Kristine, she’s gorgeous! She’s one that I’ve definitely considered.

Boy this is hard !! I need to look for my best photos but my favorite shrub rose is bliss . It sets new buds before I have even gotten around to the old blooms. The color is just beautiful. It’s just lovely all around . Perfect climber would be Bathsheba. I can’t stop singing the praises of that rose. Mine have not stopped blooming and putting on growth all summer .

That is a tough one. I think mine changes from year to year depending on performance. Quietness has been a past favorite but lately has been a disappointment for me. Julia Child has been remarkably good for many years now. But a new one I got last year, Champagne Wishes has been giving her a run for the money.

@Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca are You talking about bliss Parfuma? i think she is beautiful but slow to rebloom, also almost no scent?

Bliss parfuma

I don’t have many roses, but I think bolero is one of my favs, mostly bc lit does not stop blooming!!! Second is The Lady Gardner, Amazin shape, fast rebloom and the color is the perfect soft pink! I can’t wait for bathsheba to arrive this spring! So many new roses to look forward to!

Lady gardener

I know I go on about her a lot but for me it's Queen Nefertiti. Really hardy, constant bloomer, gorgeous fragrance, and she's never boring. Depending on conditions the blooms can be cream, yellow, peach, pink, apricot, or a mixture. The foliage is great, and she's the first to start blooming and the last to finish.

Lady Gardener is on my short list too. I‘ve heard so many good reports on her. Yours is gorgeous, CeresMer!

Joey, I’ve read your praises of Queen Nefertiti before. She looks stunning and I’d love to add more of that color to my garden...her specifically because I know she’s done so well for you. I can’t seem to find her anywhere though! Where did you get her from?

Laura she came from Split Mountain Farms in Jensen Utah as a gallon size, and they get all their roses from High Country Roses. So if HCR is out of stock you might try calling Split Mountain and seeing if they have any in stock (they don't do ordering through their website I believe), they are great folks there and very helpful.

Kristine - such a lovely ORA!!

Seil - gorgeous....I especially love your JC!!! You grow it to perfection!!!

Ceres - ooooh!!! Your LG is ethereal!!! Oh my!!!

Joey - I can see why you chose QN!! So beautiful!!!

For me, it would be either Chartreuse de Parme or Chandos Beauty. I think I'd choose Chandos Beauty. I could smell this rose all day!!!

My most perfect rose is new this year, and it is Desdemona. I’m a bit obsessed with this rose. Since she is new, time will tell if she has any bad habits. Every rose has its quirks, just like people. But so far, ‘Desdemona’ has been happy to grow (I’ve had many roses that don’t want to grow), happy to bloom (some roses grow but don’t bloom). The flowers tolerate heat and don’t show much damage to thrips (both are particularly hard on white roses). I love the shape of the flowers, which are cupped to loosely globular. Petals are like shells found on the beach. The flowers even look good from the side and back. The flowers are held on the bush in a graceful way. The flowers keep their shape, color, and petal count in the heat, when most roses do not. The bush itself is not stiff but well branched without awkward growths, well foliated, not overly thorny. Leaves are attractively shaped, and not shiny plastic-like as some modern roses have. To top it off, the flowers are incredibly, lusciously fragrant. One morning I sniffed two flowers: the newly opened one smelled of passionfruit, the older one smelled like cedar and old rose. Even the fragrance stays in the dry heat of summer. It’s not perfect, but it’s as perfect a rose for me as any I’ve grown. What keeps it from being absolutely perfect? I do wish the flowers had a few more petals in a quartered formation.

Other people have posted photos that are much more impressive than mine. But I didn’t just choose Desdemona based on her good looks, as beautiful as she is.

Why didn’t other lovely roses make the cut?

Alnwick Castle: Spring flush has stunning globular blooms, consistent raspberry fragrance, vigorous grower, burgundy/purple winter leaves, BUT flowers turn coral and open up in the heat, long pauses between flushes, flowers are very short lived. But this was my former “closest-to-perfect” rose.

Evelyn: beautiful flower and beautiful scent, BUT rangy growth and scent is inconsistent.

