I grow Twilight Zone and Love Song. Both are lovely but not really BS resistant. TZ might be a little better? My area is a high BS pressure location

I'm not good feedback on blackspot given that I garden in a cold climate but I can speak to winter hardiness in zone 6 as I grow all of those except for Violet Mist. Angel Face is by far the wimpiest and if it survives it doesn't get above knee high. Love Song and Twilight Zone are better survivors for me if grafted, and they bloom pretty well. I'm on my third try at Francis Meilland and she has finally survived for me grafted. Life of the Party isn't as notably colored for me as in photos (being a creamy color for the most part) and is a slow grower after the winter.

If she's looking for a very hardy consistent bloomer (that is entirely free of blackspot for me) Violet's Pride has been truly awesome. I've never seen it out of bloom and it just churns out roses that stay lavender without pinking out at all. Twilight Zone is purple in cool weather but goes hot pink once it gets hot.

Cynthia

Oh, and At Last stays quite small for me and slow to recover from winter but mine is own root. The apricot blooms are nice and it's notably clean foliage in my zone.

Cynthia

At Last.....constant abundant bloom....short flower life.....sloppy looking blooms once fully open, presented, 'helter skelter,' about the bush.......weak necks........rainfall slaps blooms silly.....overall, bush mass effect is OK, but nothing remotely breathtaking, just so-so....does black spot.

Compared to Double Easy Orange........like night to day!

Moses.

Angel Face.......the fragrance is to die for....... the bush itself is a disaster........weak growth......black spot magnet.........etc........

Moses.

In this land of the dry, Angel Face is an angel, Twilight Zone glows in the Twilight, and Love Song is a love. But I totally concur with Moses that Double Easy Orange is a total winner, continuous bloomer that never quits (unless a dastardly deer comes strolling by; they love the Orange Dude). Diane

Middle of August 2025 and it was hot!

Diane,

What I like the most about D.E.Orange, and yours is a beauty, among all its hands down exceptional characteristics, is that it holds its beauty until petal drop. So many roses look dead head ready just about when they are just seconds after being fully open. Not so for D.E.Orange....what a trooper.

I wonder how Jim from Chambersburg, PA area is enjoying his D.E.Orange?

Moses.

I agree on Double Easy Orange being an absolute winner. I’m glad I gave it a prominent place in my orange border. Double Ambre is right up there next to it as a favorite.

Francis Meilland is my favorite rose. ADR winner. Very clean here no-spray. Likes to be fed occasionally to help with repeat. Also my most photogenic rose. Absolutely adore and recommend 100%.

And the fragrance is strong, fruity, sweet-lemony and he can last up to a week in the vase as a cut flower. Would recommend getting multiple bushed to make bouquets. LOVE this rose!

I’m amazed at all the wonderful, insightful info everyone has shared. Thank you!

Forever, great info on Twilight Zone and Love Song.

Nippstress, great info on TZ, Love Song, Violet’s Pride, FM, At Last, and Angel Face. I need to edit Violet Mist to Violet’s Pride, my typo.

Moses, lots of great info on the roses and long list of recommendations for her organic gardening.

Diane, Moses, and judi your comments make me want a Double Easy Orange!

Sunny, your description and recommendation for Francis Meilland sounds like a rose that has it all! I had heard that it was stingy. I may have to have one, too!

Angle Face---Root stock it is grafted onto makes all the difference in the world. Own root, one or two little sticks. It usually doesn't form a decent root system. Dr. Huey, for some reason just isn't very vigorous. Multiflora, same thing. Fortuniana, this rose turns into a 5 ft monster covered in blooms you can smell all the way across the yard. Don't ask me why. Oh, yeah it NEEDS to be sprayed for blackspot. I haven't grown the others.

Ken, that’s a huge difference for Angel Face with the rootstock! Thank you!

