Down there I would take advantage of my special circumstances and use tender roses not able to be grown in most other parts of the country.

Kronprincessin Viktoria, Capt Dyel de Graville and one I don't have the modern 1940's climber Inspiration which is almost always in bloom when I see it and makes a very nice curtain of blooms when espaliered

1) Golden Celebration for the way it can light up anywhere it is located and the scent is warm and rich. It does this in a subtle way because the flowers are a rich, but soft yellow, washed in gold.

2) Blush Noisette for the delicate coloring of pale pink and white. It softens any area it is placed in the garden. It is floriferous and it's clove scent is magnetic. This rose reminds me of gentle and refined southern gardens.

3) Sombreuil, because I love having creamy flowers scattered about the garden. It adds an elegance and I would want it climbing in several locations. The fact that it is self-cleaning would mean I wouldn't have to prune it way up high.

Now, I love all shades of purple in the garden, but since I only have three rose choices to go with, I would add violet and purple companion flowers to get that effect. :)

Juliet

Hmmmm. I would have to have Leontine Gervais. She's such an easy-to-deal-with rambler, that makes your heart flutter when she's flowering and is a beautiful backdrop when she isn't.

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The Chinas are my favorites, and my favorite of them is Mutabilis. I doubt I could have a garden without it.

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I would have a pergola or arch covered with one of my new favorite roses, Dancing Doll. Depending on what you read, it is either a sister seedling to or a descendant of Renae, hybridized by Ralph Moore. The habit is similar to Renae, though Dancing Doll is a bit more vigorous. The flowers, however, are completely different ... they're larger, pinker, and there are WAY more of them.

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Ingrid says that I can only have three roses in my imaginary garden, so I would fill in with seasonal flowers ... daffodils, peonies, iris, lilacs, camellias, and the like.

Connie

Jacotte, Chevy Chase, and Mystic Beauty. But I'd have twenty of each.

Jim

you must have gotten heat stroke Ingrid! No serious rose-gardener could limit him/herself to just 3 varieties of roses! Hard Pressed I would choose New Dawn, Burgundy Ice, and Compte The Chambord. (and try to hide and sneak in Madame Alfred Carriere, Louise Odier, and Souvenir D' Alphose Lavelle' - well and a few others like William shakespeare 2000, Heritage and Crocus Rose - so you didn't discover I was cheating) I hope I am allowed at least 20 plants of each. OK?

I would choose

Souvenir de St. Anne - its fragrance fills my whole garden and it blooms almost continuously for me

Buff Beauty - I love its color, the sweet blooms and the way the rose bush 'spreads' out to fill up a large area

Tamora - I have fallen in love with the 'pretty' blooms, and she repeats well for me, with an abundance of blossoms.

This was hard!

I refuse to even consider the task (although 'Mme. Antoine Mari' does float up to the top of my mind). Interesting is how different everyone's choices are.
Melissa

Cool, Hartwood! and lovely photos!

Ingrid I am temporarily lurking in my huntdown for bee-lovin' rugosas. Be sure to post photos of your lovely Mutablis and Lady Hillingdon for us at the Gallery!

My choices would be Cramoisi Superieur, Souvenir de la Malmaison, and Mrs. B.R. Cant.

Sammy

It's less important to me what I grow in my home garden, since I get to visit the roses in the cemetery.

If I were starting again with a home dream garden in California, though, I'd want a vigorous climber going up over gates, pergolas, and the house. I can't think of a better one than Mme Alfred Carriere for scent, vigor, and bloom. I'd also like that the blooms would gleam in the evening light. Archduke Charles would be another choice because its blooms are so changeable, its growth habit so neat, and its individual flowers can be heartbreakingly beautiful. I might opt for Grandmother's Hat for the third choice, for fragrance, bloom, and thoughts of Jeri and Clay.

My dream garden would be like the ones in England, where there is a shrubby, wilder border at the edge of it all. I could put an eglantine hedge there, and it wouldn't count, right??? The Mutabilis could go there, too...

