Napoleon, Elina, Belinda's Dream, Pink Pet, Bon Silene (may be a little over 5 feet but not much) Carnation, Safrano, Duchesse de Brabant, Redoubt Red, Christopher Marlowe (gets a little ratty in July and August but continues to bloom heavily), Papa Hemeray. Papa is a favorite of the Lubber grasshoppers and is almost leafless but still attempting to bloom. Safrano and DdB were hit by my dreaded cane dieback which may have kept them from reaching full height. I don't know. I have many others under that height that are healthy but have been in the ground less than two years, so I'm not sure about them. Oh, my Mrs. B.R. Cant is under that height but very wide.

Warning on Christopher Marlowe: he looks like an unmade bed with octopus canes. I was thinking about killing him for his messiness. He's short but very wide: 3'x 4'. He doesn't make good cut-flower (color fades and smells weird), nor repeat quickly like the single-petal landscape bush.

I forget to mention the 2 roses that I am madly in love with for its compactness and health: Kim Rupert's, or Roseseek's creations: Annie Laurie McDowell and Lynnie. Check out the picture of Annie L.D. I posted in Campanula's thread "No more single-petal white rose".

I don't know how large Annie gets in your climate, but she's even smaller than a mini-rose here, due to her blooming at the expense of growth. She's 100% thornless, so whacking her off is no problem. She's very healthy, and less work than water-hogs Romanticas and Austins. Her scent of lavender and lilac will send you to heaven.

Lynnie is a compact bush 3' x 2'. She's the epitome of health. I plant her in an EXTREMELY CROWDED spot admist tons of perennials, and she has zero blackspot nor mildew. The tall summer phlox next to her is white with mildew, and the Bonica bush previously planted there succumbed to blackspot due to poor air circulation. Kim Rupert bred Lynnie for health, constant blooming, and having no thorns.

Strawberryhill, thanks, great list. We have a bunch of bug issues but fortunately Japanese Beetles aren't here. I probably shouldn't even think that thought.
Floridarose, the roses that you mentioned, are they on fortuniana? My Duchesse De Brabant has some bs issues but is a baby. Does it get better as it ages (like us?, lol)

Roses I rarely or never spray: Austin's Lady of Shalott and Queen of Sweden and Mayflower and Shakespeare 2000 and Pretty Jessica and St. Swithun (but since that is a climber, maybe it is too tall). I haven't grown Austin's Princess Alexandra of Kent, but I was just reading how disease-resistant it is also.

Others, in addition to several listed by earlier posters: Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mystic Beauty, Earth Song, Fru Dagmar (rugosa).

I was just reading another thread about Kordes roses. Evidently the recent ones are very disease-resistant. Kordes has an English-language site, so you might want to check those out, particularly the Fairytale series. I grow an older Kordes--Eutin--which rarely or never needs spraying.

I probably don't have the humidity you do, so that part I can't vouch for, but the heat here has been in the high 90s and 100+ regions, so that at least should be helpful.

Good luck in your search.

Kate

Hi Nancy- Almost all of my roses are on Fort. now, and I don't spray.. most of my OGRs are getting pretty tall, they have been in the ground a year now, they are mostly from FSC sales... the shorter ones are Souv. de la Malmaison, Maggie, Leonie Lamesch, Pink Pet, and they stay BS free..several more are a bit taller, Mrs. BR Cant wants to get abt. 6' but i keep clipping her back but she keeps her blooming-cycle. I also have Belinda's Dream, Julia Child, Summer Snow, China Doll, all under 5' and very little BS, good bloomers...there are lots more out there, abt. 150 roses, but these are my favs., under 5-6'....sally

You should look at the roses from the Texas Earth-Kind program for heat tolerance and disease-resistance. They'd have been tested close to your zone. Another set of roses would be the Dr. Griffith Buck hybrids; many are within the size limits you mentioned and are quite disease resistance. See the link for more information about both Earth-Kind and Dr. Buck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings blog on Griffith Buck Roses

Teka, I'm not sure all of the EarthKind roses are clean here. Texas can be very dry, too, as well as hot.

