In your area, Old Blush should be great.
And Louis Phillipe is so common it's almost regarded as a Native (Isn't this what the Florida "Cracker Rose" turned out to be?)
Let the Floridians be your guide -- not me -- but if they concur, I can't say enough for Louis Phillipe, Cramoisi Superieur, and White Pearl In Red Dragon's Mouth.
Archduke Charles should not be ignored, either.
But in another color range (or a range of color!) and IF you have room, look at Mutabilis.

Jeri

Sophie's Perpetual, Archduke Charles, Mutablis. My very best.

mmm, I would have to say Sophie's Perpetual. Jeri, my local Botanic Gardens used to have a collection of china roses including one which is a dead ringer for White Pearl. Miss Wilmott's Bengale or Crimson? (struggling to recall so could even be Slater's or Turner's crimson?) Not as poetic as White Pearl at any rate. It is hard to imagine the eventual size and vigour of these roses, looking at the punily twiggy growth of the first few years.

Mutabilis is pretty but I like it's china/musk seedling 'Plaisanterie' a bit better and so far it's healthy in Maryland so I really like that.

My favorite China is what we call "Odorata" (?"Spice"?), without any doubt. Everblooming, evergreen, everfragrant :o)

Maurizio

Jean Bach Sisly (sp?) is my new favorite. Love, love, love the pale pink blooms againt the dark leaves. The blooms are a beautiful size and shape. Looks good in the vase, too. My next favorite is Louis Phillipe, but he's not good for cutting.

My favorite is Archduke Charles. Great rose

Eugene de Beauharnais. Apparently problematic in most gardens, but it likes this area. Heavenly fragrance.

But the rose we know as Eugene de Beauharnais (never very China-like) is held to actually be a Bourbon (Le Grande Capitaine??). See Vintage Gardens listings.
This makes sense, because, Bourbon-like, it turned into a major rust-bucket here, once we left off spraying.

Beautiful, beautiful rose.
My eventual substitute for it turned out to be the older Austin, 'Prospero.' He's disease-free and continuous-blooming for us, as long as we don't prune him.

But that's all Southern CA information. I have no clue how those roses would fare in Florida.

Jeri

The gardens that Malcolm Manners oversees at Florida Southern College probably contain an array of Chinas, but the two that I remember vividly from my visit there are 'Mutabilis' and 'Archduke Charles'. I suspect that most Chinas do well in Florida. All of those at FSC, though, are probably grafted onto Fortuniana rootstock.

I grow Louis Philippe, Archduke Charles, a baby Napoleon and Hermosa. I like them all, but Louis Philippe is my love. His 2" flowers have a cherry candy fragrance even in late afternoon summer heat are scrumptious. It makes my mouth water. Please forgive the capitals, but YOU DON'T NEED TO SPRAY HIM!!!

Louis Phillipe
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Sherry

I am so glad that Vincent Godsiff has been mentioned in this thread. You rarely if ever hear much about this rose which has become one of my favorites. In the summer heat when alot of roses here in Florida either slow down in bloom production or produce smaller than average roses, Vincent Godsiff is a blooming machine. It isn't a real fancy rose but I love the color which contrasts nicely with all the light pinks and white roses in my garden. We have just had a real cold spell here lately and Vincent is full of blooms.
I also like Spice, Louis Phillipe, Archduke Charles, Old Blush and Ducher.

I also love Vincent Godsif. My china roses are so different that it is difficult to declare a favorite.

Cramoisi Superieur performs better in my garden than Louis Philipe, but I am not positive that the grower labels them correctly. It is possible that what I call CS is really LP, and vice versa.

Archduke Charles has a unique and awesome color, but remains small. Arethusa is lovely, but blows fast.

Spice is a favorite. Old Blush did not appeal to me like the others, neither did Hermosa. She simply was weak and never did perform.

No rose performs better than Ducher.

I am in a hurry now, so I am addressing roses already mentioned. I am never sure what is a china and what is a tea.

Louis Philipe, Napoleon, Mutabilis, Comtesse du Cayla.

Mutabilis and Spice. Burbank is too young for me to comment on. Single Cerise China I also reserve judgment on since I've moved it. I should know more about both of the latter by next spring.

It's hard to pick a single favorite, but if I had to, I guess it would be 'Archduke Charles'. But I also very much like 'Louis Philippe', 'Cramoisi Superieur', 'Old Blush', 'Napoleon', 'Ducher', 'Comtesse du Cayla', 'Mutabilis', 'Hermosa' (granted it's not all China), and "Winecup" (perhaps 'Sanguinea'). As suggested above, we do grow most of these on 'Fortuniana' roots, but we have LP, OB, and AC own-root and they're fine. But even with them, I could grow a larger, more vigorous, more floriferous bush on 'Fortuniana', so I'd not be at all opposed to doing that.

