You may want to post this question in the Antique Rose forum too..

Also, you may want to add where in So. CA your garden is, as Riverside County and CA's large desert areas, being so different from Coastal Southern CA, can impact the answers you receive.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

Teas are an excellent choice in SoCal. They need a lot of room — easily get to 5-6’ wide and tall.

if you have the room, do it! I recommend Dr. Grill and General Schablikine, both of which I own. Georgetown Tea is another beautiful rose.

You won’t get neon-bright colors and super strong scents, but you will have roses from March until November — or later. My GS bloomed in January this year.

Another advantage of tea roses is that they need almost no pruning, certainly none at all during the first two years.

There’s a terrific book on them from Australia - I think it’s just called “Tea Roses.” Very informative.

Good luck! Let us know what you choose.

Thank you very much, Sylvia and Lynn for your quick replies!

Sylvia - All three of those teas your recommend are lovely. I'm so excited to get started!

Antique Rose Emporium sells the largest Teas I have found. Teas are the best in hot areas. I love them. Be patient with them and do not prune.

I agree about tea roses being a good choice. Also, there is a type of rose called china roses. Both most china and tea roses were hybridized in Southern France in the 19th century, using roses which came from China in the early 19th century which were ever blooming. China roses like warm/hot weather and sun just like teas do. Most of them, but not all, have smaller reddish blooms on roundish bushes. They also bloom for at least 10 months in warm climates.

The red rose in the first picture below (both pics taken in the last 10 days or so) is a china rose (there is another bush of it further down the row). It is called "Cramoisi Superior". (The light colored roses beyond the pink one are two tea roses). The second picture is one of my favorite roses - some people think it is a china rose, and others think it is a tea rose. It is called "Le Vesuve", and the one in this picture is only a few years old, so it is just getting going.

Oh, btw - the fabulous book on tea roses is called " Tea Roses, Old Roses for a Warm Garden.

Jackie

Back when I visited northern San Diego County, relatively close to the coast, I saw many prolific HTs in excellent shape. I had the impression they could be grown there with impunity. All the beautiful ones that would fail here. I am thus interested to see that they are not being strongly recommended in this discussion. Maybe because climate conditions are somewhat different now - I wonder.

It is mainly because the OP asked specific questions about old tea roses, not HTs, with which they were already familiar.

Jackie

Rifis-

Some of the Coastal CA area roses could benefit from spraying, which is something that not all gardeners are willing to do… My modern roses in Coastal Southern CA would get mildew, and blackspot during certain times of the year… I just over looked it...

I picked up on that too, Jackie and thus suggested posting in the Antique Roses Forum too. The O.P. also requested a comparison of Hybrid Teas and Austin's versus Teas.

1) Do you prefer HTs and DAs over Teas in terms of blooming and health?

2) If yes, what are your favorites and where can I buy them?

Lynn, one thing which I have learned about roses is that LOCAL knowledge is the very best source of information, and second to that is people who at least garden in similar climate conditions. Rifis is in New Jersey, so I am not sure at all that roses of any kind which do well where they are would do well where you are. Sounds as if you have moved from Coastal So Cal to TX lately? You might want to consult a good rose nursery where you are - hopefully someone from TX will respond on here.

I am not sure to whom you addressed your questions, but I can tell you that in my climate (Northern SF Bay Area, not near the coast at all, but very near the Bay), old tea roses, old china roses, polyanthas, noisettes, banksias, hybrid gigantias, hybrid musks, and old ramblers are WAY healthier without spraying than any of the HTs or DAs (I have only one) I have had in my garden. I learned this through trial and (much) error. Everything is local with roses. The fact that this is the case in my climate does not mean anything about what roses might like living in your climate.

Jackie

Jackie - Who moved from CA to Texas?

Not me, actually a CA native, who moved to Vegas (formerly desertgarden), and then after 18 years there, to Texas. I suggested that the OP

1. Be more specific about where in CA he/she resides… understanding the differences… in full support and belief of as you wrote "LOCAL knowledge".

2. Suggested that the post be duplicated in the Antique Forum since a request was made for a comparison of Hybrid Tea Roses and Austin's to Tea Roses.

The 1. and 2. in my previous post was cut and pasted from the O.P.'s question…my sincere apologies if that made what I wrote seem unclear..

I have very few questions at this point regarding growing roses in TX…. My Modern roses, decades ago when I lived in CA, seemed to have issues that I overlooked, but I did not know anything about Antique Roses at the time. (I have no advice regarding growing Teas in CA… which is why I made the suggestion for posting in this forum). Wish I would have known about Tea Roses back then :( Oh, well… I grew them in Vegas, thanks to this forum, and can grow them here :)

Thank you all for your quick and thoughtful replies!

Jackie - Thank you for the information on Chinas as well as Teas. They are both completely new territory for me, so I am most appreciative. And thank you for the tip on A.R.E. I have never ordered roses by mail before (always bought them in person from Regans in Nor Cal), so I am happy to know that this is a good way to go. Your roses and garden are beautiful! Great inspiration!

