In no particular order of course:
Eden (for the spring flush)
Young Lycidas (never without blooms on the plant in between flushes)
Lady Emma Hamilton (compact and fragrant)
Baronne Prevost (first rose to bloom--in Feb.)
Magnificent Perfume (not the healthiest plant but the hokum of its ravishing perfume is distracting: it demands one to inhale it!)

So, I am looking for roses which are an integral and essential part of my garden style. I have a terrific weakness for white roses but could compensate for many of them with philadelphus, exochorda, deutzias, magnolias.Abundant fruit blossom can always stand in for the ramblers which carouse about the allotment, hanging off numerous tatty structures. So, I am thinking about roses which are a bit unique yet an absolute necessity. With only 5, the requirement for immense health and vigour is not so pressing.
So: Cardinal Hume, a little Harkness rose finds a home all over the allotment - its colour is slightly variable, sometimes a rich crimson and sometimes a beetrooty purple. A sprawly but not quite procumbent, this rose always sits well with perennials, bulbs and even vegetables.
East Anglia is a dry and windy part of the UK - a class of roses which are always welcome - the pimpinellifolias. Any of these would do but, to choose one, I would have the blush pink 'Falkland'. And partnering it, I would have to have one of the spring bloomers - and what other than our iconic local beauty, Cantabridgiensis (born less than a mile away). These unassuming roses fit in scree gardens, amongst grasses and tall perennials such as fennel, angelica, require little water and feeding (none, really, part from a yearly topdressing of compost). Their contrasting architecture (hummocky and twiggily rounded or angular but having a gamine elegance, coltish and eager (Gah, pseuds corner alert!).
I have only 2 true red roses and would have to select one of them. Although they are both once-flowering with fantastic heps, Scharlachglut just edges R.moyesii (see what I am doing here, get to mention 2 for the price of one).
Final choice, not a surprise, would be my beloved Spanish beauty, Madame Gregoire Staechelin - my gateway rose and breakaway from a fervant loyalty to the single rose. I actually rather despised Hybrid Teas (I am more tolerant now) until MGS was given to me by a nursery-owning friend. However, the pale, matte green leaves and the early languid flowers were too louche to have anything of the stiffly plasticated 'modern' rose. The amazing apple sized heps were an added bonus because by then, I was deep into G.S.Thomas. Ellen Wilmott and a revived Gertrude Jekyll (I found her colour theming a tad prescriptive, but on roses....)
I checked back on an earlier posting....and noted a definite congruence...not sure whether to feel pleased with my consistency, or despairing at the whiff of complacency.

With the current drought, I have been walking around and thinking, which would I keep if I could only have 50 roses.

I need more time to answer this question. Please give me time.

I would look at the Earth-Kind roses. They are all tested varieties that will grow by themselves with out help from us! Species Rugosas will grow through anything. I do nothing for them at all!

Well, this is an interesting revival which made me do some thinking. Originally, I answered Evelyn, period. Now, I'll add a few:

Evelyn
Julia Child
Love Song
Ebb Tide or Twilight Zone
Golden Celebration
The Prince or Munstead Wood or Princess Alexandra of Kent--need another year to make up my mind.

Diane

I answered this before but my answer is different now, since for one reason or another so many roses have left me. Young Lycidas is no more, probably my fault. Of the runners-up, three out of five are gone.

My five now are:
Souvenir de la Malmaison
Aunt Margy's Rose
Potter and Moore
Duchesse de Brabant (new but growing like crazy)
Bishop's Castle

The answer will be different by next year because 24 out of 51 roses are too young to judge. I eliminated quite a few roses because of disease and the drought we've had for three years now which showed me which roses would not do well if (no when) the drought continues. When roses don't look good any more it's much easier to let them go.

They would have to be the five which resisted the brutal sun; nighly heavy, cold fogs/dews; withstood the ever-present wind and continued pumping out the flowers with the amount of water I could muster. Which those five would be, I have to wait for them to show me.

So many roses, so many loves but:

Mons. Tillier/Archduc Joseph

Anna Olivier

Fredric Mistral

Francis Dubreuil/Barcelona

American Heritage

However, how could I do without Duchesse de Brabant, Mutabilis, Texas Centennial & Queen Nefertiti and scores of others!

Melodye

My top 5 would be:

Love Song

Ebb Tide

Young Lycidas

SDLM

Mrs. B.R. Cant

Lynn

Totally OT, but does anyone know how Tammy (original poster) is doing? She was building such an impressive collection of roses! Has she been around lately?