Bishop’s Castle: Eager to grow, impressive flushes, vigorous, consistently fragrant BUT flower form isn’t outstanding, fall flush comes on octopus canes.

Marie Pavie: tough rose, blooms through the heat, wafting fragrance BUT tends to get chlorotic in the heat, flowers are pretty but not my idea of “perfect”. By the end of the season, the bush is decidedly ragged looking.

Sonia Rykiel: Gorgeous flowers of cupped formation, and sometimes a very lovely fragrance BUT awkward growth, not well foliated, inconsistent fragrance, very susceptible both vegetative and floral to thrips, major diva.

Bolero: Lovely flowers, a most delicious fragrance, BUT extremely susceptible to thrips damage, messy flower form (which although charming in its own right, loses points for “perfection”), loses size, form and petal count in the heat, flowers fry in the heat here, plant is smaller than I’d like and lacks grace.

Eden: breathtakingly beautiful flowers (to me) BUT essentially a once bloomer, extremely susceptible to thrips damage and wind damage, insignificant fragrance.

Abraham Darby: flowers can be absolutely perfect, and the scent when it is on is possibly my favorite, BUT flowers are rarely “perfect” in my garden. They can be luridly orange and not always formed well. They are very susceptible to heat (flowers lose form, petal count and fry within hours). Flowers and growths are very susceptible to thrips, leaving damaged distorted growths and flowers. He has awkward growth in my garden. Scent is inconsistent. If Abe had consistent cupped flower form and color, and if he grew and bloomed like Desdemona, he would be perfect.

Darcey Bussell fits all the criteria, but ... she doesn’t make my heart pound. Maybe I’m just jaded ... I mean, she blooms from March to December, is super healthy, grows to nearly 6 feet every year... is perfection boring?

This one makes my heart beat faster. Memorial Day, new this year. Fascinating color, wonderful scent.

Chicago Peace would be perfect if it didn’t take summers off. Check out the odd little yellow petals!I’ve had this one four years and never saw this phenomenon before.

My Love Songs don’t rival Diane’s, but it is lovely. Also new this year.

The fabulous Flamingo Dancer climber from Burling. Very healthy. Might be next year’s perfect rose?

That’s my short list.

Noseometer - I avidly read every word about Desdemona!! Sounds like a wonderful rose...and I sure wish I could smell the blooms!!! Your last 2 pictures of it were amazing!! Holy cow!!!! Your Abraham Darby pictures are glorious!!! I can't believe your bush looks THAT fabulous!! Loved reading your evaluations!!

Sylvia - Lots of lovelies!!! I think my favorite is your Chicago Peace!! And, yes, that happens with some of the petals...it adds a charmingness to the flowers. :)

Sylvia, is that exquisite spray of blooms Flamingo Dancer? It's perfection, but I didn't know FD blooms were so light in color. For some reason, I thought they were all bright. But yours are so lovely and different.

Nose, I agree with Carol about your Abe. What a beauty, and he has such a nice round growth habit loaded with blooms. I will show these pics to my Twig Darby. He's getting bigger but has never bloomed like your Abe. He tends to have weak stems that allow the blooms to droop. He's a pain. Diane

Wonderful topic!

I'm not too sure on "perfection" or at least "ideal" in my area yet as I only have six years or fewer with many of my roses. A couple (like Therese Bugnet) I've just shy of two decades of experience.

My picks for ideal garden roses in my zone/climate so far would be:

Quietness (good vigour, hardy, fragrant, and disease resistant, combination of modern and old fashioned form; wow!)

Lafter (great Pernetiana colours on a more favorable plant, pleasant if not strong scent, pollinators like it, hardy, vigorous, and reasonably disease resistant)

Therese Bugnet (unbeatably winter hardy, great scent, excellent vigour, very disease resistant (sometimes a touch of autumn mildew but nothing this year), occasionally reblooming, I've never gotten hips, easy to propagate from cuttings or suckers, gets to be a portly lass and I find careful pruning helps keep it upright)

*BTW, that image of Therese Bugnet from HMF is actually mine (you may check).

