My preferences have not changed. I began with Old Roses, and those are still my preference.
But over the past 20 years, I HAVE experimented with all sorts of roses.
We have grown the most modern HTs and Florries, Miniatures, and just about everything else.
We've grown the old Northern European roses -- so we now know that what we were told was correct:
They do not thrive here.
We still grow a little of everything -- but our focus closes in on the most disease-free of the Teas,
Chinas, and Noisettes.

Jeri

I started with what was available in local nurseries - hybrid teas, and often got discouraged as I lost them to winter weather. I've learned a lot more about the best way to plant and grow roses now (the Garden Web is a wonderful help) and rarely lose a rose now, even a hybrid tea. However, I now grow and love the Buck roses, Canadian Explorers, and, especially, the English roses. I'm up to 180 roses now - a mixture of everything from miniatures to old garden roses, to shrubs, climbers and hybrid teas, but those English roses melt my heart more than any others.

No, the bulk of my roses are Minis, Mini Floras and Floribundas. I experimented with a few Hybrid Teas, a Grandiflora and am in love with the one English Rose I have, but what came through the up to 112o heat this summer with blooms unfazed, were the minis for the most part. So, I'm going to stick with what works best here in the long hot summers.

As far as colors go, they pretty much remain the same but I have really grown to like blends now and have been adding more of them than solid colored roses.

Yes, I have more old roses than I used to although I did start with a few old roses.
I also find that I check disease resistance more, especially in case of climbers.
Fragrance was always important to me, but has become even more important in the last few years. As a consequence I still compromise in disease resistance by favoring HPs and Portland Damasks at the expense of teas and Chinas that I cannot detect the fragrance of.
In addition my color preference has changed: my favorites are the peach-apricot colored roses and I love very dark and fragrant reds.

I still donÂt like biohazard orange colored roses or very harsh yellows.

I began with hybrid teas but now grow mostly shrub roses. I still like hybrid teas but find them too winter tender for my abilities.

I strated with HTs and floribundas then gradually switched to OGRs and Austins. Now I more and more move towards oncebloomers. Spectacular show that they provide in spring attracts me more and more. All this transformations took some time. I grow roses from my teenager years (more then 25 years). It wouldn't be such fun if it would be the same all the time.
The only thing that didn't change is that I never liked and still don't like orange and bright neon yellow roses. All other colors are fine. Softer yellow color in roses is great.
Olga

It's not so much that my "preferences" have changed, but that my rose knowledge increased, which made me aware that there were many more choices out there then my local nursery carried (HTS and florries, of course). Yet somehow, --before I knew what hybrid musks and OGRs and Austins were--I managed to pick up some along the way. So there I was growing Buff Beauty and Madame Hardy and Gertrude Jekyll, etc., with no idea what they were, other than roses.

After I discovered the Austin catalogs and then this forum, I got focused and--let's say it--rose obsessed. Now my small yard has as many Austins as I can pack in there, plus a rugosa just for the fun of it and several hybrid musks, etc. But Buff Beauty is still out there--maybe 10 years old now--as is Eutin, a florrie and the first rose I ever grew (decades before).

So, yes, my garden has changed, but not really my preferences. I like what I liked decades ago and I like the other ones I learned about in later years.

One thing that has changed. Like ceterum, I'm much more picky about disease resistance now. I didn't know before I discovered this forum that one had a choice in the matter. Makes rose growing much more satisfying now.

(No oranges in my garden--ever. That hasn't changed.)

Kate

Sigh. Orange prejudice is so tiring. I hate Austins. Are we even? :0P

And, yes and no to the OP's question.

No, fragrant red hybrid teas were my favorites in the 60s and remain my favorites. Those other things in the yard are Deb's, especially the orange and lavender ones :)

digger

Like many, I started with HT's because they were the only roses readily available. The enablers here got me into Auatins, OGR's and shrubs. I haven't bought an HT for a few years, but I still think a perfect HT bloom is worth the trouble:

{{gwi:216811}}

My preference hasn't changed in over 30 yrs of growing roses. I like them ALL. So I grow a little bit of everything. My color preference HAS changed. When I first started I had to have dark, strong colors. Now I find myself growing mostly whites, pastels and easy blends. I still have a few dark colors to keep everything "lively".

I have not been growing very long. But my only exposure was HTs and Florries. Once I found this forum (I think I was looking for sources for lavender HTs) I came across the Austins and got all googly eyed. Then I found the OGRs too.

I am a one of everything person also, a variety girl. I will be expanding my collection with HTs, Florries, a few minis, Gallicas, other OGRs TBD and Austins.

I have loved purple since I was 4.

I'm with digger on this one as far as red smelly hybrid teas. My taste hasn't changed much in thirty years. Still love those the best. But I AM actually more interested in fragrance than before. My taste/interest has broadened. I've only grown minis for the past 7 years, but now they're about half of my roses. That has mostly to do with the practical consideration of limited space. But I have really learned to appreciate their "bang for the buck" --they generally bloom more and more rapidly than big roses (generally, that it. there's always variation) Down side of minis is the lack of fragrance in so many. Only a handful of them so far are significantly fragrant. I sense a market opportunity there. hmm...

Never knew a thing about old garden roses before about 8 years ago. Since then I've learned a lot and have familiarity, not expert, but at least respectible, with various OGR varieities. Still they don't compare for me with the performance potential of moderns (translation: my biased preference for big, flashy florist-style blooms on straight stems).

My secondary color interests vary from year to year, from whites, blushes, mauves, yellows, apricots, and orange blends. I like them all. But red is always #1 for me. Must be a "guy" thing?

Note: Please feel free to consider the preceding sentence a shameless gender-based stereotyping generalization. I still think it's "generally" true. : )

You're right, you know, Mike.
Big smelly red roses are most guys faves.
Fragrances aside, I wonder if it is rooted in part in differences between men and women, in
the way we PERCEIVE colors.

Anyhow, Tho I'm not a guy, I love big smelly red roses as much as anyone.
BUT Red/Fragrant often comes with a price:
Susceptibility to powdery mildew.
And so for the most part, we don't have red roses here. :-(

Jeri

I am not a fan of the hot orange either. At all. This came with my house. As well as Oranges & Lemons (that went) I didn't have the heart to remove Voodoo.

{{gwi:325981}}

It is actually a great rose. Smells wonderful and long lasting in a vase. I have a little bit of everything. I just like all roses. I have planted a lot of OGR's this summer too. I grew up with parents that loved roses. They had everything from Peace to CL Cecile Brunner. My mom was always taking cuttings of everything. I just love roses! :o)

My dad's favorite rose is Gypsy. Maybe it is true about guys and reds. Whenever he's at my house he runs to see my Mister Lincoln (and to smell it too). His 2nd fave I think is Brandy though.

Floribundas have been my favs from the beginning and still are. I love apricot and orange;all the gawdy colors (bi-colors and stripes). Light pink is my least favorite rose color (which is my husband's favorite, of course) and is the most common color out there. It really bores me. But, I do try to be balanced, although I have yet to try a purple for the same reason that I put off getting a yellow: disease issues. This year, I purchased several Austins and have really fallen for them. I do have a few hybrid teas although I'm not fond of their shrub form generally.

So glad to see that Voodoo, pacnwgrdngirl, looking so spectacular as I just got one at an end of the season closeout. Gorgeous and something to look forward to this next season.

Tastes evolve, but I think most people stay true to their original tendencies. So many roses, so little time. CJ