I've dreamed of a rose garden at my mother's house, too, windbeaten and cold and Japanese-beetle-ridden as the growing conditions are. I'd pick big, showy, stinky once-bloomers. If I could have only three, I'd go for an alba, a moss and a rugosa. I'd go back over to Wooster and pick the very best of each - no time right now to ponder that task.

But, Ingrid, REALLY - only three roses?
Anita

I could be buried under Lady Hillingdon, MAC, Etoile d'Holland, Buff Beauty, or Oklahoma to name a few, but my soul is very needy and I must have a great deal of fragrant blooms to float above the heat. Surely, you realize that only three roses commits me to Purgatory forever.

How could you be so cruel?

This is very interesting because it is totally unlike "What's your favorite rose"? There is so much more to consider. One of them for me would have to take up alot of space. I would choose a rambler either Paul's Himalayan or Edmond Proust. Then as you said three varieties and not just three roses I would choose the other two to go together in a large bed. I think I would put Oklahoma in the rear and Julia Child in the front. Then I wouold have scent and rebloom and a purple and gold color scheme.

the Spray form of 'Mlle. Cecille Brunner' for zillions of darling blooms. Oh, it is hard to choose, 'Alister Stella Gray' keeps tugging at my heartstrings.
2. One of the Bourbon-Teas, 'Anna Olivier' or 'Mme. Antoine Marie' perhaps.
3. white 'Rose of York' my favorite Alba, because after it blooms it is still a fine foliage plant and has gorgeous hips in Autumn.
This rose has been on my mind since last week, more than usual, when I drew up a landscape plan for a neighbor for a medicinal herb-rose garden, with historic herbs and roses all planted in a square shaped bed.
White 'Rose of York' (1400's) is in the center,and given pride of place.
'Apothecary Rose' (1200's) grown as a short hedge.
Wild European violets are next, these also were used as a medicinal plant.
The outermost row is of Mother-of-Thyme,and Myrtle, instead of Box, which was commmonly used.
The 4 Myrtle (dwarf)which were sacred to the ancient Greeks, are to be on of the 4 corners. Myrtle has very fragrant leaves, which is why these are near the path, when ones ankles rub against them, the scent is released. Myrtle is to be clipped in a ball shape.
red brick edging, laid long-wise, and a gravel path around it all.
If it were my own garden, I'd put wild lavender in there someplace near the roses.
-On the wall in back, are honeysuckle entwining with R. arvensis, syn. Shakespeares Musk.
Simple, fragrant, and very low-maintenence.
Thanks for asking,
Luxrosa

Ingrid, you must be kidding! I can't even think how to keep myself down to three when I only have this balcony...

Laura

Ingrid, before my brain got chugging on this decision, I thought of LeVesuve and LeVesuve Climbing. Then reality hit, and I knew with only 3 choices I'd have to leave the climber behind. But I just realized that if I planted the climber very near to the bush, you'd just think the bush had sported and wouldn't know I'd brought in a 4th rose. And really it's not a 4th rose. It's still LeVesuve. So don't count the empty pots when I'm done with my planting. What you don't know won't hurt me.

Sherry

Really, dear people, some of you act as though I'm asking you to pull out your fingernails. Niels, I can see I can't trust you as far as I can throw you. My eye is on you, and I can see all the way to Denmark. Remember you can have as many rose plants as you want, but only three varieties. I think Mendocino Rose understands exactly what I'm trying to do. It's easy to pick your three favorite roses, but what I'm asking here is to bend your mind to the task of making a garden with the three roses that will best fit into your own personal dream garden, in terms of size, color, fragrance, blooms or anything else that's important to you. I first thought of picking only one rose but quickly realized I'd be lynched or, even worse, ignored. I thought this would be a way to make us all think about what part roses play in the design of our gardens, and which roses can best fulfill the varying jobs we want them to do. Sherry, good try, but I'm onto you. Even for you I cannot make an exception. Connie, Dancing Doll is to die for. Even better than Renae, hmm...

Ingrid

Uh-oh, moderns would be my first choices. Sorry. :(

'Firefighter' for cutting, 'Julia Child' for a wall of color in the landscape, and 'Evelyn' to be the Garden Diva.