Steven

MyGreenThumb, I'm glad you posted that last pic of your Therese Bugnet. I've never forgotten that pic, but couldn't remember who it belongs to. Mine are much too big for where they are, so I have to prune them. I've read she prefers to be left unpruned so I am particularly happy to read that you prune yours with good results. Mine are also about 20 yr. old and produce hips, but no suckers.

Diane, the pink spray is indeed Flamingo Dancer. In cooler weather the blooms are somewhat darker and the striping is more visible. I still can’t believe she’s over the wall in her second year.

Diane - yeah, I got rid of Abe years and years ago...couldn't stand the floppiness.

MGThumb - Oh, I remember that picture!!! That rose is glorious!!! You grow that rose to perfection!! I mean, come on!!!! :) :)

I wonder why my Abe isn't floppy? He sends out big thick canes, and although the flowers hang a bit at times, they are not floppy. I'm thinking of getting rid of Abe though. I really don't like that orange phase, and he's not really a consistent bloomer.

I'm loving seeing different people's idea of "perfect." We all have individual preferences.

Peter (Noseometer): I LOVE ORANGE colors !! Nearby rose park (alkaline clay) had Abraham Darby (grafted-on-Dr.Huey) and blooms are beige (almost white) but canes are thick. Is your Abe own-root or grafted-on-Dr.Huey?

I'm searching for ways to make my own-root canes THICKER .. I don't like droopy necks on blooms. Thanks for any info. on best type of soil for THICK CANES. Was your sandy soil tested high in phosphorus and calcium? It's documented by U. of Hawaii than sandy soil has more available phosphorus, but I'm not sure about potassium and calcium.

I suspect a fluffy medium is best for thick cane & thick roots such as rooting in fluffy perlite gives thicker-roots than rooting in dense medium like 1/2 peatmoss and 1/2 sand.

Teresa, my Abes are all own-root. My plant that is in the ground (mostly sand) looks about the same in terms of cane strength as the ones in pots (Kellog’s mixed with MiracleGro), but the ones in the pots seem much happier to grow than the one in the ground. The one in the ground is heavily mulched with compost (made from horse manure, pine needles, grass clippings, rabbit manure, leaves). I can’t seem to get the one in the ground to grow as much as the ones in the pots, no matter how much I fertilize or water. Every year I try something different in terms of fertilizer. I've tried David Austin rose food, alfalfa pellets, lawn food, acid plant food, miracle gro, fish emulsion. This year, I tried Milorganite. Fish emulsion seemed to do the most. I tested for macronutrients, and the sand is very low in nitrogen, but very high in phosphorus and potassium. Tap water here is high in calcium. I wonder if it also has something to do with the intensity of the sun, or the day/night temperature differential.

Peter: I tried Milorganite in pots with MG-potting soil and roses were stingy with ugly leaves. My lawn had ugly grass (thin blade & ugly color) with Milorganite NPK 6-4-0 (zero potassium). With high phosphorus of 4 ... weeds were flowering like crazy, esp. the cluster-root weeds in my lawn.

In contrast, my grass turned deep green & lush with Menards® Premium Fall Lawn NPK 22-0-10 fertilizer. I also used this fertilizer for my lawn in spring and my lawn looked the best in 20 years with thick blades and deep & glossy leaves !! I'm convinced that a potassium of at least 10 is needed for good-looking grass.

In August I mix 1/2 sand with 1/2 of my black clay for Queen Nefertiti rose when I moved it ... it went from lots of leaves to tiny leaves & and the re-growth of leaves is slow .. so lack of nitrogen is there.

Now the thickest cane rose in my garden is James Galway, I put the entire bag of FLUFFY garden soil (mostly peat moss) in the planting hole, and topped with black clay high in nitrogen. It's over 10 foot tall & stingy since it gets only 4 hours of morning sun. It gets the least sun in my garden. The rose with THINNEST canes was La Reine, planted in 100% composted cow manure (high in phosphorus), but dry soil. It bloomed tons, but lost leaves after blooming.