Of the ones mentioned above I have Lillian Austin who has very few leaves right now. Not sure why, but then skimpy foliage seems to like my garden. Except Clotilde Soupert is very green & bushy and smaller than your specs as is White Pet. Both will cycle through old yellow leaves after blooming but it's not BS. Duquesa is VERY healthy. Pretty much any Tea rose is going to be fine - except for the scattered yellow leaves, but Duquesa doesn't even do that. Mme Abel Chatenay is a really healthy early HT that hopefully one day Rose Petals Nursery will have if we can ever get my cuttings to survive. Borderer, Leonie Lamesch, Softee, Quietness, Etoile de Mai are all really quite good. Polonaise and Mary Guthrie are good but their old leaves get ratty in a different way, but both are really green now. Bow Bells is always very green. I just checked and her original spring leaves have a few tiny spots on them. SDLM is my garden does not get BS but can look really ratty in her yellow leaf cycle with her big leaves, but that's just her aging leaves. It's not from disease. My Chinas don't get BS but also don't have many leaves. It's a big quandary this year in my garden. All my roses are own-root in highly amended sand.

Here's my list starting with the best looking almost all the time.

Duquesa
Mme Abel Chatanay
Quietness
Borderer
Leonie Lamesch
Bow Bells (probably 6x6)
Softee
Alexander Hill Gray
Teas in general but they do take a few years to fill out
Clotilde Soupert (like SDLM you have to get used to her yellow leaves but she's a beautiful bush)

Also, I have Red and Peach Drift roses - perfectly healthy.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Teka, the only ones on Fort are Elina, Christopher Marlowe, and Mrs. BRC. I'm sure all the others would be much larger if they were on Fort.

Strawberry, here Christopher Marlowe is not particularly octopi-like when compared to, say, Evelyn. Here he cycles into bloom very quickly and is probably one of my heaviest bloomers. No, he is not good in the vase unless it's a rose bowl. I like his scent.

I forgot Rosette Delizzy and Dutcher. They are both very clean. My DdB blacks otter when she was young, but no longer does. As Sherry, says, you have leaves that yellow and shed as they age out, but it's not blackspot.

Don't you just love your iPad. It changed black spotted to blacks otter. Really, it was my iPad, not me having a senior moment. If you have a typo, it tries to make it better for you, but is not necessarily successful.

I wonder if SdlM's having yellow or ratty leaves is a localized thing since my two don't do that. They're pretty well disease-free except for a slight case of mildew in spring but now look quite good. My bushes also don't defoliate and then grow new leaves as Sherri says some of hers do, and I wonder whether it has to do with soil. There are so many variables from one garden to another, however, that sometimes it's almost impossible to pinpoint what's causing anything.

Ingrid

Hi Floridarose: Thank you for saving my Christopher Marlowe from being shovel-pruned. Yes, he can be stunning. I posted some gorgeous pics. on him in HMF. He's too rowdy in partial shade, so I'll switch him to Pat Austin's place, whose booms are fried in full-sun.

Hi Nancy: Please take out "Pat Austin" from my list and replace her with "Christopher Marlowe" as being disease-resistant. Kim Rupert informed that Pat Austin has blackspots California. I'm not the best guideline for disease-resistant, since even mauve roses and Golden Celebration are healthy in my soil.

Hi Ingrid: My mini-roses in pots defoliated COMPLETELY, then grew new leaves. I caught the culprit in action: chipmunks! Thank God they didn't eat Annie L.M., my favorite. My Lilian Austin got big holes in 4 leaves. At first I thought cutter-leaf-bee eat them, until I inspected the underside of roses: tiny greenish rose slugs larvae. It's only 4 leaves, so I disposed them.

Posted by gardenguru1950 SunsetZ16 (My Page) on Sat, Aug 8, 09 at 13:06

The most common "eater" of rose leaves in California is the Bristly Rose Slug, the larvae of the Rose Sawfly. The sawfly is a pudgy little wasp. It lays its eggs on the UNDERSIDES of the leaves and the caterpillars feed on the UNDERSIDES of the leaves.
The rose slug is tiny, no more than 1/4-inch long and very slender, and it's the exact same pale green as the undersides of the leaves. Talk about hard to see and find!

