What roses would do well in zone 8b, on a bay in northwest Florida? Air is mildly salty, but occasional strong wind and rain. Thanks!

Welcom to ATP MlYLE
I'm sure one of our coasters (east or west) will be along to tell you about their roses. Perhaps @zuzu

Rugosas are the roses most suited for salty, windy, and wet places, but they might not grow as well in Florida as they do in other places.

Gardening in Florida, you'll find that you may have problems with root knot nematodes, which shorten the life of most roses radically. Typically, own-root roses are killed by the nematodes within their first year, roses grafted onto Dr. Huey live for about 3 years, and only roses grafted onto R. fortuniana rootstock can live indefinitely. If you're in an area where these nematodes are present, you'll want to look into fortuniana-grafted roses..

Many thanks for the info about fortuniana rootstock. I didn't know to look for that. One other question -- Will a named rose that is shown as grafted to fortuniana always be that way, or could another nursery sell one with the same name, but not on the same rootstock? I have to order online, and they don't always show the rootstock.
- Martha

Certain nurseries only sell roses grafted onto fortuniana. The ones that don't specify the name of their rootstock probably aren't using fortuniana.

If you have to order online, your best source would be K&M Roses, which carries a highly impressive variety of roses, all grafted onto fortuniana.

http://www.kandmroses.com/

Nelson's Roses, a wholesale nursery selling roses grafted onto fortuniana rootstock, does not ship its roses by mail, but it delivers roses to many local nurseries in Florida. If you're close to any local nurseries, you could check for Nelson's Roses there.

http://nelsonsfloridaroses.com...

Here's a list of the local retailers carrying their products:

http://nelsonsfloridaroses.com...