How about teasing Georgia along the fence? I love climbers and have my TG between LoS and WOH.

I wonder if you might like 'Ghislaine de Féligonde'? It should be hardy for you, and is a nicely variable rose in some of the colors you like...

Virginia

Lisa...be still my heart! That is a breathtaking rose. I'm so excited because I have two little bands of Gruss that are waiting to be planted.

Cassandra...I'm new to rose gardening so I can't off much advice on cultivars. I can say if you want something quite different, check out Souvenir de St Anne's. I bought a plant from Antique Rose Emporium this spring. The blooms are absolutely exquisite and so is the fragrance. It's a very elegant, almost-single rose. The blooms look like the are made of porcelain.

For a climber, I am loving Colette. It's in its second year and is blooming more consistently. I have it in part shade, climbing up a small maple tree. The apricot blooms are old fashioned looking and have a great fragrance. It's a mannerly climber...easy to train.

I love your garden. It's very charming! Does the black fence belong to you? Can you grow a climber on it?

Roselady, you will love Gruss! Each bloom is just slightly different, but all matching so nicely, a bouquet of Gruss is perfect all by itself. Mine blooms one flush after the other, too. I find myself wishing I had purchased Colette for my arch, instead of Lady Ashe. Time will tell, but Diane's(nanadoll) Colette has me envious. I did plant my one gallon Lady Ashe very late(for So CA), so if she doesn't survive the summer, oh well:) She's already struggling a bit. I've rigged up some ugly afternoon shade for her made of cardboard and my weed barrel, so we shall see. Anyway, Colette is beautiful and I wouldn't mind having on myself. It was between Colette, Lady Ashe, and Polka. I grew impatient and Lady Ashe was the only one available, and on sale at that. Cassandra, you may want to check out all three of them. Lisa

Thank you all!

Virginia-Ghislain is one of those roses that has bounced around in my head for years. The name just sticks. It does look lovely. Disease? I have ALL the pests but all in moderation. Right now mildew and Japanese beetles have arrived now that the sawflies seem more or less done. Most of my roses pretty healthy except WOH and I will always keep it for the shape and color of the blooms and the quick repeat.

Roselady and Lisa- 'Colette' looks interesting. Is it a newer Star rose? I've been disappointed in my pink Eden which tends to ball during the first flush as we have been having very cool, wet springs the last few years. And bright pink! It was an impulse buy and I was hoping the color would be warmer. We'll see, I haven't shoveled it yet. I suppose there's no reason that 'Colette' should share any of these traits though just because it's from the same nursery. My Golden Celebration was a dud but Graham Thomas is lovely and blooms and blooms.

Lisa-'Gruss' is so pretty. I usually shy away from "compact" and "mannerly" because I'm kind of a "more is more" kind of person. Really hoping 'Kiftsgate' takes off and swallows up the two story brick wall I have waiting for it.

I have lots of sun so part shade isn't really a requirement. My front door is part shade and I thought two 'Lady of Shallot' would look perfect with the yellow and gold Itoh peonies that are out front but one side is shadier than the other and truly, there is a beech just coming into its own which will soon shade the sunnier side so I should really move them both. They bloom with 4-5 hrs of sun but the shadier LOS has more problems with blackspot and is getting a little leggy.

When the title said "Gateway Roses" I thought this was going to be a thread about roses that enable, sort of a "gateway drug" sort of experience, lol.

Anne that's exactly what I meant by the title but I typed that first, left the computer to do 1,000 other things and when I came back I wrote a different post. Was thinking I needed some nice OGRs that would be good gateway drugs since I already have Austins. I have 11 or 12 DAs and I know what to expect from them (good things in my area) but I'm nervous about branching out into the unknown.

It is almost impossible to give recommendations for roses that will do well in your area unless we know what that area is. The best we can do is give names of roses that do well for us. Then it is small, very slippery slope from there to little more than a bunch of pretty, meaningless pictures.

mad_gallica Yes, I have my zone in my name (6b) though I understand that there are lots of differences across the same zone. I'm in Western PA within a mile of the Ohio River. We have had cold (56 degrees overnight a couple of days ago!) and very wet springs and early summers which get hot and humid for a while in August. Specifically, I'm on a ridge and the soil is orange clay that has been compacted under heavy landscape fabric for 20 years. I ripped out all the fabric and have amended with two truckloads of compost so far and will continue to do so yearly. I'm also planning to top dress with mulched oak leaves this fall which worked well to improve the soil in my previous garden.

Fwiw, as I'm just getting started myself, I ordered a dozen different bands and the ones I'm most excited about so far are Deuil de Dr. Reynaud, Maggie, and Blush Noisette. I'm hopeful about my Robert Leopold but it hasn't given me a bloom yet.

The descriptions that lured me to DDDR and Blush Noisette sound like they would fit your "more is more" liking (off my little Blush Noisette band, this last flush I nipped off 3 dozen buds and still left myself with 8 to bloom). I don't know how Pink Gruss compares to regular, but it's my only band that has dropped all its leaves at present.

-Don

Cassandra, your garden setting is gorgeous, including the hardscape. I love the fence and the arbor, and I'm envious of all that compost you used in your flower beds. That's the way to do it. I grow Colette and really adore this rose, but her big show is in spring, with sporadic blooming all season. She's very cold hardy and less fond of our dry heat in this desert. For me, she was fast out of starting gate, and began to bloom her first season. I've done little "training" and minimal pruning--I'm lazy when it comes to climbers. We don't have black spot in this dry climate, so I can't comment on that. I hope you continue to post photos of your garden. It's going to be wonderful. Diane

Colette