My list isn't as long as everyone else - wow! 200 roses! Please post pics of your garden! Ok, so here's my list, but keep in mind that I grow mostly climbers that are hardy in zone 5 and these are my tried and true roses. I don't spray and they are not coddled:

- Ramblin' Red - red climber (have 2x)

- Laguna - fuschia climber (have 2x)

- John Davis - pink climber (have 2x)-LOVE this one!

- The Fairy - pink shrub (have 1, but need/want more!)

- Darlow's Enigma - white shrub (have 1)

- Super Excelsa - fuschia climber, tiny flowers in clusters, very thorny and hardy - never ever has Winter dieback, blooms last forever and has great rebloom into Fall - (have 2)

- Rosarium Uetersen - salmon climber, heavy petal count, gorgeous blooms that also last long, has only grown to 4 feet in 3 years time - (have 2)

- Dream Land - pink climber - (have 1) - 3rd year, long lasting flowers, great repeat

- Rosanna - salmon climber (have 1) - beautiful unique color, plant is well over 9'

- Amadeus - red climber (have 1) - great rebloom

- Quick Silver - lavender climber (have 1) - planted in Spring 2017, beautiful flowers and vigorous growth for first year grafted plant.

- Pomponella - pink climber (have 3). cupped flowers bloom in clusters. Too cute. Technically, not a climber, but mine had branches well over 5' tall.

- Eutin - red shrub - (have 1), great rebloom.

- Out of Rosenheim - red shrub (i believe that's how it's classified) have 1, great rebloom, but will be moved to the front garden come Spring.

- Drifts - apricot and red. Have 2 of these. Great rebloom and disease resistance.

- Dortmund - red climber - (have 1). Strong grower. Vicious thorns. Beautiful single petal red blooms with a white eye.

- Jeanne Lajoie - pink miniature climber - (have 1, but need to make room for more!)

You really do grow a lot of climbers!!! Are any of those ramblers??

Carol

None of these are classified as far as I know. I have one rambler that is still very new - Baltimore Belle - growing up one of our trees. No blooms last year, but I hope to see one (or more) this year.

Because ramblers get SO big, I'm just not sure where to plant one in my garden. I am looking at maybe adding one this year, if I can space for it.

I have two more roses to add to this list:

* Hot Cocoa. New for me last year. It did really well, but I'm just not sure if I like the color of the blooms. I may pot it up this year or give it to my Mom! :-)

* Peggy Martin - pink climber - have 1. Tiny little pink blooms. Has grown to over 9 feet tall in just 2 seasons. I can't remember if it rebloomed. I will try to make note of it this year.

I also had a dud rose this year - it happens, right? Got a mislabeled white climber with stingy blooms. Own root. Not sure of the name. Was moved to the back of the garden.

Bella - i have heard that the fairy roots very easily! You should try! Are your climbers on fence or on arbors ? I'd love to see . Hope that white no name turns out to be a winner

Seil- im praying 2018 is a incredible heathy year for you!

Ben and Sara Ann love all yours ! So much variety .

Moses tell me again how big your rose bed is ? And when you order new roses, are you replacing roses or starting a new bed ?

Blue for you

Sweet nothings

Eyes for you

Devoniensis

Marie Pavie

Lauren

Darlows Enigma

Secret Garden Musk Climber

Elisabeth’s China

September Morn

Cinderella (noisette)

Ping Dong Yue Ji

Mr Bluebird

Mel’s Heritage

Atmore Lamarque

Art Nouveau

General Gallieni

Clotilde Soupert

Souvenir de la malmaison

Excellenz von Schubert

Nastarana

Sweet Afton

Softee

Lilyfinch,

My one and only rose bed is 8' X 18'. The minis, about 12 bushes, are planted on the very edge of one 18' side, as are the minifloras. This bed's side butts a 3' wide concrete walk, so the minis reach over the walk about 8", softening the edge. They reach only about 8" into the bed, too.

The opposite 18' side of the bed has a 4' fence along it, on which my 3 climbers grow. They stick into the bed only about 1', and a foot or so next door. My neighbors like my roses. In fact, my back of bed, tallest roses are planted right at the fence's bottom. Some of the canes grow through it onto my neighbor's side with no protests from them. This gives me a little more planting room in the bed.

