I wanted to post this on the Antique Roses forum, but … for some reason that option did not appear.

Sylvia,

My experience with OGRs is that their petals are not durable. There is a modern climber which has a quartered heavy petaled bloom, which starts out high centered, HT in form, and as the bloom continues to full open, it is quartered like the best of the OGRs. It's petals are thick, almost plastic, and the blooms last a long time. Being an excellent repeat bloomer once mature, it gives long, HT like stems, often like the best exhibition roses do. It is Lady Ashe.

Take a look at it on HMFR, and ask around. I had one, a spectacle in spring bloom, which unfortunately succumbed to Rose Rosette Virus.

Moses

The Prince and Munstead Wood often produce blooms with thick velvety petals. I know they're not OGRs. These thick velvety petals show when the temps are nice, when the temps are blazing hot, and are freezing cold. It happens most years, randomly, and for many days at times. It's a mystery and I love it. Diane

The top three photos are Munstead Wood and were taken two days ago in high heat.

The Prince in June of this year. Weather was pleasant and then became hot.

Munstead Wood in late November two years ago.

Sylvia,

I forgot to tell you that the fragrance of Lady Ashe is reknown. It's not the intensity of say, Double Delight, but still very substantial.

Moses

Wow! Nollie, I would have thought your Mme De Sevigne was MIP. They’re indistinguishable to me - except I think MDS’ color is a little more intense.
Diane, I have Munstead - forgot her petal density! She does fry (it’s 102 here again), but n the spring and fall, she can’t be touched for beauty, form, and fragrance.
Moses, I will look up Lady Ashe - not that I have room for another climber - and I wonder, might she flourish in part shade?
Meanwhile MDS looks like a contender.

Rats. I just HMF’d MDS, and she receives only a “Good” vote on heat performance. Of course it is only one vote…
Anyone grow her in the desert or desert-adjacent?

Sylvia,

Don't know if Lady Ashe would manage shade. Mine was in full sun, and held up in intense heat/sun in my dessert like micro-climate excellently. The substance of the petals is unequaled. Ask anyone who grows Lady Ashe.

Moses

Diane, I know you describe your climate as a desert, but you have a real winter in sw Idaho. Snow, ice, freezing rain - am I correct?
I think Idaho is also being plagued with Californians moving away from high taxes, high home prices, and so on ;). I’d like to see some of those folks when the snow falls. Once, in snowy Salt Lake City, DH was handed a windshield scraper with our rental car. He, a lifelong Southern Californian, looked at that small plastic object and asked, “What is this?” I laughed for a long time.
Returning to roses, I can’t be sure that what thrives where you are will do well here - although my Love Songs continue to be magnificent, thanks to your enabling.
Hope I will hear more about Madame De Sevigne.

Sylvia, a little snow here, but we don't get freezing rain or much ice. Winters are mostly mild, zone 7, and I've never lost a rose to cold. This is the Banana Belt of Idaho. When I say we get 10 inches of precipitation in a year, I include snow with the rain. It doesn't rain here in summer. Boise's home prices are awful; it's a very tight housing market. Hey, my daughter is a native Californian, I went to college in California, I married a guy from LA, and have lived in both the Bay area and Southern Cal, Redondo Beach. I like Californians. On the other hand, some of my family first settled in Idaho in 1900. We have terribly hot summers by the way with plenty of 100s. Today it was 95F. The roses I grow can take it, or they don't stay. I have a great drip system augmented with little sprinklers hooked into the drip lines. But we've never had water restrictions. I can explain what saves us another time. Oh, windshield scrapers are handy, though. Diane

I got Mme. de Sévigne after reports on here some years ago that it was heat tolerant, Sylvia, but of course I can’t find those comments now. We might experience similar summer temperatures, but probably have totally different climates, so it’s really hard to know if what works for me would work for you. I get heavy summer downpours, for example, so rainproof blooms are as important as heatproof ones. I suspect the mostly cooler nights of my well over 1000ft mountainous location and winter cold help, while scorching hot summers and Saharan winds are the absolute worst. I only really know what roses succeed or fail by trying them, but recommendations are a great starting point.

It has been said before that Mme. de Sévigne and Mme. Isaac Pereire look like the same rose. I have both though and do see discernible differences. MdS blooms have thicker petals, are generally a lighter and cooler pink, they don’t spoil in rain or fry so much and are held more erect. The buds, thorns, canes and foliage look near identical but MdS is much healthier and the overall habit is more compact with upright canes that needs no support. It would be amusing if they both turned out to be genetically identical!

Sylvia, I wonder if you need Don Juan?

Sheila, I had DJ at the old house and it was a winner … I just prefer to get an OGR if I can help it.
Nollie, no summer rains here. I wish. Our nights are cool compared to east of the Rockies, but not as cool as at high altitudes.
Diane, Banana Belt sounds good. No freezing rain. That stuff was the bane of my existence when I lived in New England.

Sylvia, we have the cool nights following hot days. And no rain in summer. I call us a Mediterranean climate with winters. Weirdly, our latitude is the same as southern Maine, but our climate and everything else is nothing like it. Nothing like the snow in Maine or other New England parts. I also went to college for a while in upstate NY, and my roommate was a Bostonian. Did quite a bit of traveling in New England and I love all of it. Diane