Sure hybrid teas do great in warmer climates........if you like to spray fungicides. If not, don't expect it to have leaves most of the time due to black spot or powdery mildew.

Try teas and chinas. Old roses grown own root are the way to go.

I'm south of Houston and I grow hybrid teas. I spray every Monday, and fertilize every Friday. The roses do great.
Jim

I grow both here in south Texas, but I prefer the antiques because they are less work, i.e. no pruning, no blackspot, no fertilzing, no spraying, etc. I guess you can say I'm a lazy gardener.

You might want to contact the Harris County Master Gardeners for gardening information. They are trained to answer gardening questions.

You CAN grow hybrid teas here. But everyone needs to take a deep breath and realize that most hybrid teas in a hot climate will have to be replaced in a few years, one at a time. So what?? Rosebushes are usually cheaper than a bouquet from the florist, and they will give you lots more flowers. If you are lucky, some rosebushes will last for several years, making flowers for your house. If you follow a schedule like bossjim, you could have big healthy bushes.
To each their own, but I don't like the antique rosebushes~~they grow big and sprangly and the blooms shatter within hours. In other words, outdoors is the only place they decorate.
Finally, Mister Lincoln is a wonderful fragrant rosebush, and you will enjoy it for however long it lasts. Could be years. Longer than a lunch or a garment for the same price, for sure!

Check out Belinda's Dream, Mutabalis, and Martha Gonzales roses, they are all tough and require little maintenance.

soilman

Check out Lafter. It's a T, no BS! Tough as an antique, fragrant as a Bourbon.

I am growing my hybrids in Dallas, so I am judging these by the early summer and fall growth, which is closer to Houston humidity. Double Delight grows like crazy, puts out flowers even in August, but shines with higher humidity. Average to good resistance to fungus. Tropicana - love the color of 1960's coral lipstick, good performer. The David Austins grow great, such as Graham Thomas, but plan on a climber, no matter what the description says, with one exception so far - Shakespeare. Mr. Lincoln did well, as did John F Kennedy - almost looked like magnolias. I am partial to constant bloom, so can highly recommend Tuscan Sun Floribunda. I was interested to hear the comment by prairie about replacing roses every few years - I chopped down my DD last year, to restimulate, but it isn't performing the same, even with fretilizer and alfalfa tea. Was thinking of taking it out. Can anybody weigh in on why this is?

terry

My best, and only surviving hybrid is Queen Elizabeth, a pink grandflora. It takes the heat in Austin in full sun and I haven't been spraying it at all.
The rest all died regardless of how much I sprayed them. Hybrids are just too much trouble.

At least now I know it wasn't me! I planted a number of roses in 2002: some T's floribundas and antiques as well as Belinda's dream, several chinas including Mutablis and several climbers. LAst year I lost 7 roses. They were the T's and floribundas.

Oklahoma is a relative of Mr Lincoln, such a deep red that it's nearly black, just stunning, & it did well for me for about 8 years before shade & old age overtook it.

It's divinely fragrant, too.

It depends upon what your goal is.

If you want cutting roses, and do not care about how the plant itself looks ... go with hybrid teas. Somewhat of an exception to this would be the very early introduction hybrid teas which still retain much of the plant habit charm of the earlier roses.

If you want quality, graceful, garden plants that do not need to be sprayed with chemicals, are naturally bushy, and are well adapted to the Houston climate, go with antique china roses and the old "true" tea roses (not hybrid tea). These are the roses that actually want to grow in Texas.

By the way, I am not prejudiced against all modern roses. There are some extremely excellent shrub roses & polyanthas available that are well adapted to Texas climates.

Randy

Terry, I've never had a DD that grew well, bloomed well or looked like a rose bush, they all kicked, and before they kicked, they looked terrible.

My Belinda's Dream has grown huge and looks great all the time, and the scent of the flowers is absolutely the very best. A little BS and no PM.

Mutabilis hardly seems like a rose because it blooms all the time, no probs with BS or PM at all. I have to cut it back to keep it from overtaking it's neighbor roses. In it's 5th year, it's 4' wide and 4' tall.

Graham Thomas has a little BS, no PM and is one of the most beautiful yellow roses I have ever seen. The shrub is 6' tall and 3' wide and would look nice even w/o the blooms. But oh, what a charmer!

Queen Elizabeth is fabulous, but has some probs with BS. My roses are planted 5' apart so few of them have PM, but many have a little BS in late Summer. I just groom off the affected leaves and prune canes that look bad and forget about it.

Bayse's Blueberry is a wonderful bright pink single rose that makes great red hips in fall. Very little prob with BS at all. Blooms all the time and the shrub is full and lush, and bright green.

