I grow over a hundred moss, centifolias, gallicas, damasks, and albas in the dry Fort Worth area. My soil is hard clay and large limestone rocks. Honestly, I do ammend my soil through used fluffy Starbucks coffee grounds. Good drainage is the key. I also grew the same roses when they were getting full sun with temperatures 110 degrees and 80% humidity in the country.

I need to post pictures of my old European roses as they are blooming.

Old Europeans are very hardy roses (ex. the moss Shailer's Provence).

autumnshowers - Do you have to spray the moss roses and are they good bloomers? I keep coming across pictures of moss roses that I like, but I just didn't know if they were suited to Texas weather. For someone getting their 1st one, is there any that you would recommend?

Laurie

I have many of the Old European Roses too...when I started with roses, I didn't know the different classes and what did well where..I just got the ones that I liked the looks of, and many were Gallicas, and Mosses, etc.
One of my first roses was the Moss Rose Salet and it has done so well for me, I got another one...I would recommend Salet as a first Moss
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Shailer's Provence is a very hardy moss rose. It started out as a found rose, but it was determined to be Shailer's Provence. This rose will have gorgeous blooms in the high noon heat. I will post some pictures tomorrow afternoon.

Others to have:

Louis Gimard
Capitain John Ingram
Deuil de Paul Fontaine
Mme de la Roche-Lambert
ALFRED DE DALMAS
GENERAL KLEBER
RENE d'ANJOU
WILLIAM LOBB

These have been with me through 3 moves: William Lobb, Alfred de Dalmas, General Kleber, Capitain John Ingram, and Louis Gimard.

Here are some of my once bloomers that have survived tough heat and neglect.

Cardinal de Richelieu
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enfant de france
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charles lebefvre
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You are encouraging me, too! I have Salet (from Melva!), and a Shailer's Provence (mine, too, started as a found rose!), and both are doing just fine for me in zone 8b.

I have wanted a Cardinal Richelieu for a long long time, but had thought it would not work here. I think someone told me it would need more winter chill than I get. (Sheesh! This winter past would have been the time to have had one, if that is true! All my hibiscus are dead!!!) I think I need to go ahead and get one and give it a try.

Allison

That's the spirit Allison!!! I knew you would be won over.
CdR is so easy to work with. In fact, Joe Cooper of Peaceful Habitations was potting up several the last time I visited him. Imagine, he was growing several once-bloomers near San Antonio!

Allison, CdR is said to be heavily influenced by China roses..I bet he would do well for you. I have a couple of found Gallicas that I got from ARE one was found in San Antonio, that is Canary Island, a very pretty purpelish rose...

Cardinal de Richelieu will easily grow there. I had a plant of it (thought I was buying Reine des Violettes instead), and it bloomed its head off every year when I lived in SE Texas (near Conroe). It's not a moss, but it's definitely beautiful.

If you can get the repeat-blooming mosses, they should do fine if you spray. I also grew William Lobb, and it was no problem either, even without spraying, but it's a once-bloomer. The "Damask" mosses will probably be fine, too. Centifolia mosses might be problematic.

--Ron

Ron, this is just Staggering Information, to me!
I had thought that (other than the Autumn Damask), that class would not work here. And what about the gallicas?

OK, I am off in search of these beauties! If I have learned anything in the past couple of years, it is that I am very impatient for my roses to mature, and the best way to satisfy my dream of a big beautiful garden is to spend every spare dime on whatever rose strikes my fancy as soon as possible!!! I am NOT a clothes-horse, or a purse or shoe or cosmetic addict like so many of the women I work with.... for me, it's definitely all about the roses and the garden, so...... I can't wait til my Vintage order comes in! And I have to see if ARE carries any of these roses!

Autumn Showers, Melva, where do you ladies get your mosses, damasks, and gallicas in Texas???

A lot of mine are from Vintage (where Philip says he prunes the Gallicas with hedge clippers) some of them are from Uncommon Roses and a few are from Ashdown and Salet, Canary Island, and Cramsoi des Alpes and Crimson Gallica, are from ARE oh, and I just got one from Rogue River...
I asked Ron about Gallicas and he told me that a lot of them would grow for me in zone 7/8 he told me just to ignore them in the summer and maybe they would think they were home...no problem ignoring them when it gets hot...they are all on their own in the summer!

Yes, once the really humid and hot days get here, the garden does get abandoned for a while! Can't help it, it is a survival mode for humans to avoid hyper (and hypo) thermia!

I usually get mine from Pickering, Uncommon Rose, and lately Hortico.

I have the Chestnut rose and it offers sporadic blooms all summer. No spray and no worries!