Carding Mill is one of the best Austin roses in the peach color range for a hot and dry climate. It's also very beautiful, although fragrance is not very strong. Harlow Carr unfortunately does not like the heat and I had to give mine up, even though it's very pretty. It crumpled up in the slightest heat. Sophy's Rose, Charles Darwin, Miss Alice, Lillian Austin and Mary Magdalene and The Ingenious Mr. Fairchild looked great in a public garden on a blistering August day one year.

Ingrid

thanks for that information--I have seen Carding Mill get raves from others for heat tolerance as well. I was hoping that one of the pale to medium pink or buff/white ones might also be good performers (Sharifa Asma, Scepter'd Isle, Winchester Cathedral, Alnwick rose, Princess Alexandra, Crocus Rose). I grow a number of them here but it is difficult to compare the climate conditions.

Cressida comes highly recommended from a respected Rose Pro near me, I haven't planted one yet but I intend to one day when a spot is available.

Winchester Cathedral, being a sport of Mary Rose, should do quite well since Mary Rose tolerated the heat well when I grew it.

I've found the following link to be helpful - and live in your general area: http://www.eastbayroses.org/resistantroses.html

Thanks for the information--I'm also comparing with what they say in the Austin catalog, which is that Ambridge rose, Carding Mill, The Alnwick Rose and Winchester Cathedral all end up on their hot/dry climate rose list and Sharifa Asma is on their hot/humid list. I'm finding this hard to believe for Alnwick rose though, since these blooms seem to wilt in the heat of my St. Louis garden. I see someone in Texas has had good success with Scepter'd Isle and Ambridge rose also

I wanted to get one of the smaller ones Austin sells as a container plant rather than bare root, since it will be a gift and my friend may want to keep it potted for a while.

I'm tending to think given the color scheme they have in their yard that he'd like a white/cream or pale pink one, maybe:

Scepter'd Isle
Eglantyne
Sharifa Asma
Winchester Cathedral.

Let me know if you have any opinions/info about any of these.