ZUZU said: "I love your list! I personally think Betty Boop and Sheila's Perfume should be in everyone's garden."
Can you think of any other roses that are "must" for every garden?

Cindi, thanks for your evaluation. It's good to know that Gemini takes the heat. We usually get a few weeks of very hot and high humidity during the summer on Long Island.

On another gardening site, I once made a list of the 10 roses I'd always have to grow, even if I only had a tiny patio. They were:

Bill Warriner
Brass Band
Charisma
English Elegance
Helen Hayes
Night Time
Paradise
President Herbert Hoover
Pure Poetry
Smoky

I made the list back in 2006, so there are new roses that I could add to the list, but those were my favorites then and they're still irreplaceable to me.

These are fabulous! You must have a breathtaking garden. I don't think I will be able to find most of them for purchase esp. brass band. If you were to update this list what would you add Zuzu?

That was eight years ago and I've bought hundreds and hundreds of roses in those eight years. I think the ones I like the most that I didn't have in 2006 are:

Jean Giono
Pompon Flower Circus
Koko Loco
Pomponella Fairy Tale
Aloha Hawaii
Dark Night
South Africa
Bonita Renaissance
Tom Brown
Fairest Cape

I'm probably leaving out some roses that I absolutely love. I treasure all of my David Austin roses, for instance, but they never seem to make these top 10 lists.

Incidentally, in case you're interested, my original list on that other site consisted of 55 roses. It was a response to a gardening challenge. Another member had bought a house with a large piece of property and asked which roses we would absolutely have to take with us if we had to move. She wasn't interested in climbers, so I left them out of the running. Here's what I posted at the time:

If I moved to a place with an acre of bare ground, I'd keep everything I already have on my half-acre and I'd get 500 more roses that I don't have now. If, however, I had to limit myself to 50-100, here are the ones I'd keep. I'm leaving out everything that's on your list of existing roses (and, by the way, I think you're the only other person I know who still has Spice Twice; how do these wonderful roses disappear?), I'm leaving out climbers, and I'm concentrating heavily, but not exclusively, on your favorite colors.

The only way I could even begin to make this list was by going through my photos, so there may be some wonderful roses that I love to pieces but haven't photographed and so they're slipping my mind. I'm leaving out roses that look wonderful but haven't been here long enough to judge on performance, so here's the list of the prettiest and least picky roses I'd have to have in any garden.

The 10 roses I've marked with an asterisk are ones I could never go without, even if I only had a tiny patio.

Anne Harkness
Autumn
Arizona
Belle Epoque
* Bill Warriner
Blue River
* Brass Band
Bridal Pink
Brigadoon
Brown Study
Brownie
Buff Beauty
Caramella
* Charisma
Cocktail
Condesa de Sastago
Day Breaker
Delany Sisters
Distant Drums
Dorcas
Edith Holden
* English Elegance
Fantastique
Florence Delattre
Gemini
Golden Slippers
Gypsy Dancer
* Helen Hayes
Honeysweet
Kordes' Brillant
Livin' Easy
Matangi
Medallion
Mon Cheri
Mountain Music
Nicole
* Night Time
Nimbus
Norwich Castle
Old Master
Opening Night
* Paradise
Pegasus
Penelope
Perfect Moment
Playboy
* President Herbert Hoover
* Pure Poetry
Redgold
Rio Samba
Samaritan
* Smoky
Spiced Coffee
Tradescant
Voodoo

If you had to choose between Nicole and betty boop what would be your final decision? I don't a 1/2 acre - mine is more like a postage stamp - lol. Therefore, I have to be very selective.

I'd rather grow Betty Boop, I think. It blooms more often and it's usually a prettier rose bush. Nicole can get scraggly looking unless it's pruned with care. Betty Boop always looks good, even when it isn't in bloom.

Thanks for the your opinion. I will tell you my top 10 tomorrow. Nite, Nite

Zuzu ...

So many of the roses on your list are on my wish list, but I just don't have room for more roses. I have 1/4 acre where the front of the house has been turned into deer territory except for the roses Mrs J planted that I have now caged. Half of the back yard, the house level, is taken up by a rocky slope covered with junipers that hold it in place. That makes my planting area a lot smaller and I have that lousy soil. I can't call it glacier slurry any more because I've improved it enough so that I now have gophers and moles. Before I started improving the soil, they avoided the whole house pad because it was mostly dense rock with clay and silt between the rocks. Horrible stuff to dig rose holes in and horrible for gophers.

With the drought and the need dig up roses to make gopher cages for my roses, I won't be adding new roses for a while, but I will keep on making wish lists.

Smiles,
Lyn

Ooops ... I mis-spoke. I am finally going to plant Kim's new rose, which may be sold by Heirloom as Kim has sent them budwood and they are interested in his roses.

Here's a few shots of 'Porcelain Rose'. I've been growing it in a container so that it has a large enough root mass before planting it in the ground. I really like the plant as well as the blooms.





My favorite photo taken by Kim and posted to HMF

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose...

Smiles,
Lyn

Oh Zuzu, you are costing me money again!!!

One that is tops or near the top on my must have list is Easy Does It. Everyone should grow that rose.
Here's a few more I will always grow:

Cape Diamond
Belinda's Dream
Rainbow Sorbet
Christopher Marlowe
All the Rage
Jeanne la Joie
Secret
Olympiad
Cl. America
The McCartney Rose
Cinco de Mayo
4th of July
Eden
Earth Song
Moonsong
Tropicana
Dublin Bay

and Gemini, Mon Cheri, Rio Samba, Distant Drums, which were already mentioned.
My list is skewed toward shrubs and floribundas because I don't have the time or the climate for HTs. I can recommend most of the drift roses and Austins. I grow between 300-400 roses, and at least half are Austins, Drift, Knock Out, Carefree, FairyTale, or Easy Elegance roses. Easy care, disease resistant types. I buy everything Radler puts his name on. This list reflects roses I have dug up and taken with me when I moved, or that I have purchased multiple times. We have a more limited selection in stores here--I only started shopping from Palatine 4 years ago. Before that, it was whatever I could find locally or on travels, and mail order from J & P, Parks, Wayside, Edmunds. Now I'm limited to Palatine and local nurseries, but the gardens are full with as many as I can handle.

I agree wholeheartedly with your recommendation of Easy Does It, Rainbow Sorbet, Christopher Marlowe, Cinco de Mayo, and Eden, Cindi, and I also have to add Chicago Peace (unless I've already mentioned it). I have three of them and they never fail to delight me with their stunning blooms.

Here's a list of my top 10:
Blueberry Hill
Cinco de Mayo
Distant Drums
Easy Does it
Midas Touch
Posieden
Pomponella
Red Corsair
Reine des Violettes
Sharifa Asma
I have lots of other favorites like Brothers Grimm, Ebb Tide, La Rose Optimiste, Let's Celebrate, South Africa, Quietness, Charles de Gaulle, Traviata, Velvet Fragrance, Bonica.
I do have a very special group of select roses.
My Dad had a rose garden in our backyard. I still remember asking my Dad, " Can I water the roses too Daddy?". He turned the hose over to me and wrapped his big strong hand over mine because the water pressure was so strong that hose would have whipped right out of my hand. Together we watered all the roses and he taught me their names:
Chrysler Imperial, Peace and Golden Showers. As I grew so did the garden and Double Delight, Mr. Lincoln, Tournament of Roses and Fragrant Cloud were added. Often, when I water these roses my father' hand touches mine again.