Thank you, Elena! So many bushes to study! I've grown a few of them. Here's my report on those I have grown:

South Africa...one great rose. The blooms are long lasting, foliage, rich and clean, and winter hardiness, unimpeachable. The low fragrance bloom's color here is completely self, no gradations of just clear yellow-gold, no other colors, nor color changes through aging other than minimal sun fading through time. One of the best yellow roses for not fading to white that I know of. My two South Africa bushes took time to get to 5' (the younger one not quite there yet), are not as upright as most of my other hybrid teas, but do lean out to about 45°, but still with full centers, so a little more spacing for neighboring bushes will keep SA from growing into its neighbors at/by season's end.

Earth Angel.....has a very fragrant, beautiful, long lasting, but small bloom for such a large bush. The blooms could ball up in wet weather. They were not produced in abundance, and after the spring flush, which Earth Angel was almost the last bush in the garden to start blooming in spring, the blooming for the rest of the season was stingy. I would say that Earth Angel preferred to grow foliage over growing flowers. 5-6' growth by summer's end was easily reached from a mature bush. The foliage is pristine, but needed additional liquid feedings of acid loving plant fertilizer or some of the foliage paled to an anemic, noticeable yellowish cast. Earth Angel got shovel pruned, too big for its spot and too many faults.

Summer Romance.....was too big for its spot. The super fragrant blooms were clustered together on very short necked stems which when older blooms in the cluster were done blooming, they held their nasty, browning petals as beautiful new blooms squeezed through them in order to open...an ugly mess to me. Too much work to go about snapping out finished blooms to make the cluster beautiful. The foliage was pristine, and the bush, super vigorous, but with long, arching stems which could go everywhere. Summer Romance was shovel pruned....incompatible with its rose bed neighbors. I think Summer Romance would look great as a stand alone, centerpiece bush where its large size, natural arching habit could grow uninhibited, and the necessity to finger prune spent blooms from still blooming clusters could easily be done.

Poseidon.....It's flowers were always a sickly, washed out color in my garden, not the soothing lavender seen in all the photos on HMFR. It also never took off growing, but lacked vigor. It got shovel pruned after three years of waiting for a turnaround which never occurred.

Elena, I really have my eye on: Crazy Love, Anuschka, Easy Spirit, and Thierry Marx. Of these four (4), which one scores the best, all around, for you?

Thanks for thinking of me and remembering my obsession with black spot. I get apoplectic when I see a black spotted leaf....no tolerance level! Bless your heart!

Moses.

I concur that Crazy Love is a great and very healthy rose, but as a warning to Moses, the blooms do open very flat.

Thank you Elina and Markay. Does Crazy Love have a neat, tailored bush form or does it grow with an uneven/lopsided form?

Moses.

In my garden it is tall with an even, upright habit.

Moses, it’s hard to say with confidence — it really depends on the spot in my garden. I have two CLs: one was sending out huge octopus canes and had to be moved from its prime location, next to my tomatoes, and the tomatoes completely took over, so the rose stayed pretty shy this season.

I’ve now repurposed the tomato spot for roses, so we’ll see how that plant behaves next year. The second one, you’d love — it’s a very nice, well-proportioned bush so far.

Elena, your Crazy Love photo is mesmerizing! Thanks for going the extra mile in this post and in all your posts. They're always an enjoyable educational experience!

Moses.

Elena - your Thiery Marx blooms are gorgeous!!! Oh my heavens!! Ooooh, on your Crazy Love!! Although, just saying, Augusta Luise is very fragrant. :) I agree with you on Anuschka (the only one of your roses that I grow). It's first year here, no bs, dm or pm. And a lot of my roses got all 3. lol These roses got zero of the 3 dreaded diseases (for me)...Violet's Pride, Grande Dame, White Licorice, Peach Swirl, Anuschka, Lady Capri, Easy on the Eyes, Ball Gown, First Crush, Chandos Beauty, Desiree, Eisvogel, Life of the Party, Sweet Madame Blue, Pop Art, Kaffee Fasset, Beverly Ann Clay, and Caramel Kisses.

