Hi James! I'm new here, too, having purchased last year. So I can't really speak to success yet. (And your Missouri growing conditions are probably very different than the San Joaquin valley of California, where I came to take a new job. Iceberg is very popular and reputed to be bulletproof. Mine, planted about two months ago, is already bushy and loaded with buds.

What roses are you going to try?

Cynthia

Cynthia, I have a variety of roses wanting to try at least a couple from each class that are at least marginally cold hardy (I think here in town we are probably zone 6a).

OGRs: Comte de Chambord, Apothecary's Rose, Amelia, La Reine, Peonia, Glendora, Zephirine Drouhin, Charles de Mills, Great Maidens Blush, Celestial, Marchesa Boccella

Shrub: Autumn Sunset, Lyda Rose, Knockout, Oso Easy Paprika, Oso Easy Peachy Cream, Julia Child, Grandma's Blessing

Polyantha: Mary Daily

Hybrid Musk: Daphne, Darlow's Enigma

Hybrid Tea: Chrysler Imperial, Lady Jane Grey

English/Austin: Jude The Obscure, Scepter'd Isle, WS 2000

Minis: Double Gold, Electric Lady, Hot Tamale, Norwich Sweetheart, Overnight Scentsation, Red Scentsation, Seattle Scentsation, Sweet Chariot

Climbers: Don Juan

A lot of those I bought because they were on sale and didn't do a lot of research before buying and I don't want to do any spraying for black spot so some of these will probably get culled if they defoliate too quickly.

Give The Zephirine a lot of room. It gets as big as a garden shed.

Sam, plan on Zephirine being on a pillar. How tall should it be?

James, I'm in a very different climate from you, so answering which roses do well for me might not help you much. BUT, there are any number of roses that seem to do very well in most regions.
China roses do great here with minimal care, but they are not very cold hardy. If you haven't yet heard of Griffith Buck, you will want to be. He was a hybridizer who specialized in breeding roses to withstand midwest winters and summers. I believe he was in Iowa. Anyway, do a Google search for Griffith Buck roses, and you'll find many sites to good information. A number of nurseries also feature Buck roses sections. Most of his roses are shrubs, but a few are hybrid teas. Some notable Buck varieties include:
Quietness
Hawkeye Belle
Distant Drums
Griff's Red
Paloma Blanca
Prairie Star
Silver Shadows
Serendipity

Here's just one web site to get started:
www.houstonrose.org/gbintrod.htm

James, could you enlighten us as to what some of those 30+ roses you mentioned are? I'm burning with curiousity. Might help us also have a clue as to style or form of roses you gravitate toward.

Mike

Hikerman, re: doing a lot of research. Funny thing is most of my best roses were done on impulse (although I wouldn't have bought them if the tag didn't say winter hardy and and disease resistant). I've learned over the years to really only count people's experience close to my zone.

The ones that give me the most pleasure without much fuss are:
Heritage - impulse
Traviata - impulse
Louis XiV - reasearched
Knock out - reasearched
James Galway impulse
Abraham Darby - impulse
Oklahoma - reasearched
Fragrant Cloud - impulse
kardinal - reasearched
The squier - impulse
Ingrid Bergman - impulse

Like you, I am on the Zone 5/6 line. I have been growing Don Juan for about five years now, and although he comes back, he suffers badly from winter kill, and I don't think Don Juan will ever grow to full size in our area. It does however, rebloom well and smells wonderful.

I don't have Knock Out, but I see them everywhere and they do fabulously here with very little attention.

I don't have any of the Austins you mentioned, but the one I do have, Benjamin Britten, does extremely well for me, with little to no winter kill, so I'm planning on adding more Austins.

Good luck with your garden.

Hikerman, my zone is very different from yours (I live in Australia), but FWIW the roses that do great for me here are:

Hybrid Teas:
Ingrid Bergman (beaufifully formed red flowers, repeat all the time)
Gemini (lovely cream and coral shaded flowers, repeat beautifully)
Big Purple (as the name says, its huge and purple, repeating is good enough, just love the fragrance)
Joyfulness (apricot and pink, huge flowers which repeat beautifully)
Sultry (my favorite, almost continuously repeating with immense flowers of a lovely mango yellow shaded pink in the summer)
Good Samaritan (fuchsia pink, huge flowers)

I have about 55 HTs but unfortunately these are the only ones that are completely disease resistant for me.

Floribundas:

Tuscan Sun (never stops blooming)
Alfred Sisley (Delbard rose that is striped and blooms constantly)
Friesia (yellow, smells beautiful and repeats quickly)
Evelyn Fision (bright traffic light red, repeats well)
Iceberg
Burgundy Iceberg (this one has grown better than iceberg for me)

I have about 20 floribundas but the above are the most trouble free ones (Iceberg does get a bit of black spot)

Modern Shrubs:

Brothers Grimm Fairytale (orange with yellow, beautiful, and disease resistant)
Paul Bocuse (old fashioned flowers of apricot changing to pink, blooms well but blackspots a little)

Austins:

William Shakespeare 2000 (love this one, repeats well, and quite disease resistant)
Gertrude Jekyll (this did get mildew one year but recovered quickly. Gives one spectacular flush, with 2 smaller flushes, flowers are gorgeous and smell heavenly)

I have 5 Austins as yet, but the others haven't done as well yet

I have ordered some 35 more roses, mostly OGR's, Austins, floribundas and Delbards. We'll see how they go this year. Hope this helps. Have fun planning your garden!
Sanju

Thanks everyone for the responses.

Mike...I listed the roses I have in the 3rd post in the thread. I do want to try some Buck roses and I've heard a lot of good things about Quietness.

ksflowergirl...I am a little worried about Don Juan's hardyness. I'm hoping it's in a sheltered spot (south facing, close to the house). Crossing my fingers.

Sanju...glad to hear about WS 2000. That one is going right in front of the house!

dennisb 1...is Heritage fairly disease resistant for you?

Thanks all, James

Congratulations on propogating The Fairy!

I am partial to Austins because I love the old-fashioned form and especially the fragrance. I also love the OGRs but like the repeat bloom I get from the Austins.

Hybrid teas don't seem to do as well for me, they get a lot of winterkill (which some of the Austins do as well) but don't seem to be as vigorous in recovering.

Climbers in the northern zones are iffy, you really have to research which ones are cane hardy.