It's really beautiful, Marlorena. Yes, this type is one of my favorites.

Both elegant and attention-getting. I also find it interesting to contrast the coolness of pinks with the warmth of oranges, side by side.

That's a perfect picture, Marlorena. For my garden, I consider lavender with the plum/purple group. I used to favor pinks, but have branched out considerably with the feeling that the colour and style of rose should suit its place in my garden. I find various forms of roses add to the flow and excitement of a bed. Just as too much jewelry can be too much, too many roses of a similar shape or even colour can dull the visual senses. I notice the individual roses by contrast, however subtle. I personally love red roses so long as they have the more old-fashioned blue undertones as opposed to orange. What could be more beautiful that Cl.Crimson Glory in full bloom?

In fact, I wanted to add that it is almost this exact color that drew me to the world of roses three years ago when I went to my local nursery and saw Good as Gold.

I couldn't help getting it even though I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. It's an HT who never performed very well for me but even now, when it comes back with a few blooms in the Spring, it is remarkable. No other roses glow in the garden like sunset oranges.

Haha, I don't think I can choose! I am a very indecisive person. I love all the colors! Lavenders are beautiful, and so are velvety reds and soft pinks, and cheery yellows, and brilliant oranges. My garden looks like a mess right now, but in my dream garden I would like to have several roses from each color group. Multi-colored roses are especially lovely. I think my favorite roses of all are striped roses.

'Good as Gold' and 'Floral Fairy Tale' both look exceptional! I love those golden orange colors!

damask_rose : )

I love pinks the most , but apricots make my heart sing too! Strait yellows don’t work for me , but I love imogen and Charlotte , so there are exceptions. Plain white is a no , unless it’s bolero . Lol

i absolutely love to see all the colors of the roses incorporated in other people’s garden . I think the reds are stunning but I don’t grow any since I am not good at blending them . I hope to someday have the space to figure it out though !

I also love lavenders and plums. My front yard has love song and violets pride and I really love them there .

It’s hard when there are so many gorgeous roses to narrow things down!

My tastes have really changed over the years.

I used to only like vibrant colors ( still do ) and didn't care for lavender or mauve. Now one of my favorites is Plum Perfect, go figure.

I put in a new growing area with all lavender, pink and white. I find it boring.

In the front yard it is all different shades from peach to orange and yellow, I like it very much.

So favorite color would be hot pink/fuschia and I absolutely adore dark red with a dark undertone, like Crimson Glory, exquisite color.

Bi colors are one of my favorites

Crimson Glory

Maurice Utillo

Ugh, white roses used to hands down be my favorite but now I just don’t know!

I don’t grow any true reds because they are hard to blend in my garden, however I have Great Western, Henry Martin and Celestial Night and love them. Looking to add Munstead Wood and Raspberry Cream Twirl.

Yellow has also been a no go but I am really liking cool yellows-The Pilgrim, Lemon Spice and White Licorice.

Pinks, lavender, purple and apricots are must haves....

I can’t decide!!!!!

Oursteelers, as my BF likes to say, "I used to be indecisive, but now I just don't know!" LOL! : 0

I like all colors of roses, except bright orangish coral. And I can think of only one rose that I have grown that was such a garish color, and only in summer: Princess Alexandra of Kent. I love the variety of blended light colors of Augusta Luise, and the pinks and apricots of Evelyn. I adore dark purples and dark wine reds, lavenders, and yellow with softer tones. Diane

Who are those purple and lavender beauties, Diane? The purple one is spectacular but I am afraid it would look too dark without sun-rays straight on it.

I LOVE Princess Alexandra of Kent based on pictures, but I am not sure if it fits more in the Pinks or Coral (slightly warm) category.

Thanks, Severe. Purple actually shows up quite well, particularly if it's contrasting with something lighter, or is massed together with other kindred shades. The photos are of Twilght Zone, my favorite purple, and the lavender rose is Angel Face. I love Love Song just as much, and it blooms better for me, but every now and then I just have to post a photo of Angel Face. She has a lovely scent, too, but is a bit of a prima donna in my garden. The third rose is Augusta Luise, my very favorite. She also blooms in the palest pink. I love it all. Diane

Diane,

Their form is amazing - what dreams are made of! :)

I have Lthroughoutve Song too, it's in its first year as bare root planted in the ground .

