I’m glad you brought up this timely topic, SoFl, and your website is very nice.
Some of my heat champions are:
Fragrant Cloud:
A real work horse of a rose, constant color , nice size and petal count, incredible scent. I grew it over 20 yrs ago and grow it now, it is a real summer standout. The petals seem more scorch resistant than any other rose.
Neil Diamond:
Another standout, maintaining great blooms size , petal count, productivity. Unlike many other multicolors, Neils color stay well defined and true, never blotchy. The fragrance is so strong it’s almost unreal. Easily my favorite rose introduced in the last decade.
Double Delight:
Very reliable in heat, in fact I think it prefers to be somewhat hot. Most interesting colors and great scent. Double Delight doesn’t bloom ‘all at once’ in a flush, but you find color on it all the time, and it’s quite productive. Some of these older HTs came out of breeding fields in the hottest parts of the US, so their suitability to such a climate really shines through.
Evelyn:
My favorite Austin for the hot summer. Evelyn not only blooms well in summer, but her thick waxy petals last long and resist burn. She requires a ton of water and food to do her thing, but if her requirements are met she is quite good in heat.
Veterans Honor:
A summertime beacon of red that attracts everyone to my garden. VH has the most perfect, big, durable, colorfast blooms of all my roses. Her flush of blooms look so good for so long.
Saint Patrick:
Another super long lasting, nicely sized, heat lover. Most yellows are quite fleeting, so SP being super durable is so is a real standout.
Lavender Crush:
A climber with extraordinarily generous repeat cycles, extraordinary color and fragrance. Seems tough and disease resistant, too
Granada
Prodigious bloomer, excellent vigor, magical colors, excellent fragrance.
Brigadoon and Gemini:
Similar colors and I take these two for granted, but they are big bushes that stay productive in summer.
Mister Lincoln:
A strong grower, great scent, doesn’t let up in summer. Those old Herb Swim roses were made to take a hot summer.
Barbra Streisand
Super productive, nice scent, not my favorite shade of lavender but it’s a very good hot summer rose.
PJPII
Seems at it’s best in summer and esp. fall, can put together some incredibly beautiful flushes of fragrant blooms.
Firefighter:
Very productive fragrant red, perhaps the best strongly fragrant red for the South.
Very promising:
Lady in Red:
Like Vet’s Honor, a bold, extremely long lasting, colorfast red with top notch substance. Lady in Red has good vigor and repeat, esp for a climber in its 1st year.
Love Song:
No one is telling Love Song its 102degrees and she’s only been in the ground 3months. She must have about 50 good sized blooms on her right now.
Moonstone:
Excellent vigor, branching, and repeat so far.
Mellow Yellow:
Seems to branch out of every leaf axil, very free blooming, more color fast than most strong yellows. An under appreciated yellow.
Q