"Ol' Thornfinger" writes:

Anyone on this board gardening in South Florida / tropics / zone 10? Looking
for any and all info you've got.

I'm not in South Florida, rather central, Zone 9, but maybe I can offer some
ideas on what has worked for me. I do not have the typical Florida soil
(sand), I have very good rich soil. But most of the roses that have done well
for me are reported to be good roses by other Floridians. I think climate
plays a bigger part than soil when it comes to disease resistance. That said,
if I were buying Hybrid Teas, I would make sure they are on Fortuniana
rootstock. There is a big difference in they way they grow here vs Dr. Huey.
The plants will have enough disease resistance to at least survive and bloom,
even though they look ugly.

What roses have you had success with,

Chinas and Teas have been the best, along with some polys and the noisettes.
Namely:
Loius Phillippe
Pink Pet
Crepuscule (my favorite rose)
Reve D'Or
White Pet
Clotilde Soupert
Cecile Brunner
LaMarne (2nd favorite)
Mrs BR Cant
Lady Hillingdon
Mrs. Dudley Cross
Sombreuil

Some that have done well in other classes:
Belinda's Dream (shrub, great rose)
Red Cascade (mini climber)
International Herald Tribune (floribunda)

failure with?

All the HTs (except Dainty Bess, and I wouldn't call her truly successful, but
she's still here with no plans for removal)
Both the Austins I've grown, Heritage and Abraham Darby.
Jacques Cartier (Perpetual Damask)
Barbara Worll (Hybrid Perpetual)
Angel Face (floribunda)
First Edition (floribunda)
Eugene de Beaharnais (china hybrid) (maybe a poor specimin)

Perhaps these can't be called failures, since they didn't die of their own free
will, but they all suffer(ed) severely from black spot and/or canker. Even
with regular spraying these plants do(did) not meet my criteria. I expect my
roses to not only produce blooms on a regular basis, but also to have plenty of
leaves and a pleasant growing habit. And if I'm going to all the trouble and
expense to spray, they better look great. A few of those listed are still here,
but I expect to remove them as I find better roses for replacements.

Which of your roses seem to be bug / fungus free? Damn thrips
are driving me nuts.

The ones I've listed as being successful are all disease resistant. Thrips are
the worst on the light colored HTs, even they don't attack the light Chinas and
Teas as much.

Talk to me people...I've been trying to get to a local
rose meeting, but it's an hour away from my and time seems to have deserted
me completely as of late.

There are four all about an hour from here. And I've never been to one either.
Some day.....maybe 8 years from now, when I'm retired. g