I got the new one Love Song this spring and I'm loving it! Soft lavender shade with big full blooms and great repeat. It's had at least one open bloom, and sometimes many, all season so far. I haven't seen any PM or BS on it either. Can't say how it will winter yet though.

Haven't found any lavender roses that don't defoliate horribly, so you better be willing to spray. Stainless Steel, Blue Girl, Lagerfeld and a whole bunch of minis I ended up getting rid of. Nice blooms, but horrible plants. Same with the tans/browns. Coffee Country is a blend of lavender and tan - beautiful flower again but defoliates. Irish Creme may have been the best - it only defoliated about 80%. Lots of minis as well that I ended up getting rid of - Iced Tea being the most recent.

In the apricot range you can do MUCH better. In fact, I'm ending up with mostly those, just because they do so well.

Prairie Sunrise is healthy and beautiful. Crepuscule is even more beautiful but much more tender. Lady Hillingdon tends to get BS but not as bad as any of the lavenders. Buff Beauty is another beautiful one. For a more orange look, Louise Clemens from Heirloom Roses is gorgeous, but it does get BS. Loses about 50% or more of its leaves. I'm keeping it because it's hidden in a lot of other plants.

BTW, that was Prairie Sunrise. Here's Louise.

I am enjoying the mostly non fading deep purple blooms of Twilight Zone, the offspring of Ebb Tide ( I have three ETs, and they fade terribly in the sun). For a very blue lavender in the vein of Sterling Silver, you might try the Kordes rose, Blue Bayou. And there is Blueberry Hill, a mauve which has fewer petals. In the apricot and orange ranges, I am most exited about Augusta Luise (not Louise), with its huge frilly blooms. They shift from oranges all the way to pale apricot colors. The delicate looking blooms are surprisingly tough. Of course, I love Austin's Evelyn and Tamora, both light apricots. The Romantica, Abbay de Cluny, has striking large blooms that are colored much like Just Joey's. Here is a pic of a Twilight Zone bloom. Diane

Here's a pic of Blue Bayou. Diane

And here is Augusta Luise. Diane

Blue Bayou looks, well...bluetiful. My first year Charles de Gaulle has impressed me with it's color. I also have World War II Memorial, which I love, among others. I love Just Joey, too. I've always wanted to try my hand at breeding a rose. Blue Bayou X Charles de Gaulle = something good I would think.

There is a fairly new Lavender rose introduced by Kordes that is called 'Poseidon'. It is also referred to as 'Novalis'. It was introduced originally as part of the Fairy Tale series.

The pictures on HMF simply do not do it justice. I would post some, but they changed how pics are uploaded on this site and it no longer works for me.

I can tell you that Poseidon is remarkably beautiful and blooms very profusely even as a young rose. It is also an upright grower and the best part is that it is also very disease resistant which is an absolute rarity in this colour.

http://www.kordes-rosen.com/gartenrose-novalis

In an Apricot hue, I'd recommend Caramella Fairy Tale, Floral Fairy Tale and Apricot Vigorosa.

In Orange tones, Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale, Summer Sun, Tatton and Garden Delight are a few very good ones here.

On the more purple end of the spectrum, Munstead Wood, William Shakespeare 2000, Outta the Blue and the miniature rose Roxy, which is an improved version of Sweet Chariot in terms of disease resistance.

Here is a link that might be useful: Poseidon

Thanks everyone for your responses. I believe you have some wonderful suggestions and I really appreciate all of them and the beautiful pictures. Don't believe I will have a shortage of choices, narrowing it down will be my problem. Seil, I apologize. When I was listing what I already have in those colors I forgot to mention Love Song. So far it has been a good rose for me too, I love it. Your camera captures its color much better than mine.

I spray, so I don't have any fungus problems with any of my roses. I'll throw a couple of HT's in the mix. Sunstruck is a favorite of many of my neighbors. Snuffy looks good for a young bush. I grow Royal Amethyst mostly for the spring and fall blooms. During the summer it looks more like Angle Face (one of it's parents). I also like Stainless Steel. For me it's a good growing bush with a lot of blooms.

Lavenders normally struggle in my hot, humid climate, but Royal Amethyst has done amazingly well for me. Ken is right, though, Royal Amethyst does look like Angel Face in the hotter months, but is a much better performer in my climateâ¦my most heat tolerant lavender and smells great. Love Song is new for me this year, but so far, so goodâ¦havenâÂÂt been able to detect a fragrance yet, and with the weird weather we are having this year, who knows how it will do under normal conditions here, but I love the look of its big, old fashioned blooms. Outta the Blue is my best performing purple, but Wild Blue Yonder is a favorite, too. Over the Moon (always covered in HUGE blooms) and Just Joey are apricots that do well for me. Bronze Star is new for me this year, but IâÂÂm really loving itâ¦orangey apricot and very fragrant. Voodoo, Chris Evert and Colorific are good orange blends here.

