Research tea roses (NOT hybrid teas) noisettes, chinas, polyanthas, and hybrid musks if you want a profusion of healthy scented roses that are far more disease resistant than either the hybrid teas or Austins. You can grow no spray roses in the SOuth, but they won't be many modern roses included in the bunch.

You could make a trip to Roses Unlimited near GSP and see some old tea roses in bloom.

We are in exactly the same zone although your area maybe a tad more humid in summer but probably with less rain than mine (I know it sounds contradictory...but it seems to be true). Abraham is one of the more beautiful and vigorous of the Austins. It also gets large (it has climbing tendencies and will do so if you let it). If Abe end up doing well for you, you can even venture out and try other kinds of Austins too.

I use sulfur for my roses mainly, but I have to be remember whenever I use oil-based products on my roses because it causes leaf burn and deformity. So far with Sulfur every week, the roses were relatively clean. Right now in fall, with our good helping of nonstop rain, I have to spray a little more often becuase the sulfur gets washed off (sulfur has no residual effect so once it's washed off, it has to be reapplied to work).

BTW. Since you spray your roses anyway, HT's ought to be given another chance no? There are some very beautiful HT's out there. I find that Austins are not necessarily more resistant to disease than regular HT's so with spraying both types will be able to perform well and look lush.

So, question: how much pruning can they take throughout the summer, to keep them a maneagable size, before stress sets in? How much and how hard?

I'm fairly new to roses, but most of mine are happy, even with bs attacks.

Many thanks!

Olga

It is a lovely rose, but unfortunately, the insects share my opinion. On the other hand, it is a fighter. I just started growing roses last year and then six months ago my mom bought a house and inherited an antique rose garden (Abe was in it, the only rose that wasn't an antique!).
Anyways, in her garden, they were all neglected for the last two years because of emotional turmoil the previous owners had gone through culminating in divorce. Abe didn't get the best air circulation and suffered the worst blackspot of all the roses, even worse than Autumn Damask (this is in Lakeland, Florida). He has two blooms on him even though it is January and his leaves are black with green spots.
In my yard minutes away (Plant City, FL), I put him against a chain link fence and I've never seen blackspot. From the moment I brought him home, though, the bugs have just loved him. NONE of my other roses have the problems he does. Perhaps he is such candy to them they forsake chewing on my other roses and go straight to him? I have no problem with spraying, but I suddenly faced a debilitating pregnancy and literally cried at times because I couldn't tend the roses I had just lovingly planted (Summer '05) and was so excited about as it was a brand new venture for me. So it was survival of the fittest in my garden.

The pregancy will be over any day now and I got my energy back recently and have been in the garden since. I was pruning my roses just the other day when one was found to have cane borers (disgusting!!). Which one? Yep, Abe Darby.
But he is still green as ever and ready to put out blooms!