Hmmm, three varieties only?! That is really not easy, but I will try:

I would start with Zepherine Drouhin grown as a climber trained on a free standing climbing structure, growing at a wall, trained up a tree or grown as a large (maybe pegged) shrub in the background. I would choose this rose mainly for its unsurpassed fragrance and also to make a real impact as a background for the other two roses.

As the second variety I would plant Rose de Rescht in front of ZD to the right or left side. Again this rose is chosen, because of the fragrance and the small pompom like flowers in a cerise color that I think will go well with the more bold pink color of ZD. RdR will form a well rounded bush, which I believe will look nice in front of the much larger and more untamed ZD.

The third rose would be Souvenir de la Malmaison planted to the other side of RdR also in front of ZD (so the three rose would build a triangle together, preferable an a little bit asymmetrical triangle). SdlM is the third rose I would select also for the fragrance and for her gorgeous flowers. I assume that the soft pink color will go well with the color of ZD and RdR.

As you easily can see my choice of roses is mainly based on fragrance, but with an eye on that the color of the flowers and the size of the roses go well together. I also took in consideration that ZD will most likely give one awesome spring flush (she might produce a fall flush and some scattered flowers here and there over the summer), but the other two roses will keep flowering almost all rose season long. This combination could be repeated many times in a garden were only three rose varieties were allowed, also by planting different numbers of the individual varieties together to have some change in the overall look. By the way, it would be really interesting to see a garden in reality where only three varieties are used, no matter what the three roses are that someone has chosen, but I guess that is not going to happen...

In my own personal garden I actually most likely will realize the combination of the three roses that I have chosen above in one bed this fall. But of course there will be many other roses in that garden, too. Sorry Ingrid ;-)!

Christina

I think Rose de Rescht would be one. The other two would be Golden Wings and New Dawn.

Here is what came to mind before I realized we're talking old roses:
Cecile Brunner for the lovely impression it gives to the garden (yes, it's old)
The McCartney Rose for its fragrance and pure pinkness
Pope John Paul II for the sheer beauty, grace and fragrance

I'm very hopeful that SPICE will mature into the lovely tea it is promising to be.
SOUVENIR DE PIERRE NOTTING and MADAME BERKELEY are also on my hopeful list. From pictures I've seen, soft color is the impression I get. Design? Not me. I'm someone who wants to sample a little of everything. The garden is a bit of this and that.

sombreuil, golden celebration and limelight

karima

Those three poor roses would have to be absolutely reliable and reblooming in my climate so I'd pick 20 Louise Bugnet for inner hedges, 20 Rose de Rescht in various beds and 15 New Dawn wherever I'd need a climber. Besides, with only these three I'd have to adjust all colour schemes.

But I'd be very unhappy not to have any of my 36 gallicas or any other once-blooming favourite. So unbearably dull it would be without ramblers, no huge specimen shrubs, masses of floribundas, no thickets of spinosissimas...

Mrs. B.R. Cant, Gilbert Nabonnand, and Madame Antoine Mari. But then again, there's Mystic Beauty, Mutabilis.......

Sandy

Hmmm....

Darlow's Enigma for its large size, scent, its amazing ability to draw every bee in the neighboorhood and the neutral color would make a nice back drop for other colors.

Mons. Tillier for its color, health, and bloom abundance.

Golden Celebration for its color, bloom size and amazing scent.

~Melissa

Carefree beauty, SDLM, Fisherman's Friend (what the ___?). FF is the most beautiful and fragrant bloom in my garden. It is a thorny, lanky devil that attacks DH whenever he mows but I LOVE HIS BLOOMS! If I found another red -not Austin-as beautiful and fragrant without the thorns, FF would be replaced. He does far better in my garden than any other red Austin. I've tried Sophy, WS2000, Tradescant. I'm really off the Austins b/c teas, Chinas and noisettes are better here.

I would need only one :-) My most favorite rose at the moment is 'Musquee sans soucis'. Vigorous, healthy, free-flowering and a very dense rounded growth habit.

