so more thoughts... given where you live, you should go to Mahoney's in Winchester (the "real" Mahoney's) to look for your roses. They have the best selection of anyone in the area. The other place I recommend is Russell's in Wayland.
moving on...
Old Garden Roses... aka "antique roses"... these are generally quite vigorous and sometimes make nice shrubs out of bloom. You have to treat them as once-bloomers, even if they are supposedly "perpetual." Still, their period of bloom is longer than the average peony and they can be spectacular. They tend to be big and need a lot of room. They also aren't usually easily available at the average garden center. "Rose de Rescht" is a small one although mine has gotten rather columnar over the years due to its situation and is about 5' tall. The flowers a very double and fragrant, but they are actually quite small. Don't know if you care for that fuschia tone in your red flowers, but it is one that you can find at garden centers. It does rebloom pretty well.
There aren't yellow OGRs, because that color comes from China tea roses, not bred in until later in the 19th c. Most of them tend to be shades of pink. If you want deep, deep red you should look at Gallicas. You can sometimes find them -- I just picked up "Belle de Crecy" in the Home Depot for $6.99! "Charles de Mills" is one that you sometimes see around. And if you see "Tuscany" for sale, buy it! They are only June blooming.
On the opposite end chronologically, there are a number of modern shrub roses that bloom well and are very disease resistant. I see that Mahoney's is featuring "Easy Elegance" roses -- some of these are amazingly nice. As mentioned before, the "Knockout" roses are extremely disease resistant and constantly blooming. "Bonica", a pink rose, is hard to screw up -- they plant this one on highways. I also recommend anything from Dr Buck, who breeds very hardy roses in Iowa.
Another modern rose that might suit you is Rouge Royale. It was at Russell's last year, and late in the summer when everything else was looking pretty poorly, it was lovely. And it's fragrant -- the price you pay for many of the tough-as-nails modern roses is that they aren't always that great at fragrance.
well, I've driveled enough for now. I think my favorite suggestion is the new William Shakespeare (I had to put that link in , the pic is so luscious).
Re: requirements gathering...
moving on...
Old Garden Roses... aka "antique roses"... these are generally quite vigorous and sometimes make nice shrubs out of bloom. You have to treat them as once-bloomers, even if they are supposedly "perpetual." Still, their period of bloom is longer than the average peony and they can be spectacular. They tend to be big and need a lot of room. They also aren't usually easily available at the average garden center. "Rose de Rescht" is a small one although mine has gotten rather columnar over the years due to its situation and is about 5' tall. The flowers a very double and fragrant, but they are actually quite small. Don't know if you care for that fuschia tone in your red flowers, but it is one that you can find at garden centers. It does rebloom pretty well.
There aren't yellow OGRs, because that color comes from China tea roses, not bred in until later in the 19th c. Most of them tend to be shades of pink. If you want deep, deep red you should look at Gallicas. You can sometimes find them -- I just picked up "Belle de Crecy" in the Home Depot for $6.99! "Charles de Mills" is one that you sometimes see around. And if you see "Tuscany" for sale, buy it! They are only June blooming.
On the opposite end chronologically, there are a number of modern shrub roses that bloom well and are very disease resistant. I see that Mahoney's is featuring "Easy Elegance" roses -- some of these are amazingly nice. As mentioned before, the "Knockout" roses are extremely disease resistant and constantly blooming. "Bonica", a pink rose, is hard to screw up -- they plant this one on highways. I also recommend anything from Dr Buck, who breeds very hardy roses in Iowa.
Another modern rose that might suit you is Rouge Royale. It was at Russell's last year, and late in the summer when everything else was looking pretty poorly, it was lovely. And it's fragrant -- the price you pay for many of the tough-as-nails modern roses is that they aren't always that great at fragrance.
well, I've driveled enough for now. I think my favorite suggestion is the new William Shakespeare (I had to put that link in , the pic is so luscious).