Actually, I've wondered about her the same as you several times. She seemed to just drop off the Rose Forum radar, which many of us do at times, but I think it's been close to two years. The last communication we had was when we were both waiting on roses from Hortico that had been held up at the border. I started making silly jokes about them coming by wagon train, and it got worse and worse. The roses did arrive and are still alive. One is a favorite I forgot to list with my five, and that is Augusta Luise, a divine rose on an awful plant. But I must have it.
Anyway, I hope Tammy will join us again and everything is OK.
Diane

Mmm, difficult, also ask this again next year when some of the moss, tea and china babies are more mature and I might have a different answer.

1. Souvenir de la Malmaison, which is a year old, and teensy, but but valiantly winning the battle to be first in bloom. She was also last in bloom last year. It's amazing how many of us have this one, in so such disparate growing conditions.

2. Kronprinzessin Viktoria, also only a year old, and just beautiful and tough. An SdlM sport, funnily enough.

3. Agnes, tough, scented, generous, elegant and thorny - an archetype rose. Growing in part shade and and lustily thriving.

4. Ghislaine de Feligonde, also growing in part shade and steadily and gracefully multiplying.

5. Charles de Mills, a once bloomer, but so healthy and scented, and the beautiful purple/red/magenta blooms! Plus I love the matte foliage.

I think I would have to need 2 categories--bush & climber....

Bush :

Souvenir de la Malmaison

Molineux

Belinda's Dream

Lady of Shallot

Toss up for 5-- Fragrant Cloud or Double Delight

Climber:

Crown Princess Margareta

SLDM

Tess of the D'urbervilles

Generous Gardener

Although I have several climbers, none have me attached enough to fill that last spot, the search continues... :-)

Fun post!

Adrianne

I'm limiting my selections to those I grow now, though this may change after this years roses are planted! So far these are my favorites, all for different reasons too, as you can see they are all different varieties!
Julia Child
Mutabilis
Tea Clipper
Weeping China Doll
Mrs. Dudley Cross

I agree, Adrianne, fun post!

Easy Does It, Julia Child, Blanc Double De Coubert, Mandarin Ice and Double Knock Out.
I like many more but these are my favorites.

Hi all! It's been a while since I posted, in fact I haven't posted since Houzz took over GW. I had a hard time logging on, it kept telling me that my user name was already taken (yes, by me!). I finally gave up and chose a new user name. Some of you may remember me as bunnicula03, and those of you who show roses may remember my post last spring about my adventures as a first-time exhibitor. I had to add my 2 cents on this post!

Just Joey - my absolute favorite rose, and the one on my profile pic. If I could only have one rose, this would be it. Yes, it does blackspot here in NJ, and I have to keep up with spraying or it'll be naked by summer, but it keeps coming up year after year without fail, and has the most beautiful blooms.

Fragrant Cloud - an oldie but goody! Will also blackspot, but it's a rose I wouldn't be without. In the off-season I always forget how beautiful the blooms are, until it begins to bloom again in the late spring. And the fragrance is just a big bonus to me!

Conundrum - a newer rose for me, third year in the garden. The blooms are sooo beautiful, and the bush is vigorous and fairly disease free. Love the smaller mini flora size bush, too. What's not to love?

Gemini - must ALWAYS have a Gemini!

Paris d'Yves St Laurent - for me, the absolute perfect, most beautiful color a rose could have. The form is lovely, and it blooms fairly abundantly. Don't see this one mentioned often on the forum.

Princess de Monaco - I don't have this anymore, I gave in to marketing hype and replanted with a California Dreamin'. She was a bit winter tender for me. But the blooms are just so breathtaking to me, that I'm tempted to try her again now that I'm taking (ahem) bettter care of my roses. California Dreamin' is nice, but just doesn't do it for me the same way the Princess did.

Oops, that's six! And I didn't even mention Moonstone, Rainbow Parfait, Julia Child, or the little Fancy Pants that does so well, or Hilde, or X-Rated.....

Zone 3 - but I grow my roses in pots and overwinter them in the garage.

1. Gemini - one of the very few nonfragrant roses I grow. Blooms its heart out and is very floriferous. The colors are amazing.

2. Paradise Found - the picture is left (my profile picture). The fragrance is amazing and unique. The blooms/colors are amazing.

3. Valencia - I keep waiting for the fragrance to kick in. Maybe this year (4th). Tons and tons of blooms that last forever. The shape is wonderful to me. Holds forever.

4. Chicago Peace - another nonfragrant one that I love. The colors!!!!

5. Evelyn - gasp the fragrance!!! The shape and color!!! Oh I love this rose!!

That was fun!

