Beautiful blooms. I admire you for your wish to have an artistic garden of roses, just as I admire Daisy, Pam, Ingrid....and many others on the forums with their botanical vision, but I'm just a plonker. I see them; I like them; I buy them; I plonk them in the ground and hope they like it here. I also tend to stick with roses that do well here without a lot of fuss: Teas, China's and Noisettes, although I do have a few not in those categories. I just like looking at and smelling beautiful, healthy roses, be they single, double, or so smothered in petals you can't count them all. Good luck with your choice of pinks.

Noseometer,

Beautiful images. Thank you for the report. I have wondered how Radio Times would fare in the hot and dry. Last year RAdio Times and Harlow Carr were both on my list. I purchased H.C., which has performed well, but I think Radio Times is going back on my list.

Lynn

floridarosez9: it's funny after all these years that I just realized that although I admire the limited palette designs in photographs, in real life I find them a bit boring, unless in an industrial setting like a plaza. Go Plonkers!

Desertgarden: Radio Times is like an Austin version of the HT Tiffany. Similar color, strong fragrance, but old rose form. So far, my biggest "complaint" about Radio Times is that it would rather bloom than grow. No disease so far in my dry climate, and so far not very thorny. No heat or wind damage at all, despite being planted against a south facing wall in desert heat. Try it, and tell me if you like it.

Lucky you, no BS or rust! David Austins have all been given the heave-ho because of BS. I have Mme Isaac P, and she has done surprisingly well for me. Very few flowers the first year, but bloomed from late winter to mid-summer this year, and then a few spot blooms ever since. She is very gangly though. I've stuck a salvia (Megan's Magic), next to her, to try to disguise this. Hmmm. But then she's planted below my windows, so I mainly look down on her. Love the scent.

I'll be interested to know what you decide on, and whether you do broaden your palette, and to see pics in the future.

Trish.

I can't help; I never could make hard choices with roses, but instead went out and bought a larger property. So this is just to say, thanks for the pictures and the report! N.b. I don't see why design and variety can't co-exist, or does "design" carry with it an implication of simplification and streamlining? Or is it a question of the dimensions of your garden?

I see you give your zone; there being considerable climate variability even in one zone, it would be helpful if you also listed your location.

Why not keep all of them? I would simply separate the lilac pinks from the apricot pinks.

Daisy

Trish: No rust or black spot, but we certainly have mildew! Also, the trade-off for not having humidity is that we don't have much water in general. Boo. And we have intense high altitude sunlight to fry your petals and leaves off. I hope you like your Madame Isaac. I love that gangly look, but I know it's not for everyone. I think I may end up having a collection of pinks/whites as my compromise on a limited palette (ah, but what to do with 'Falstaff'?). I'll try to update in time.

Melissa: It's not that you can't design a complex plant palette garden. The reason for a simple plant palette is that my house is rather "modern" and a busy garden style doesn't really go with the house or interior. Also, when I got my master's in Landscape Architecture, "limited plant palette" was drilled into my head over and over. The third reason for a limited palette is that it would make maintenance easier, given my hectic schedule. All are things that could be argued against, though. P.S. the "ABQ" following my name is shorthand for "Albuquerque, NM" land of variability.

Daisy: I'll probably will keep all of them after all. I'm discovering that with roses, with a larger variety, there is more often something to look at to distract me from the things that aren't looking so good. Also, there is such a variety of fragrances. Roses are such variable things, and one's strength may be another's weakness. In a garden of variety, one can compensate for the other. I.e. I like Alnwick's fragrance the best although it isn't classic rose, the repeat isn't great, and I like the flower color, flower form, and bush form the least. I'm hoping that Bishop's Castle will have better flower color and form, and better bush form than Alnwick, better repeat, even if I don't like the fragrance as much.

You might want to try Lady Alexandra of Kent. A constant bloomer in heat and just huge and beautiful! Pretty Jessica also performs in heat and has an upright growth. Beautiful cupped blooms.

So far, in my heat, Alnwick rose has not performed well. Flowers are tiny and fry. She is a baby so I am giving her some room to grow and see if that will help to improve things. I will keep some others you mention in mind if I decide to remove some of the new roses that are not performing well this year.

mustbnuts: once the temperatures got into the upper 90's-100's, my Alnwick rose flowers only lasted a day or two before frying, although growth is strong. Bishop's Castle has kept on, although flowers are bleaching out after a couple of days, then crispy edges. New growth begins before the flowers fade. I also discovered it has a wafting quality to the scent, even though it is not strong close up. Radio Times has stopped blooming or growing. Madame Isaac Pereire has decided it is her time to shine and has opened a number of flowers and put out some vigorous growth.

I plan to try Princess Alexandra of Kent next year as you suggest. I've heard such good things about her!

