Look at some of the oldies for warm climates -- Chinas, Teas, Noisettes, Tea-Noisettes, some Polyanthas, a handful of Bourbons. There are three nurseries in Florida that focus on the oldies, but also have quite a few modern roses mixed in. Check them out and see if something they offer is something that interests you.

Rose Petals Nursery

Angel Gardens

A Reverence for Roses

:-)

~Christopher

Thanks so much!

I don't grow roses, but do a lot of gardening reading. If I recall, roses for florida should be grafted onto a certain stock.

You can also get hybrid teas or other roses grafted on Fortuniana root stock. The Fortuniana is good in parts of Florida that has nematode soil. Cool Roses, Nelsons, and some other mail order places offer Fortuniana grafted roses even some David Austin roses. You can call around at local nurseries sometimes you find them locally.

I am in NE FL and Noisettes and Teas do great here. There are some old roses like Maman Cochet, Marechal Niel, Mrs BR Cant, Mrs Florence Bowers Pink Tea that are exeptionally beautiful. We are lucky we can grow them here.

~Sjn

Hi Ruth, check out my blog for everything you need to know about roses in Florida.

www.southfloridarose.com some of the best roses in my garden include the Kordes Roses that are very resistant to disease (more-so even than knock outs). Bliss, Plum Perfect, Wedding Bells and Earth Angel all grow well here for me without fungicides. Some others to try are Easy Does It, Pat Austin, Dick Clark, Belinda's Dream, and an exceptional rose here is Sweet Drift, however all the drifts do well here. Pope John Paul II and Chrysler Imperial are good hybrid tea roses. Duchess De Brabant, Vincent Godsiff, and Louis Philippe are great Old Garden roses that do very well for me on their own roots. A good climber is Prosperity, a pretty white rose. Try roses grafted on Fortuniana root stock. You can purchase them at Nelson's Florida Roses and at K&M nursery.

Here’s a new post I just wrote about the best performing roses of 2017

https://southfloridarose.com/2018/02/12/south-florida-roses-2017-rose-awards/

I loved your blog (is that the right word?) about the best performing roses of 2017!!! Thanks for sharing!

Carol

Thanks rosecanadian :) glad you enjoyed it

It's easy to get caught up on the Knockout train with their seemingly perfect resistance to disease and such, but there truly is no "perfect" rose in all climates. If I were giving a rose as a gift to someone I cared about I would give one of the following tried and true winners:

1.) Belinda's Dream - It's a strong rose with a classic fully petaled pink bloom. I've surmised that some of its success can be attributed to its smaller leaves, but one can't discount its natural ability to survive our most brutal growing conditions.

2.) Louis Phillip/The Cracker Rose - Don't let the small blooms fool you. It is a huge grower that has some of the strongest scented little blooms you'll ever come across. This is a great craft rose as you can make all sorts of items with its petals.

3.) Elina - No rose, short of the two aforementioned roses, thrives past my neglect quite like Elina. She is a supper light yellow rose with a classic rose form and big blooms all year long. Given just a little TLC it turns into a huge full rose bush.

Those are my three recommendations. Plant them en mass and watch the neighbors stop and stare, lol.

Good Luck,

Adrian.

Thank you for taking the time to put together your list- with lovely photos, too!- and sharing it here. I confess that I don't always take the time to look at all the pictures when I know my growing conditions and experiences won't match the poster's. This time I did. Your roses are lovely! I hope that someone else in Florida will be encouraged to give some of them a try.

Also, adding plenty of compost will help thwart nematodes. And mulch, mulch, mulch!

I also recommend Belinda's Dream - LOVE her!! I am having nice results from Levensons-Bowers Rose and KeyWest Rock Rose. I have them, Aloha (pink) and Graham Thomas from Rose Petals Nursery.

I also have Jesse Hildreth and Solfatere from RPT. For some reason my Solfatere has shut down but I love it and hope it blooms again soon.

Oh and Clotilde Soupert (Cl)! I almost forgot this one. I planted it under the eves in our courtyard. The eves help it stay dry so the blooms open. I think that's why I haven't had any trouble with balling.

I bought Heart Song from Lowes and it doing very well even though it's in too much shade. First Crush and Summer Romance have been good for me. These are Kordes roses and are a pretty safe bet for us.

Suncoast, I"ve done the same with my Cl. CS and think this is the key to her happiness in humid, rainy climates. I would love to see a picture of yours in the courtyard. It sounds enchanting! Do your FC and SR bloom well for you?

