Where are you located? There's a big difference between zone 8 in the humid southeast and zone 8 in the desert southwest when it comes to disease pressures you'll want to consider.

Congratulations on having a blank slate to work with! Could you share your location? Since how roses perform is very location specific (in addition to zone), you might get some good suggestions from those in a similar climate. In zone 8, you should have no problems with hardiness. Don't be intimidated by David Austin roses, or any others, it's all fun.

We are in the southeast in Georgia - hot and humid summers and light winters. We are excited to get started!

Welcome to the form and the world of roses. Where you live, you can grow roses on fortuniana root stock, which is what you want. Nelson's Roses out of central Fl has a couple of nurseries that they supply in S.E. GA. They carry several varieties that stay pretty clean and you can take the blooms inside to enjoy. Coolroses and K&M Roses (which I buy a lot from) are two more great nurseries you can order roses from. One big question. What colors do you REALLY like. Also, since you want to take blooms inside, get 2 or 3 bush's of the same variety so you can do nice big bouquets. If you don't mind spraying a fungicide every two weeks, that opens the door to a lot of easy growing roses that will last for days as cut flowers. If you can live with pink, Belinda's Dream is a must have. A clean slate and your pick of colr is a great way to get started.

The most important thing to do is prepare your soil. Putting a beautiful rose in poor soil is a recipe for failure. Roses need to eat and drink. Good Luck and much success.

Welcome, nice to have you Hannah

A whole empty space to plan, what fun .

So, I love David Austins and that style of rose too.I don't have a ton of them yet but I have a bunch ordered for next year.

The one I have right now that I love. It is called Olivia Rose Austin. It is such a pretty pink. It had produced so nicely for being g brand new. It hasnt had a bit of disease. I also live in zone 8, but we dont have much in the way of humidity so any rose I grow may be different in your area.

Please let us know what you decide on.

Hannah,

My advice to you is to look into the Kordes roses, specifically those that have received the ADR designation. They are the easiest roses to grow. You want to make it as easy on yourself growing easy to care for roses that give more pleasure than pain in their care.

Receiving an ADR designation means that the rose has been rigorously tested in trial gardens throughout different growing zones in Europe. It has been proven to have demonstrated outstanding performance regarding winter hardiness (not an important factor for you in zone 8, GA), and disease resistance without any spraying.

Black spot, the worst of the diseases imaginable, especially in a hot and humid climate like yours, can essentially be a non-issue to you, growing an ADR awarded rose....no heartbreak of devastating black spot outbreaks....essentially no-spray regarding BS.

The German rose breeder, Kordes, has a ton of ADR winners among their roses. Their breeding program emphasizes disease resistance and winter hardiness.

Another nice thing about Kordes roses is that they are heavily marketed in the USA through the big box retailers like Lowe's and Home Depot. Nice sized, blooming size rose bushes can readily be purchased locally, at a good price. Some of the less marketed Kordes ADR roses are available through many very fine online, mail order nurseries, but be prepared to pay more for smaller bushes than you will pay at the big box guys.

If you want fragrance along with great blooms consider these Kordes, ADR roses for your garden:

Zaide

Dark Desire

Summer Romance

Madame Anisette

Earth Angel

First Crush

Pink Enchantment

Cream Veranda

There are many more moderately, lightly, or no fragrance Kordes ADR roses out there, especially climbers, but the above, except for the last two, are extremely fragrant. The last two are moderately fragrant.

Enjoy your journey into roses! It is a love affair like no other, and you're not cheating on your spouse!

BTW, give consdieration to Milwaukee's Calatrava, a Bill Radler rose (the Knockout roses breeder). It is very un-Knockout like, being extremely fragrant, and somewhat English rose looking (nicely cupped with a nice boss center, but no quartering) with excellent vigor, and disease resistance.

Milwaukee's Calatrava has the much beloved Austin rose, Abraham Darby, in its pedigree. I think Abraham Darby is the source of MC's fragrance.

Another thing, if you can get roses grafted onto fortuniana rootstock, you will have bushes that grow unbelievably lushly and with abundant blooms. Sandy soil and mild winters favor such grafted bushes. If you have clay soil, fortuniana may not do as well. Look into this option.

Moses

While it's true that Austin roses are top notch beauties it is also true that many have lousy vase life. Also most Austins grow big!!! Shrub is an apt name for them. Another surprise for me was the color change in some, ie. apricot to pastel pink. Abraham Darby was definately not apricot-pink last spring. Pale whimpy looking color. He's now back to normal.