But since it may not receive enough sunlight in that bed close to a tree...it's probably not performing at its best. It has balled quite a bit trohgout the season.

It's beautiful when the bloom makes it. Hopefully, I'll see better from it next year.

Love all the colors if they grow ell here, lol! That's the most important thing for me. And I'm one of those people who just mix all the colors together in one bed. Color scheme? Whats that?! Nature never bothers to separate or color coordinate anything, and she does a beautiful job, so why should I?

I do have to say that my eye is always first attracted to bi-color roses, with red and white, like Double Delight or Love, being my favorite. But I find I really dislike red and yellow bi-color roses like Ketchup and Mustard. To me those two colors together just turn to mud.

Love

Oh, that ruffly look on Augusta Luise! Precious!

I love this thread! I am new to roses this year, but am expanding my knowledge and tastes. I am drawn to apricot and light pinks, but Diane’s photos have opened my eyes to the world or purple and lavender roses! I have two new ones to add to the list!

I recently added Tess of the D’Urbervilles and I am undecided on her. I love her true red color when she first blooms, but I am not sold on the magenta shade the bloom takes after a bit of aging. Although, I love how her form matures into something that to me, looks like the skirts of a princess’ gown! Depending on her rebloom and how she fills out, she might get moved from her prime real estate location in the fall...

Vapor, was your neighborhood affected by the storm with the fancy new name?

I love apricot and soft orange roses and I am willing to take a chance on these colors even though they had never been mentioned here. Pure white or pure pink do not get my attention. I may buy them if they got really good reviews here.

Lek, Evelyn is one of my favorite roses, and it's often a soft apricot. Abe Darby is a popular Austin rose that is apricot--I grow that one, too. I grow a soft orange rose called Abbaye de Cluny which is a vigorous and excellent bloomer. It's a Meilland Romantica rose. My Augusta Luise shown above is often an apricot blend. Another wonderful Austin that is light apricot is Tamora, which I grow, and love. She's a parent of Evelyn. Then there is the climber Colette which is a blend of apricot and peach. It is also a Meilland Romantica. I think apricot and peach colored roses are very popular among forum members. The roses I just mentioned I would recommend. What is your hardiness zone, and what conditions do you garden under? Diane

Here are some photos of this spring and summer's Colette, Tamora, Abbaye de Cluny, and Evelyn. Diane

Colette

Tamora

I was having trouble posting the above photos, so I'm sorry I had to string them out with no text. The first two are the climber, Colette; the second two are Abbaye de Cluny and Tamora; the third set of two are Evelyn and Jude the Obscure. All from this spring and early summer. Diane

@Diane Brakefield, Your flowers are so beautiful! This happens to me all the time when I saw apricot/peach/soft orange, I am in awe and want all of them! I am in Las Vegas, NV. Before, I tried not to get roses that are tall and wide because I can only grow them in containers. But now, I think most of my roses would not grow much from mid May to mid September because it is too hot here. And I think I would have to trim a lot of black stems in September and prune them again in late January so the chance of them grow too tall & wide for me might not happen. So I think I will change my height requirement and get all of these once off limit Thank you Diane!

Lek, thank you. We have a forum member, Lynn in Texas, who rose gardened for years in Las Vegas, and could probably help you a lot. I hope she sees this thread, but she posts just sporadically. I know she didn't expect her roses to do any blooming in the hottest months, and she knew which ones handled the heat best. Evelyn does pretty well in hot sun here, and so does Julia Child (a yellow). A medium pink with slight coral undertones, Boscobel does really well in the heat around here. We can have some nasty hot temps and very dry air, but Las Vegas is worse, I know. Diane

Oh my sweet heaven!!!! Such beautiful, beautiful and exquisite roses!!!!

Diane - Your roses are exquisite! I have never grown anything remotely close to the beauty of your roses!! Seriously beautiful roses, my dear!!!

Severe_Novice - this is a wonderful thread...and I really enjoyed listening in on your musings of color and roses!! You might like Jalbert's orange rose Diane Loomer. It always looks lit from within.

