Luxrosa, our conditions are likely just about like yours. Gruss an Teplitz, for instance, has GOT TO GO!!!

I don't know how old your Marie van Houtte is, but ours is 6 or 7 years old now, and it is bulletproof. We find that as the Teas and Chinas mature, their mildew-resistance increases.

Right out of the gate,
Mme. Lombard is wholly disease-free,
as is Mme. Berkeley.
I'd add the former Mme. de Tartas, now revealed to be General de Tartas.
Mlle. de Sombreuil,' (formerly sold as La Biche) is one of the cleanest roses I've ever seen.
Rozette Delizy has been here for 18-19 years, and has never mildewed or rusted.
Arcadia Louisiana Tea seems to be completely free of disease.
All of the Cochets are disease-proof for us -- though in cool weather, the blooms may fail to open.

FWIW, Mrs. Dudley Cross mildewed here. But that was in the days when we pruned, and that may well have made a difference.

Jeri

Im also in Northern California, probably a bit warmer in the Summer, I've had PM on roses here. I don't have those roses any longer because of the PM. The polyantha Sunshine has never had a speck of PM or BS ever, and I don't spray. The color is similar to Buff Beauty, starts out a little darker, it's a beautiful peach color. It has a nice rounded shape, but is not large bush.
Diana

I was about to start a thread asking the same exact thing, so I am hoping LOTS of people chime in. I want to hear about the best of the best, as I do not want to spray poisons anymore. I want to enjoy my garden, and know it is a healthy place for me to be.

Sandy

Luxrosa, I share your experience with Angel's Camp Tea. Gruss an Teplitz ...I don't know what happened to that rose...it was everyone's favorite climber in the UK in the early 1920's. What a mess. Ducher mildewed until it went in the ground. Phyllis Bide, however, has never shown much disease in Mildew Valley. Maybe a Tea, maybe a China, Comtesse du Cayla rocks.

All of the roses Jeri mentioned are clean here along with Mons. Tillier. Gartendirektor Otto Linne is pretty good. My Pink Kosters are fine. Raymond Privat as sold by Vintage or Baby Faurax as sold by Sequoia is excellent. Perle d'Or is excellent.

'Mme. Norbert Levavasseur' is a remarkably rugged plant and stays pretty much disease and pest free for me.

Let me also chime in for Lady Ann Kidwell -- a favorite of mine.
You could eat off her leaves.
2 plants of White Pet, here since Jan., have GREAT foliage (and are blooming their hearts out).
Lady Reading is disease-free here.
Tip-Top is clean as a whistle.
And up at the top of my list, along with Lady Ann Kidwell, is 'Leonie Lamesch.'

Jeri

Jeri and all, Why do you insist in naming more that I want?
I love Teas.

Carla

Carla, you know what the worst thing is?
I keep learning about MORE Teas.
Lovely "Found" things, tough as nails.
And I'm at the point where if anything comes in,
something else must go.
What to do?!

Jeri

Perle d'Or is my favorite poly. No disease at my sister's house in Burlingame, which is not far from the Bay. She does not get much in the way of fog there, but some overcast. Anyway, this is the BEST rose in her garden at present.

Jeri--I am always trying to squeeze just one more in. It is very tempting to pull out a rose that is not performing well, perhaps because it is still young and replace it. I do resist this temptation, however. It is VERY difficult.

It's a very BIG poly...but I must say the healthiest roses I grow are our Climbing Cecile Brunners. Never has even the slightest hint of any foliar problem, ever!

And it's not like Cecile Brunner has dark glossy leaves of the type one might expect would give natural protection.

Since its more-a-less a once bloomer, we live with a lot of foliage most of the year...but what beautiful foliage it is!

Bill

Jeri, it is always a delight to read your postings, thanks for the information. I'm glad to hear that Teas and Polys increase disease resistance after a few years, I'll keep "Georgetown Tea" and see if it improves, it's a little healthier than "Angels' Camp". A freind of mine in the same microclimate and got rid of her young "Alliance Franco-Russe" because of mildew, and I've seen a huge specimen of that Tea, it must be 8+ feet by 7+ feet, near my home, and though it gets moderate mildew it doesnt prevent it from producing several hundred blooms per flush. It's a really pretty yellow, with pink edges.
I've desired to grow Arcadia Lousiana Tea ever since I saw it blooming in Greg and Phillips garden, how big of a plant will it grow up to be?
Berndoodle, hope to see you at dirt day in October.
Luxrosa

Hi Luxrosa,

I live only a few miles from you---in the hills on the Berkeley-Oakland border--- so conditions are pretty similar.

Perle d'Or is the champion Poly in my yard. La Marne and, of course, The Fairy, also are healthy and do well. Cecile B. (spray) does a little too well and immediately outgrew its' space. Leonie Lamesch and Lady Anne Kidwell are too new in the ground to judge but I have high hopes for them.

My favorite clean Teas are Maman Cochet--she's growing into a HUGE plant but I like her that way--and the lovely Lady Hillingdon. Other Cochets, Niles and Mrs. WR Smith are very healthy. Also Mlle. de Sombrueil,and, so far, Etoile de Lyon. Madame Berkeley is not bad, just a touch of PM from time to time. B. de Snoy outgrew her early mildew vulnerablity, just a s Jeri described. (I'm salivating for the Arcadia Louisiana Tea.)

Here's the weird part---I've been enabled into many wonderful and very healthy roses by JeriJen and Berndoodle who are not only awesome rosarians but both live in microclimes that share many characteristics with my own. They both report Mons. Tiller and Rosette Delizy as absolutely clean machines but for me they were/are mildew nightmares. I couldn't believe my eyes and even resorted to 3 in 1. No discernible improvement. After nearly three years in the ground they looked like Christmas decorations. When I noticed a couple of nearby Austins (!) blooming grandly and putting them to shame I relegated them to the pot ghetto. I'm wondering if it's a case of different clones, wrong care or ???

Colleen

PS: Marie Pavie

I have 3 Mons. Tillier's and no PM. Could be you have a superstrain of PM that can't blow notherwest because of the prevailing coastal winds. :) Or your plants are somehow stressed and that's how they complain. Take a good look at the roots when you dig them out. No roots or small roots could be a sign something is wrong in the soil. I have a couple of spots in my garden where nothing will grow. I've killed three or four generations of perennials in those spots, from the desireable to the invasive. It has to be some kind of contamination or else alien invasion.

Or your plants are somehow stressed and that's how they complain. Take a good look at the roots when you dig them out.

*** I agree!
Something wrong there. We've grown both for more years than I can count. They are garden stalwarts.

Jeri

Oh, they're complaining. Loudly, in rose talk. I just can't give up, esp. on Mons Tillier. I thought I had him in a prime location but, come to think of it, maybe not.

Colleen