The rest of the bed holds about 30 bushes. Total about 45 roses. Truly, they are not crowded being spring pruned hard to keep them manageable. By summers end they are touching each other.

I have some trouble walking into the bed as the season progresses to work in it, I can tell you! I just bought a pair of leather welder's sleeves to protect my arms. I hope they work out. The rest of my body is protected by wearing old rugged clothing.

The bed is a sea of roses. That's the look I like.

I graduate heights from short in the front of the bed to tall in the back. Tall, back of bed roses that turn out to have arching canes or weak necks frustrate me to no end. Their flowers are often hidden by the shorter roses in front of them. I've spent more money and lost time replacing the back of bed roses with ones that may have better growth habits. My quest goes on.

Evelyn, given long enough, 5 yrs., to straighten out her lax stem ways, is coming out this spring for this very reason. She makes plenty of lovely, long lasting, super fragrant flowers on 4-5' laterals that wimp out so badly, the flowers end up facing downward a foot or so from the ground! Such a pretty rose, it's a shame.

My bed is so dense with roses by mid-summer you really cannot see much of the soil surface except here and there in the front edge.

Hybrid tea bush form roses, upright and narrow, work the best in my rose bed. It's easier to navigate around them. I search out the upright and narrowest ones for the bed whenever possible.

It is a densely planted rose bed in the strictest sense of the term.

Since I try to grow mostly very fragrant roses, the scent wafting in the air is intoxicating.

Moses

Peace- each gigantic canary yellow and pink bloom is a prize. The foliage is also beautiful and there have been times that its fragrance was as strong as any rose in the garden.

Pink Peace- A luminous pink that seems to grab everyone's attention with it's classic pink rose look and form. It's fragrant too, so everything you want in a rose.

Mister Lincoln- Dark red buds are velvety and dramatic, fragrance is strong like rose and lychee. The plant is very strong and reliable but blooms blow SOOO quick in hot weather. Resists disease very well for an older rose. My first rose ever so I have a soft spot for it.

Heirloom- Young, but has been a crazy good bloomer and the blooms are very fragrant.

Double Delight- Each bloom is so beautiful with it's shades of yellow, pink and red. Poor bloomer so far for me.. but every bloom is exciting and is practically the strongest smelling rose in any garden, like lychee and spice.

Munstead Wood- I just got it bareroot in the beginning of last year and yet I know this rose so well because it has bloomed nonstop in a pot. I'm in love with the classic look of the blooms. The fragrance is amazing, one of my favorites, it is deep, fruity and rosy.

Gemini- Blooms are large and breathtakingly beautiful on a strong growing plant. It's a super rose.

Pope John Paul II- A super rose that blooms like mad with a ridiculous amount of petals and is very fragrant. Not my favorite fragrance because it seems a little one dimensional citrusy, but it is still nice.

dan8 - It's hard to believe anyone's Munstead Wood can be a great bloomer...mine is beyond pathetic. LOL

I'm so glad I got Pope John Paul II last summer (bareroot). Everyone loves this rose!

Carol

My lists are getting gradually shorter because I am deliberately cutting back--slowly but surely--on the number of roses I grow. If a rose dies, for instance, I try my best not to replace it--though occasionally I love it so much that I just have to replace it--like the Eden climber that got RRD. Just couldn't do without!

Here are 12 of my "indispensables":

Munstead Wood (Austin shrub)--one of my absolute favorites! That color!

Molineux (Austin shrub)--good shorter bloomer.

Lady of Shalott (Austin shrub)--those yellow/gold/orange/apricot are wildly modern. Love 'em.

Scepter'd Isle (Austin shrub)--good bloomer

Mystic Beauty (Bourbon)--blooms of full but delicate beauty

Double Delight (HT)--color and smell!

Peter Mayle (HT)--color; big showy blooms

Berolina/Selfridges (HT)--the most cheerful yellow I've ever seen

Braveheart (Clements shrub)--gorgeous red bloomer!

Eutin (floribunda)--showy red bloomer (with some hybrid musk in its ancestry)

Buff Beauty (HM)--in bloom, such a beauty.

Eden climber-- in bloom, even more beautiful!

All of these have better than average BS resistance--or they wouldn't be allowed in my garden.