Carol

If I could only have 5 roses, they would be:

1. Winnipeg Parks

2. Winnipeg Parks

3. Winnipeg Parks

4. Winnipeg Parks

5. Winnipeg Parks

:)

My list has changed a little bit over the past couple of years. 3 out of the 5 are still there;
Souv. de la Malmaison
Louise Estes
Belinda's Dream
New to my list;
Tiffany Lynn
Rosa Rugosa

Well this is a tough one but I will base it solely on the roses I have grown:

Peace, Eden, Ingrid Bergman, Heritage & Graham Thomas.

Ooh!! This is a toughie, but why is it so fun to think about them and admire each bush for one reason or another. Here's my list:

#1 dames de chennonceau: just huge beautiful blooms that open fully and are just superb in every way. A strong bush with few problems (disease or otherwise)

#2 moonstone: just huge and almost always perfect blooms not to mention a perfuse bloomer

#3 evelyn: not the most profuse bloomer, but just magnificent and although her scent isn't particularly strong, it is delicious

#4 Veteran's honor: for its perfect form and lasting power

#5 Chicago Peace: for its huge blooms and amazing color

Runner ups: cherry parfait, sugar moon, Jude the obscure (none compares to her fragrance), pope John Paul, Huntington Rose (austin) aka Alan Titchmarsh

Well,

It has been another full growing season. With new additions and more time, what are your top 5 now?

My previous list

My top 5 would be:

Love Song

Ebb Tide

Young Lycidas

SDLM

Mrs. B.R. Cant

NOW:

Mlle. Sombreuil: It takes my breath away

Love Song: Heat tolerant, quick repeat, healthy

Munstead Wood: gorgeous blooms, nice fragrance, floriferous, good repeat

Angel Face - heat tolerant, quick repeat... and it is pretty

Memorial Day - healthy bush with pretty, fragrant blooms

I totally expect this list to be very different within 6 months or so.

Lynn

I wasn't expecting to do this today. All I can think of is, should I get Sterling Silver for sentimental reasons? I digress.

My Top Five:

Julia Child--floriferous, great repeat, beautiful, and I love its round growth habit

Love Song--big, sumptuous, true lavender blooms that can take the heat, good repeat

Evelyn--exquisite, big blooms, so fragrant, and my best Austin for heat tolerance

Twilight Zone--deep purple blooms like no other of mine, little fading in heat

Munstead Wood--more sumptuous big blooms in deep red, often near black, great fragrance

Cheating with a Sixth: Ascot--always in bloom with deep wine red blooms, healthy and vigorous

I've got a couple of more I'd like to add, but no further cheating for me. This was difficult to do. Diane

I gave my answer in April, 2015, and my next answer will probably be around April, 2016, if not later, when the younger roses hopefully will have begun to show what they're made of.

This is interesting and informative.

My top five are:

Belinda's Dream: Disease resistant and a good bloomer, love the pure pink blooms.

Tiffany: A great rose, such a nice shape with a great fragrance, disease resistant.

Peace: This rose has its issues, but the blooms are so gorgeous, I can't keep from including it. And it is a good bloomer for me.

Pink Peace: With loads of beautiful deep pink fragrant blooms, I have to include this one, love it.

Love Song: Such a beautiful lavender rose, so pretty in bouquets and in the landscape.

This is not easy, because I have so many favorites.

I grow 58 roses & am having a hard time coming up with 5 outstanding ones, however, here we are:-

Vif Eclat, reminds me of my ancient (17 1/2) terrier, exuberant, brimming with health, vitality & joie de vivre.

Moje Hammerberg, the fragrance is heavenly, gorgeous flowers, nice hips

Marie Pavie, always in bloom, super healthy

Marie Bugnet (or Therese), healthy, beautiful blooms

Cl Pinkie, blooms last forever, very healthy

Honorable Mention: Madame Plantier

Jane

After much debate within me, I have to bump Belinda's Dream off my list. my list now looks like this.

Louise Estes

Tiffany Lynn

Souv de la Malmaison

Rosa Rugosa

Compt de Chambrod

This won't be too hard for me since I only grow about 10 different roses. Which is a lot considering a couple of years ago I only had Mister Lincoln and John F. Kennedy for the longest time.

1. Mister Lincoln- Velvety red with a good fragrance and it is a very strong plant.

2. Touch of Class- Even though it is extremely mildew prone, the color and form is always breath taking and blooms long lasting.

3. Pink Peace- Beautiful perfect rich pink color and has been a bloom machine from day one. Though it is very rust prone for me.

4. Pope John II- Huge sparkly white blooms that are fragrant. Lasts forever, even in 100+ degree weather. Seems very disease resistant, but many of the stems are very weak and can't hold up the blooms.