I love lilac pinks the best like on Memorial Day!!

Vaporvac - I love the blue red of the older red roses too!! My Chrysler Imperial (bare root this year) has only given me that wonderful purple that Munstead Wood gives. I love that color!!!

Kristine - yeah, I find white to be boring too.

Oursteelers - yeah, White Licorice has a wonderful color (and fragrance)!! It always makes me happy to look at the flowers and the whole bush.

Seil - I love a great big mix of color too!! Your Love is exceptional!! And your Candy Cane Cocktail is adorable...I don't grow it...but it is such a sweet looking rose!

Thanks, Shay, and I love the roses you have shown us. What is the lovely apricot rose you are holding? It's beautiful.

Carol, thank you, thank you. Your words are making me feel better as I watch the big, damaging storm outside. You can be sure that if it's really hot like today, the winds will be awful at night. Plus it's smoke season, and all the fire smoke settles in the Boise "bowl". I am concerned about our friends in Eastern Washington near Spokane like Flowers. Flowers, let us know you are safe from the horrible fires I've been hearing about. And of course, California is on fire, along with Colorado. We have a number of small ones going, but so far, a big one has not started yet.

I thought of another purple rose I like, in spite of some drawbacks, and that is Young Lycidas. It can get pretty large and has long floppy canes, which work well when YL leans them on neighbors like my climber Colette. YL has a lovely scent, but its blooms don't handle heat well. Still, it's pretty enough that I'll keep it. I do love the color.

Here is a pic of a pyrocumulus cloud produced by a major fire with had a few years ago in Idaho. The cloud is miles away and huge. Also, a few pics of Young Lycidas. Diane

Diane - that is a HUGE cloud!!! Nature sure is scary at times! I love your YL!!! I can't believe how huge it grows for you! And, of course, there's your gorgeous Julia Child in the background! Do you ever get local recognition for your roses? Paper? News on t.v.?

Yes, like Diane said...stay safe everyone.

Diane, I agree with you about Young Lycidis , the color and fragrence make it worth putting up with those floppy canes. I am always wacking on that poor rose but he doesn't seem to care.

Carol, one of my favorite colors is also that orchidy pink

Kristine - I couldn't stand the floppy canes. It's gone from my garden. Same with Strawberry Hill. Yeah...it's a great color!! :) :)

Diane, thank you! Goodness, fires - that is so scary. As if we all need any more worries, given the way things are now in the world. I feel safe in my garden and I hope you find that every day in yours as well. I am just in awe of your rose garden. I don’t think I’ve ever seen photos of the entire plants before. I hope some day my little shrubs are able to reach half the size of yours. But, alas, our climates are very different. Your Jude has me swooning!

The apricot rose in my hand is Crown Princess Margareta. I actually just picked another one up which I’m very excited about - Mary Rose. Bred around the time Gertrude Jekyll was, but I haven’t heard anything about this one, or found this one locally at my usual garden center haunts. I found this by chance at an out of the way garden center a woman runs on her own property by herself with her husband. It was a magical place!

Mary Rose seems very hardy, and isn’t a gaudy pink. The blooms are large and resemble a peony, and has a wonderful old rose smell!

Thank you, too, Shay. Mary Rose is an Austin classic that many of us grow (I haven't), and is beautiful and well liked. She is no longer under patent, I'm sure, so she can be grown in those out of the way places that you describe. You made a good choice. Your Crown Princess Margareta is a beauty, and you off to a great start with her. Our horrible heat wave has really taken its toll on the roses, including my Jude, which is pretty wimpy about standing up to dry heat. If that isn't bad enough, the deer finally made it to my back yard, and ate all the blooms off Abbaye de Cluny. What's a gardener to do? Enjoy the fresh tomatoes, I guess. You are probably having a more pleasant summer,currently, than here--at least I hope so. It's awfully hot all over the country, according to the weather map. I spy a beautiful hydrangea growing behind Mary Rose. I am jealous. Diane

It's more complicated than just colour groups. Generally, I like cooler shades, both pastels and deep or bright cool colours. I only tolerate more muted warm colours.