Kate

Thanh,

It is evident you are a fragrant rose lover! I can imagine the scents and combinations thereof, wafting around your garden! The most skilled French parfumerie house could not duplicate what you have right out your door.

Moses

Hmmm...my favorite roses are not necessarily my best roses.

"Best" would be:

Bishop's Castle

Fabulous!

"Favorites" would be:

Bishop's Castle

Alnwick Castle

Abraham Darby

Eden

Bolero

Moses, when I search for roses usually fragrance comes first to mind. Then health and rebloom. But somehow I cannot smell a lot of roses that suppose to be very fragrant. Is it me or my roses are young? Half of my roses were planted last spring.

Thanh,

It's mostly because they are young. This happens across the board in the plant world.

Young plants need time to develop their full potential. Fruit bearing woody plants like grape vines and fig trees produce below quality fruit, both for flavor and sweetness when they are young. I know this from personal experience and from the general consensus among fruit growers.

My potted fig orchard (brought inside for winter) of 20+ figs produce remarkably better fruit in: size, quantity, flavor, sweetness, and texture as they gain age.

So go your roses! In time you will be giddy from their fragrance production, both in quantity and quality.

Just you wait and see, I mean smell!

Moses

I can't really comment on my favourite roses yet as my rose garden is new. But, since Lily asked how people arrange their roses, I thought I would show a pic of how I did it.

After many years of gardening with roses mixed into mixed borders, I finally decided to make a dedicated rose garden so I could give them the water and care they need. I will be mixing some perennials, bulbs and annuals, but it's mostly roses.

So far the standouts have been...

Tiffany....I bought this as a cheap potted rose at Home Depot on a whim. Wow, what a beautiful hybrid tea and what a beautiful wafting fragrance. The rose garden gets lots of western light and Tiffany looks stunning in the setting sun

Munstead Wood....I planted 3 of these in the hottest part of my garden and they did wonderfully all summer long. They had almost continual bloom, are great in the vase, and smell divine.

Anne Boylen...I got this from DA as a standard (tree rose) and have been blown away by it's beautiful foliage, continual bloom, and disease resistance. I may buy more of these. And they seem to like heat, too.

Pretty in Pink Eden....wow, wow, wow! I never would have gravitated toward this rose just base on pictures, but in person it is a very beautiful rose. The flowers last for weeks and weeks on the bush and fade beautifully, then drop cleanly. It is incredibly disease resistant. It only has a slight fragrance, but I don't mind since it's so stunning otherwise.

Madame Ernest Calvat....this is an antique rose I was expecting to be a high maintenance diva. Actually, it has been disease free, bloomed in flushes (it always has buds on it), and the scent is incredible.

Evelyn....these blooms are worth whatever it takes to get them

The Impressionist....I was wowed by this rose at the Portland Rose Gardens and took a chance on it in my garden. In it's first year it's already become a blooming machine.

Moses, thank you. I am counting day until spring.

Carol, My Munstead wood is grafted. I don't know to what, but that could be a factor. I got it as a "living gift" novelty item. I've pruned it back a few times already which never happens for a first year bare root.

This forum is amazing!

im researching all these sexy roses! And making lists of my own to buy. I’m quickly running out of space in my garden!

Ok, here goes--

Julia Child (Seil, she is also a blooming magnet for me! I too wish I could clone her in different colors. I love this rose)

Pope John Paul ii ( Blooms profusely and smells great)

Twilight Zone (though it hates full Alabama sun just LOVE the color and fragrance in spring and fall)

Queen of Sweden (Not my most prolific nor fragrant, but I just LOVE the bloom!)

Munstead Wood (Love the color and fragrance)

Veteran's Honor (Red is not my favorite rose color, but the blooms just last forever!!!!)

Double Delight ( bloom and fragrance!)

Cherry Parfait (Double delight without the fragrance, but sometimes her blooms are so beautiful they just almost knock me out. Profuse bloomer)

Climbing Eden (This rose is the most beautiful rose I may have ever seen!)

Rio Samba (Love the changing colors)

Falling in Love (Beautiful bloom that lasts forever. Too bad it is armed with thorns and I mean REALLY armed, or I would have more than one.)