Nose, here is a picture of P of K to tempt you further for next year

Here is Pretty Jessica

Noseometer,

I definitely can relate to the consistency you want to create between your modern home, and the design elements stressed there, to be continued in the outdoor areas. Recently, I saw a olive green colored modern home with a dark trim, that had a landscape consisting of light colored grasses, medium pink roses, and dark burgundy shrubs. I do not remember the tree choices, but the landscape was definitely simple, dramatic, very visually interesting, and appealing.

mustbnuts,

Your Pretty Jessica and PAoK are gorgeous!! My P.J. is growing soooo very slowly in its little pot. I am going to plant it during the Fall. Hopefully then it will take off.

Lynn

Noseometer,
Your weather is very similar to ours. In fact, I follow ABQ's temps on weather.com along with Boise's, and you'd be surprised at how often the temps match or nearly match. It's very dry here, too; semi-arid desert. I love my PAOK, but heatwise, she's not quite up there with some, but still very good. My winners, which I just posted on a Rose Forum thread are Ascot, Love Song, PAOK, Brother Cadfael, Easy Does It, and of course, the best, Julia Child. Eglantyne is awful in the heat, but until heat arrives in force, it's a delectible pink, as is Dainty Bess. Good luck with new choices for your heat. Diane

Brother Cadfael, scent is one of the bestPAOKEglantyne, not so good in the heat, but what a delicious pink and scentDainty Bess--it's worth it to just have these delicate blooms for a while.Augusta Luise, pretty good in the heat, but so unique.
Diane

Nana, my Brother Cadfael fries in the heat. Your's looks great. I have him in partial shade in the afternoon and he is doing better but not great. Plant is vigorous but the flowers fry. I just love the flower form and the scent is to die for. Plus he is so easy to grow on his own root. He is one of my favorites. I will never be without him.

But I don't think it would be a busy garden if you used all of them. I think of a busy garden as lots of strong colors all at once. (I have a busy garden).

I don't know how Mary Rose is in your zone, the bush has a nice shape to it and it's one of my best bloomers.

I have a busy garden in some areas and not so much in a border devoted to pink and white. Personally, wines and purples are among my favorites. Diane

Munstead Wood, rapidly becoming a favoriteAscot, a favorite

Twilight Zone

The Prince, glowering in his darkest mood.Purple Rain

Sorry for going off topic. Love the pinks, yellows, apricots, wines, purples, etc,etc.

Diane

Diane, I love my Munstead too! He is just wonderful. When people ask me about my yard and I show them the picture that has Munstead. They are amazed. All of your dark purples are just stunning! I love how the colors change on Mustead depending on the weather and the time of day. I took an evening walk and my flowers were just glowing. I had to get a picture.

Thanks, Mustbe. I agree the MW does go through many permutations of color. I like your long view of MW above. And the lovely blues that are in your border. There is just something about the purples and wines...mystery, uniqueness, and some surprise when people see that roses are not just pretty things. They are deep and bold, too. As to my Brother Cadfael...the heat is finally getting to him, but it's been a good run. It will be 108 degrees this Saturday, so I forgive any rose that wants to shut down. I do, too. Diane

A bit of Munstead, blue flax, and valerian
Diane

Oh, Diane, they are beautiful, but what about the fragrance?? I love the fragrance of some of the deep red and/or purple roses. Ebb Tide and Young Lycidas are two of my favorites! Munstead Wood also has a very nice fragrance.

I only hope that someday, my MW's look like yours! With our move, all of my roses have had not so great of a start this season.

mustbnuts, you have made your walkway/entry so pretty and inviting.

Lynn

Thanks, Lynn, I do love them. In addition to ET, YL and MW, The Prince has a lovely scent. Twilight Zone's is a light scent, and Ascot has little scent. Lavenders fare worse. The only mauve-lavender rose I grow that's scented is Angel Face. That's the big drawback of Love Song--here it doesn't have much scent and it looks like it should. Same with Ascot. Diane

Noseometer & nanadoll27 I recently found a Kordes Parfuma series "Dark Desire" rose that has been doing great in our mid-nineties heatwave, Atlanta zone 7B..despite having been rescued from Lowes distressed plant section for 1/2 off.. It is a deep purple-red, with strong damask scent and great disease resistance, and recently won the ADR award. I will try to figure out how to post a picture...Zephirine Drouhin is a purple-ish pink with very strong old rose fragrance, thornless, and shade tolerant so it doesn't fry......a climber that goes to 10 feet high and 6ft wide.....A Bourbon hybrid from the late 1800's... Melissa, I was in Northern Italy last summer visiting relatives for a family reunion....And lived in Santa Fe, near Albuquerque, for almost 7 years until I was too dessicated by desert....

Diane really love those colors!

Thanks, altorama. Ebb Tide thanks you, too. Diane

Love Song was hybridized by Carruth, and I think it's going to bloom like another Julia Child, plus have the same lovely growth habit. The blooms are large and continuous. Diane

Love song
Diane

Gorgeous Diane!