Ingrid - Thank you for telling me about polyanthus and bourbons - so looking forward to learning about those too. Your roses are gorgeous and make me want to get started right now!

:) Mary

Welcome, Mary! I’m so glad you got all these great responses. These folks are THE best to help with your new rose garden. I’m growing teas, too, but in FL, so I just wanted to say, love your taste! We can’t wait to see pics of what you decide on! 😊

Mary, it would be so helpful if we knew a little bit more about where you garden, i.e. closer to the coast or more inland.. Even among the teas and other old roses, some love the heat while others are a bit more sensitive. The soil also makes a difference, whether it's more of a clay type or a looser soil, like my decomposed granite. My Bourbon rose Souvenir de la Malmaison is a good example. In my soil and greater heat it does very well whereas those in cooler coastal climates (which are however warmer than they used to be) that rose was a mildewy mess. Location can make a great difference when it comes to growing the best possible roses.

Ingrid is right about the importance of soil. When I lived in 10a, I had wonderful loamy soil and almost no wind.

Now, although I’m still in L.A. County, I have clay, and it is very windy here much of the time. SoCal is a huge area with many microclimates, so it is really helpful to know exactly where.

Oh! And thank you to Sheila too! Another vote of confidence for A.R.E is very helpful. I was always nervous about ordering sight unseen, but I will dive in happily now.

I'm so grateful that you are asking these questions!

I am located in the eastern-most part of Encinitas about 25 miles north of San Diego and about 5-6 miles in from the coast. We don't have real coastal weather - we are beyond the fog belt, so when it's foggy at the beach it is sunny here. But our warm summers do benefit from coastal breezes so it doesn't usually get very hot. We are usually around 80 degrees in July and August, though each summer we get a week of "heat wave" of around 95 degrees and not very humid. Winters are almost never below 40 degrees.

I love the soil question because my daughter is taking a class on environmental science in high school, and just did a lab on our soil (so nice to be able to answer the inevitable question, "will I ever need to know this in real life?" with a "Yes!") Turns out our soil is loamy and pretty well balanced and seems to drain well but not fast, so it shouldn't be problematic. And we don't get much wind.

Thanks to input from all of you, I will add a few Teas and Chinas to go along with lots of HTs and DA type roses to my Rose Wish List. I have been waiting for 20 years to be able to grow roses (wasn't able to grow them up north because our property was shaded by redwood trees), so I finally get to plant many of the HTs and DAs that I've admired for years. This is like 20 Christmases for me :)

Mary - so glad to hear that you have good soil; IMO that is what makes my garden so prolific; it has been gardened non-stop for 115 years, and the soil in the beds is 100% clay based loam, down 1-2 feet, full of worms and other good things. I take credit for the happy plants which should really go to the previous 3 generations of my DH's family.

Your rose ordering plan sounds like a good project for right now! Do remember, if you have questions in the future about teas or chinas or DAs, to post them on the Antique Roses forum on Houzz, which is set up for those particular roses. Also, if you are not used to ordering roses on line, be aware that some of the own root offers will come in tiny "band" containers. Those roses need to be transplanted immediately into one gallon pots, and put outside in the shade for a few days. Then they need to be put outside in the sun, and protected from critters if you have any, and carefully watered and watched, for at least 6 months before you plant them in the ground. That is so they can grow a big enough root structure to survive being transplanted. It is good timing right now, because the best time of year to plant roses in the ground in warm climates is right before the winter, when it will rain (hopefully? what is the average rain in your area?), or at least be cooler.

Jackie

I can also attest that Antique Rose Emporium has excellent large potted roses. Not the small bands that many boutique growers sell. I have purchased many roses from them. I also love Burlington’s selection of highly unusual and rare roses. Hers are the small bands, but they have excellent health and have done very well for me. You will have to email her for a list of her 2020 roses. She has a great selection of miniature roses too. My favorite roses are Madame Alfred Carriere, Monsieur Tillier, Marie Pavie (from Burlington which has the more double blooms) Golden Celebration and Darcey Bussell. The two David Austin roses were from a local nursery graphed onto Dr. Huey rootstock. They are very floriferous and do well in SoCal heat. Madame Alfred Carriere is a large climber that blooms constantly throughout the year here. Monsieur Tillier is just a blooming machine! Absolutely loaded with blooms that have a medium scent of bananas and black tea. He gets to be 6-8 feet tall and as a Tea Rose won’t like harsh pruning. Teas need to be allowed to grow to their full natural size. Marie Pavie has the most incredible musky rose scent that wafts through the air. I have three planted by my patio. Some versions of this rose have single flowers; Burlington has the double version. ARE has what should be a double pink sport call Marie Daly, but is actually a single white bloom that gets 4-5 feet tall instead of the 3 feet of Marie Pavie.