The Alnwick Rose (Love the bloom and nice raspberry fragrance)

I am so excited to see that many of the roses that I have ordered are on your favorites list.

1 . Julia Child

2. Munstead wood

3. Savannah

4. Olivia Rose Austin

5. Beverly

6. Figi

7. Ingrid Bergman

8. Flamengo Rosita

9. Dick Clark

10. Darcy Bussell

11. Sweet Mallie mini flora

1. 12. Malibu

Most everything else is too young to say how it will do.

Best:

Darlow's Enigma - Drought tolerant. I had too many of this plant, and withdrew all care and water for months ( October - April) from one. Despite my lack of care, it continued to grow and produced blooms in April. (point of reference, temperatures are in the 80's during April here)

Blush Noisette - Extremely heat tolerant, almost continuous blooms

Bolero - planted in Full sun, extremely healthy. The aphids and spider mites do not bother it much. It blooms almost continuously and the blooms are highly fragrant. I truly hope this rose can be successfully grown in Central Texas.

Favorites:

Chicago Peace

Blue Girl

Huntington Rose

Radio Times

Purple Lodge

Fragrant Plum

Ebb Tide

Love Song

Abraham Darby

Sombreuil

Munstead Wood

Thank you Moses! In spring , or when it's warmer I may measure out that much space just so I can get a visual for myself how you do it . I too love the overstuffed look . I'm sure your neighbors love to see your beautiful roses!!

Sheila - your garden bed is so lovely ! Such a great design. That's what I'm struggling with ! I'm afraid I'll see something else and wish I had done that . I know it's time to incorporate curves and depth . My beds on the side of the fence are one rose deep. I need to bump that out but also add curve. I was using landscape timbers but I'm going to get brick and use that .

Ugh I cannot believe I forgot to put flamenco Rosita on my list! It's the best everything in my garden but it's so dependable I forgot about it . Shame on me!

Oh wowowowowow!!!!! Such gorgeous pictures and wonderful lists!!

Kate - I' m so glad that Scepter'd Isle and Berolina are roses that do wonderfully for you. I've got them coming this spring!!!! Yay!!!

Noseometer - You made a good point about best/favorite. I like that Bishop's Castle is on both of your lists. Mine was new last year, and I think I'm going to really love this rose!!

RosyLady - your garden is soooo lovely looking even without the roses being in bloom. :) Wow!! I could never have designed that. Definitely not my forte. I so agree with you about Tiffany. Mine was new last year, and I love it already!!

Dan8 - Yes, mine is grafted on multiflora. Maybe it will improve this year...but seriously, it's about 10 inches tall. And it's a couple of years old. It's going bye-bye if it doesn't shape up.

DizzyLizzy - I so agree with you about PJPII (even though mine was a bare root last year). I can't wait for it to get even better this summer. I agree about how beautiful Cherry Parfait is. Some of the pictures I've seen here are exquisite!!

Kristine - that's a nice list!! It's strange how everyone loves their MW except for me.

Desertgarden - so nice to see that Fragrant Plum is on your list!! I'm getting that one this spring. I especially love your Chicago Peace...that rose has so many looks, and the picture you've posted in one of its best looks.

Carol

Here are my top dozen in no particular order;

LD Braithwaite---DA Shrub

Lady of Shalott---DA Shrub

Munstead Wood---DA Shrub

Comte de Chambroud---OGR

Brinessa---HT

Louise Estes---HT

Let Freedom Ring---HT

Babies Blush---HT

Hannah Gordon---FL

Hot Cocoa---FL

Whirlaway---Miniflora

Joy---Mini

Oh, what the heck. I better add this one because it always seems to be there.

Scepter d' Isle---DA Shrub

Here’s my list. I feel like I’m letting some down by not including them in this list.

1. Teasing Georgia

2. Munstead Wood

3. Spirit of Freedom

4. Gentle Hermione

5. Souvenir de la Malmaison

6. Sombrueil

7. Eden, including White Eden - is that cheating? :)

8. Bolero

9. Abraham Darby

10. Evelyn

11. Eglantyne

12. Jude the Obscure

and to make it a bakers dozen...

13. The Fairy

There are some amazing new varieties I added this year that I know will be favorites - but that’ll be for another year :)

Ken - Another vote for Scepter'd Isle. I have to get it this year for sure!

