I think our weather is similar to yours although your summers are probably a little warmer than mine since I live at a higher elevation. I have 2 one-year-old Cinderella Fairy Tales. They performed beautifully last summer. Vigorous growth, clean foliage, lots of flowers (no fragrance). They were about 3 ft tall & 2 ft wide by the end of summer. I purchased them from Palatine so they are not own root. I do very little to winter protect my roses. Just an extra shovel full or two of dirt over the base of the canes. I don't want roses in my garden that are going require major work in the late fall. I bury the crown about 4 inches deep. This past winter was a very bad one for roses. Lots of prolonged below zero weather with many periods of ice and thaw towards spring. We had several big snows but nothing that lasted long enough to provide good protection for the roses. During the coldest periods, snow cover was no more than 3-4 inches. To top it off, rabbits used my roses as their personal salad bowl and girdled almost every rose cane. I had to prune most of my roses down to ground. Luckily, 3 canes of my Cinderella Fairy Tales escaped the rabbits so I'm able to report that they were unaffected by the winter weather. I did prune them back to shape the bush and the pith was still creamy white. They have bounced back well, have regained a lot of their height and are sending up new canes from the crown. If they hadn't survived the rabbits, I would have replaced them because they were so beautiful and easy care.

Ceterum, last year was really hot and dry, nevertheless, I am still pretty sure that Pomponella does not have problem with balling. I have noticed no side effects of rain and dew. The blooms do not have any fragrance (HMF says 'mild'.. maybe but not to my nose). My roses were planted in March last year (huge bareroots from Palatine, to begin with), at the end of season they have grown lots of new canes, and the bushes were about 5' x 5'. Also, I would like to mention that canes are very strong and sturdy. The blooms are pretty, but I find them a little bit small compared to the complexion of the bush... or, maybe I should prune my bushes more after the bloom cycle.

I grow most of the Kordes Fairy Tale roses and have found them to be very healthy here in zone 4/5 New Hampshire. I no longer spray my roses and most moderns will get some blackspot and occasional mildew by mid to late summer here without any prevention. My Kordes Fairy Tale roses show above-average disease resistance here. I grow: Floral Fairy Tale, Elegant Fairy Tale, Lion's Fairy Tale, Caramel Fairy Tale, Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale, Sister's Fairy Tale and Pomponella Fairy Tale. I also added some of Kordes newer roses and have found them to be wonderful too. Those include Larissa, Zaide, Cream Veranda, Lupo, and Big Fruitilia. None of the above roses are fragrant, but I'm willing to trade scent for healthy roses. Another thing I'm a fan of is how GLOSSY the leaves on these newer Kordes are. Even the leaves are beautiful! Celeste

I have not grown Cinderella Fairy Tale. I only grew Morden Blush for 2-3 years--I got really into fragrance and this one doesn't make the cut for that-- but it had good disease resistance no spray (not perfect but good enough,) some shade tolerance, and set decorative orange hips. A lot to recommend it, really, and now that I've moved and need a few landscape pinks I might consider it again. MB should be more cold hardy (MB was bred for cold hardiness--listed down to zone 2b.) MB sounds like a smaller bush than CFT--I don't think MB grew over 4 feet in zone 7b and it was compact/narrow upright, not arching/spreading. MB didn't stand out as being esp. thorny, but I don't think I ever cut one for a vase.