help me choose roses

newbie77

I have moved house and slowly setting up new garden. I am compiling a list of roses to buy. I am looking for roses with mainly these attributes - fragrance, repeat flowering, disease resistance, medium size shrub 
Fragrance is most important, but if there is something really winning on other attributes I will consider it.
Repeat flowering is must. It is not a huge garden and every plant has to win its place. 
I dont spray any plants, honestly dont have time for it and also i want garden to be as less chemicals as possible.
Size atleast 3 feet. I find very hard to do weeding under smaller plants. 

This is the shortlist I have come up with searching this forum. Please help me choose. Which ones arent so good in this list and which roses should I add to my list. The DA list is big but honestly because their website is good so i saw many that i liked. Completely open for any other roses.

If you were starting a fresh new garden, which would be your must have rose?

DA roses: Young Lycidas, Eustacia Vye, Strawberry Hill, Munstead Wood, Gertrude Jekyll, Lady of Shalott, Thomas à Becket, Jude the Obscure, Lady Emma Hamilton, Desdemona, The Poet's Wife, The Ancient Mariner, Princess Alexandra of Kent, Gabriel Oak

Other roses: Warm Welcome, Double Delight, Mister Lincoln, Fragrant Cloud, Crimson Glory, Just Joey, Twice in a Blue Moon, Rhapsody in Blue, Tatton, Tequila Sunrise, westerland , Scentimental , Peace Rose

Marlorena

...you have done well for scent.... I can see you've done your research...

… a glaring omission is 'Scepter'd Isle'... for scent and continuity of bloom..

...just a couple of points... if you are experienced with roses then this may not be an issue, but I deem 'Young Lycidas' and 'Thomas a Becket' to be unsuitable for those very new to growing roses.... they both need time to develop upwards as they both droop their blooms... in Young Lycidas's case the canes cascade downwards... with TaB the blooms nod on the stem... when 5 foot tall this is graceful... when 2 foot tall it's disappointing...
Young Lycidas I think is best in a pot on a raised platform, or planted on a raised bank of some sort..

...all lovely roses... Warm Welcome is very, very orange, with small flowers... repeat does happen but it seems rather modest to me, from what I've seen of my neighbours plant which is 6 foot tall...   also I don't think it's hugely scented...

...are you getting them all?...

newbie77

Thank you. I have read your rose thread. Very inspiring. I have seen pretty roses but had never seen everything so healthy and underplanted so beautifully. 

I am thinking of getting around 20-25 roses out of the list. I love orange flowers but cant find many orange roses with fragrance. Will have to think about warm welcome. I can ignore weak fragrance for that bright colour, but if it won't repeat flower properly then it would go down in list. 

I don't have much gardening experience, i got my first garden only couple of years ago.
I would love your advice and suggestions.

Marlorena

@newbie77 … oh that's ok... don't let me put you off Warm Welcome... anyone who likes orange, and I don't mind it... this rose is stunning.... it blew me away this summer during its main flush, I couldn't keep  my eyes off it, it stopped me in my tracks... it still has a few blooms now, so it does repeat, just want to be clear, but it's never as good as the main flush... but that's true of most roses really...

...thank you for checking out my thread earlier and your comments... I appreciate that very much...  

...it would be difficult to leave any out of that stupendous list of yours... I'd have to get them all I'm afraid... and a whole lot more besides....  if there are any you particularly want to know about, just shout out anytime.... but for more fragrant oranges you might like to have a look at 'Young At Heart'... I like roses by Ronnie Rawlins usually, and this is a new one I should like to try... I don't have it currently...
..others would be Duchess of Cornwall, and Rosemary Harkness...

edhelka

If I were doing my garden from scratch, I would plan spaces and structures for more climbing roses. Are you looking for shrubs only? Climbers are a good way how to fit a lot of roses in a small garden and get a lot of flowers without using too much ground space. They also add height and interest - think about structures like obelisks, pillars or arches. There are some good options for both fragrance and disease resistance.

Asking for a repeating well, highly fragrant and disease resistant rose is like asking for the perfect rose. I am not sure there is one really perfect in all those categories but you have some good ones on your list. The only thing I would recommend is getting a smaller amount of different roses (different classes - some DAs, some shrubs from other breeders, some hybrid teas and floribundas) to see what you like and buy more the next year, allowing yourself to fall in love with other roses while still having a place left for them when it happens.

Nollie

I grow Warm Welcome up an Obelisk and find, with regular dead heading, it flowers prolifically from top to bottom, all season long. Although the blooms are small, it’s still eye-catching even from a good distance because of that fabulous colour. Not one for scent as Marlorena says, but it is pretty disease-resistant. Perhaps it likes my climate, whereas sadly, most David Austin’s don’t do so well here, they suffer a lot with blackspot and the blooms don’t cope with summer heat. 

If I were starting again, three years later, I would do my research properly on roses better suited to my climate and growing conditions. But I still have plenty of room for more and will be replacing some of the poorly performing ones.

Of the Austins, I adore Lady of Shallot, but she struggles here. If you like orange, you will love Lady Emma Hamilton - mine is healthy, lovely foliage, very floriferous, repeats very well and is scented. Her blooms don’t stay orange for me, they go a weird colour in the heat, but I hear she is a stunner in the UK. I am also going to try Super Trouper, (not an Austin) which I believe keeps it’s orange colour well.

At the moment, Julia Child (Absolutely Fabulous) is my must-have because she is really healthy and floriferous, never stops blooming. The yellow blooms fade prettily then the centres open, to be visited by pollinating insects. Very light, barely there scent though. As Edhelka says, rare to find all the best attributed in one rose!

Ruthmshaw

Hi, just for the record, I was given super trooper(standard) as a present 2 years ago and although the colour is vivid when the blooms first open, they quickly turn a rather unpleasant brown. I dead head it as soon as they turn. Wondering if the giver would notice if the plant disappeared!

Nollie

@Ruthmshaw, thats good to know from someone that has it, thank you!

Marlorena

I am reminded that you should consider 'Rachel' for your fragrant rose collection, it is also in a colour range that you may like... 

newbie77

Thank you for all replies and rose suggestions. I will look at each one in detail and where can I buy it. 

@edhelka, Very helpful advice. I should narrow down the list and go in stages. I would love to have some climbing roses, but I am not confident about training. I will start with some roses on Obelisk and then plan for other structures.

newbie77

Anyone tried rose DA Summer Song? Is it any good?

Where do you get plant supports from?