Dave - I'd love to get Jude again...was weak and never grew....but the fragrance was the best I've ever smelled!!

Carol

Twelve of my garden favorites are:

PJPII

GRANDE AMORE

SOUTH AFRICA

EUROPEAN TOUCH

PARADISE

BEVERLY

TAHITIAN SUNSET

POSEIDON

VETERAN’s Honor

VIOLET MIST

CONUNDRUM

WELCOME HOME

Kentucky, I worked for Harry and David when we owned Jackson and Perkins. I am the tour guide and part of my tour was to go through the J&P test garden. When they tested a rose it was a lengthy process that could take 5 or more years. I would see a rose that I fell in love with and the next year it was gone.

And then came this beautiful yellow rose. And it was still there the next year and the next and the next. And then one day as I was walking by that beautiful yellow rose I saw that it had been named, Welcome Home

Honestly I still tear up thinking about that day. A very pretty rose with very cool name

It was named for returning Vets

I'm a bit surprised at how many of the old roses are still favorite roses even now. :)

Kentucky - another vote for PJPII!

Kristine - I just looked it up on hmf - Welcome Home is a very beautiful rose!! So they wouldn't let workers take home roses they didn't want to keep...I imagine.

Carol

Carol, each employee took home at least a dozen.or more roses each year. The ones they tossed were black spot magnets or didn't thrive. Many of the roses we got were numbered trial roses.

Kristine, that is so cool! You got such a great introduction. Kentucky, I was JUST to change my ARE order dropping South Africa for Archduke Charles. After seeing it's one your faves and being that we're so close, I may have to rethink that. Thoughts?

Kristine - really!! What do you mean by numbered trial roses? And there must have been a lot that almost made the cut...they would still be fabulous roses, I'm sure!

DD - fragrance and colour, long flowering period

PJP II - large flushes, super fast repeat, just the right height, not too many thorns, very fragrant, very double

Firefighter - productive and super strong fragrance that lasts and lasts, opens slowly in the vase and retain excellent high centred shape, thrips don't cause much damage

Barbra Streisand - productive and good fragrance, straight long stems

Neptune - Excellent fragrance

Fragrant Cloud - Super fragrant, reliable producer

Perfume Delight - lovely fresh spicy fragrance, good continuous production on straight stems, thrips don't bother this rose!

Memorial Day - Few thorns, very fragrant large flushes

Evelyn - excellent fragrance and vase life, great shape and substance, great beauty

New Zealand - not too thorny, very fragrant even at night, beautiful buds

Augusta Luise - great looking bush, large flushes of beautiful and fragrant flowers

Papa Meilland - velvety beauty with a stunning fragrance

These are the roses that I will always want to grow if I ever move house.

Fragrancenutter,

Love seeing all your favorites on your thread, you showcase them so well. I think I look for the same qualities you do...heavy fragrance, long lasting, large bloom, great garden performance, heat tolerance.

Two roses I’m surprised are not on your list...Granada and Sonia Rykiel. They look so amazing in your pics, both as plants in the ground and in arrangements.

A lot of your roses are older varieties. Interesting. :) You do grow them to perfection!!

Carol

The only roses that were named were the ones selected to market. They all started out with a number. So, the numbered roses that were given away may have been too similar to another rose in production. I never got any of them but it must have neen a fun surprise to surprise we what you ended up with

Oh, I get it! Thanks! Yes, I think that would be awesome to get a numbered rose!

Carol

Vaporvac, South Africa is a big, bushy, fragrant, floriferous rosebush. I would consider it more of a landscaping rosebush. Love this bush and so do the Japanese Beetles.

Hope this helps.

Kristine, I am not surprised that WELCOME HOME stood out in the trial gardens. You were very fortunate to be surrounded with the newest roses!

Wow, South Africa is s gorgeous yellow. Great picture of the beetles lol

Kentucky_rose - those JBs are hideous!!! South Africa sure looks like a gorgeous, vibrant rose though!!! Love it!!

I have many roses I'm waiting on to see more blooms and development. I'll cut the number in half to share a few good garden roses here in CA.