Outta the Blue:

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Wild Blue Yonder:

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Over the Moon:

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Voodoo:

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Chris Evert:

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And here's Colorific:

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Wow, you guys are great! So many wonderful roses! Thanks so much

This is Julie Link, new this year for me. This is the nicest shade of apricot I've grown. The fragrance is strong and delicious. This photo was taken yesterday - we've had temps in the high 90s for days and yesterday we had bouts of torrential downpours. So high points for heat and rain tolerance!

Lady of Shalott is looking wonderful too, but I don't have photos yet.

Cinco de Mayo make a nice bridge between orange & purple, because it starts out orange and fades to mauve. This photo looks a bit pink on my screen, but it's an really orange-y pink, and newly opened blooms are a bright orange.

2 of my favorite apricots for health and the whole works are Colette and Paul Bocuse. That's here in my location, of course :) I don't grow Colette as a climber but as a shrub. They both have pink tones at some point in the bloom, which is what I was looking for.

Amaretto by Kordes is one of my favorite roses ever. It is an apricot-to-buff that also has nice fat orange hips in the fall (and summer unless you deadhead!). It gets huge here, so definitely a climber. Not fragrant.

New ones to me are Rita Levi Montalcini, who is lovely and very healthy so far, and Bill Warriner, who may need spraying in some seasons (so far) but who has the most lovely glowing apricot-pink blooms! I expected a more subdued rose, but he's like a glowing pastel color, if that makes sense. I'm pleasantly surprised with my mistake :) He's also definitely not yellow at all here, which I appreciate in an apricot, because in the heat and sun they can turn all yellow too often for my tastes.

Royal Sunset is a favorite apricot climber. Pretty orange in the right climates or sun exposure. He's a huge favorite, but he takes a long time to get substantial (here?). I love his fragrance!

A favorite bloom with great colors is Nancy Reagan! She's a bright orange fading pale pastel here. Unfortunately, I have her grafted with a very poor graft and her vigor is not good. I'd love to try her ownroot. I think she'd do well. A better grafted specimen might do great, too, but it makes it hard for me to tell about her real vigor. She's a beauty, so I'd try her again if this plant is a dud.

I don't grow lavender, but I have a lot of favorites that are pink-lavender. True lavenders don't usually like me much ;) I'm keeping the suggestions given here, too.

Well, I do grow a nitida called Bella Nitida. She's bulletproof and awesome and pretty lavender, but she's a once-bloomer. The fragrance is as good as fragrance gets, and she has great hips for the fall and winter.

You've all given some really good suggestions. I've looked up all the ones listed on HMF. Really appreciate everyone's efforts. There are some excellent choices here. Thanks so much!

I don't know if you like the Austin look, but I have three living together and they seem to work well. All have good fragrance, too. Jude The Obscure is a yellow that fades to peach, Lady Emma Hamilton is a tangerine/apricot with pink, and Jubilee Celebration is a unique pink with golden and apricot undertones depending on the stage of bloom, which lasts a long time. The only complaint I would have with JC is that the blooms are huge and nod, but they're lovely. Lady Emma is my favorite for overall growth habit and scent, but JTO is really, really growing on me.

I also have a Caribbean Breeze floribunda that is just now starting to bud. I ordered it from J&P a while back and it was nearly DEAD when I got it. It's really coming back to life and growing like a weed with zero disease so I'm really excited to see how it turns out, I read that it smells fantastic and I'm so happy with the plant itself that I would be thrilled if that's the case.

I need some good mauves, violets, etc. I am thinking of a bed with Francis Meilland, my WWII Memorial, maybe a Neptune or Poseidon, Yves Piaget, etc. It's something I haven't ventured into yet, I only have the classics and a bunch of loud colors.

I can't figure out how to post more than 1 photo at a time, so I won't harass you with post after post.

Beautiful photos in this thread.

Racin_rose, Some very beautiful roses you suggested. There are so many good choices from everyone. You all have exquisite taste. Thanks!

I love your suggestions! I had missed this whole thread.

I have a Mauve section of roses, Blue Girl and 2x Neptunes. The Neptunes are looking great but I am tempted by Poseidon. The gophers got my misfit bewitched so I have a good place for Poseidon for next season.

I wish my Ebb Tide looked like yours, mine is a nice hot pink. And it does something odd. It seems like it puts out a cover of growth and then stalls...just when I am getting annoyed with the stalling, there is a fresh set of shorter canes loaded in buds hiding under the cover. This is the 2nd or 3rd time I have seen it do that. Just planted last year. I have one more unknown to me purple that was not happy to be transplanted but is finally doing better. Hoping next year I will see what it is.

Thanks!

Kippy - I think I'll give Neptune another chance, used to have it. I think there are some great recommendations here and I am so grateful. There are a couple of Austins I've wondered about I don't think were mentioned here, Abraham Darby and Pat Austin. Does anyone have either of these?

Hi,

I do not have a photo, but Livin Easy Floribunda is a beauty.
It is worth a look at .
Lynn

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 11:00