here and there. She absolutely explodes with bloom in spring and fall flushes, and they're fully double and thickly clustered. What others have disliked about her is how she fades to cream and looks a mucky brown if not deadheaded. I don't find that she fades faster than any of my other roses, though the part sun might really help there, and I'm happy to deadhead my roses if they'll bloom as enthusiastically as this one. Like most Kordes, she's clean as a whistle and has glossy dark green leaves. Here's a whole bush shot that doesn't show each individual bloom to best form, but indicates how cheerfully she blooms even in May after a cold winter.

There are dozens of other outstanding roses on Palatine's list that I'll let others speak about and show in more detail to convince others to buy - Ascot, Beverly, Berolina, Bordeaux, Caramella, Cream Veranda, Desmond Tutu, Dark Desire, Dream Come True, Earth Angel, Enfant de France (hardy and frequent bloomer in my zone 4 pocket), Florentina, Foxy Lady, Jolie Veranda, Malicorne, Mango Veranda, and Sunset Dreams are all ones that I'd put in my top 50 roses either for frequent healthy blooms or intriguing if less frequent oddball roses. C'mon - let's flood Palatine with our orders and reward one of the best bare root roses companies out there. Well, just don't buy them out of the 14 or 15 roses I want till I order (smile).

Cynthia