My Summer Romance never bloomed, its been sitting there growing healthy leaves for about 3 years now with no blooms whatsoever. The only reason I havent moved it is because I dont think any other rose will do well in that spot and I'm hoping one day she'll begin blooming. : /

Adrian, have you tried Wedding Bells? I have three and they've done better than Belinda's Dream for me. Big Huge blooms too. She even resists Chili Thrips! No other HT has done as well as her for me.

That whole idea of planting under the eves is excellent. I do that with many roses and I think it makes the difference between thriving and surviving. The eves keep them dry but they soil still gets rain. Its a win win.

SoFL, Looks great on HMF! Is yours on Fortuniana? Where did you get it?

Right now, and I didn't mention it before because I don't make recommendations based on roses that are younger than three years in my garden, Beverly is growing like a crazed animal.

Yes, mine are all on fortuniana from K&M. I also have 2 Beverly's which do grow like crazy, but they tend to have small blooms. Mine have also lost their leaves (no spray here) more than once, though they bounced back nicely. Another thing, the chili thrips LOVE bev. They seem to leave Wedding Bells alone by comparison.

I have 3 First Crushes they are doing well. I love the soft pink blooms. Kordes do really well for me in general. I am gonna get Wedding Bells if I see it. It sounds great!

Sultry do you grow Marechal Niel? How is the disease resistance on it? Does it grow and bloom well for you?

I really want Marechal Niel!

FC does well for me and I have one SR that is going well , but in too much shade it and lack of water it was looking sad, so I pruned it hard, it's coming back in strong so I hope it continues to bloom. The other SRs we new and growing but not blooming. I might cut them back hard too because they aren't nearly as bushy as I want.

My CS is smalll but is growing well. I can post a picture of it later and will again when it blooms. It is next to our door and I am going to grow it up and over the doorway.

Thanks everyone for posting - I'm inspired! I think I'm going to do some reading and start me a rose garden!

Yes I do and I LOVE Marechal Niel. He is so good here. He is a well mannered climber. Leaves stay nice except this spring when the leaf cutter bees decided to cut from all his new leaves so now they all have semi circles out of the edges lol. I like leaf cutter bees so they can have a few leaves. Here is my MN

The blossoms do have that nodding quality but I love that in a climber..you can see up into the blooms.

Devoniensis CL is good too..kinda has a glow within the blooms. It is a more vigorous climber than MN but also comes in bush form which takes longer to get going than the climber.

Thanks Sultry. I’m on my way to look for it. It looks really gorgeous and I love yellow roses.

Sultry those are gorgeous!

Thank you. I think MN loves our climate. I have heard he can be picky but I think we have enough humidity and warmth here he can be happy. He is a nice soft yellow.

Here's what the naughty leaf cutter bees just did to all poor MN's brand new leaves.

I learned so much from this thread. Thank you my friends. Jasmin, I never knew what cause those leaves like that now finally I know... leave cutters bees.

SoFl, thank you for your blog. I find it very fascinating. I was looking at your old thread " lesser of 2 evils". Taught me more about BS.

Thank you all for recommendation for roses.

Jin

Anyone in FL , grow the Kordes climbers Florentina & Quicksilver ? reviews please !

I have 3 Quicksilvers. Two are own root from small bands last year. They aren't real big yet but the dark green foliage is clean. The blooms are lovely lavender and quartered. I ordered a larger bare root from Edmunds this year. I just potted it up today because I am greedy and want more blooms fast lol. It doesnt have much fragrance but with blooms like this, who cares?..

SoFL Rose

This is disappointing. But maybe she needs time to grow roots first ?

I got mine last week from k& M .very small stiff canes .will they be flexible when they grow ?

Same thing happened with Nahema for me .lt is a big bush but rarely blooms after 1 year in the ground .

Climbers tend to take their time before they start blooming well, so I'm inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. Mine did shoot out long canes that were rather flexible, it also shot out some very thick canes that weren't so flexible, but its definitely a true climber. I cut the one on fortuniana back to see if I could grow it as more of a large bush and hopefully encourage more blooms. I'll let you know how it goes. My Nahema is a somewhat stingy bloomer too, but I do get blooms out of her. She's just kind of in an awkward corner of the garden where she doesn't full sun. After having grow there for about 3 years she gives me a few blooms once in a while. Yesterday there was one beautiful bloom on her. Shes got the most intoxicating scent! I wouldn't give up on her just yet :)

SoFl - that is stunning!!! Wow!!!

