Juliet, my experience is that the closer the writer of the descriptions is to my area, the more accurate the descriptions are. I find that books or catalogues written elsewhere, which say "this rose or that rose is like this......." without any qualification such as "in this area", "in zones X thru Y", "in dry (or humid) climates"...etc. are most likely to be wrong for my garden.

For example, there is are the hilarious height estimates of roses that come from English writers, or writers in cold winter climates in the US. I find that in our zone 9 climate, those height estimates are frequently wrong by 50 to 200%! Thus I planted the Austin rose "Graham Thomas" in the middle of a flower bed, because the book said 3-4 feet (it did NOT say "in England", it just said 3-4 feet, period). Little did I know that in our climate it is a moderate climber - it sent up 12 ft long canes its first year, and we had to build it a climbing structure to live on.

So, now I do not trust any description of how any rose behaves unless the source is close to me - Vintage Gardens is an excellent source for me, because it is close by, and the owner is so knowledgeable. Also that is one of the great benefits of this forum - you can ask who grows such and such a rose near you, and you will get helpful answers.

Except for some catalogues which exagerate the wonderfulness of everything, I do not think the descriptions are "wrong" or "untrue" that you have noticed - I think mostly they are because roses are much more variable than is generally believed, and will behave differently depending on local conditions.

Another good example is many of the European old antique roses, which, it turns out, need X weeks of freezing weather in the winter to do well (like tulips!), and thus do not do well at all in my garden. I think I must have read several encyclopedic rose books which went on & on about all of the different types of roses, and never once was this mentioned. I only found out about it by asking questions on this forum.

In addition to seeking local advice, I run around my neighborhood to see which roses are doing really well without spraying or other complicated/obsessive care.

Jackie

Juliet, I agree with Jackie. I am usually intrigued by the catalog and then verify the information here on this forum. Even then, what is true of a location near here may not be entirely accurate when it comes to my own personal garden.

Disease resistance is something that seems to be more of a gamble than anything else. I've removed some roses from my garden when others near here claim they are star performers in their gardens. Some roses are a delight to me while other forum members wouldn't take one as a gift. I do try to stick with roses that are rated exceptionally disease resistant in the Southeast. If you notice, disease resistance here means Blackspot resistance and in other places, like California, it means powdery mildew resistant (or rust resistant). (I rarely get PM and never rust but suffer from BS).

Research all that you need to make you happy and then gamble on the plants that you think will fit your needs. A very wise gardener on this forum told me once that good gardeners move a plant at least 3 times before it finds its permanate home. Try stuff, move stuff, take stuff out. A garden changes over time and it should make you happy. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I also agree with Jackie-----That is good advice to check roses in your area

It is also a good idea to move a rose if it isn't doing well in your garden-----

I have several Zephirine Drouhin roses in my yard mostly from cuttings ---most have done very well but I have one bush that just doesn't seem to be doing well at all and it is in a good location----can't understand what can be wrong---it should be moved but I can't dig anymore (health reasons) so it will just have to get over it's little "pout"----LOL
there are many variables in rose growing ----but when the rose is happy it makes us happy--

Good luck---

Florence

Golden advice, all of this. I will add that, while catalogs can tell the reader about many specific characteristics and virtues of a given variety, they usually aren't very good at describing the overall effect of a plant. If you grow them as shrubs and not merely for the flowers they carry, roses are considerably more than the sum of their parts, but you won't hear much about this in catalogs, which also don't usually devote much attention to habit, foliage, hips, and other features that make up the totality of a rose. A rose can sound like not much, judging from its written description and from the photo of the flowers, yet the actual plant can be full of charm.
Melissa

Thank you Jacqueline, Jeff, Florence and Melissa! I enjoyed reading your responses. Thank you for all your wisdom, always. Dieu merci, pour les jardiniers!!!

Juliet

Reading catalogs can become an acquired skill--if you spend lots of time doing it. Here are some things I have discovered as a result of years of pouring our garden catalogs.

1. Most pictures are touched up in some way, usually to increase the color saturation.

2. Check to see how often the catalog claims its roses are disease-resistant. If they do it a lot, then they are definitely exaggerating. There aren't that many disease-resistant roses, after all. In that case, only believe them if they say the rose is exceptionally disease-resistant or maybe very, very disease-resistant.

3. Note the typical phrasing an individual catalog indulges in. Austin, for instance, avoids negative words like "disease" even when they want to say "disease-resistant." Instead, Austin refers to how "healthy" their plants are (well, some of them). It either doesn't mention the "health" (oh-oh-disease-magnet), or specificies that it is "healthy," "very healthy," "exceptionally healthy," etc. Those last couple categories should be reasonably safe (although, as mentioned above, it may still depend on your region).

4. Keep reminding yourself that "disease-resistant" does NOT mean "disease-immune." Even very disease-resistant roses can get some blackspot, for instance, from time to time, but hopefully not a serious case of it.

5. When catalog copy says there is a faint, but pleasant fragrance, that really means that 90% of rose gardeners will be able to smell NOTHING from the rose.

6. Some things, only experience will teach you how to read. I have found over time that my roses in my region do stick pretty close to the listed sizes in most catalogs, so I tend to trust those figures. Southerners, in particular, often find that their roses grow much larger than listed in catalogs.

7. "Continuous bloom" I always take with only a grain of salt. Usually exaggerated.

8. If you are a relative newbie, do not confuse "hardy" with "disease-resistant." One has nothing to do with the other.

Those are some catalog-reading tricks I've learned over time, but even then, I still go online and do more checking, on here, for instance, and at helpmefind.com.

One thing I like to check in addition is informal comments and pics from real gardeners who aren't trying to sell me anything. I google up the rose I'm interested in, but add the word "garden"--tends to bring up webpages posted by real gardeners who are discussing the actual roses in their own gardens. Those are some of the most helpful comments.

But it can still sometimes be a shot in the dark!

Hope that helps.

Kate

I liked Kate's guidelines. I agree with her. I generally look what they are not saying.

I sure wish I had all this wonderful information when I started growing roses many years ago--
\ back in the 50's.I would believe all the glowing descriptions and then end up very disappointed

We are all so lucky here on the Forum

Florence