Hi, I would love to hear what rose folks love and don't want to be without.
2 of my current favs are Zepherine Drouhin and Bonica. Hope all chime in!

I don't have a favorite just yet because most of mine are still in hibernation for winter. I'll figure out what is my favorite based upon what comes back. However, if I had to chose SOMETHING, it'd be a tossup between Intrigue, Blue Girl, or Picante (for the roses I have, all of which, hopefully, will come back this spring). I'm very partial to the purples (mauve) and oranges and I love scented roses.. the smellier the better.

Janice, are you looking mainly for antique varieties? I grow some antiques, but my favorites are among the hybrids and floribundas. We have another thread in the "Choosing Roses" forum where everyone is listing their top 5 roses.

But that's a different category -- top five performers. My favorite rose is Charisma, but it's not anywhere near the top as far as performance is concerned. It has absolutely no resistance to pests and diseases. I love it in spite of that.

My favorite rose last year (I think it changes every year) was Folklore. It had blooms continuous until late fall. It has a lovely scent.

zuzu said:But that's a different category -- top five performers. My favorite rose is Charisma, but it's not anywhere near the top as far as performance is concerned. It has absolutely no resistance to pests and diseases. I love it in spite of that.

Uh oh! I should have asked more questions about it before buying it then! I planted Charisma last year. So far, no grief. *sigh*

If I'm naming the one that gives me the most joy when I get a perfect bloom, I suppose my favorite would be Minuette. It reminds me of the florist roses that my dad would bring me unexpectedly when I was feeling blue.

P.S. - up to 3 inches of SNOW predicted for here tomorrow, so my current buds that are setting shall be gone... again...

Snow will insulate against the cold temperature so your buds should be fine. If you got really cold temps with no snow, then that's worse. Hopefully it's (snow) not too heavy to break the stems.

Thank you, Toni, Zuzu, Evey, and Joanne!
Yes, I love seeing folks FAVORITES, which as you say, Zuzu, is not necessarily the best performer.
No, I am not looking for any particular type, just think it is fun hearing what people L-O-V-E.

Zepherine Drouhin is a great, lush blooming climber and thornless...a plus, for sure. It always gets alot of attention from visitors, but is in full bloom only once with intermittent blooms the rest of the summer. And oh, Bonica is a pretty little bush rose with a nice scent. I had 3 Bonicas as a hedge near the front door and had a very romantic look. It has wonderful hips, too.

I also grew these on Cape Cod where I am from and they did very well in the colder climate.

Joanna, we have sleet right now and sleet/snow mixture in some of the surrounding areas. It's supposed to continue sleeting here until around 8 tonight, then turn to sleet and snow, then just snow by midnight. They are anticipating 3 inches of accumulated snow here... less in New Orleans. We typically have a ton of folks drive through here on I-10 toward New Orleans on the Friday before Mardi Gras. There's no way to salt the roads.... so the roads, and especially the two very long bridges into New Orleans, will probably be closed.

I hope all the snowbirds coming in for a nice warm Mardi Gras are bringing their winter coats!

Sounds like your temps are around the freezing point so it's not too cold. I find that -8ºC, which is 18ºF the critical temp that may harm buds

Yep, that's what we found. The plants all did fine here until we had the sustained 17F... and then they all fell to the ground. I can't remember a year when we had so many plants trying to rebound with very tender growth and then snow/ice. How will the very tender regrowth be affected, Joanna?

Since your temps have been on the cool side, it should be ok. You may find the new growth will have a lot of red in the foliage, which I think looks pretty cool. If the new growth does actually freeze, it will appear wilted and then turn brown. You will need to prune it (damage) off because at that point, it's a gonner

Here's a picture of the sleet/snow taken Oct 3rd

This was taken Oct 13th after several cold days, snow, sleet etc and below freezing temps. The roses were ok until then. We got to -16ºC or 3ºF and that did them in

Zuzu - I'm really surprised at your Charisma. Mine bloomed like a champ, got no black spot, didn't get eaten by earwigs or aphids.. and gets less than 4 hours of sun! I really love my Charisma... I was frantic to find one after I saw a picture last summer and ended up getting one off of eBay.. then, like a week later, I saw one at King Soopers (Kroger brand grocery store)! So I got the two of them & the one I got off of eBay went from a little bitty band to a decent sized plant (about 1', all things considering) even though it gets like 3 hours of mottled sun a day! Here's that plant exactly in August!

Toni, I guess it's all a matter of growing conditions. I've bought about three dozen Charismas over the last 25 years and every single one has suffered so severely from black spot that they rarely have any foliage at all. It never affects the gorgeous blooms, however.

Unfortunately, Charisma's also irresistible to gophers, so almost all of those three dozen are gone. I think I have three left, maybe four. Sue bought me a gorgeous Charisma tree rose last year and that one's planted in a cage, so it's here to stay.

Minuette could easily be my favorite too, Evey. It's such an appealing little rose.

Zuzu - Ah, gophers. We don't have those here.. we have prairie dogs and lord helps me if they find my yard. You can't eradicate them.. no matter what you try, they keep coming back! Some ranchers out a bit east use .. uh, let's just say extreme measures and it does *help* the numbers, but not to the point that I would be willing to do what they do (either extreme sport hunting or they pump propane gas down the tunnels, then light a match & run). I'm really surprised mine didn't get black spot.. maybe I don't have Charisma? That is what it was labeled.. but at the same time, I have a RedGold that bloomed white last year.

edit: I just looked at some of the more crappier pictures I have and, sure enough, there's a little bit of black spot on some of the leaves, but nothing really to get excited about. Huh.

Here's one of my favs.. I believe that this rose *will* be back this spring. This is Intrigue.. spectacular rose. Even dries wonderfully (I have a single dried rose still in my husband's car from last September.. hasn't fallen apart!). But didn't keep it's scent after about 2 weeks.. But the rose, when on plant or in a vase.. WOW. Smells SOOOOOOO wonderfully like old-rose. And this is true-to-color.