I grow two Angel Face, one for about 20 years. They are both grafted on Dr Huey. They bloom well, but I have to say the deer here love Angel Face. I think Angel Face needs to be grafted, too. I grow Two Love Song roses and Two Twilight Zone and love them. Love Song's bloom are big and many. This fall those blooms were enormous. Twilight Zone is my ultimate purple, though it's a close race with my three Ebb Tide roses. All these roses are grafted on Dr Huey, and I've grown them all for a long time--got my first Ebb Tide in 2006--a special order. Twilight Zone, Ebb Tide, Love Song, and Julia Child are all Tom Carruth roses. He's my favorite US rose breeder. Diane

Twilight Zone

TZ with Julia Child

Love Song

Love the centers in LS

Angel Face

Angel Face with Young Lycidas

Diane, great pictures and details on the roses! You’ve got me even thinking about Love Song…🫣

One year I tried Ebb Tide, Twilight Zone, and Celestial Night. All no-spray. Celestial Night was the healthiest of the three, Ebb Tide had the strongest fragrance and deepest color. None were healthy enough for me to keep in my garden. Black spot just had it's way with them. If she were going to try one of the three, I would recommend Celestial Night.

I planted Brindabella Purple Prince in the same section as the three mentioned above, and BPP is still going strong. It is a healthy rose with a color similar to the three above. It also has a beautiful fragrance that is always ON.

I ordered Brindabella Crimson Night to try last year. So far it has not been as healthy as Brindabella Purple Prince, but I'm hoping once it settles in the health will improve.

Life of the Party blackspotted for me and I didn't care for the color of the faded blooms. I passed it along to my sister who does spray/use granules in her garden. It did have a pleasing fragrance and I liked the way it bloomed in clusters. The health was on par with Celestial Night.

If she is looking for a light lemony yellow, I would recommend looking at Tupelo Honey Sunbelt and Grandbaby from ARE. Both would give a similar enough bloom form and shrub appearance to be on par with Life of the Party.

The Weeks Roses online catalog has black spot tolerance ratings by some of it's roses. This could prove helpful for your friend.

https://www.weeksroses.com/pages/digital-catalog-2026

@kentucky_rose zone 6 Francis Meilland really is a rose that has it all. LOVE! Feeding Francis regularly will encourage him to be more forthcoming with blooms.

Sunny,

Does your Brindabella Purple Prince have strong necks? It's on my short list to replace one or both of my Orange Glow Knock Outs which although good bloomers and repeaters (but must be dead headed or hips form and limit rebloom big time), but the flowers, at 2.5-2.75" are just too little, and out of proportion with the bush. Its black spot resistance is excellent. Aah!

Moses.

Sunny and Moses, thanks for sharing observations, details, and suggestions on the roses! Amazing how much actual experience is in this thread! Awesome!

Love Twilight Zone!! Life of The Party is new and is in my sons memorial garden. It is ok but will stay because of the name

Kristine, your Twilight Zone looks happy, loaded in blooms! Life of the Party may have its limitations compared to some of the roses. Thank you!

Sounds like you've already got a lot of good advice here. I garden in So Cal near coast, and BS is not usually an issue, though I do get powdery mildew and rust when it's too wet and drippy during May Gray and June Gloom (stubborn marine layer).

Angel Face: will be on year 3 for me. Generally healthy, not a big plant.

Twilight Zone: I've tried 3 -- 2 grafted on Dr. Huey and one own-root and not a one liked me. Love Diane's photos, but the bush did not love me. It's gone.

Life of the Party is also called Huntington's 100th, and I like using the Huntington name because those are lovely gardens in the Pasadena area! Super healthy for me, very fragrant.

Love Song is super healthy for me, gorgeous flower. Repeats well. Not fragrant.

Francis Meilland -- I planted because a friend raved about him, but so far he's not a great bloomer for me. But he is own-root, and he's young. He seems healthy enough.

Looks like she wants a lavender/purple and a pale blush and a yellow-y pink? I think others have said some of these do blackspot, but in my garden -- James L. Austin and Fragrant Lavender Simplicity are easy, healthy, great bloomers. Also Nicole Carol Miller (also very fragrant). My Young Lycidas is young (took a cutting Thanksgiving a year ago), so still in a pot, but just keeps on blooming and very healthy so far. The Poet's Wife is a gorgeous yellow, very fragrant, makes me happy! And Sespe Sunrise is turning into a gorgeous specimen of a rose -- super healthy, good re-bloomer, and really very pretty foliage. So those would be my suggestions that kind of match the colors you present here. Good luck!

