I'm not a really big "red rose" fan. I've always had a few in every garden I've had. Here's my list from over the years;
1. Let Freedom Ring
2.Kardinal
3. Black Jade (mini)
4. Veterans Honor
5. Kiss Kordana (mini)
6. Daddy Frank (mini)
7. Uncle Joe
8. Big Ben
9. Christian Dior--if this rose made a good shrub and had a scent, it would be up in the 2 or 3 spot. Beautiful blooms with good strong stems and evenly spaced dark green foliage. This is a rose that definitely needs to be planted in a tight group of 3 or 4.
Bless Bridge (HT), Tammy Cleamons (miniflora), Cooper (miniflora) will be new in the garden this spring.

I have four true red roses in my garden. Two of them was planted ages ago when I was a child and therefore their name has been forgotten now. The two red roses that I do remember is Ingrid Bergman and Drop Dead Red.

All four does very well but I have to say Ingrid Bergman does very well after two years now. Drop Dead Red is great but I only planted her last spring.

I only have one. Munstead Wood. Love that thing! However, I am going to get a new introduction for this year from Burling. Maroon Eight. Can't wait! Supposedly won't wash out in the sun and our heat. I seem to be a sucker this year for single/semi-double roses.

Highly recommend Veteran's Honor, Let Freedom Ring, Black Magic, Grande Amore, Tammy Clemons...love the exhibition form and the blooms last.

Memphis King - love bloom, but plant seems to lose vigor over time
Opening Night - big producer, but open bloom pancake flat
Liebesauber - nice blooms, plant got too tall and big
Crimson Bouquet - long lasting blooms, one of the prettiest reds, RRD got 1st one, 2nd never as good
Merlot - loved red/white bloom, but bush didn't thrive and very thorny

Black Baccara - loved small, dark, long lasting bloom, never bloomed enough
Mr. Mister Lincoln - nice fragrant bloom, bush declined over time and 2nd never did as good
Robin Alsonso - loved bloom, never bloomed enough, BS problems
Shenandoah - puny plant finally SP'd
Daddy Frank - pretty bloom, wished it bloomed more, still have
Europeana - landscaping plant, 1st doing good (10+ yrs), next 3 for grouping didn't thrive, crown gall, SP'd
Olympiad - 1st great, producer and got RRD, 2nd never as good as first and liked the top 5 more

My reds are a little young to evaluate yet. Love red and I'm so happy to be finding disease resistant varieties.

Kardinal
Milano
Paint The Town
Home Run
Black Forest
My Hero
Coming this spring are Desmond Tutu, Take it Easy and Mystic Fairy.

This is an interesting list so far. I do have some other non hybrid tea reds that are good roses, they are Dublin Bay, which blooms all season for me, JJPeace mentioned Drop Dead Red and it is a very good floribunda, also Europeana, Even though Liebeszauber does look out of place at times, I do like that rose.

Vet's Honor is very good, it's sibling Beloved is a little better on form and not quite as fragrant.

Firefighter is still my fav, not the prettiest red rose, but it holds its strong sweet fragrance in a vase until it falls apart.

Ingrid Bergman had short stems here. Beautiful pure crimson but I think I had a bad plant. Not vigorous, stingy.

Liebezauber got ridiculously tall, 12 feet. Just too tall.

'Red Intuition', just love the stripes on that one, red on red. Wish it had a few more petals.

Mr. Lincoln, hard to find a good healthy specimen. Mine was never very good.

Barcelona excellent fragrance, though not as strong as Firefighter.

Rabelais, zero fragrance, but also zero disease. You have to like that.

Altissimo, love the flowers, not crazy about the plant. I wish Altissimo was a small shrub, not a big coarse climber.

Black Baccarra, yeah, not ever many flowers, awful looking plant, but it doesn't take much room, and it does push out a flower or two regularly, so it remains.

So many roses, so little time.

I only have a few true red HTs.