It's the critter that "skelotinizes" rose leaves.

*****

I forgot to mention Crepuscule and Ducher and Spice, and 2 Louis Philippe... I have 2 Crepuscule, and they are just abt. 6 ft. The one on Fort. from FSC is much healthier and fuller and blooms more, the other is own-root as are Ducher and Spice, but they don't get BS and are blooming, but not happy w/this heat..and of course the 2 L.P.s are blooming, they are both on Fort..sally

Really, really clean all of the time and that short? Hmmm. Cinderella Fairytale, but she may get too big eventually (she gets tall slowly for me so I don't know her final size yet). Absolutely get Morey's Pink. Fabulous rose!

SLDM Rouge. Bow Bells (but may get too big). Baby Blanket. Paul Bocuse.

I don't know if they are still sold anywhere, but the old 'Towne and County' Poulsens are fabulous. I have 2 that do so well.

Actually, The Fairy is awesome here and a great staple for color for me. Also, I have the white version of Baby Blanket by J&P and that's an excellent rose, although it's much bigger than they say :) I have it mixed in with The Fairy and they are the same height.

A lot of the hot weather staples do get BS here, but it comes in quick spells. It doesn't bother me, but they aren't picture-perfect all the time here.

This is such an amazing list. One could have a gorgeous garden and not have to deal with much disease. I know that sounds like a newbie statement and maybe I am in a way. I've been growing roses for 30 years, but seriously for 13. But I recently went organic so this no spray issue is a whole new thing.
Kate, I recently got Queen of Sweden and it looks good. My Pretty Jessica is a couple of years old and not growing much. My Our Lady of Guadalupe is getting bs. but she may be in too shady a spot. I'll check out that Kordes site.

Professorroush, Leonie Lamesch looks good.

Sherry, thanks, great list. I had Clotilde Soupert at one point but it balled so much that I got rid of it. Does it outgrow that. I need patience.

Floridarose, Rosette Delizzy looks good.

Sally, as always thanks for your advice. I have some of the ones you mentioned and I agree. I am planning to get Ducher. My Crepuscule as I mentioned in another post is slow to bloom, more of that patience thing.I want instant gratification and I want it now, LOL

Meredith, I'll check out Morey's Pink.
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

When I went out this morning to get my paper, I took a really good look at the garden.... and found Belinda's Dream blooming with almost no BS... Julia Child blooming w.some BS.... and Spice (own root) blooming and absolutely no BS... she is abt. 3 feet tall and round and gorgeous, never any problems, and blooms in quick cycles... Spice is my winner! sally

Sally, I have a baby Spice, maybe 4-5 months old. It is so great, healthy, blooms a bunch. The blooms are pretty small at this point, do they get bigger? I'm thinking about getting more of that one. I had Belinda's Dream. The thrips loved it and to be honest, it was a really boring looking rose to my eye. I loved my Julias until they were mowed down by a drunk driver, which killed them but even with spraying they got BS in my garden.

I live in hot and humid galore, with tons of blackspot, Japanese beetles, and even RRD this year. I have been very impressed with Floral Fairy Tale, in her second season. She is short, about 2' by 2', and towered over by taller roses half defoliated from BS. I kept expecting her to come down with it, thinking that a rose that small, the BS would surely kill her. But she never got BS. She's still clean as a whistle. I couldn't believe it. She has motivated me to start a new garden of fairy tale roses. The only drawback is the fairy tale roses have little scent. I starting out growing only roses with fragrance. But I can't smell the fragrance anyway when the rose is defoliated from BS, so why care about it.

In Lakeland (central Florida), our big concerns are blackspot, chili thrips, and to a much lesser degree powdery mildew. I would say our very most resistant rose to all of those is 'Mrs. B. R. Cant', followed closely by 'Smith's Parish', 'Red Smith's Parish', and 'Trinity' (a bit of black spot but not bad).

Unfortunately, some of the real standouts for BS resistance are martyrs to chili thrips (e.g. the entire Knockout series, Belinda's Dream, many Teas). Most Chinas will show some chili thrips damage but still be ok, and that's also true for a number of Teas.

