This is a question better answered on the Antique Rose Forum, tho most of us who read that also read this. But:

They are older Classes of roses, developed before 1867. Teas originally come from southern China; Noisettes were developed in Charleston, SC. Both tend to be larger bushes, with Noisettes often to 12x12. Teas, like their cousins the Chinas, have rather erratic, twiggy growth. Neither likes much pruning. Flowers on Teas are large, more like the Hybrid Teas. The flowers on noisettes are small and come in clusters. Both are usually very fragrant. Both are usually grown own root.

Hybrid Teas were developed from Teas. The first ones were close, but now they are a long way from their ancestors. But one of the reasons HTs are not very hardy and are usually grafted is because of their southern genes. Vintage Gardens' website (www.vintagegardens.com) has good explanations of all the rose Classes and photos of most of the individual roses. They are o longer in business, but their website is still up.

Thank you!

That's all I needed to know. Now I can look out for these roses next time I'm in the local nursery. This can also help confirm my suspicion about one of my roses being a Tea since it looked a little frail and twiggy and it didn't grow a lot of new shoots when I pruned it.
I've read that flowers on Teas tend to droop down too? 'Cause my rose in question has flowers that look down even when I watered them well.

And yes, I've read of Vintage's closing from a blog about roses that I follow. I thought they took their down site so I didn't check there anymore.

Teas would rather not be pruned. Once they put on woody growth, they will put out additional growth from up and down those canes. BUT don't expect them to put out growth in the same way that Hybrid Teas do, because HTs were bred for bloom production on a cane and then cane replacement. It took a lot of selecting to get as far away, bush form wise, from the Tea roses as the HTs are today.

With Teas, a lot of new growth comes out from under the existing growth. When your Tea gets two years of growth on a cane, start to notice where the new growth emerges, It's not where previous rose knowledge would predict.

You might get a great deal of information from my favorite rose book:
"TEA ROSES: Old Roses For Warm Gardens."

See:
http://www.amazon.com/Tea-Roses-Old-Warm-Gardens/dp/187705867X

This was THE book that those of us who garden in warm climates hoped for, for years.

You might also like to visit the web sites of the Heritage Roses Group and the Gold Coast Heritage Roses Group to read articles, and to read back issues of Newsletters.

http://www.theheritagerosesgroup.org/
and
http://www.goldcoastrose.org/

You can ask questions through either website. And by all means, visit the Antique Roses forum here.

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful: TEA ROSE BOOK

Thanks Jeri. Books about rose gardening are hard to come by here so that one's gonna be a treasure! I'll be on the lookout for it next time I go to a book store.

Thanks again for the suggestions and references!