Chrysler Imperial
Gourmet Popcorn
Lady Ann Kidwell
Madame Butterfly
Mrs. Charles Bell
Tahitian Sunset

Justin

Justin - Looks like you have a lot of old varities too. Do you have any pictures of your Chrysler ImperialÉ

Carol

Ben, you're very observant!

Yes I didn't include some good roses in my favourite dozen list, including Granada, Sonia Rykiel, Ebb Tide and MIP.

Reasons for this....

I don't really care for the fragrance of Granada even though it is reliably fragrant and very productive. The note is not spectacular to my nose - I much prefer DD's fragrance.

Sonia Rykiel smells amazing and is very productive. Reason not making the top dozen is - thrips love her too much!

I have become allergic to Ebb Tide's pollen - now I'm afraid to sniff it even I really want to!

MIP didn't make the list because - it is only amazing in Spring and early Summer. Flowers don't last that well as cut flowers.

In fact I didn't include any climbers in my list because I still prefer bushes.

Justin, Chrysler Imperial is such a classic rose. You can't go wrong with its color or beautiful form and the fragrance is to die for. What a winner

Fragrancenutter - It'll be interesting for me to smell my Granada this year. It was a band last year, and had no blooms.

Carol

Fragrancenutter,

I appreciate the detailed response. You simply cannot supply us with amazing pictures of Sonia Rykiel and Granada all year long and then expect no one to notice when they are suddenly missing! I was about to inquire about MIP, too. :)

Carol

Hope you love Granada as much as I do. I love the rich , ever changing jewel-toned colors, the shapely buds, the productive plant and the consistently strong , old rose fragrance.

BenT - I got Granada as a band last summer. Such a tiny thing. I really hope it does something this year....not sure how long it takes a band to get full size - 3 years? You make it sound so gorgeous!!! You sound like a poet. :) I can't wait!!!!

Carol

Yes, Carol, here are a few of Chrysler Imperial from earlier in the year. I agree, Kristine, 60-some years on this rose still impresses.

Justin - those roses are beautiful!!!! Mmmmm :)

Carol

Bump up this thread to see Carol's favorites: Paradise Found

1. Pink Peace
2. Jubilee Celebration
3. Zaide
4. Soeur Emmanuelle - bare root last year ... but the fragrance and flowers were fabulous!!
5. Buxom Beauty
6. Grande Dame
7. Bishop's Castle
8. Chicago Peace
9. Valencia
10. Chandos Beauty
11. Tiffany" Carol

From Straw, below are my most favorites among 140+ own-root varieties in dense & black heavy & alkaline clay (poor drainage). Below can take tons of acidic rain plus vigorous roots that go through thick & hard clay when dry. Below also take shade well, 4 hours of sun. Sweet M. is 3rd-year own-root, gets huge 3' x 4', with 40+ blooms per flush:

I have 2 Dee-lish, one in full sun, the 2nd one below is in 4 hrs. of sun, pic. taken this July 12. One in full sun is 7th-year old, below 2nd one in partial shade is 6th-year-own-root:

Crown Princess in only 4 hours of sun, 10th-year own root:

Below Poseidon is a CONTINUOUS bloomer as 7th-year own-root. Zeph. Drouhin is another fav. 6th-year-own-root (pink bush in front).

10th-year-own-root favorites: Evelyn, Lynnie, Carding Mill, Comte de Chambord, Barcelona, Old Port, CPM.

11th-year own-root favorites: Golden Cel., Christopher Marlowe, Pat Austin, Radio Times, W.S. 2000.

5+ year-old own-root favorites: Big Purple, Wise Portia, Sonia Rykiel, Bolero, Double Delight, Pink Peace, La Reine, Gene Boerner, Tchaikosky, Dee-lish, Princess Charlene de Monaco, Twilight zone, Princess Anne, Savannah. Cornelia, Excellenz von Schubert, Marie Pavie, Prairie harvest, Lagerfeld, Mirandy.

Favorites but die through zone 5 winter after 2 years: Firefighter, Versigny. I'll buy more Kordes and Austin roses since they are vigorous and live long in zone 5.

Straw - Ooooh!!! I love your CPM!!!! What a rose!!! Your Poseidon bush is HUGE!!! Your roses certainly love your individual, well thought out plans for them. :) :) I love your Dee-Lish!!!