Saved notes:

==== Austins that forum member/s said last well when cut

Boscobel - salmon pink, Austin'12
Charles Darwin - yel. fading to cream, likes heat, Austin'97
(Darwin's colors may look dirty some zones)
Lichfield Angel - cream, Austin'06
Olivia Rose Austin - pastel pink, Austin intro. '14
Perdita - pastel apricot pink, Austin'83
Queen of Sweden - pastel pink, few thorns, upright growth, Austin'04
St. Cecilia - pastel pink, Austin'87
Thomas à Becket - dk. pink, Austin'13
Young Lycidas - dk. pink, takes heat, Austin'08

==== Non Austins with old look that last well

Augusta Luise - apricot pink blend, Evers'99
Caramel Antike - honey yel. to apricot, florist HT, Kordes'97
Chippendale - pink to apricot shades, Evers'05
Clair Renaissance - seashell pink, vy frag., Olesen'90
Classic Woman - pale pink, thrips love, lasts 10 days, Meilland'07
Dee-Lish - med. pink, Meilland'05
Gospel - dk. pink, Evers intro'12
Piano - red florib., Evers'07
Princesse Charlene de Monaco - peach pink, Richardier'11
Red Leonardo de Vinci - florib., Meilland'05
Smooth Buttercup - yellow florib, almost thornless, Davidson'03
Sweet Victoria - med. pink florib., Schmitz'12
Versigny - pink to orange, Massad'92

Empty garden space is confusing and exciting! especially if its your first "real" garden. you could just go crazy and buy whatever takes your fancy (the trial and error approach- can be expensive and time consuming, but you do learn lots, both about growing roses, what works in your garden, and, what you actually DO like and want, which is often a lot different to what you start off liking and wanting..hehe). Or try and be a bit more systematic - you say you like cut flowers for the house, so start with that..is it more important they smell nice, or that they last well in the vase; sometimes its difficult to have both. Do you want them to look nice in the garden too? quite a few roses that make excellent cut flowers are kinda unnattractive looking bushes (tall or awkward growing with a "bare" leafless look at the bottom, although the top half is busy growing and producing lovely blooms). And theres always how much room you have; some roses can be monsters!

Do you know the websiteHelp me find roses , ? ( HMF for short) theres loads of pictures and info and user comments in there- I have a rule that any discounted rose must be checked against my criteria first before coming home...HMF is invaluable for that.

Take a look at the Earth-Kind Roses, tested at Texas A&M University, and the American Garden Rose Selections for the Southeast (SE).

Also, search over in the Antique Rose forum.

Welcome Hanna! It sounds like you live in my neck of the woods! I am also kinda new with roses...just 3 or 4 years and loving it! I started with roses that I saw recommended on this site for our climate. I have the following roses that grow like gang busters and have been disease free! Also, my yard has a lot of shade and they are thriving.

Belinda's Dream (covered in blooms, fragrant and upright habit) , Louis Phillipe, Sharifa Asma (got as a very small band 2 years ago and just now taking off, fragrance to die for), Nahema (climber, but can be a shrub..the smell...wow), Perle d'or, Summer Romance (new this year and just kinda weird) Dark Desire, Carefree Beauty (great, beautiful rose!! Very shade tolerant) Souvenir de la maison (grows like a weed, healthy and super fragrant) Grandmothers Hat (fragrant, but hasn't done much...did get some black spot but hope the new locations will help that).. I have many more that are new this year and still potted, but come highly recommended. Also, no southern yard would be complete with out a Tea Olive! A tall upright, kinda plain looking green shrub that blooms several times a year..the most fragrant bloom ever...it wafts across the yard...people always ask what it is. The blooms are tiny and you really don't see them, but mercy at that smell...pure heaven....I have them staggered along the back of my house...I used them to line the side of our horse barn at our old house. You can also limb them up like mini trees. I did get the following roses based on this forum (Thanks guys!!) Blush Noisette, Natchitoches Noisette, Flamenco Rosita, Duchesse de Brabant, Caldwell Pink, Ducher, Setzer Noisette, Excellez VonShubert and a few others. They are still in pots until next year (or the year after) Also, I have learned (from experience and the members of this forum) that roses in the south will be double or triple what catalogs say!! lol

Irisgal, I am very impressed with your list! Great notes for future reference!! Thanks for sharing!

Hanna, where do you live? email me at donnarring@gmail.com

Yay! Best advice I can give you is to check out your local rose society. There you can see what roses do best in your area. Go to your local gardens and see what you love. Its so nice to see what they look like growing in your area as opposed to a beautiful photo of a David Austin rose growing in England.

I love DA roses, but they don't look anything like the catalogue for me. That doesn't stop me from growing them though.

I recommend their most disease resistant varieties: Olivia, Ancient Mariner, Teasing Georgia (although more plant than bloom), Evelyn, Scepter D'Isle, Spirit of Freedom, Windermere and Litchfield Angle have done the best for me so far.

Thanks GaGal. I'm reading this thread carefully to look for the cut 'lasters' (antique look) --- without air conditioning!!!! Aughh, we've been in the low 100s for 4 days.

I forgot to ask Kittymoonbeam if her 'Myriam' aka 'Amazing Grace' lasts in bouquets. Anybody know? What a beautiful petal packed pink.

SoFl Rose, I am also making note of your list! I will say, if she lives around me, she won't find any local gardens with roses that aren't knockouts! lol Heck, we don't even really have a nursery. Now, if she is further south, then much larger cities near to explore!! I don't think a rose society would be as knowledgeable as the folks on here! You guys are could write the book to end all books! I am grateful to you!

Kordes roses are fool proof: they love heat and humidity, no blackspot, gorgeous lush blooms with incredible fragrance! it's the whole package really. David Austins are beautiful and fragrant in spring but cease to bloom the rest of the hot summer for me, in north Georgia, zone 7. but I love them so much I still grow them anyway. They give another bloom out in the fall when the weather cools down. My favorite Kordes rose is Summer Romance. I love First Crush too.