5. Perfume Delight- New for me, but the fragrance alone sets it apart from all my other roses. It has a very sweet and pleasant scent that I haven't really found in any of my other fragrant roses. The foliage is also big and pretty.

I just can't get the list down to 5--you'll notice how I weasel around on a couple of the selections!

Top Five:

• Love Song
• Munstead Woods

(Note: A number of us agree on those two! The remaining choices get harder.

• Olivia Rose Austin or Sceptered Isle--or maybe Molineux (gotta have another Austin on the list--my favorite category of roses)
• Ghislaine de Feligonde--or Eden--or The Wedgwood --maybe even Clothilde Soupert (gotta have at least one climber on the list)
• One of the following: Buff Beauty or Felicia or Boule de Neige (can't decide which)

Talk about indecision!

Kate

...I find this impossible to answer.....so I'll pass...

This is a somewhat torturous thing to have to decide, but I do like these types of posts because they get you thinking about how much we love our roses.

I agree SoFl Rose. While searching roses, this GW thread popped up and my thought was since a complete rose growing season just ended, evaluating our roses could be beneficial, so I revived it. I do not know just how many roses are in my garden. After about 140, I stopped counting, but seem to always have an order in the works or something on the way. Despite numbers, some roses just stand out in my mind because in my garden, they out perform everything else, or I am taken with the beauty of the rose and plant. These roses are not great, they are stellar!

I am very analytical. When I find the top performers, like many others I am sure, I research their hybridizer, genes, look for sports etc. This research sometimes helps me discover other roses that could perform well in my garden too....

Lynn

haha I just think 5 isn't a problem, its just time to start hybridizing and collecting seeds, add some propagation and bam! raise those numbers again :D

I actually just got done moving all of my roses to my new house so I just went through a list of who stays and who goes and I ended up only leaving two behind and taking two trailer loads worth and whatever I could fit in the bed of the hubbies pickup...... but if I could have only 5 with me ( that I already own) I would have brought:

Twilight Zone,Variegata di Bolongna, rose de rescht, Tea Clipper and Oso easy Paprika

Ha, I went through that too. I moved fall 2013 and took around 170 roses with me.

5? Pffttt!

It makes me laugh because I posted my top five on this thread last year and they are not what I would post this year. LOL

Last year I posted:

#1 dames de chennonceau

#2 moonstone

#3 evelyn

#4 Veteran's honor

#5 Chicago Peace

But this year it would be different.
#1 Would still be Dames De Chennonceau (its just my all time favorite and I'll never be without it)

#2 Evelyn: Just perfect rosettes, never fail to open, beautiful scent and nice large blooms. Plant habit is horrid, but it blooms so often I don't mind it.

#3 Easy Does It : mine just blooms and blooms wihtout any problems, not even insects seem to bother it

#4 Dick Clark: Always full of blooms always happy. A tall tall bush full of flowers or buds, always blooming

#5 Nahema: Grows well on her own roots, beautiful pink blooms and an amazing scent all combined with disease resistance its pretty much the perfect rose

I find it funny that I would put Jude The Obscure, seeing as mine has not really performed well, but I do love the scent! My poor Chicago Peace is a one cane wonder, but I do love each and every spectacular bloom. If only it bloomed more often. I do admit however that if it died, I would replace it. Same goes for Moon Stone. I had a bit of die back this year and is about half the size it once was, but hopefully it will bounce back because she's a real winner.

My runners up this year are: Heritage, The Shepherdess (just easy and always blooming) Pat Austin (for its constant bloom, if only the flowers lasted longer), The McCartney rose ( I just got this one and I can already tell its going to be a good one), Colorific (great disease resistance) and Clair Austin (even though her blooms are butter yellow for me and not white, she's been an outstanding bloomer and has had great disease resistance too). Veteran's Honor is still up there, even though it defoliates often. Its still a good bloomer and those red roses last and last.

ahh yes one must always pack at least one Austin lol!

My list this year was the same as last year's, except Golden Celebration was bumped off and replaced by Evelyn. But GC is one of my two runner-ups, along with Augusta Luise. I never know if I'm supposed to pick my five best performing, or my five favorites, because they are not exactly the same. Julia Child would make both lists, though. Diane

Let's see 5 only??? Crescendo, St Patrick, Dr Troy Garrett, Dr. John Dikeman, Bee's Knees

I would pick firefighter, double delight, Memorial Day, felicia, and Barbra Streisand. They all have unbelievable and consistent fragrance and they flower a lot for me.

Zone 3 - but I grow my roses in pots and overwinter them in the garage.

Here is my new list.

