Oh, I do like that rose climber, sara. Beautiful blooms!

I'm humbled that is gorgeous.

Oh, Sara, your Aloha is just stunning. I can see why your expectations were surpassed. Makes me wish I had room for more climbers (or any rose, for that matter).
As far as my roses that have exceeded my hopes, of course, I thought right off of Julia Child. I bought my two the first year Julia came on the market, and never thought she would become the world class rose she has become. Every year she surpasses those expectations I had. Princess Alexandra of Kent has definitely turned out better than I thought. It's always a gamble with Austins and this one is a winner: Continuous bloomer, large showy blooms, very winter hardy (for me), and mocks the sun, which we have plenty of. Easy Does It was a pleasant surprise this year. It suffered terrible cold damage in our November "surprise" blast of Arctic air. But now, though small, it's covered in blooms and looks adorable. Love Song also has done much better that I thought any lavender would. And last, but not least, all my Evelyn roses. They, too, suffered much cold damage in November, but came back so fast this spring, it was like they had no cane loss at all. And they have been blooming profusely ever since, something Evelyn doesn't always do after the big spring show. Diane

Just gorgeous, Sara!

My Love Song really out did itself with blooms this spring. I wasn't expecting that because it took a terrible hit from winter and had to be severely pruned back. But it's grown enormous and is loaded with blooms!

Of the new ones I got this spring I'm really pleased with Neil Diamond so far. He just put out 10 long stems with huge blooms! Unfortunately, my show is next weekend, lol!

What a healthy specimen! Thank you! Looks at least 4 inches if not more?

I don't have near anywhere the success everyone but it is something I hope I can approach the more I learn.

Nice looking rose bush Sara!

Had very low expectations to begin with, but what has exceeded my exceptions the most is this no-Id I got from Aldi for 1 euro last year.

It is a bloom machine, not a single dot of blackspot, a sweet fragrance and just so darn reliable. I really wish I knew what it was because I would buy several.

Thanks so much! Diane, those all sound so lovely, I think PAOK is such a pretty color, Easy Does is lovely too, and glad to know your Love Song is doing good, wish you could show pictures. Seil, your Neil Diamond sounds lovely, and of course you take gorgeous pictures of Love Song. Ninkasi, your white rose is lovely, hope you find out the variety. Msdorkgirl, I'm sure you're doing fine, I've made plenty of mistakes over the years and still do, just stay on this forum , you'll learn a lot.

Sara-Ann, your rose is stunning! Do you even have any bad roses at all? They always look perfect.

Ninkasi, whatever the name of your rose is, it is just beautiful. I love the high centers in the early stages and very open later on.

I have to say of my new roses, Julia Child, Fourth of July and Lightkonigin Lucia, since they have been blooming non-stop. I didn't expect much of Fourth and Lucia to be blooming non-stop considering they are first year climbers.

Of my established roses, I have to say Golden Celebration, L.D. Braithwaite, Teasing Georgia, Evelyn, Jude the Obscure, Mary Rose, Queen Elizabeth and Wild Blue Yonder because they are strong big plants teaming with blooms. I've found that the older these roses are the better the plant is. This is especially true of Austins in my climate. Older established plants produce bigger blooms and gets bigger. They never fail to impress in my cold zone.

You always have the best topics Sara! I would have to say that Pope John Paul II has surpassed my expectations. I knew it'd be a good one from peoples opinions but I did not expect endless long lasting gigantic blooms that are also fragrant, and this is his first year from bare-root!

Valencia has surpassed my expectations!! Blooms that last weeks and weeks!! This picture is from last year as my roses aren't blooming yet.

Carol

I'm impressed with all these roses--the unknown, the Pope, and that Valencia. That's one big pot, Carol, and one big hunk of gorgeous rose. I'd like to see a line up of some of your potted roses at their peak. Diane

Two roses really surpassed my expectation this year. Both have been blooming non-stop since they were in the ground and has continued into winter now:

Sonia Rykiel, so productive and loaded with fragrance.