Carol, thank you so much fo the nice words and your list! Wow, you have Lady Capri!! Some of us are planning to buy it via April and Ashley. How do you like this rose? Do you have pictures?

Well, I finished my fall pruning, and I found Downy Mildew on a cane of Easy on the Eyes. So, that one's not disease resistant. Darn.

Elena, can you share photos of your Poseidon?

Echo, here you are! Not my fav rose, but very healthy.

I think I can safely say that none of my roses remain completely free of blackspot throughout the growing season. They all get some, and for me it is more a question of degrees and the extent to which they thrive and bloom in spite of it.

Markday thats close to what I experience here.

I do love threads like this one because they give me hope to keep trying other varieties.

Elena could you please tell me more about Poseidon? My lavenders dont do well and that one has been on my list to try.

Dianela and Markay, the roses I mentioned above haven’t shown a single black spot the entire season — impressive given how hot and humid it’s been and that I don’t use heavy chemicals. Meanwhile, some other roses lost nearly all their leaves by mid-summer.

I’ve removed Olivia from last year’s list since she started showing some black spot now. Overall, I’d say in general Kordes varieties are the most disease-resistant and prolific in my garden. At some point, I might go the same route as Moses and keep only the completely disease-free ones.

Poseidon is a lovely rose, about 4–5 feet tall, forming a very harmonious bush. Unfortunately, she’s planted next to my tomato bed (which I plan to remove), and the tomatoes have dominated that area, so I haven’t seen the strong second flush this rose is known for. That’s how she’s supposed to bloom, but mine never reached that point. I don’t recall much fragrance either.https://www.rosebook.ru/roses/gallery/floribunda/novalis/1/

I could have written that exact same paragraph, Markay. Black spot absolutely loves my humid climate.

Astronomia/The Charlatan has always been my most spotless rose, but my new Chippendale has matched it this year - not a speck on it yet, which is impressive for mid October. Sometimes roses have a honeymoon year here, so next season will be the real test.

I’m starting to feel lucky! :)
I almost forgot to mention one more Kordes rose — Vulcano. Last year she was the first to get powdery mildew, but she never had any black spot. This season, I haven’t had powdery mildew at all! I’ve also noticed that roses with dense, dark green foliage usually seem less susceptible to black spot.

P.S. For my rose friends in the U.S. — I’ve been trying really hard to convince AA to bring Chippendale here as soon as possible!

@dianela7analabama, I grow Poseidon and it has been in my garden for five years. It has a nice v-shape, but despite aggressive pruning it hits 7ft each year, and it requires some strategic staking/supports to support the weight of the blooms. It is one if the later roses to start blooming each year, but that might be due to the aforementioned aggressive pruning. ;-)

Poseidon is one of my healthiest roses. It holds most of it’s leaves, but it does get spotty between bloom cycles. It has good vigor and quickly produces new clean leaves along with the next round of buds. Poseidon is not favored by JBs but thrips are a different story and brown edges on petals are pretty common.

I have not noticed it being especially fragrant, but that could be a reflection on my nose.

The blooms are very full and frequently droop. This makes them easier to view when they are overhead as they frequently are.

I am always a bit on the fence with Poseidon because in the right light, the blooms are gorgeous, but they can also appear a dirty gray at times.

I highly recommend it for afternoon shade and evening walks.

Also it has pretty buds and the flowers do not flatten.

One of my favorite pics of Poseidon is this one where it is peeking around Savannah. :-)

I hope you are successful in your Chippendale campaign, Elena! It is a lovely rose, although don’t expect to be knocked out by the fragrance, it’s lovely, but medium at best.

I’ve observed the same about roses with dense, dark green and/or glossy foliage. It resists BS really well, but if it eventually succumbs, it can get it really bad and then the shrub defoliates fast.