1. Chicago Peace

2. Fragrant Cloud

3. Valencia - fragrance finally kicked in. Very perfumy!!

4. Memorial Day

5. Evelyn

- Gemini and Paradise Found got bumped off the list this year, because they both had a very bad year because of the weather. Barely grew, barely flowered. I hope they do better next year. I think that Chicago Peace, Fragrant Cloud and Valencia will always be on my 5 top roses list.

Carol

1. Abraham Darby - color, fragrance, flower form, production, vigor.

2. Bishop's Castle - fragrance, floriferousness, vigor.

3. Munstead Wood - constant bloom, fragrance, vigor.

4. The Alnwick Rose - color, flower form, vigor and most importantly, nothing else has this fragrance.

5. Eden - color, flower form, vigor. Too bad about the fragrance.

The others could go, and I don't think I'd miss them. Well, maybe William Shakespeare 2000, but he's a finicky one for me.

I was surprised to see how many people chose Belinda's Dream which was new for me this summer. I'm expecting great things from it next summer.

My list has changed:

1. Betty White

2. Grande Dame

3. Strawberry Hill

4. Valencia

5. Chandos Beauty

Runners up

- Chicago Peace

- Memorial Day

-----

Carol

Darcey Bussell

The Crocus Rose aka Emmanuel

Augusta Luise

Chippendale

Munstead Wood

Runners up: Graham Thomas and MEILove orange

1) QUIETNESS

Pros: tip hardiness, vigor, quartered flower form, petal count, heavy flower production and fragrance, and blackspot resistance.

Cons: can ball up, very (too?) long laterals, 24"+, although they are strong, could hold petals longer but 100% heat proof blooms, no wilting or crisping. It's supposed to be a shrub, but I give it HT management.

2) SWEET FRAGRANCE

Pros: large flowers, 5", that last, vigor, first to bloom in spring and last to bloom in fall, fast repeat, no bloom wilt or crisping.

Cons: wrong name, little fragrance, winter protection a must, will black spot, I spray it.

3) LADY ASHE

Pros: profuse blooms, high petal count, deep blooms, very long lasting, fragrant, excellent summer flower production 'til fall, tip hardy - no protection needed.

Cons: will get black spot, more that you would expect in light of its other outstanding qualities.

4) JULIA CHILD

Pros: vigor, heavy bloomer, no bloom crisping or wilting.

Cons: black spots a little, average fragrance, winter protection needed here.

5) EVELYN

Pros: high petal count, intense fragrance, large, exquisite bloom, slow to drop petals unlike so many Austins, blooming machine for me, unlike others' reports.

Cons: weak, leggy stems, hanging, weak necked blooms, black spot prone, needs winter protection here.

Glad this thread was brought back. This is difficult to answer for many reasons. I ended up deciding on what roses make me smile, make me look forward to seeing in the garden the more than others - not the way I would judge a cultivar overall.

1. Spirit of Freedom

2. SdlM

3. Munstead Wood

4. Jude the Obscure

5. This spot is what's killing me... should I put Rouge Royal? Abraham Darby? Or the two most beautiful roses IMO - Evelyn or Eglantyne? Darn it...I give up!

This year:

Evelyn

Pat Austin

Dames De Chennonceau

Olivia Rose Austin

Oh and Belinda's Dream

and Heritage

and Easy does it

(Honorable Mentions: Charlotte, Pope John Paul II, Europeana, Cream Veranda, Darcey Bussell, Litchfield Angel, Sweet Drift (all drifts really), Abe Darbey, Elegant Fairy Tale, Collette, Spirit Of Freedom)

This is my fourth go round on this thread, and each list has been different. Will I never give up? I decided on this particular list because of the roses' beauty and excellent blooming. Diane

1. Evelyn

2. Augusta Luise

3. Munstead Wood

4. Ascot

5. Julia Child

Tied, and should be on the list are Love Song and Boscobel with Young Lycidas improving rapidly.

I'm going to have to put in some I no longer have.

1. Westerland, gone to God

Love those sunset colours, and that fragrance...

2. Anna Olivier, had 3 planted way too close together, now have one newbie

Such a pretty colour and growth habit, and perfumed

3. Cl Souvenir de la Malmaison, was superlative in a previous garden

gorgeous and generous

4. Comtesse du Cayla

How I wish I'd planted her in a much less sunny spot. As Adam Harbeck so elegantly put it 'she's a crispy critter'. But, again, those lovely sunset colours.

5. Mutabilis

Tough and always in flower. Laughs and flowers better than ever with a severe chopping back.

Runners up, and only just Mrs Dudley Cross and Marie van Houtte