Pink - yes, almost all of them, with the exception of bright bubble gum pink and too warm pink (coral, salmon).

Red - yes. But most of the roses described as red, I would describe as pink (or possibly purple).

Colours between red, pink and purple and all their blends - yes!!!

Purple (and lavender) - yes!

White - nothing against it but it rarely looks good

Apricot - sometimes

Orange - no

Yellow - lemon yellow yes, golden yellow no

Warm blends yellow/orange/apricot - no

Cool and warm blends (like pink and orange) - yes

Too strong contrast - no

Stripes - sometimes

Roses with darker centres or with different colours in different stages of the bloom - yes yes yes!

But there are exceptions of course :)

Edhelka,

I am starting to understand the reticence towards SOME orange roses.

A good orange-coral-sunset rose can be absolutely stunning to me, especially those with different colors, but a bad one can fade to a yellowish deathly beige in the summer heat that can be quite unimpressive.

I guess I'm not the only one who has trouble with orange roses then! So many people love Lady of Shallot, but I just can't seem to like it, even though it seems to be the perfect rose for me in every other way!

I do have a preference for lighter colour roses...light pinks, apricot/peach, lilac are probably my favourites. Jude the Obscure is probably not the best choice for a beginner like me but I just fell in love with its colour and form so I had to have it haha. Thankfully the colour doesn't seem to fade in my climate.

My neighbor's LOS is not orange, but a soft apricot. I guess it depends on one's weather and soil.

My Lady of Shallot is a beautiful peachy color and my Easy does it is a pinky orange but I love a good orange rose and probably have more of those than any other color.

I use a lot of white but I prefer if it has a blush of color

I tell you who is making me smile, Double Delight and Maurice Utillo because every bloom is so unique.

Kristine, along that line, I love the colour shifting hand-painted type of roses such a Archduke Charles, Jerabek's Peggy M, Gruss an Aachen and even Cinco de Mayo (if the latter didn't BS so much. )

Hmmm maybe I need to see if I can find a LoS in my area to see what colour it would be....but then I may never know until I actually plant it in my soil. I do really love that shape....

I enjoyed reading all the comments!

My favorite colors have changed over the years. I used to love the apricots and pinks but I noticed that sitting afar I could not appreciate them as well. The colors were to muted and faded. In a vase they are my favorite colors. Now I gravitate towards more dark colors or bright colors that really pop in the landscape. For years I didn’t like purples, and then one spring that is all I bought!

My Favorite color seems to change from season to season. Every year there is a new color I am really drawn to. The only yellow I really enjoy is the buttery yellow of Julia Child and seeing them in mass can make my heart skip a beat.

The one color that is always at the top of my list, year after year is white. Sounds like I am in the minority. I LOVE white against the dark green leaves. It appears so fresh to me. I think white pops against lush greenery from afar and also looks pretty up close. My favorite whites are Bolero, Winchester Cathedral, White Eden, Sally Holmes and PJP.

It is Interesting how our tastes change from year to year.

I also love white and have several of them.

But I agree with Lala. I love looking out the window and seeing that far off pop of color. That's where Fiji shines .

Reds will always be my favourites and fuschia a close second.

I have some new blooms on baby Veterans Honor and I was almost giddy. It is such a gorgeous red.

Celestial Night is beautiful.

Fortunately my Cinco de Mayo doesn't blackspot spot because I really love how bloomy it is and Frida Kahlo, what a color! I really love orange roses of .most any shade

Celestial night

Another vote for Lala's take on pinks, peaches and anything pastel, really. I LOVE THEM in bouquets and vases, they are so sophisticated and elegant - but they don't necessarily make the best landscape choices.

My favorite color for garden/landscape remains a good bright coral-red. Like Coral Drift. When you get a mass of that - no one will fail to notice.

I love all rose colors except red-orange and fluorescent orange. Here is my LoS. The pink one in the vase with her is Paul Neyron.

Wow! Those two colors look great together!

The above photo looks so yummy like

orange and raspberry sherbert!

I agree those two colors are beautiful together

Kristine - yes! Your Celestial Night really pops! I love colors that scream like that! :)

Stephanie - I love how your PN brings out the pinks in the LoS blooms! Gorgeous!