Thank you vaporvac, I looked up several of the roses on your list, very impressive. One I forgot to mention is Lavender Lassie. Hasn’t bloomed much at all yet, but the bush looks very healthy, and even though it’s still small, it has quite a few clusters of buds on it, can’t wait for it to bloom! I think I might give Summer Romance another try after my first one didn’t do very good, so unlike most of my Kordes roses. Wasn’t quite ready to try it again, maybe next year.

I became very impressed with my roses that survived not only Hurricane Michael from Oct 2018 but also the clean-up that followed. 20+ roses were lost in the hurricane but those that survived have grown back with incredible vigor. There's two survivors that really stand out. One is Red Masterpiece and the other is Proud Land. Both were suffering before the hurricane struck but the RM was better than PL at that point. So far this year, it had more blooms on a single cane than it had all of last year for the entire plant. And there's been 3 new canes too so far this year. It's a glorious plant to see it being determined to not only live but thrive. The velvet like blooms are larger than normal and fragrant. PL is a different story. It was a late Spring 2018 planting and it struggled in its spot. It had a bad case of black spots up to the Hurricane. It was surrounded by other rose plants that didn't make it thru the hurricane. The spot it occupied became a big clean up area as a large tree had fallen in the proximity and the crews couldn't spot any rose plant to save. It was run over lots of times by crews and machinery and became mostly buried. So after clean up, a little green twig was spotted and curiosity made me dig it up. The reason I bought it was simple - it has a massively thick main cane. Anyways, the cane was intact and the one twig too. But that was it. It was set back up, cleaned up, washed, fertilized and watered with faint hope it would decide to live and thrive. It did indeed decide to live and thrive. If there was a prior issue with black spots, I can't find it now. And that main cane is sprouting 4 new canes from it, almost like a basal break. Oh, it has a couple of new canes from basal breaks too. It had one set of blooms and those were tremendous - massive sized blooms and nicely scented. But the leaves on this plant are huge - more than double than the prior year (same observation for RM). I like this one rose plant a lot because of it's determination to live and thrive when it was taken for near dead with very faint hope for living.

I've planted new roses for those that perished last year but I did not plant as many. I guess I'm becoming more of an educated amateur when it comes to roses but I chose to plant roses that were easier to maintain and resistant (somewhat) to the common problems affecting roses. There's a few Dave Austin roses in the new plantings and a new Mister Lincoln rose tree too. All are doing well and thriving. It may be too early to be certain but finally, the 4th attempt at planting Double Delight seems to be taking effect. It had a huge thrust of blooms so far. Orchid Romance has been wonderful new planting with it's very fragrant blooms and so too with the Jasmin rose. The only one seeming to be a potential problem is Life of the Party rose. It had lots and lots of blooms but it dropped a lot of leaves immediately afterwards and a few small canes died. It is struggling.

Thank you DVS! I’m glad some of your roses survived Hurricane Michael. That’s amazing about Proud Land, that’s a rose I fell in love with back in 1980’s when I first started growing roses, the blooms were gorgeous and plentiful!

I wouldn't have much of a garden if it wasn't for the Canadians. I love my Austins, Meillands and Kordes, but my hardiest, healthiest and best all around are the Canadians, then the hybrid perpetuals and hybrid musks. These roses never need any special care.

Thank you flowers. What are some of the varieties you grow, if you don’t mind me asking?

Would love to learn more about your healthy roses

DVS im shocked that anything survived hurricane Michael! I saw NOAA confirmed it was a category 5 at landfall last week.

Hope you and yours are doing well in the aftermath! I know things are still not back to normal, even 6 months later.

On topic, the only ones ive had that were actually carefree were knockouts.

Sara Ann, my Canadians are John Davis and Cabot, Wm. Baffin (almost total shade), The Mordens, Sunrise, Centennial and Blush, Martin Frobisher (a volunteer. I'd never heard of a volunteer rose, but it appeared out of nowhere) and Therese Bugnet. Those roses get no care and bloom all summer. I removed Martin F last year because he came up in the middle of a walkway and he's a big fella. We walked around him for awhile, but he got too big. I meant to save a sucker or cutting, but my husband did the honors so nothing got saved. I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up again this year.

Voles left me only 2 hybrid perpetuals; Mrs. John Laing and Magna Charta. They ate Paul Neyron, Arrillaga, Salat, Enfant de France and Yolande d'Aragon. These are so carefree, I feel guilty when they bloom.

My hybrid musks are Ballerina, Ghislaine de Feligonde, Darlow's Enigma and Marjorie Fair, which I treat as a hybrid musk. These benefit the most from fertilizer.