Spent 30 yrs growing roses on central TX gulf coast--the armpit of hell, to quote Dave Barry. No spray garden, mostly organic fertilizer.

Virtually every China did great--Louis Phillipe, Agrippina, Archduke Chas., Slater's Crimpson.

Polys, too--La Marne, Mme. Laurette Messime, Flocon de Neige, Clotilde S., 'Caldwell Pink', etc.

Teas--Bon Silene, Duchesse du Brabant, Marchioness du Londonderry

HPs & Bourbons--Souvenir del la Malmaison, Reine des violettes, Mme Isaac Perierre.

old floribudas like Iceberg did great. Sunsprite was the best yellow rose I ever tried.

Where I was able to plant in full sun these did very well with little blackspot.

Many HTs did well, too, but summer defoliation was common--just something to wait out--they sprung back in Sept.

Lots of good performers, even in that sorry climate. Never had a month without SOME roses--lots in Dec. even, unless we had an unusually hard early frost. Zone 10 does have its good points. I miss gingers & Brugs.

teka - Ducher is nice but it's really uninspiring IMO. Small white flowers on a twiggy bush. It doesn't get a lot of BS for me in NYC where it's 100F and humid as hell right now, but it's not really something to write home about either.

Roses that don't get BS here include Knockout of course, and a wonderful Austin - Climbing James Galway. It's almost thornless, fragrant, and actually way too vigorous for my garden. It gets huge fast. I may have to get rid of it for that very reason, but it's a great rose if you have the space.

Crepusule takes a long time to get going but when it does it's simply gorgeous. Delicate apricot shaded blossoms, not all that many thorns, and a mounding sort of growth habit. It's one of my favorite roses but it's a bit weird. It has pale green leaves and I think I may lose it this coming winter. Great rose tho.

Another BS resistant one that gets huge is Monsieur Tillier. Coral pinkish blooms, very fragrant, tangled growth habit and easily over 8 feet in every direction if you don't trim it. But highly BS resistant here.

Some of the Bucks are too, but not all. Prairie Sunrise is pretty good - big fragrant apricot blooms and minimal BS. Just takes a while between bloom cycles.

Phyllis Bide is another rose that gets pretty big but has minimal BS. The only problem is that it's essentially a once-bloomer. It gets a smattering of blooms later on but really it's a one-time bloomer in June. Healthy as hell tho and right next to Crepuscule and Lady Hillingdon, which means I don't have a problem with my soil.

And as mentioned - Safrano and its sport, Isabella Sprunt. Safrano is an apricot type rose, Isabella is like lemon gelato - the palest yellow with a wonderful peppery aroma and a twiggy, meandering growth habit.

Finally I have to advocate again for La Marne - I see someone else is a fan but it gets very little BS. It does wash out in the heat tho, and that may be of concern to you. Up here, it's magnificent in the very late fall when everything else has turned brown. It's still blooming in December and the color is at its best then. Mid summer, it's like a faded pinkish white.

BTW, Smith's Parish is another Bermuda rose you might consider. It's also a real twiggy kind of thing, and it's sparse with the leaves anyway, but it doesn't seem to suffer from major BS.

Gardenerrose, do you know where to buy the Fairytale series?
Dr. Manners, thanks for checking in. My thrips issues are nearly non-existant anymore. My blooms were destroyed most of the year. Pam at Angel Gardens suggested that I quit using fungicide. I was pretty much an organic gardener besides the fungicide. I did and it worked. The beneficials moved in and the thrips moved out. But now I have bs issues which is why I'm looking for disease resistant roses. Can you keep Mrs. B.R. Cant in bounds? I thought that was a big one.
Bluegirl thanks for the suggestions. I have Archduke Charles, but he is a tiny baby. So far so good.
Rosesinny, you mentioned Bucks. I have always wanted Prairie Star. Did you have that one?

teka2rjleffel, you are apparently lucky not yet to have chili thrips. They are not at all like flower thrips which as you say, destroy flowers. Chili thrips go for leaves and stems and kill the bush. As Knockout roses all over our area, which were grown entirely organically will attest, they're just as dead. So far, we have no adequate control for this pest other than fairly harsh chemicals.