Temptress grows near a big old mesquite tree, but looks wonderful nearly all the time and makes the most beautiful, creamy-white blooms. It's a T and smells great.

I have a Blue Girl (a hyb Tea rose)that is in it's 5th year also and this is the first year it really took off. The blooms are truely blue, sweet-scented and huge. The plant is 5' tall and 3' wide.

Lastly I have a Penelope that used to be in the rose garden but it looked so unhappy, I yanked her out one day and plunked her in a hole way out in the middle of the yard. You should have seen that girl take off the next Spring. I didn't amend the soil or even water that rose. The following spring she was solid pink with blooms starting at the tip of each cane and covering it from stem to stern. Every year she has gotten bigger and is now about 8' across and 6' tall. Incredible rose, she just wanted her own space. She's located about 200 feet from my front door, but when she's in full bloom I can smell the scent when I walk out of the house.

I'm the very laziest rose gardener there is, and my roses mostly "root-hog-or-die." I don't like to use any kind of chemicals because of the lady bugs and the fireflies; I have a go-zillion of them and want to keep it that way. So if the rose looks bad all the time, it just has to go to a new home.

And Cynthia, thanks for the suggestion, I'm going to go take another look at Lafter, that's one I haven't tried. I have two empty spots in my rose garden this fall where I lost JFK and somebody else this summer. Weatherford Gardens is getting in a Fall shipment of roses right now. Cheryl

seamommy
I never looked for Lafter, but the fragrance grabbed me and I took her home. She's been in much less than perfect conditions near a curb where it gets really wet or really dry. She's covered with buds now. Not the prettiest flower but Oh that sweet fragrance! I'm fond of Bayse's Blueberry too.

I agree about Basye's Blueberry. What a great rose, nice fragrance too.

Randy

Thanks everyone. All my knock-outs, as well as my Belindas Dream are doing horrible!! Leaves are turning brown and falling off. They are not getting bushy at all. I realize Ike gave us a lot of water, and took many of the leaves with him when he left, but they weren't looking that great before the storm. I use organic products on them but does not seem to make a difference.

My HT's, now they are a different story. They looked horrible all summer-Disneyland, Plum Frost, and another which I don't know the name of. I started using the oganic products on them, and Plum Frost took off! New growth, buds, blooms. Disneyland has given me a few blooms, but had it's leaves stripped from Ike. The nameless plant is a yellow bloom, and fragrant. It also is getting new growth but yet no buds.

I am looking at the china roses, but can't seem to find a lot of info on them. Probably not looking in the correct places.

I have the plants planted with space in between them, sort of like a zig-zag pattern. Hoping they would get big and bushy. I really am not looking for cutting roses to put in the house, but do want a nice healthy, bushy plant. I don't like the really scented blooms-just a light smell is fine.

Now that I know what to look for, here are my questions: When do I plant roses? Do chinas come in containers or only bare root? (I don't want to try bare root yet.) Can I find chinas at nurseries or only at places like the ARE? (which I am planning a trip to see quite soon).

Thanks all!! Looking forward to reading your replies!!

A comment on Lafter--a beautiful color on the bloom but very, very wicked thorns. I suggest not planting it anywhere near a walkway or anywhere else you need to get to on a regular basis. It gets pretty big, too. There are some really nice antiques that have great fragrance and a nice shape to the bush. You should go to the ARE and take a look at their demonstration gardens. Be sure you pay attention to the mature sizes of the bushes. Most all of the hybrid teas I planted about 10 years ago are gone. I think there are two out there that are still hanging on, but they look terrible and will go this fall. HTs just don't look good for long.

Carla in Leander

lisa, your description sounds like what all my roses looked like last year - when Dallas had non-stop rain from April to July - we were considering renaming the city Seattle. :0 They all straightened out this year after we went back to the usual wet/dry weather pattern. I can echo the Belinda's Dream comments, I planted two right at the base of my front porch, framing the sidewalk this spring, and they are producing like crazy - no strong scent, but oh, the blooms! Of course, they do make a strange contrast to my scarecrow, pumpkin and autumn leaf decor....:) I have always had luck with DD, so may try anew plant - after 5 years, this one might be tired. Or it may be that with the garden all filled in, it is not hogging the nutrients and water anymore, and suffering accordingly. And I can vouch for Blue Girl, my neighbor has it and it is an amazing rose once it kicks in...

terry, wishing for more full sun garden space for roses.

You can plant "potted" roses any time, & often you can find Chinas, Noisettes, shrubs, etc, at local nurseries, especially organic nurseries.

& this is a great time of year to research rose societies & antique rose societies in your area;
most of them have rose sales in the autumn, & the plants you'll get will be healthy, own-root varieties.

Best luck, & have fun!