Well, I disagree with Harry. I think it depends on what part of SE PA you are in. I'm more central, in the Susquahanna Valley, Lancaster Co. within a quarter mile of the Susquehanna River and Conestoga River delta. I have Double Delight in my garden that is super. It's low growing about 4' tall and is one of the fullest disease resistant roses in my garden. It's the sub-climate, I'm sure. Gemini gets much taller, say about 7' in my garden and is a good rose for the back of the garden as is Veteran's Honor. Fragrant Cloud is about mid range (Double Delight size) as well as Iceberg. Our Lady of Guadalope is squatty and needs to be in the front. Yes, you will have to treat for black spot, but I prefer a systemic rather than a spray. Bayer has a good one out that helps to keep black spot to a minimum. I've also found that if you keep the bushes well fed and ground watered, black spot is again kept to a minimum. Use an organic fertilizer and a drip system for them. Keep the moisture off the leaves and all dead leaves cleaned up from around the bottom of the plants. I actually, very rarely water -- only when drought threatens them and they are showing signs of stress. Most of my roses are now quite established and can fend off drought conditions. Yes humidity does play a factor with the black spot and that is why you must treat for it. They will still show some sign of it even if you help the plant be as strong as possible. That is what the systemic is for. You can also pull off the leaves as they get it as well. As far as Austin roses -- well, it is a taste that is learned, I suppose. To me, Austin roses in this area are no better than the HTs. Each one is just as different as the next, some have good disease resistance, others are just ronchy. I have two Austin roses (the only ones left). Tamora which is looking at the shovel this year, or at least moved to a pot where I think it might be better. And Shaifra Asma which was planted in memory of a friend and will stay. SA does appear to be a good plant so far. Another thought would be to plant own-root roses. No matter if they are HTs, Austins, Polyanthas or what, own-root roses have better strength and disease resistance in our area. Your selection of roses are beautiful.

Mary, I was at Home Depot just last weekend, and they had several pots of Iceberg. This was mid-peninsula. It might be worth calling around. I was also at Regan's last Saturday and they had a lot of roses - it was the first day of their half-off sale. I don't recall seeing icebergs but I wasn't looking for them in particular. Again, definitely worth calling to check. In my small garden, iceberg is the only rose I have several plants of. They are simply spectacular in So. Cal. but aren't too shabby here in the Bay Area either. Mine get cercospora spots but are rarely out of flower. They are my workhorses. Jo

Below is the info. that Floweraremusic (zone 5) in Washington gave on her 2020 winter-survival. She has alkaline clay with rocks at bottom like mine & less snow in winter: "My hardiest roses are the Canadians. John Davis, John Cabot, Wm. Baffin, Morden Sunrise, Morden Blush and Morden Centennial, Victorian Memory aka Isabelle Skinner, also a Canadian rose. All these only have tiny bit of tip damage and bloom a lot with no special care. Also, my Hybrid Perpetuals only have tip damage after winter. Magna Charta, Mrs. John Laing, Black Prince and Marchesa Buccella. The only negative is they don’t have long enough cutting stems. All my Austins are very hardy. The one I just can not grow is Jude. Leonardo da Vinci is super hardy and always healthy. Quietness comes through winter very well. Even Rouge Royale survives beautifully. Cinderella Fairy Tale is very hardy. Gruss an Aachen also. Ballerina and Marjorie Fair are both hardy. Poseidon, Princess Charlene de Monaco and Crazy Love didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. The surprise losses this year are Quicksilver, and Dames de Chenonceau who is left with only 1 cane. Versigny is also reduced down to almost nothing. This was a mild winter with very little snow. " Floweraremusic (zone 5). From StrawChicago (zone 5a with hard black-gumbo alkaline clay & less snow but with freezing rain in winter). Versigny didn't survive winter either. So I lost Versigny TWICE. Besides Versigny, other wimpy own-root roses that don't survive winter well: Paul Neyron, Anna's Promise, Pink Peace (own-root died 1st winter, but grafted-Pink Peace survives many winter), Elantyne, Jude the Obscure, Young Lycidas (bought as grafted-on-Dr.Huey, now with only one cane), Mary Daly, and many floribundas don't survive my zone 5a: Pink Chiffon, Sheila's perfume, King Arthur, Deep Purple, Shocking blue, Honey Bouquet (survived 1 winter). Polka Climber (survived 1 winter), Cloutilde Soupert (died twice on me). Sutter's Gold didn't survive winter, same with many fragrant mini-roses from Burlington nursery. Below are my hardy OWN-ROOT roses in my zone 5a alkaline clay, only Double Delight, Young Lycidas and Lavender Crush are grafted-on-Dr.Huey. Bold-faced are the very vigorous ones: Own-roots with 3 feet of green canes: Carding Mill (since 2012), Princess Charlene of Monaco, Duchess de Rohan, Crown Princess Magareta (since 2012), Zepherine Drouhin, Lady of Shalott, James Galway, Lavender Crush, Queen of Sweden (gave away but very hardy), Poseidon (right below the rain-spout, dug down to 2.5 feet), Scepter'd Isle (very big & hardy own-root but gave that away with its lousy scent). Own-roots with 2 feet of green canes: La Reine (many winters), Blue Mist (since 2012), Prairie Harvest (since 2014), Mary Magdalene (since 2011), Evelyn (since 2012), Radio Times (since 2011), Pat Austin (since 2011), Christopher Marlowe (since 2011), Golden Celebration (since 2011), Lilian Austin (gave away but very hardy), the Squire, the Dark Lady, Wise Portia survived 4 winters but died in poor drainage clay, Dee-lish (since 2015), Twilight Zone (since 2016), William Shakespeare. 2000 (since 2011), Comte de Chambord (since 2012), Princess Anne, Sweet Mademoiselles, Aloha climber, Orchid Romance, Bohemian Rhapsody, Marie Pavie, Lagerfeld (since 2017), Frederic Mistral survived 2 winters but died when I didn't winter-protect with leaves, Sonia Rykiel (survived 3 winters) but died in freezing rain winter, same with 1/4 of the street-trees in my neighborhood, Excellenz von Shubert (since 2013), Own-roots with less than 1 foot of green canes: Gina's rose, Tchaikosky (since 2015), Cornelia (since 2018), Bolero (few winters), Peter Mayle, Sharifa Asma, Neil Diamond, Amber Queen, A Shopshire Lad, Strike it Rich, Old Port (since 2012), Veteran's Honor (many winters), Double Delight (grafted on Dr.Huey), Savannah, Tess of d'Uberville, Gene Boerner (since 2014), thornless Yves Seedling (since 2013), Stephen big Purple (since 2012), Louise Este, Mirandy, Crimson Glory, Liv Tyler survived 1 winter but needs winter-protection, Rouge Royal (bought last year with no winter-protection). Annie L. McDowell (survived 2 winters but needs a wet-spot since it's almost thornless), Nahema (survived 1 winter then died during freezing-rain winter), same with Eyes-for-you (drought-tolerant and doesn't like freezing wet winter), Souvenir du President Lincoln, Madame Issac Pererie and Madame Earnest Calvat, Firefighter (survived 2 winters) but died since it's next to tree. Bayes Blueberry (survived many winters but I gave away), Charles Darwin (gave away since it fades badly), Arthur Bell (since 2012 & killed it since I don't like the flowers). StrawChicago.

I found this interesting. I'm definitely going to try it next year. "Not only do they look surprisingly great together, but parsley also has many benefits for roses. Parsley deters many unwanted insects from your roses, including aphids and rose beetles. Even better, this herb may actually enhance the fragrance of your roses."