Martha Gonzalez, a found China rose from Texas, is said to be good for this purpose in the Deep South, but I haven't grown it.

I was astonished! On Friday our Lowe's had cart loads of Martha Gonzalez! I would have been tempted but I am pretty full. (Hmm, maybe in a pot.) Maybe your Lowe's has/can get them.

I was going to suggest The Fawn. Mine is young but completely green with pretty pink flowers in clusters. I also have two young Red Cascades held up in a tomato cage. Lots of little teensy red flowers. I believe it's a ground cover as well as miniature climber.

Sherry

I am in zone 9, although we have dry summers, not have the humidity I presume you have. I have found the polyantha Little White Pet to be very reliable - in my garden it gets about 2 1/2 feet tall, is clean, and blooms forever with small perfect white blooms and a profusion of small dark green leaves. HMF says the tallest it gets is 3 feet. I also have a great groundcover rose called Snow on the Heather, which is about 12-18 inches tall, spreads to 2-3 feet, and has teeny tiny white flowers.

Jackie

'minima' is a very very small china rose.
Also 'Hermosa' is a asmall china, lovely pink.
Another small china rose is 'Alice Hoffman'.

And last but not least 'Louis XIV', dark red-black flowers, scented (quite unusual for china roses).

Thanks to all who responded - I have looked up the roses you suggested, and am very pleased with your advice.

Jackie - Question: Does Snow on the Heather have another name? I can't find it on the web.

thanks,
Avalon

Avalon, SO SORRY! I gave you the wrong name. The rose I was thinking of is called "Arctic Sunrise" (miniature used for ground cover - Barrett, 1991). It is on Help Me Find, but there is only one close up picture of the blooms, from which you can't tell either their size, or the size or growth habit of the plant. However, it is as I described it above - the flowers are tiny but gorgeous, and it is about 12-18 inches high, and it spreads to 2-3 feet wide. Mine were planted (on their own roots) about 15 years ago, and are just coming into bloom now - they are great.

(Just so you know, there is a low growing bush rose called Snow on the Heather, but it is a single white, sort of floppy thing which gets about 3 feet high. It is also called Heideschnee (Kordes, 1991).

Jackie

I just figured out that I have 'Arctic Sunrise.' It is a rose I picked up at Heirloom Roses as a bargain-bin rose--the tag was lost. I have grown it in a pot for 3 or 4 years and just this year put it in the ground. It has a very interesting habit... it's fall now and it's putting out "runners"--branches that are 2-3 feet long and absolutely flat on the ground. I can't wait until next spring when each leaf node is going to grow a branch with a cluster of small white blooms. At first I thought it was 'Green Snake' because of the habit, absolutely flat. I dug around the other listings on HR and this is the one I think it is. Some of the bloom clusters are huge, though the individual flowers are small, you can get 30 of them on a branch.

Here is a link that might be useful: Listing of 'Arctic Sunrise' on Heirloom Roses site.

Ok, I don't grow it, but the mini Sweet Chariot might be good for this. Purple, very fragrant blooms, repeats, and is a bit of a weepy sprawler.

I want one...

I have Drift Roses, they are great--- Chamblee's carries them, also HD...much to my surprise..... HD had several colors for less than $10. so I got 5 of them, another great thing, they don't get BS and also resist the Chili Thrips.....they stay quite low, less than 2 feet, mostly abt. 1 or 1 and 1/2 feet, always blooming..... sally

Here is a picture of my bed with Arctic Sunrise (the white rose) in it.

Interestingly, in the same bed is an almost identical rose, except that it is raspberry colored. I ordered both of them at the same time 20 years ago from Heirloom in OR. My records say that the raspberry colored one is 'Nazomi', but all of the pics of Nazomi on HMF show a much bigger bush with pale pink blooms. Mine has always been the dark raspberry color, and has always had an identical look and habit to Arctic Sunrise. So, I guess I lucked out and got a misidentified rose that was a much better fit for what I was looking for! Now I have a new mystery rose to identify - how fun!

Jackie

My favorite edging rose is Little White Pet, we got ours from hortico.com on rootstock and it blooms and blooms and blooms, in great abundance.

I've heard great things about 'The Gift' which is not only white and pretty ,but fragrant and forms pretty little hips.

Lux.

Carpet rose: http://www.tesselaar.com/plants/flower-carpet-roses/

I've recently planted Borderer and Suitor, which grow to 18" and 12" acc to HMF. I generally find my roses grow to double the size they give. HMF says both roses only go to 9b, but I am in 10a or b. They're Australian bred, by the same man (Alister Clark) who bred Lorraine Lee, which HMF says also only goes to 9b, but Lorraine Lee used to be a stalwart in Sydney gardens, so I'm hopeful. Borderer is in flower, and very pretty. Suitor is smothered in a ridiculous number of buds. My camera broke, and I have a mobile that belongs in a museum, or I'd post a photo. Both are available in the US. Good luck with whatever you plant.
Trish.

Well, I take back what I said about Borderer. Today we had our first hot day of Spring (86), and the blooms that were so pretty this morning are now fried to a crisp. 3 or 4 of Suitor's buds have opened, and they are unaffected.

This post was edited by titian1 on Sun, Oct 5, 14 at 1:59