Happy Child, smells even better when the weather cools down.

Those are lovely, summersrhythm. I'm also impressed with Carefree Wonder. Diane

Wow beautiful roses everyone!! I really love that SONIA RYKIEL. I think I lost mine several yrs ago. Trying to find her to dig up and move to one of the new beds, I'm not seeing her anywhere. Guess I'll have to order another from RU!

I have two of my new roses this yr that really stand out and are doing better than I could have expected. First one is:

SALITA climber

This rose is going to be climbing up and over on my bird-feeding pergola, along with 7 other climbers; two at each corner support, each in 20" pots. CHOCOLATE SUNDAE is on the other side of this support, and I expect the two combined to be quite spectacular once established. This photo cannot even do this rose justice. Unfortunately, the morning sunlight kinda messed up the lighting, but you can see it's quite beautiful. It's a nearly-fluorescent red-orange color and has that gorgeous form. The bloom with the lightest coloring, third from left, is almost 2 weeks old. We have had high-90 to 106 degree temps the last week. Not one bit of stress or fried edges on this rose. Not much of a scent that I could detect, but in the heat it might not show up too well anyway. I'm not sure how tall it will go, but so far it's at about 5+ft. I would highly recommend this rose if you need a good bright-colored climber. I got mine from Palatine Roses.

The second rose I'm really impressed with is:

WATERCOLORS HOME RUN

I absolutely love this new single. Got it from Breck's. I'm not a real big fan of the singles, but this one is a really good one. The colors are just beautiful. I'm going to be doing a hot pink and bright yellow bed, and this one along with the original WATERCOLORS will be part of it. I think this is going to be a really good rose. I imagine it might be kind of short and spready, as so far it's about 2ft tall and 2.5ft wide. Right now it's planted in a temporary raised bed (I ran out of pots when it arrived, along with a bunch of other roses) which is in a slightly shady area, so I'm hoping it will grow a good bit taller.

Thanks Diane! I'll see what I can do this summer. And yes, I love those big pots - got them from Costco.

Sure are a lot of gorgeous roses!!! I'm loving this thread!

Carol

It has to be Chrysler Imperial, which I just planted this year. It has just shot up and the flowers are bright red, fragrant, and just gorgeous. Water Colors Home Run reminds me of All the Rage, but All the Rage starts out more orange, but then turns pink. It has the yellow center.

Thanks Diane. I love your Julia Child photo so much, so I planted 8 of them this year. :-)

Sharifa Asma. It's new this year, bought it to bookend Wildeve, and my goodness, it's a blooming fool of a rose. Deep, healthy green leaves, BIG, ruffly, scented, old fashioned booms, and not a spot to be seen in my no spray garden. New canes coming already too. It's early days yet, but so far I'm very impressed.

Thanks for the the kind words and for telling your success stories. JJ, yes I do have bad roses, I tend to brag on the good ones. There are some roses I've seen on here that I would love to learn more about. Thanks again for sharing everyone!

Usually I don't expect or get great production from 1st year plants. But, Shelia's Perfume has gone crazy. Dozens of beautiful blooms on long stems that beg to be cut and brought inside. It is so hard to let them stay on the bush but I have to build the bush for next year. I'm impressed.

Ken, that sounds great! I love Sheila's Perfume. Would love to see a picture.

I had been thinking about this question when it hit me: I've been raving about this rose since I bought her this year. Grace de Monaco has the form, great healthy leaves, and long lasting blooms that has impressed me to no avail.

Beautiful, kublakan. Your Grace de Monaco looks hand painted.

Oooh!!! Your Grace reminds me of pink lemonade. So pretty!!! Love, love the color and form!!!

Carol

Kublakan, Your Grace de Monaco is out of this world gorgeous!

Dang Jasmine! You got me!!! You can't begin to imagine how painstakingly difficult it is to paint on a rose, lol. Thank you all for your kind words.

Grace, Sonia, and Sharifa--three great beauties in rose form. Grace not only looks hand painted, she looks like fine porcelain bisque. Diane