Elena - I bought mine has an own root, so it's been growing slowly. It has excellent disease resistance. Didn't get anything, whereas downy and powdery mildews were rampant in my roses this year and bs was there as well.

Lady Capri

Markay - wow!! Your Poseidon is gorgeous!! I've always thought the same about Poseidon pictures I've seen. Sometimes the color is lovely and at other times, it's off putting. The last 2 pictures are my fave. :)

Carol, such a beauty! Definitely keep in my list! Thank you!

Thanks, Elena. :) I think next year it will do much better. :)

Thank you Elena and Markay! I am glad to get all this info from people growing roses under similar conditions.

Elena I also grow Vulcano and it is excellent here too. Unfortunately I do not think it is available in the usa since palatine closed (hopping I am wrong)

Spring picture, foliage has stayed clean

Such beautiful colors in this small area! What a beautiful rose bush!!

Elena, Crazy Love should be Crazy Beautiful. I am besotted with her! She is at the top of my spring list. How much heat can she take? I think I have a perfect spot lol.

Vulcano is also beautiful. Too bad it isnt available.

Sultry, thanks for the compliment on Crazy Love! It’s not as hot here as in Florida, but I haven’t noticed any issues with the heat in Ohio. One of my CLs (from Palatine) definitely has a tendency to be a small climber — she’s the one in the picture.

Here are my 2025 health ratings. 10/10 is best for health.

The worst offenders had tons of BS. Most in the 8/10 category dealt with some downy mildew.

Desdemona 10/10

Gentle Hermione 10/10

Boscobel 9/10

Windermere 9/10

Huntington 9/10

Queen of Sweden 9/10

Eglantyne 9/10

St. Cecelia 9/10

Bishop's Castle 9/10

Ancient Mariner 9/10

Golden Celebration 8/10

Charles Darwin 8/10

Brother Cadfael 8/10

Abraham Darby 8/10

Earth Angel 8/10

Scepter'd Isle 8/10

Evelyn 7/10

Crown Princess Margareta 7/10

Louise Clements 7/10

St. Swithun 6/10

Roald Dahl 6/10

Above and Beyond 6/10

Sharifa Asma 6/10

Teasing Georgia 6/10

Jude the Obscure 4/10

Princess Anne 3/10

Wildeve 2/10

Are higher numbers healthier, Caroline, or worse BS???

Ah, great question. Higher numbers are healthier. 10/10 for health. I'll add a note in my original reply.

Speaking of black spot–resistant roses — great news! 🌹

April & Ashley have restarted their collaboration with Kordes, so we’ll be seeing new Kordes roses soon!

Also, the second part of the 2026 catalog goes live on October 20, with sales starting November 1.

📎 April & Ashley Rose Farm Forum (Facebook Group)

🌸 2026 Rose Bush Catalog

Caroline - that's good information. Drat about Evelyn not being good for disease, as I have that one...new this year.

@rosecanadian it's still one of my better roses! Just now getting blackspot now that it's cooler and wetter, but otherwise really healthy all season long.

Oh, that's good to hear!

I just wanted to give a plug for First Crush. I’ve had it for several years, but this is the first year it really stood out. I think it took a few years to really settle in and do it’s thing. Very good BS resistance, and lovely fragrance. The rebloom is pretty good and will probably continue to improve from here.

Gorgeous Markay! This one is one I regret shovel pruning. I had three beautiful bushes that always got thrips and I removed them like if it were their fault we get thrips every year. I need to replace them!

Markay - my First Crush has wonderful disease resistance, which is why I've kept it. Next year will be its 3rd year. So far the blooms and bloomability have been underwhelming. You've given me hope for this rose. That's a very beautiful bloom. Mine hasn't given me even one bloom that pretty.

You do need to replace.FC, @dianela7analabama. It's a great rose!

@rosecanadian, it has definitely been on the slower side in getting established, but patience is paying off now.

Vapor I am hopping to replace it. Ill check see who carries it.

Markay - so glad to hear that. :)