I am loving a baby cl. Cram. Sup. that was planted this spring in the ground after growing in a pot for a year. It is growing like a weed and still has a few blooms. They are small but very full. My Arch. Chas. is coming along well and bloomed a lot this fall. I have matching Duchers in lg. pots and they bloom well too. I have had Hermosa twice, Mutabilis, and Old Blush. Hermosa seemed like a weak plant to me also. Mutabilis is too vigorous for my small garden and OB was not exciting for me at the time I had it. I would probably love OB now that I am a more mature and realistic rose gardener but I have fallen in love with teas and they are my favorites now.

I nominate Bermuda Kathleen... she never stops throwing those wavey arms full of little multi-colored single blooms and did it all summer when everything else sulked... and she is own-root... and she grows like a weed, quite a performer, with no BS.....sally

I love the Bermuda found rose known as Spice. It's called both a china and a tea, thought maybe to be Hume's Blush Scented china rose, or so I've read.

The one I planted this year seems to like the cool weather here and I am crazy about the citrus fragrance. I love blush pink roses anyway.

I love Cramoisi S as much for the amazing scent as anything. Ducher is wonderful, too. I planted a White Pearl in Red Dragon's Mouth and think I'm going to like it a lot too. Chinas are great roses.

All of the Chinas mentioned here are wonderful! Chinas are probably my favorite class (along with the ramblers) and I have a lot of them. None of the other roses can compete with the number and quality of flowers that the China roses deliver. Folks visit the garden in summer, expecting for the roses to be sad and hot and miserable (most of the modern ones are at that time). Instead, they find a wonderful assortment of flowers and bush shapes among the Chinas (and Teas).

Mutabilis is my number one, no hesitation favorite. My plant came from Florida, from the garden of a dear rose friend's mother, and I cherish it for the memories AND the beautiful flowers it produces all year long.

I also love Jean Bach Sisley. Doug Seidel suggested to me that it may, in fact, be "Creekside Tea". JBS is very tea-like. Another one with a very similar habit is a rose I got from Rogue Valley years ago by mistake. The tag on the pot said "Reuter China", and it is nearly identical to Jean Bach Sisley in habit, and it has peachy-blush color flowers.

I have two climbing Chinas that share an arch: Climbing Rouletii and Cl. Cramoisi Superior. Every year, I practically salivate waiting for Climbing Rouletii to bloom. It's one of the earliest in my garden, so I don't have to wait all that long. In bloom, this rose is a mass of clusters of dark pink flowers and it is a traffic stopper. Cl. CS has grown to terrific proportions, but the bloom time can't compete with Climbing Rouletii. Both roses are rampant growers, producing basal canes by the bushel-basket-load, with beautiful foliage. (I use Cl. Rouletii foliage if I need filler in arrangements.)

I have an adorable red China that I bought years ago as "Unrootable Red China". Don't know which one it actually is, but I like it.

No one has mentioned the miniature Chinas. Two that I have, and I love, are St. Thomas China and Mableton Rouletii. Both of these are four years old in my garden ... "St. Thomas China" is about 3 x 3 and "Mableton Rouletii" is 2 x 2. "Mableton Rouletii" is a variety discovered in Santa Rosa by the Vintage folks. I got 'Rouletii' from Heritage Rosarium at a garden club plant swap this fall. I will plant it next to the Mableton one to see how they differ. These miniature Chinas are quite BS resistant and they are a great choice for the gardener who wants China roses, but doesnt' have the space for some of the big ones.

Connie

Connie, I've never seen Cl. Rouletii. I see Vintage offers it, but not at present. I'll have to nudge Gregg about when they might offer it, because we need some not-white climbers.
Do you propagate it?

Jeri

Connie,

HMF needs a picture of Cl Rouletii. I would certainly like to see one of your climber this spring.

Veronica

Carolyn Parker's photos in her book "R is for Rose" caused me to fall in love with Cl. Rouletii in the first place. The link below is to a page on Carolyn's blog, Rose Notes, where she features her unbelievably gorgeous photos of Cl. Rouletii. Warning: You will need a bib to view this page, because I practically guarantee that you will drool on yourself.

(I already have cuttings of this rose in the greenhouse ... evil grin.)

Connie

Here is a link that might be useful: Cl. Rouletii on Rose Notes

Climbing "Cramoisi Sup." I love its scent that reminds me of cherry incense.
R. chinensis, the primogeniture rose of this class is an artless beauty.

Single Pink China" is a great single rose.

Love, merry holidays, Lux.

'Mutabilis'. But that's because it's a colorful one that is seen in this area. Hot climate types are not a major presence here.

My favorite is White pearl in a red dragon's mouth. It's difficult to pick just one. They withstand our blistering summers (and my poor soil) and keep on blooming. I really enjoy growing these: Spice, Ducher, Mutabils, Comtesse du Cayla, Vincent Godsiff, Ruth's red china, Miss Lowe's variety, Louis Phillipe, Old Gay Hill, Arethusa and climbing cramoisi sp.

"Does Martha Gonzales count? Mine blooms so much that the neighbors think she's a Knockout (sigh!)."

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.... Gosh, I laughed so hard I 'bout threw my neck out. THAT was a good one ;-)

Louis Philippe.