Rob

Here is a link that might be useful: Musquee sans soucis @ Helpmefind

Rob, that is one gorgeous rose, of the Musk family I presume. Nevertheless, only one? What about shorter roses for the foreground? Surely there are two more with fragrance and color that would embellish your garden?

Ingrid

Okay, Ingrid, I have decided to behave and settle down to making the choices. Once I told myself that this virtual garden has nothing to do with the realities of my balcony/pots situation, I thought it all over and came up with: Climbing Cecile Brunner all over everywhere; Mons. Tillier, because I have lost my heart to the one in the Sacramento Cemetery; and Betty, because I have it, and it touches my heart somehow...

I have disregarded how tough or non-tough they are, also how their colors might work (or not work) together. As usual, I have simply homed in on what I love. For companions, threaded around and in between the roses, I would have iris, heather, and ornamental grasses.

There! That wasn't so hard - the trick was to not think too much about ALL THE OTHER ROSES OUT THERE.

Laura

(Since I just had a computer glitch and lost everything I wrote, let's see how much of the dream I can remember.)

Ingrid, I was going to ask you "how big is this dream garden of mine?", but then I reread your post and saw that yours is your present garden, so I guess my dream garden has to fit in the space I have. When I gave you my choices, I didn't give you a plan, so here it is. Since my garden is in my small front yard, up close to and in front of my house, I can't very well have dozens of towering Tea rose bushes hiding the building. That would be silly and has been my dilemma from the beginning. So I need a "Special Small Garden in Two Parts" exemption to allow me to have a 4th rose. The dream garden plan would still be a circle in a circle, and in the center circle would be, of course, LeVesuve in all her big, bosomy pinkness. In place of the arbor at the top of the circle would be two Maman Cochets, the regal matriarchs of the garden. And in the rest of the outer circle planted en masse would be the 3rd rose in the front - Enchantress, a gorgeous magenta pink smaller Tea rose (supposed to be anyway). They would sweep up and around from the entrance at the curb to meet the Maman Cochets, bowing at their feet with arms raised in adoration.

In the back garden I would need a climber because of all the oak trees I have that would want to participate in the dream. And that climber would be LeVesuve. (Oh, did that sound like a 5th rose? Nah.) The rest of the garden would be a maze of hedges of Anna Olivier and Maman Cochet, all neatly and softly clipped with no hard edges. I'm not sure if they would be mixed or all one color on each side of the path. In my dream garden Tea roses don't mind some trimming for beauty's sake. Hopefully, DH won't be too nauseated by this pastel pink and yellow dream. And then I would want more Enchantresses close to the house so we could see out the windows, right? In my dream garden there would be no north side of the house, and the west side would be just as good as the east side since there would be no BS in my garden and the setting sun is just as gentle as the morning sun. And there would be clay in the soil that would retain moisture and nutrients so all the rose bushes would have lots of beautiful green leaves to go with the flowers. In my dream garden the oak trees would not shade the roses - just the people. And no dream garden would be a true dream if the choice of roses could not be changed with the season. Now, as to the next rotation of dream roses...

Sherry

I changed my mind. No hedges in the back. I want a dreamy ethereal garden like Jon of Wessex' in Ingrid's "The Joy of Rose Gardening" post with paths shrouded with hanging roses and blurred by UNclipped rose bushes and fences that don't limit the space.

Sherry

Laura and Sherry, you ladies are too funny. And I agree, Sherry, no one could ask for anything more beautiful than Jon's garden. Of course, then we'd also have to have lots of Jon's English rain too...

Ingrid

I'm not sure what 3 I'd recommend in order:
Traviata: red, pretty much grows anywhere (sun or shade), vigrous and blooms almost continually with only spring fert and spraying every 2 weeks (which is good for around here).

Heritage: pink, good all-around minimal care and thornless.

James Galway: pink, bs proof (this is a miracle for around here), thornless, vigrous with only spring fert. it's only down side is it doesn't repeat much.

SdlM, Maggie, Stanwell Perpetual.