Question
Lynette,
I am also an "expert" on this site. My categories are perennials,bulbs and garden design.My experience is in low maintenance perennials methods of creating low maintenance cottage and English garden design. I have 20 years experience in my own and 12 years in my customer's gardens and 1 year experience with roses. I always thought," Well,I will try roses someday when I have more time to fuss over plants".I think they are gorgeous,just no time to stop and smell them.HA!No pun intended. Only a few of my customers have them,probably for that very reason.No time for fussy roses.And up until now I haven't had to deal with them.
However I have a been re-doing major renovation on a property for 2 years.A nice couple that are professors at the local university bought a beautiful home and gardens on a lovely quiet cul-de-sac. All the beds around the house and the cottage garden area were absolutely choking when I rescued them.So far it has taken 2 growing seasons to complete all the beds,well there is one left,but it isn't a priority right now.The roses are the priority.
I rescued them from certain death from a sqare bed that also had some companions...Peonies. Not sure how or why they came to be in the same bed,but they were suffering as well. The problem-BERMUDA grass! Unbelievably,some of them were actually blooming.Not much,but enough for me to think that they aren't fragile little things at all!If they can bloom in this bed,they have to be tough. Some of the tags were still attached(only a few).But there were some David Austin roses and an old faithful AARS named "Queen Elizabeth".Gorgeous big pink rose! Some roses were climbers or ramblers,so I had to cut back before transplanting
After digging them up and transplanting them to a "hospital" bed along with the Peonies,they perked right up and some even bloomed(one red one profusely)the following growing season.
I designed some lattice panels beside some huge boxwoods in the cottage garden to support the roses. I didn't get them planted until the 2nd week of April this past spring.I put in rose food spikes beside each one to coax them along.The "Queen Elizabeth" bloomed only a few weeks after planted and is now reblooming. One of the ramblers,a red rose did OK. I got a few blooms on it,but that was it. I also had taken cuttings from some little pink "Fairy" roses and they bloomed great along with some "blue" flowered Catmint I planted in front of the climbers. These are all in geometric beds reminiscent of a formal English garden with clipped boxwoods. The design is perfection.
My question is is did I plant too late for them to properly settle in,or could there be too much shade from a neighbors adjoining property? Most of them get full sun for at least 8 hours a day.
But,there are a few further down the bed that do get more shade than the others.They didn't bloom either. I always give my perennials several years before I write them off as "too weak" for my climate,which is zone 6,Western Ky.
Do you recommend giving these a chance for next years bloom? Or,should I try some varieties that bloom even in partial shade? If there are any.I really want this to be in full bloom next year,because I live and work by my reputation as a "green thumb" gardener. I have been trying to research some and came across one called "Zephrine" which says it is old variety climber that is almost thornless and tolerates partial shade. Do you know anything about this one? Thanks for any rose info you can toss my way!  

Answer
BERMUDA grass! Please accept my sympathies.
I only grow roses, peonies (160) and lilies ( have lost count) as they are the only perennials that do well in my poor soil. Will be on your doorstep for information regarding them.
I too do some "rose landscaping" and I always talk my clients into planting new roses instead of saving the old ones, unless a particular rose has some sentimental value. Roses which have been ignored for a few years rarely come back with enough vigour to bloom well. Also because breeders now register or patent their roses, they now have to be disease resistant with good vigour. Since the late 1900s, roses have come a long way from the older ones which just had to look nice and have a fragrance even though they were riddled with rose diseases. My attitude is..if you can afford a landscaper, then you can certainly afford new roses or for that matter any other plants. It also reflects well on you as the new plants will do much better.
In regards to Zepherine. I am sure many of the rose books are written by people who just copy from other or older rose books as there are many myths in them. Zepherine will grow in partial shade but she won't bloom well. This rose is also very prone to black spot in the sun so you can imagine what she gets in partial shade! Yes she is thornless but there are much better roses for partial shade. By the way, partial shade in rose terms is defined by all day long filtered sun or 4 hours of full sun.  
Hybrid Musk roses do well in partial shade and the best are Felicia, Moonlight, Cornelia and Prosperity. Except for Cornelia which tends to be floppy, all grow to about 6 feet and bend over at the top, plus thereare always flowers on them. Noisettes are another class which also do okay in partial shade and have a strong scent.
Again depending what zone you are in, these hybrid teas will not cause you any problems as all are vigorous and have good disease resistance.
Elina
Frederick Minstral
Ingrid Bergman
Royal William
Sunset Celebration
Touch of Class
Valencia
Good disease resistant floribundas are
Gene Boerner
Tournament of Roses
Sun Sprite
Any of the Romantica series by Meidiland
David Austin which are okay but may still (again depending where you are)get a little black spot. Choose Austins carefully as they can be a pain to grow. These are the best and most disease free plus they have a very strong scent.
Abraham Darby
A Shrophire Lad
Heritage
Charles Austin
James Galway
Jude the Obscure
Molineux
St. Swithian
Sweet Juliet
William Shakespeare 2000
Good climbers are
Dublin Bay
New Dawn
Autumn Sunset
Westerland
Aloha
Gold Star
High Hopes
Meg beautiful HUGE single flowers but only blooms once
Parade
Rosy Mantle
Sympathie
Ramblers
Alberic Barbier
Francois Juranville
Gardenia
This will give you a base to go on. This is not just my opinion. it is the opinion of many rose books plus the largest rose forum on the web.
If you want to see what the roses look like most are on my web site which I am re-doing.
http://pages.zdnet.com/lynnette/