Dr. Manners, you are right, I'm glad I don't have them. We have leaf notching weevils that eat the leaves while their larve eat the roots. Same result. I have been hand picking them but I even checked with a pest control company and they said nothing will kill them and they dine on many different plants. I have also read that they have no predators although I see lizards on the rose bushes so my fingers are crossed that they have developed a taste for them.

What exactly does damage from chili thrips look like, and what's the first symptom?

Yes, Spice has small blossoms, and they are not as interesting as HT blooms or even OGR Teas, abt. the same size as Louis P. and Ducher.. Mrs. BR Cant has gorgeous blooms but again they are smaller than 'modern' roses, but the scent is great... I try and keep a 'mix' of OGRs and 'moderns', so there is most always something in bloom as well as some green, by putting the worst BS victims behind the shorter OGRs the bare-knees are mostly hidden.. it's a trade-off and I don't expect perfection.... I drool when I see the pics of California roses! sally

I would be very careful and listen advices only from the people who garden in Florida or other place with climate and soil similar to yours. BS is a regional thing. Roses resistant to BS in KS or IL will not necessary will be resistant in FL. Just humid and hot does not mimic your particular situation. For example I am in hot and humid MD and most roses recommended above are absolutely NOT resitant for me here. So I will never give you an advice on roses resitant to you. Your conditions are very different.
Olga

On a highly sensitive variety (e.g., 'Belinda's Dream'), chili thrips damage first shows up as a puckering of leaves, with black veins. Then the green twigs also develop black patches. Eventually, the entire branch dies.

Teka, Clotilde balls in certain circumstances - thrips and heavy rain at a particular point of the bud opening. Don't know exactly when, maybe after the sepals open. She is such a heavy bloomer it doesn't bother me - except during thrips season. 100% balling then but she's not alone.

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Thank you, Dr. Manners. I haven't had them yet but expect to eventually. Just wanted to be prepared.

Sally, I like the blooms of Spice. I'm not a big fan of plastic looking H/T blooms. I lean a lot more toward Austins. So you put bs victims behind the more resistant strains. They must be quite resistant to not pick it up. I'll definitely pay attention to your list.
Olga, thanks, that is so true. I've experienced it before, not just with disease resistance, but scent, size, etc.
Sherry, does Clotilde look good in the drier season. My thrips issues used to be about 11 months a year but now maybe I could try it again.
Dr. Manners, those sound like nasty critters. My Belinda's Dream was very prone to flower thrips damage, much worse than most.

BD has never had thrips here. Clotilde occasionally. I love Clotilde's scent. I always stick a spray of her in bouquets just for the scent. Ducher's blooms are not exciting, but the whole bush pleases me. Perfectly round shape, rarely w/o blooms, always clean. I forgot Jean Bach Sisley. I thought it was going to stay quite compact, but it's already larger than Ducher. Stll under five feet, though. It's good in a vase.

Chilli thrips and regular flower thrips are entirely different beasts. I'm glad to hear that some rose varieties are resistant to chilli thrips--even though they probably won't make it this far north.

I live in Houston--zone 9, rains 3x a week during the summer (when we're not having a drought), over 100 degrees F most of August.
Houston is supposed to have a Florida-like climate, but you decide.
Also, I don't spray, ever.

"get's no larger than 5-6 feet" is the problem, since most of the really disease resistant roses around here really get big(like Mutabilis, Belinda's Dream, Don Juan)

under 6 feet, disease resistant, try:
-Martha Gonzales
-Perle d'Or
-Old Blush

My best here in the Applacians are as follows (I'm no spray too):

Belinda's Dream
Queen of Sweden
Freckles
Easy Does It
R. Rugosa Alba
Hansa
Cinco de Mayo
Limoncello
Lion's Fairy Tale

Those are the ones that jump out any way :)