Having seen a fully mature one at Peter Schneiders, I can say it could eventually be self supporting. It is HUGE with HUGE canes and VERY floriforous, so I'm just guessing yours are all too young. I got her from ARE last year and along with Peggy Martin are the only two that didn't bloom at all last summer. It seems they both need some time, but it's worth the wait! : ) Florentina Frenzy!!!

SoFL Rose, I wonder what's up with your Nahema. I'm growing one up from a gifted cutting and hope to put her on my future arbor. I was hoping she'd be the main bloomer. : ( Oh, I just re-read the above post and see you commented. Sorry for the repeat, but maybe others missed it.

SoFL Rose

My Nahema is also in a corner and gets only a few hours of morning sun .She is 7-8 ft tall . She bloomed in clusters last spring but only a bloom or two at a time since then . I trained her as horizontally as I could and trimmed her laterals a couple of weeks ago .She is my first climber . Hope she blooms better this spring .

I will plant Florentina soon and see how it behaves without any support .I read somewhere that if you keep cutting back the main canes on a climber , then it would not bloom profusely .

I loved Quicksilver pics so much that I ordered it own root from Chamblees since its not available on Fort . Now I am worried it will be too slow !

Wonderful blog SoFL, thank you for sharing!

Vaporvac - This is my CS. It's not very romantic looking yet. She (I guess she is a she) is a year old but in the ground about 6-ish months. I agonized over where to plant her. I got her as a tiny skinny band. She was healthy though. She is about three feet tall but would be taller if I pulled her tallest canes upright. She is in quite a bit of shade, you can tell by the little coleus in the corner of her bed.

I think she is finally starting to grow after setting down roots. Previously, she just sat there and occasionally bloomed, but barely grew. When she blooms, which I think she will soon, I'll post pictures and later when she gets big enough to grow up and over the door. The door is to the right.

I did a little review of some Austins with that do well for me in NE FL on SoFl rose's Austin Valentine's Day thread for someone who asked what Austins would perform best in FL.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/david-austin-roses-for-valentines-day-from-my-hubby-dsvw-vd~5133073?n=48

Sultry - my Solfatere gets leaf cutter bees too. I think of them as "decorating" the leaves. I think this rose in particular has the thickness/texture that they love to use. The rose is in a little shade and it's towards the back of the yard so it's probably a comfortable and safe plant for them to use. Leaf cutter bees are so very non aggressive that I just love them.

I went out and looked and I am finally getting some buds on Solfatere. I think it's blooms look very similar to MN but paler.

My MN is towards the back of the yard as well. Its gets a little bit of afternoon shade. The bees got the first new tender flush of leaves. I see their 'work' here and there on different roses. This is the first time I've seen it on just one large rose and on just about every leaf lol! They use the leaves for their nests. They must be making lots of babies right now lol. Yay more pollinators!

Ha the leaf cutter bees and their cut out 'signature' remind me of my parrot. I give him a little square piece of paper and he pierces it with his beak exactly two times ..one on each opposite side and throws it down. We call it his signature. The kids have fun watching him 'sign' his name :)

Thank you, SCF. Yours looks very good and reminds me I need to get something rigged up for my CS to grow on. She's sprawling at the moment, propped up by twigs! I would love it if mine grows huge. We'll see how she fairs when the weather stabilizes for spring.

I just barely got this little trellis up for her. She was sprawling g before too. I think being in the trellis really helped the canes fill out. CS is already out growing the trellis I have for her.

SoFl, where did you buy Florentina from ? I love that color. Omg she is beautiful.

Jin

I grew roses in Central and S.E. Fl. from the mid 1970's till I moved in 2008 to N.E. GA. I went through a LOT of roses during that time. 99% were on fortuniana root stock. I sprayed for fungus that entire time. To me a healthy rose is a happy rose. Anyway, some of the best all around roses I ever grew were; Europeana, Charisma, Hannah Gordon, Lady of the Dawn, Hot Cocoa, Souv. de la Malmaison, The Fl Cracker Rose, Don Jaun, Louise Estes, Mavrik, Elizabeth Taylor, Uncle Joe, Kentucky Derby, Moonstone, Just about all the Austin Roses and all the mini's I put in 7 1/2 gal nursery pots and sunk them in the ground. I know I'm leaving out some great older rose. Check with Nelson's Roses. They carry a great selection of roses that have done great in Fl over the years.

I got my fortuniana grafted one from k&m and my own root ones from Edmunds