Most roses and David Austins, will do very well with 4 to 6 hours of sun.You can easily get good fragrance, disease resistance but the less thorns and a good cut flower will require more searching. This is the beauty of the rose forum, there will be someone out there that knows of a rose to suit you and will save you hours of looking.

Since DA is mentioned: Heritage does great in my yard. Doubt it gets 5 hours of sun a day. Generally 3 flushes a year.

I got it based on an online rec from now defunct nursery - The Roseraie at Bayfields - in Maine. It was the 1 rose in his catalog he called "special". I recollect his name was Lloyd Brace. Spoke to him once on the phone, in early May, years ago. He checked on the cultivar I wanted - came back and told me "no good; I looked in the cold store, and it's chopped salad" - or something similarly semi-nonsensical. Though I knew what he meant.

Its biggest surprise has been excellent BS resistance year-long. One of the cleanest roses in my garden.

Maybe someone else can comment on whether it is OGR style. I don't know. Form, color and fragrance are all sublime. Thorn-less or virtually so.

Nahema will do the job. Extremely fragrant, nearly thornless, lots of cut flowers that last well, old fashioned shape. Only thing is that this is a short climber, and it's a Delbard rose not David Austin.

Felicia will also do well with less sun than average. Smells wonderful but while not too thorny like some of the Austins, there are definitely some thorns.

Hybrid musks Ballerina, Cornelia, and Lavender Dream. Erfurt, an early Kordes shrub. Bourbon Mystic Beauty, which is related to SDLM. All these are wonderful garden roses and will still produce plenty of bloom even with limited sun. Alas, only Mystic Beauty will produce blooms for the house (Roses Unlimited introduced it I think).

Check out Orchid Romance--- thorny as the devil but a GREAT color and fragrance on a tall column of dark green leaves.

I can't grow Austins here in coastal Virginia 8A due to severe BS issues-- even in full sun much less shade. Tamora and Jude the Obscure are the only ones; by now there should be newer varieties which should be easier in the coastal South.

Looking forward to reading additional posts recommending roses for you!!

Hybrid Musks and Multiflora-based Polyanthas will do well with less sun, but where you are, 4-6 hours is probably enough for many others.

Oh, and I say "Multiflora-based Polyanthas" because there are some which are Wichurana-based, and may not like less-sunny conditions. And as far as fragrance, there are some Polyanthas that smell nice, though many are virtually unscented. You'll have to check around. Some noted for fragrance are 'Marie Pavie' and its sport 'Marie Daly', 'Mlle Cecile Brunner' and its sports, 'Perle d'Or', and 'Clotilde Soupert' and its offspring 'Pink Soupert'. Their scents are lighter but travel in the air -- so not like the heavy scents of other roses that knock you over up-close but are barely noticeable from far away. Generally, Hybrid Musk fragrance will be like that of fragrant Polyanthas -- light, but traveling in the air. It's a characteristic of their ancestor-in-common R. multiflora, from which they also inherit tolerance for less sun.

:-)

~Christopher

Marie Pavie is not really a cut flower material.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Nahema sounds particularly appealing and I think it check into it first.