Tammy

I know this is an old thread but its been very good and useful so I thought I'd chime in. All the roses i recommend have been mentioned here but I live very close to you in Zone 10 Florida so I thought I'd let you know what has worked in my garden. I have over 50 roses and my best performer is by far Belinda's Dream (you probably have it by now, if not, get it!). Always in bloom all year round, doesn't mind heat/humidity or rain has perfectly formed blooms AND its fragrant. It has it all!
One of my other good performers so far have been some Ausitns. My BEST bloomer is Huntington rose, but it does get black spot a bit. I don't spray her so i just prune her a bit after every other flush and she keeps bouncing back. Queen of Sweden has been excellent. Not as big a bloomer as Huntington but NO black spot at all. She does grow TALL though (huntington grows WIDE), So Far she has stayed very narrow and tall. Jubilee celebration has done well but she is too new to tell if she'll get through the rainy season without too much BS. Wollerton Old Hall, great fragrance great BS resistance but bloom color is not my cup of tea (kind of a tan/beige). Alnwick rose has done well too as well as Abraham Darby (tried and true). All my Austins are in planters though, none in the ground.
As for HT roses my best performers have been Mr. Lincoln, Olympiad (very good), Gold Medal (also very good), Queen Elizabeth (kind of gangly but blooms alot), iceberg and brilliant pink iceberg are great but grow wide, not tall (they stay short though).
Pretty much all my HT get some black spot in the rainy season but i just trim them come fall and they do well all the way until the following May.
If you are looking for a more bushy rose try the new KORDES varieties. I have had ABSOLUTELY no black spot on Lion's Fairy Tale and Mandarin Ice, and I hear all the Fairy Tales are just as good as lions. I'm getting a few more this year from that series.
OH also don't forget BUCKS roses. Superb! I have Polonaise and Golden Princess and both are great with BS (very very little) but by far the best one has been Quietness! She has NO BS and beautiful fragrant blooms. Very Fragrant!

Some roses to stay away from would be Oklahoma, Double delight (every one raves about her but she's a BS magnet in my garden) Angle Face (same). Cherish (love her blooms but same BS issues). I grow most of my roses in planters so you may need to see if you can find any of these on Fortuniana RS. I highly recommend the Kordes ones though, they have really thrived own root with NO disease they stand out like champs. They almost don't even look like rose bushes they are so leafy.
Duchess du Brabant has been another good one. She does get a little BS but she seems to shake it off quickly. I just also got Rosette DeLizzy and clotilde soupert but they are still babies so too soon to tell. Good luck and let me know what does well in your garden!

Clotilde Soupert (which does well in bright shade).

So glad to found this thread. When I moved to Orlando last year, I was so happy thinking that I would be able to finally grow roses. I didnt have any idea about the BS and the constant rain, the nematodes, the sandy soil etc..I got one or two blooms last year. This year almost all roses were dug, potted and sunk into the ground. they are still young but looking much better. Clothilde didnt ball despite the rain. The Austins(Graham thomas-no flower , Sharifa-a few flower, Heritage-a few, Alnwick-one!) are putting new growth. But now I am worried about thrips.I remember last year almost every new growth turned blank and died.What can we do now to prepare for it?

Hello from Tropical Malaysia

My Nahema i.e Delbard"s needs no spray at all.Cute n pinky with strong fragrance too.My best & less fussy one.

My friend's Oklahoma got BS issue but it's so heat tolerant & will recover nonetheless.

My friend's wet tolerant one, Duftjewel i.e a Meiland's peachy rose got powdery mildew issue but, it recovers well.

The Best for hot & humid is Red Damask that powdery mildew doesn't bother it much too :)

The bad & weak ones are Evelyn with stem cankers n all but, smells divine & l am still struggling with Spidermites now on all roses as they spread pretty fast. Waterblasting & frequent watering keep them under control. My Flaming Peace is the worst! :( but oddly it seems to be recovering.

So , may be its resistance genes from The Peace series kicks in huh? :)

My # Chantal Merieux i.e a Massad's rose is so tiny that stem canker seemed to kill it ....well ...almost. It suffers from Phyto burn so, needs a lil shade under the hot sun here.So, resistant it seems .

Thanks .