I think these roses would do just as well if I never went near them. It's nice to have good old standbys that you can count on. They may not all have drop dead gorgeous blooms, but they are reliable for color and health.

rose above and beyond has been an amazing performer. Totally cane hardy in zone 5 with very healthy foliage. Loads of blooms.

Only drawback repeating is little to none.

Thank you! Flowers, I appreciate you naming the varieties. I’ve been totally impressed with Ghislaine de Feligonde, looks like a great rose! I am beginning to be very interested in the Hybrid Musks. When I get the chance I’ll look up all the varieties you named I’m not familiar with.

guyground, Above and Beyond is beautiful, what a bloomer!

Flowers, Morden Centennial and Ballerina are new to me this year. I’m excited to see how they do!

My healthiest roses are Moonstone (a lovely opal colored HT), the Fairy, Gilded Sun (almost too bright for me, but gorgeous foliage and a good bloomer), and Rosie the Riveter, who absolutely blew me away last year.

Dillybean, Morden Centennial is a big girl. Bigger than her stated 3-4' size. Beautiful, saturated color.

Ballerina is totally charming. Low to the ground unless you encourage her canes upward. She's very flexible. You'll be glad you have both of these.

Flowers, there really are some gorgeous HP’s. Really love the pictures of Magna Charta. I’ve got Paul Neyron and just planted Yolande d’Aragon and I’ve thought Mrs. John Laing is gorgeous for a long time! They all look like lovely roses. Ballerina is such sweet looking rose too.

Dillybeansown, Gilded Sun looks like a Lovely yellow, I had never heard of it. I guess there are roses that do particularly well in certain areas. I love Moonstone too, such a beautiful rose!

Glory of Edzell, Harison's Yellow, Nymphe Egeria, Veilchenblau, Ghislane De Feligonde, Darlow's Enigma, and an unknown Geschwind. I am probably forgetting some.. OH Edmond Proust and Seafoam.

Edmond Proust has been on my list for a long time. Afraid he might not be hardy enough for here, but I'd love to try. Moving him up on the list. Altorama, is yours own root or grafted? And, how well does he repeat?

Sara Ann, I agree that hybrid perpetuals are beautiful. I was referring to some of the Canadian roses, such as Wm. Baffin, that look better at a distance, in my opinion. He's such a valuable rose for health and hardiness, but each individual bloom is pretty simple. On the other hand, Morden Blush has a truly gorgeous bloom, very similar to Moonstone and Johann Strauss.

If you like hybrid perpetuals, another one to look into is Anna de Diesbach.

Sara Ann , great topic !! It’s very helpful for those of us who don’t want to spray or obsess over spotty leaves . I was very happy with the three new intros from David Austin last year , Bathsheba, Roald Dahl and desdemona . Olivia did great too , posiden , and I knkw there were a few more but those stood out . I must have gotten lucky last year as I don’t remember black spot being too bad on many . I did want to encourage anyone , that my lavender lassie took a few years to outgrow bouts with black spot and also heavily repeat bloom . It’s so pretty . I love the color so much !

Morden Blush is gorgeous, flowers and Anna de Diesbach is another beautiful HP, looks so full petaled.

Lily, my roses have had some blackspot issues in recent years, but overall not that bad, I don’t spray, and that is something I don’t want to do. That makes disease resistant roses that much more appealing. That’s why I like Kordes roses so much! BTW, I am very much an admirer of your roses! And you have some beautiful Austins, which I have a difficult time with!

Sara— I’ll agree with you about Julia Child. I have two, and they carry on in spite of less than perfect growing conditions, thrips, drought. I noticed very few aphids on them too, not sure if aphids prefer certain bushes though.

Of course, the icebergs are great performers. Elle is another successful bush for me in So, Calif.

Mme Anisette is probably my most bullet proof with regard to blackspot even at the very end of the season. Mystic Beauty never got blackspot, but did get powdery mildew when she was young. I believe Plum Perfect and Lady of Shallot were also pretty clean. I do try only to get disease resistant varieties so most of mine are pretty decent.

My least resistant rose is finally dead - Cream Abundance.

I've been interested in Mme Anisette for a long time, but I'm afraid my humid spring and fall make her struggle with PM. Will it do better when aged? I'm trying to find an excuse to get one. LOL.

Flowersaremusic, Edmond Proust is hardy to the tips for me. If I deadhead, I get scattered rebloom in late summer. It is so beautiful that I do not mind if it only blooms in spring, and the foliage is beautiful and healthy, new growth is red.

Mine is own root.

Thanks for the info, altorama. I will have to begin the hunt. Sometimes Northland can get roses for me that they don't normally carry.