I love Firefighter for its fragrance and bloom power. ItâÂÂs rarely without blooms here. One of my favorite roses of any color for cutting. Disease resistance had been okay until last year. It was a very bad year for fungal issues here, and FF stayed spotted most of the seasonâ¦didnâÂÂt slow down the blooming, though.

Mr.Lincoln will get very tall if I let him, and he isnâÂÂt my heaviest bloomer, but still a decent rose for me. Surprisingly black spot resistant for a HT of his age...unlike most HTs here, he rarely needs spraying. A good, fragrant red for cutting.

Rouge Royale⦠I love the bloom form and fragrance of this one. A stingy bloomer its first year, but has greatly improved now that it has settled in. ItâÂÂs planted beside one of my worst blackspot offenders, but it doesnâÂÂt spot too badly, nonetheless. IâÂÂve read that the blooms are better cutâ¦that they donâÂÂt last long on the bush. For me itâÂÂs the oppositeâ¦mine seem to look good for a while on the bush, but they either donâÂÂt open or donâÂÂt last long when I cut themâ¦I must be cutting them at the wrong stage.

LoveâÂÂs Promiseâ¦fragrance is similar to Rouge Royale, but not as strong and not always present. Thick velvety petals with dark, sultry edging, and this one never âÂÂbluesâ on me.

Francis Dubreuil was new for me last year. Fragrance is divine, and I love the dark coloring! It bloomed more than I expected for a young, own root plant, but blooms didnâÂÂt last long in the heat of summer hereâ¦would benefit from more afternoon shade than itâÂÂs getting.

VeteranâÂÂs Honor is on my SP list for spring. I really love the unfading color, bloom form and lasting power of this rose, but it has no fragrance to my nose and blackspots badly here even when sprayed regularly.

I have Night (Lady Sackville) on order for spring. The deep crimson coloring looks beautiful in pictures, and itâÂÂs supposedly nearly thornless. I really donâÂÂt know much about this rose, but hoping itâÂÂs a good one.

Mr. Lincoln showing off his clean foliage, which is something to be proud of here:

{{gwi:2120432}}

btw, Sara Ann, that is a gorgeous picture you posted...just lovely!!!

I forgot Red Intuition and Firefighter. Red Intuition's blooms lasts a long time and it's very unique and pretty. My 3 plants are just average.
I had Firefighter when it came out and after a few years got rid of it because of too much winter dieback. The bloom was pretty and very fragrant, probably average vase life.

Thank you Pat - Your Mister Lincoln is gorgeous, I hope mine comes close to doing as good as yours, love it. Your Firefighter gives me hope too that mine will start blooming more, I think it's a beautiful rose and I love the fragrance too. Seems like Veterans Honor does very good for some and while mine has improved, I am hoping it will keep getting better. I do love fragrant reds and even though it is not fragrant for me, the blooms and color are so perfect, it's worth it.

I'm glad to find this thread as I've been wanting a nice red fragrant rose. I've been considering Firefighter but don't like to spray chemicals. Pat_Bama, do you spray yours? and if not, where are you located? I'm in East TN.

Thanks,
Frances

Frances, I'm midway between Huntsville & Birmingham. I do spray my HTs with fungicide for blackspot as needed...usually several times a season. Blackspot on Firefighter had previously been controlled with minimal spraying, but blackspot was worse than usual with most of my roses last year. I probably sprayed Firefighter monthly, and it was still frequently spotted. It never quit blooming because of it, but lost some foliage and what it didn't lose often didn't look so great.

I read there is some rose that is a great grand parent of all red roses. I don't know the name of it, but because of that all red roses get a lot of fungal. When dealing with fungal I noticed some roses do ok, the first season, but by the second season, if you don't spray the fungal really does set it. I spray before I see any signs of fungal therefore. If your soil has a lot of compost you will get more fungal. In a dry location you get less fungal. If it rains a lot you get more fungal. Poor dry soil means less fungal, but roses like rich soil, so its a tradeoff.

Awesome, I get more satisfaction from saving plants then I do from buying them.