There's lots of perfection of the rose kind shown in the photos on this list. And many are on my permanent "want" list, if I just had more space: Carol's Chandos Beauty with its perfection in form and so delicate hint of color; the petal packed Bliss with luscious shading; Seil's Quietness showing more perfect form and delicacy; Laura's Quietness with its unique, perfect petals; Sylvia's Flamingo Dancer is like a flutter of exquisite birds wings. I could go on because there's more perfection above. I love them all. For me, my perfect rose is Augusta Luise (big surprise); I love her frilly petticoats and ever changing color. She has a lovely scent and excellent rebloom. And what a vigorous rose she is--about 8 feet wide currently and 7 feet tall, which means lots of space for lots of her huge blooms. I can't comment on disease because we don't get much of that here. I can't get enough of Augusta. Diane

Those who prefer the formal high centered form may not agree, but to me Augusta Luise is the epitome of what a rose should look like. My own hasn't yet attained the perfection of Diane's, but she's getting there.

Diane - thanks for the shout out about my Chandos Beauty!!! If you ever smelled it...you couldn't do without it...amazing!!! Maybe Hortico will have it again...that's where I got mine. I was soooo happy that it survived the Great Garage Die Off. Your ALs are outstanding!!!! Truly uber glorious!!! There is nothing like yours!!!

Flowers - mine have improved a bit...they actually grew this year...thanks to Teresa's help. I'm expecting really good things from them next year!! :) :)

Oh gosh, I'm drooling over all these rose photographs.

I find Augusta Louise absolutely perfect. She's brand new in my garden. I smelled her fragrance before I saw her. I was standing there thinking...what is that beautiful smell? When I turned around, her first bloom was nodding at me.

Mitsouko is another one I absolutely adore.

And Sally Holmes is straight out of a fairytale in my garden. Might be my favourite one of all. Each stem looking like a bridal bouquet and it just glows at night on my gated arch. LOVE.

Maybe one day I’ll have the opportunity to grow Augusta Louise (I wasn’t one of the people who waited for the second that Palatine’s sale started) and I will have to decide what to take out to make room for her. In the meantime I’ll just drool over all your photos.

Tammy - Your Mitsouko bloom is exceptional!!! What do you think of the fragrance...I'm tired, and I hope I haven't already asked this question to you. LOL If it's even medium...I would love to get this rose!!! Your AL blooms look so adorably sweet!

Noseometer - You'll probably be able to get AL next year as so many people here already have one. Crossing my fingers for you! :)

I’ve been looking at my roses this year and realized that Des really isn’t my perfect rose after all. Why? the flowers are too small, too few petals, and too inconsistently colored. Not saying she’s a bad rose, just not perfect.

What rose is closest to perfect for me? I was surprised to realize it is ’Radio Times’. The flowers are of course that perfect pink centered, fading to near white on the outer petals. Flowers are a good size, well petaled, and that intense fragrance. Blooms don’t shatter quickly (Huntington Rose, Alnwick Castle, Windermere). No weird color shifts or shifts in cool weather or heat (Munstead Wood, Abe, PAoK). It grows well without being a monster. No weird growth habits (Evelyn, Sonia). Takes heat and wind like a champ. Blooms regularly. No thrips problems (Abe, Eden, Sonia). No disease problems. Not a needy diva (Abe, Evelyn). Not a weak grower (Scentuous). Why didn't I realize this before?

Radio Times sounds like a great rose. It's too bad DA has discontinued it.

Oh, it's discontinued? I've always wanted to get Radio Times. Drat.

Noseometer - your bloom is wonderful!!

Oh that's a tough one!

Being still new to the rose game I only have a year's worth of hindsight, so I don't yet know how my 2022 arrivals will handle the summer heat here.

Out of the ones that I've had since last year, the most perfect is probably Teasing Georgia.

Beautiful blooms, wonderful fruity fragrance, crazy vigor, healthy leaves.

She just started really putting on a show a few days ago, after a looong break where she withstood sandy, salty, gale-force winds without any problem.

Seeing (and smelling!) her first blooms felt like being reunited with a beloved old friend.