The only one I grow is Twilight Zone. I planted mine potted own root from Heirloom in Autumn 24’. so it has had over a year in my garden now. It has had quite a lot of blackspot which has caused a lot of defoliation and has hindered its growth significantly. It is one of my most blackspot prone roses. We had an unusually rainy June and it was very humid and it is a young plant, perhaps it will outgrow it. Its neighbor is the similarly colored Celestial Night Floribunda. It’s three times as tall and has zero blackspot and has bloomed a lot. They were planted on the same day in the same condition by the same vendor in the same flower bed. I would be hard pressed to tell the blooms apart in a side by side comparison but the health is extremely different with CN being the better.

1- Francis Meiland is the healthiest with no black spot . Although mine was on Fortuniana and grew into an 8 ft sprawling bush so I S/P it .

2-Violet's Pride comes in second , over all a healthy rose but has a little BS at the end of summer . I grew several but they eventually died . Although I have one potted now .

3-Life of the Party , comes in third . got some BS but the fragrance was intense . Unfortunately the blooms blew over in a day so I S/P it .

The rest of the list are all black spotters for me .

In SoCal, Love Song is an incredible rose—second to none. Continuous big blooms, ideal lavender color, nice growth habit, and amazing heat tolerance. I also have Violet’s Pride, which is also an impressive and reasonably heat tolerant rose that blooms in flushes with smaller, paler flowers that have a beautiful fragrance and form. I moved Life of the Party to my shadiest spot, and it blooms just as abundantly as it did in sunnier spots and crisps less. The blooms don’t last long when temperatures hit 90+ but it’s such a special rose—floriferous, color shifting, and famously fragrant. I have a small garden, so only the all time greatest roses earn and keep their spots. These three are all-time greats in my estimation!

Love Song during our blazing hot summer in zone 7 desert hills.

Diane, I wonder how many people bought Love Song based on your pictures!

Desert Party, Love Song, Violet’s Pride, and Life of the Party keep being winners!

Pink Rose, thanks for input on Francis Meilliand, Violet’s Pride, and Life of the Party and insightful on reasons for S/Ping.

I bought Love Song because of you Diane. Then my sister got one and then we decided to send one to cousin and sister in law. 4 roses, 3 very different growing zones snd Love Song is great for all 4 of us

Kristine, that’s a good testimonial for Love Song! Diane’s pictures makes her a great enabler!

Among the mauve color class, I have grown ANGEL FACE, NEPTUNE, MIDNIGHT BLUE, PLUM PERFECT, POSEIDON, REINE DES VIOLETTES, STERLING SILVER, TWILIGHT ZONE, and WILD BLUE YONDER. I garden in an area with heavy clay soil and high pressure for black spot disease.

ANGEL FACE (Floribunda, 1968) is incredibly beautiful (the name is a very good descriptor) but I cannot recommend it for a novice gardener in USDA Zone 6. The rose would work in a container but your friend would need to bring it into a garage or shed during the winter. Even then it would have to be grafted and sprayed with a fungicide. The fragrance is incredible. As for Sterling Silver, just don't.

For an organic garden, PLUM PERFECT (PP), POSEIDON, and REINE DES VIOLETTES (RdV) would work, but your friend would still need to consistently apply organic sprays like the Cornel Formula (Google it) or Neem Oil. Poseidon is the most resistant of the lot. If you are willing to accept 1/4 to 1/3 leaf loss, then it could be grown completely no spray. Color is a silvery lavender and fragrance is medium until you bring it indoors then nothing. Keep in mind, Poseidon and RdV are BIG roses. PP is a nice 3-4 foot shrub for me, but has no real fragrance (on a good day you get a slight scent, but please...). Reine des Violettes needs grafting and is useless as a cut flower, but IS the most beautiful rose that you will ever see. It is also completely thornless AND every part of the plant is fragrant.

About the rest, Neptune has the best cut flower with exhibition quality flower form but is a stingy bloomer, Midnight Blue has the best "purple" color but no vigor to speak of, Twilight Zone is better but more often than not is magenta rather than the Tyrian purple we see in photographs, and Wild Blue Yonder's color is garish.

I have no experience with Francis Meilland, Life of the Party, Love Song, and Violet's Pride. I have read good things about Love Song as an alternative to Poseidon, but most posters' complain about the lack of fragrance. I do grow Julia Child which is a parent of Life of the Party. JC has exceptional performance but it not a no spray rose. Royal Sunrise by the Antique Rose Emporium might be a good alternative to Life of the Party, because the folks at the ARE breed for black spot resistance.

Patrick, thank you for the detailed info and recommendations on lavender roses!