! I live in a Mediterranean climate in No California. If I knew what I know now about roses when I started planting them 20 years ago, I would never plant anything except these types in my garden. If you get the new book "Tea Roses: Old Roses for Warm Climates", you will see info on many many wonderful roses that will do well in your garden. These roses, and the chinas, tea noisettes, and banksies, grow well in my garden with no spraying, and very little if any pruning. I just feed them once a year and mulch them heavily each winter. Except for the banksieas, they bloom from early Spring to December. Those of us who live in Med climates are very lucky to be able to grow these roses I have grown Mme Alfred Carriere up huge trees and over my garage. She grew in full shade for the first 2-3 years, until she got tall enough to get to the sunshine, after which she exploded up the trees and over the building. Le Vesuve re-blooms for me all summer and into the WInter, even with no dead heading. Maman Cochet and all of her clones are gorgeous. I think Anna Olivier is my favorite - it is more manerly, and has subtle lovely colors, from flesh pink to pale yellow to buff with brick on the back of the petals, depending on the weather. Celebrate the fact that you can grow warm weather roses - there are few places in the world (the Meditteranean, Calif., South Africa, Australia & NZ & of course the Far East where they came from) that can.

Good luck and please keep in touch and let us know what you've chosen and how your roses are doing.

Ingrid

I work with two different gardens - one is a collection of old found roses in the Sacramento cemetery's Historic Rose Garden. The soil there is sandy and well-drained, and there is room for the roses to get huge. At home, soil is silt/clay, and there is much less room. You can look at Helpmefind roses and see what roses are in each garden (Sacramento Historic Rose Garden and Anita's garden), and ask me about how specific varieties are doing.

Polyanthas do well too - Perle d'Or and Marie Pavie are particular favorites. Chinas are good. Some of the early Hybrid Teas, such as Mme. Caroline Testout and Kauserin Auguste Viktoria, are in nearly constant bloom.

The Austins are a mixed bag. They tend to grow much taller than English sources say, and the flowers may not be as big or intensely colored. For example, I've seen William Shakespeare 2000 in New Zealand, France and Sacramento - it was drop-dead gorgeous everywhere but here, where it is much smaller and washed-out.

Enjoy. Looking forward to hearing about your choices, and how your garden develops!
Anita

Wm Shakespeare 2000 and Pat Austin tolerate full sun poorly for me here where summer highs hover in the mid to upper 80's-blooms blow quickly and crisp around the edges. Jubilee Celebration gets a little late afternoon shade but i bet it would do well in full sun-the petals have a bit of substance to them. Molineux has been a solid performer. Take a look at Gruss an Aachen. Not an Austin but could be. Highly recommended on this forum-i love it. Fragrant, floriferous, beautifully shaded in buff, cream and pink.

i don't know if you can irrigate? Forum members who have been growing roses far longer than me describe the Austins as waterlovers and the teas as drought tolerant. My limited experience confirms this.

i took a look at the link Berndoodle posted-WOW-my heart is stolen by Isabella Ducrot. Isabelle Nabonnand and Souv. de Gilbert Nabonnand are also very beautiful and not one available in the US. I'm envious.

Hope you'll post back on your choices and progress!

I have found about English roses, that winter irrigation is critical for good bloom over the summer. If local authorities limit your water use, you might want to stick with chinas, teas, and polyanthas.

The early noisettes make very nice, fragrant, disease resisant, ever blooming shrubs. They do need deadheading, their only fault. Alistair Stella Grey is in bloom in my yard about 10-11 months out of the year.