I am not sure what you mean by large blossoms. Many Austins only have 3" or so blooms. Austins are also not known for their disease resistance, although I don't have too much trouble with disease in my no spray garden. Temperatures here may occasionally get down to -15 or -20�F.
Roses that did not survive in my garden include Golden Celebration and William Shakespeare 2000. I don't winter protect.
Sharia Asma is pretty tough although the blooms are 3" or so. Surprisingly, Evelyn has survived the winter here. It does have large fragrant blooms. Abraham Darby dies to the ground but rebounds in the spring. CP Margareta, Gertrude Jekyll and Brother Cadfael survived their first winter. The Mayflower is supposed to be hardy, disease resistant and fragrant but I do not have it. Mary Rose and its sports are others to consider. Crocus Rose and LD Braithwaite are not very fragrant according to the catalog.

It was my understanding that some of the Austins have larger blossoms like Golden Celebration and Crocus, is that not accurate?

I winter protect (my HT, 2 Bucks, and Easy Elegance) made it through the winter with little winter kill so i was excited. I do spray but even last year it was a bear cause of our warm, wet weather.

From your list, I am going to list them in groups of cane hardiness and also note bounceback vigour and an approximation of disease resistance as it applies here. Vigour is an often overlooked quality when growing roses that aren't cane hardy in a cold climate. A rose that is not cane hardy, but that has outstanding vigour to regrow in spring can often do very well in cold climates. Roses that are neither cold hardy, lack vigour and are also infested with disease, rarely do well in cold zones.

Cane Hardier Austins

-Brother Cadfael- Average vigour- Good disease resistance
-Crocus Rose- Good Vigour- susceptible to early season mildew
-Falstaff - Excellent vigour- prone to BS
-LD Braithwaite- Average Vigour -good disease resistance
-Othello- Low to Average Vigour- prone to PM and BS.
- WS2000- Low vigour when newly planted. Vigour increases dramatically in year 3 and beyond. Almost immune to mildew and rust, somewhat prone to BS.

Average Cane Hardy Austins

-CP Margareta- Low Vigour until established, then average. Can be prone to late season BS.
-Darcey Bussell- good vigour- good disease resistance
-Gertrude Jekyll- outstanding vigour- prone to early seaosn PM and late season BS.
-Princess Alexandra of Kent- good disease resistance and vigour
--Jubilee Celebration- very good disease resistance- low vigour

Not at all Cane Hardy Austins

Abraham Darby- Excellent vigour- Terrible disease resistance to PM, BS and especially rust.
Golden Celebration- Good to excellent vigour- highly prone to BS.
-Lady Emma Hamilton- Good disease resistance- very low vigour
Your list left out a few candidates that I really think you should consider strongly for the purpose and criteria you mention. Wild Edric is the first candidate. Huge blooms, almost tip hardy in your zone, exceptional disease resistance, beautiful fragrance, outstanding vigour and repeat blooms well. Eglantyne and Mary Rose (including it's sports Redoute and Winchester Cathedral) would be my next two choices for you. Eglantyne would get the nod over Mary Rose, but mainly for flower form and fragrance. Otherwise, they are almost identical in terms of growth rates, hardiness, vigour and disease resistance since genetically they are part rugosa and from similiar parentage.

I'd also suggest the Mayflower, but the blooms are not huge on this variety. WS2000 is another favorite, but it has a lot of faults as a rose bush when young and is somewhat prone to BS.

The only one I have on your list is Golden Celebration. I'm surprised to see it on morden man's list of not cane hardy ones. Mine is almost always green to the tips in the spring. But he is correct that it grows vigorously and is black spot prone. It's generous blooms and heavy fragrance make up for that though.

Many thanks to "the modern man" for his comprehensive list, which helps me a lot in zone 5a.

Chicago Botanical Garden has a 5-year study on the hardiness and Disease resistant of many roses, including Austin. Some of the older Austin have oustanding hardiness and vigor, such as Pretty Jessica, Lucetta, the Countryman, Cymbaline, the Reeve. Modern Blush also got a 3 stars.

I have an older Austin, Wise Portia - and it is the best performer in my garden: non-stop blooming, zero blackspot. It ranks below-average in the Chicago's study - but I'm happy with its performance.

STrawberry, can you give us more info from that Chicago study? Hardiness and disease resistance of more Austins? Or anything else you think is interesting about it.

Appreciate that.

Kate

Yes, please! I tried like heck to get information last fall and this spring when I was up there, and no one was able to help. Their online information was seriously out of date.
--Laura

The roses you listed are ALL different from each other in shape of the bush, etc. Darcy is a dense shrub, Jubilee is a little floppy thing, Of all on your list, I would go with Abe darby and/or Golden Clebration. Are u mixing colors? They will be extra prone to BS if planted too close together. And they will all have winter dieback in zone 5, but bounce back with a vengeance.

I have yet to meet an Austin hybrid that did not completely (or nearly) defoliate from Blackspot. I have removed them all in favor of species, Gallicas and Hybrid Kordesiis. Good riddance.

LOL...and I LOVE them and they have been healthy growers in my yard for a decade. WHat a difference zone makes! I also love Kordes.

I'm not sure how tall or short you are looking for, but if floriferousness and some disease-resistance is what you are looking for, what about Molineux. It excels in those categories--will get some minor attacks of BS, but much better than many of the Austins you listed above.

Or Queen of Sweden--I don't think I've ever had to spray her.

You will need to check their hardiness zone--I'm in Zone 6--no problem with hardiness here.

Kate

The website for info. regarding the Chicago Botanical Study on old varieties is:

http://www.chicagobotanic.org/downloads/planteval_notes/no11_shrubroses.pdf

I have Wise Portia, rated only 2 stars by this study, but I'm very happy with its continous bloom, fragrance, and vase life in my zone 5a. There's a thread on Perdita being a continuous bloom champ, and Perdita also won a fragrance award.

Pretty Jessica is what I will surely buy, rated three stars both in hardiness and disease resistance.

The above website lists hardiness of Canadian varieties as well.

Yep---I'd seen that study, but it's dated 1997.

I was hoping that somewhere the CBG had information posted online regarding the trial gardens in the back plot. They're the ones that you have to hike the "North 40" to find.

I realize it's my own idiosyncracy, but I get irritated when a lot of time and effort is spent on evaluation of cultivars and the results aren't disclosed anywhere readily available for those of us that crave this information like some sort of rose-junkie. I guess I'll just have to continue being anally retentive on my own property.