Only $40 for a 15 gallon climber is a deal compared to the prices around here (Los Angeles) for that size. I would eliminate Sky's the Limit simply because the flowers have too few petals. With your heat, they'd blow and fall pretty quickly, leaving you with a lot of plant and little color, even if it is fried color. Polka is amazingly stiff and upright, as well as horribly prickly. I deal with it on a six foot wrought iron fence and there is NO way on earth to train that monster to the six foot fence here. I also see it all over the neighborhood, also growing bolt upright like a huge, stiff shrub. Gorgeous blooms, but a lot of plant for not a lot of color, IMHO. But, if your other climbers grow like that and you want the heavily prickled canes and ginormous plant to provide security against someone coming over, or through the fence, that could be a great thing.

America is an older climber which has been used a fair bit for breeding. It's been popular for nearly forty years for good reason. It's not as stiff as many climbers, has decent scent and enough petals to last a while before blowing in heat. They'll still fry, but they won't explode open and fall as quickly as blooms of half as many petals. It's also fairly easy to train on a fence.

Raspberry Cream Twirl is a new one to me. It has Bonica behind it which should help give it some decent health, if that's an issue. I don't know how durable the petals are to extreme heat, but at least there are a LOT of them, so, given decent weather, they should last a while before falling. I also don't know how much faith to place in the claims of it being "thornless, or almost", but you should be able to compare it to the others to determine if it appears to be relatively low prickles compared to the others. It should DEFINITELY be better than Polka!

I would think it should boil down to a choice between America and Raspberry Cream Twirl. If you have a color preference, take it. If Raspberry Cream Twirl appears smoother, making it easier to train and maintain, that might be a good thing for your general maintenance comfort. Perhaps Raspberry's more double flowers might last longer on the plant? I hope it helps you decide. Kim

Thanks roseseek--- its 5 gallon container for $40.
I don't know anything about Polka( the nursery doesn't have that one) but from what you said it would not be good on split rail. In July and Aug all the blooms on all the roses fry, it is, what it is. As for the thorns I really don't care just as long as the rose grows well. So I'm thinking SKYs out. It did look a little thin in the petal dept.

I'm sorry! I mis read...twice! Very early morning after a late night. You might like Eden, or not. It isn't as stiff as how I described Polka. My two issues with Eden here are likely non issues for you; heavily balled flowers due to moisture and continual rust, even on the petals, also due to moisture. As I said, likely not issues for you.

That said, it seems it might boil down to whichever you like of the three remaining roses based upon how the plants appear to you. The $40 for a 5 gal staked climber is a bit higher than our average, but not terrible. Kim

Yeh I figured it was a little high, but its a mom and pop operation. But you know HD sells 2.5 gal size for $28.Their plants are always so stressed if they had any. All 30 of my other roses started out bare root so it pains me to spend this much.
No real diseases or problems to speak of with any of the other 3?

The price seems fair for a mom and pop with lower buying power and who take care of their plants. I support them whenever possible. Eden rusts badly where that is an issue. America is reported as being very disease resistant, except in areas of extreme black spot pressure. That may mean nothing to you for two reasons; your climate may not support black spot due to the aridity; and there are five races of black spot in the US. It depends upon which races a rose is resistant to whether it is healthy in a particular place. Not all five exist in the same places (except for William Radler's garden - Knock Out's breeder, and others who deliberately inoculate their gardens with all five to test for resistance) and all roses vary in which races they resist and to what extent. That's why a rose I report as black spot resistant may well spot like mad for you.

Raspberry Cream Twirl is too new to have any complaints or positive comments about. It does represent improved breeding toward greater health because of the use of Bonica. Kim

Thanks for the info Roseseek
I do get black spot occasionally. It happens during our monsoon season when it rains late evening and the leaves stay wet. That's when I start spraying with fungicide and it keeps it way down. I know I am lucky that is all I get. When I lived In N. San Diego C. near the coast I had to spray for everything all the time.

Your San Diego area garden was quite a bit more prone to issues than my Encino one. Star Roses, who introduced it here, say on their web site Raspberry Cream Twirl's disease resistance is good on one page, then "good for the type", whatever that means, on another. They are getting more accurate in their appraisals. Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Raspberry Cream Twirl

Up-date ---went with the Raspberry Cream Twirl
It was a very large, very nice rose
Got it in the ground the very next day after purchase.
Thanks roseseek

You're welcome campv. I don't think you will regret it. Kim