I am really enjoying this discussion of lilac, mauve, and purple roses. I find that I'm getting pulled into the lilac rose thing nose first. It may be that I credit my lilac/purple roses with some of the delicious scent from Ilse Krohn Superior which is next door, always in bloom, and smelling great when they are in bloom, but the lilac roses in my garden are the most deliciously scented of my roses. The color of the pale lilac-gray roses, I'm afraid, leaves me cold. But once the roses show a touch of purple, I find the rose visually interesting. Still, I might be tempted to grow a rose that I found to be truly awful in appearance if it pleased my nose.

I planted Barbara Streisand (Palatine) in my garden this spring and it grew reasonably well, reaching waist height. There was not much spring bloom, maybe a bud or two. Though my garden is fenced I get occasional visits from deer who deadhead my roses before they actually open. So Barbara lost some buds here. My early impression is that fragrance will be good; but I don't know whether it will be great. I think its color complements the lilac roses nearby. I find the plant to be a little upright and narrow, so I'm glad I planted several close together.

I know it can have quite a bit of red in it and may not, therefore, be a good candidate for this discussion, but I grew Stephen's Big Purple in NJ. It was considerably more resistant to BS than most HTs. And for two years it survived on about three hours of sunlight per day. It did bloom once or twice, but I cannot remember much more about it. If its fragrance was unremarkable, I imagine that part of the blame was my own.

Chris, I enjoyed hearing your opinions about Royal Highness, Arizona, and Black Baccara. I've not been very tempted by the latter, but AZ is on my list for spring planting. I find the visual perfection of RH interesting - it always takes a good photo. I'm hoping AZ does better in this zip code than in OH. When I grew roses in NJ I did not spray. When I moved to Arizona four years ago I did it with the intention of not spraying.

Then in spring 2011 deer entered my garden in May and removed every flower bud and every new leaf from many dozens of roses half of which were in their first season. This set the young garden back by at least half a year. So I started spraying the garden to deter deer. It worked. I sprayed this spring for a month and the deer stayed out through September.

This year we had a very wet monsoon season and powdery mildew broke out in the garden in August. Then a bit of blackspot appeared on Gingersnap and Cardinal Hume. I had no idea how far the problem would spread, so I broke out some copper soap solution, then moved to potassium bicarbonate. It is still my habit only to spray foliage very near the infection and to monitor closely, not to blast the whole garden. Still I don't have much reservation about potassium bicarbonate because it could be used in quick release fertilizer.

If next year's weather is more typical, I probably will not have to worry much. I am finding that even in a place where the RH spends most of the growing season below 30%, having disease resistant roses counts for something. And I know from experience that if one plant has a great weakness for a disease, it tends to serve as a breeding ground for it, spreading it generously to other plants: Gloire de Mousseux for downy mildew, Cressida for blackspot, and Permanent Wave for for powdery mildew.