I emailed Jason at "Petals from the Past" and asked him what roses would do good in a rose bed I was planning. I live in West Cental Alabama, this is what he replied:

Hands down I would suggest planting the following for fragrance,cutting, and disease resistance.
Belinda's Dream
Golden Unicorn
Lafter
Clothilde Soupert
Monsieur Tillier
Mlle. Franziska Krueger
Europeana.
Space these 4' apart and centered in the bed and you will have a great show. Have a great weekend.
Jason

Here is a link that might be useful: Petals from the Past

I just went to Petals from the Past website - they have OBVIOUSLY done some great work on their site since the alst time I looked at it! WOW! :)

knock out rose, and butterfly rose,

Europeana and to boot it is one of my favorite roses.

Thanks to all of you with suggestions for roses that do well in our area. I am certainly taking all of them into consideration.

TweetyPye,

I second the recommendations for Lafter, Monsieur Tillier, Belinda's Dream, and the Butterfly rose. I have all these & love them, but please be forewarned: in this climate (7B -8) Lafter, Monsieur Tillier, & Butterfly Rose will get huge--unless you keep them severely pruned. They also grow very quickly.
P.S.--Lafter is just such a beautiful rose & smells heavenly

I bought a Knockout rose this year and it is true to its name! Absolutely no blackspot in spite of an unusually wet summer and always at least one bloom on it. Right now it's covered in blooms.

I usually hate modern day rose because of disease, they seem to be so picky. I got a cutting of what is supposed to be New Dawn from my sister. Not only is it a vigorous grower, covered with blooms in the spring but I haven't seen a single sign of leaf spot or other diseases. And it blooms all summer which is a big plus.

Darlow's Enigma: large 8' to 10' bush, simple small white blooms in large clusters, ALWAYS in bloom (April through October), extremely blackspot resistant, extremely fragrant, will bloom even in part shade

Here is a link that might be useful: Darlow's Enigma

Thanks John. I looked that one up. It's a beauty.
Jan

Great helpful post. Darlow's Enigma is now on my list, as well as New Dawn.

For anyone in the B'ham area wanting anything from "Pedals",I was told that you may call the farm and pickup at the Pepper Place down town. I will find out and come back with a follow up.

Does anyone have a rose that stands out as being trouble free that is not listed above?

This post was edited by bulzi on Fri, May 17, 13 at 23:59

"NO RESPONSE" from Petals of the Past concerning Pepper Place other than that they will be there Saturdays, starting May 25,2013. It maybe a Garden Web/businesses using the forum - reason for not responding . ???

This post was edited by bulzi on Wed, May 22, 13 at 19:13

Hello Jan, Are you back home? I live in Central Alabama, between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.

I agree with Belinda's Dream for sure, but haven't yet planted any of the others he recommended.. the Old Garden Roses are wonderful for the fragrance as well as the beauty. I also like Louis Phillipe, a red china. It is a great bloom machine. Not huge roses, but it blooms all summer and smells great. (right front)

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Iceberg is a wonderful white rose. It is a shrub that blooms from spring through summer and fall.

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William Shakespear 2000 is not quite 2 years old. I got it from Chamblee's as a one gallon plant. Tht pink behind is Belinda's Dream.

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If you want a huge climber, I second the suggestion for New Dawn ...big thorns though, so be careful where you plant it (Not near a path) Doesn't get blackspot: This one is about 5 years old. Started as a band. My big baby:

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Close up of blooms...and it is fragrant, as are all of these.

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William Shakespear 2000 is still patented, but the others aren't, so if you wanted to try rooting cuttings....

kay