Peter, I had 4 Desdamona and removed 2. I wasn't a huge fan. But last night I noticed what a gorgeous bloom ( finally ) it had pur our. Still not my favorite but I like it better than I did.

I have a ton of new roses this year so we will see if I have stumbled on to perfection.

For fragrance it could be Brindabella Purple Prince.

The two roses that I am still bummed that I didnt get from Palatine when they had them are Mitsuko and Chartreuse de Parme.

I guess that I should still try for a Qween Nefertiti.

@Kristine LeGault 8a pnw - Kristine, that may be one of the nicest Desdemona I've ever seen. Mine have way fewer petals. But it still has a fantastic fragrance.

@seasiderooftop - that’s an amazing amount of growth for 1 year. I can see why you like Teasing Georgia.

@Kristine LeGault 8a pnw and @noseometer...(7A, SZ10, Albuquerque) , both of your Desdemona's are looking absolutely beautiful!

Mine is in a pitiful state in her first year , arrived very dehydrated and then very damaged by winds. But she's a brave little rose, trying to come back, so I hope one day she'll give me blooms like the ones in your pics!

Actually , I know why Radio Times is overlooked. It is not nearly as prolific a bloomer as Bishop’s Castle, and the thorns are profuse and about as wicked as Munstead Wood. I’d choose Bishop’s Castle except for its susceptibility to thrips, small flowers, and not the ideal flower form or color. but what a fantastic rose it is. Okay, we’ll call it a tie, each for different reasons.

Nose, so the above photos are of Radio Times and you're saying it's not as prolific as Bishop's Castle? To my eyes, RT couldn't be much more prolific, or there would be no room for leaves! It's a lovely rose, and thorns are part of the deal with roses. I don't care about them at all.

I still stand by Augusta Luise as my idea of rose perfection, but Evelyn is a close second, even with less than stellar rebloom at times, and her susceptibility to thrips in my garden. Her color changes are as intriguing as her changing bloom structure and overall look. She's a bit of a chameleon like Augusta. Diane

Seaside - you're getting TG to grow THAT large in a pot? Well done!! :) :)

Kristine - sob...my wonderful Chartreuse de Parme. I think we should all bombard Palatine with requests for them to bud CdP!! I've already done that. :) :) Twice. :) :)

Noseometer - I also love my Bishop's Castle...what a great rose!! Yours is a tremendous bloomer!! Well done!

Diane - I agree with you! First your AL and then your Evelyn. I'm in love with your 2nd picture!!!

Thanks, Carol. Maybe I should join in about Chartreuse de Parme, and bug Palatine, too. I've almost forgotten what it looks like, so I'd better do some looking up. Diane

@Diane Brakefield - sorry, I should have been more clear. The three photos are all of Bishop's Castle. It is easily the most floriferous of my roses. Your Evelyn is glorious! Mine would have been nice, but the high winds and heat made the blooms crispy the day they opened.

I find it curious that so many "perfect" roses listed here are pink or peach!

My roses are still so young so I'm still figuring out which ones are "perfect". Maybe I'll have something to add in a season or two. Something darker like Munstead Wood, Gabriel Oak, Ellen Tofflemire, Rouge Royal or Rose de Rescht.....

But yes, it does seem that pink or peach roses are very popular. I find myself loving so many apricot colored ones.

Here's another perfect rose

and another

and another

There are more, but I'll end here. Diane

Diane - gasp, gasp...I'm trying to breath LOL Such BEAUTY!!! GASP!!

Here are s some Chartreuse de Parme pictures to remind you, Diane. And the fragrance is divine!! I can't imagine what it would look like in your yard!!!

I loved this rose. I wish I had thought to take a cutting.

Carol: Khalid who has grown Chartreuse de Parme since 2014 noted that it likes alkaline pH. It's NOT cold-hardy since it died on a zone 5 grower after 2 years as own-root.

Yeah, mine would have lived if I hadn't dumped so much lime on it. Lime, and then lime, and then lime, etc. Sigh. I had it for 3 years. The picture above is from its first year.