Rosa hugonis, primula, or another one of the early yellows.

Absolutely no contest.

R. primula is quite lovely and seems to be a bit hardier than R. hugonis. Some impressive thorns though (pictured on HelpMeFind). :)

I saw a large FJ Grootendorst at Descanso Gardens in CA that everyone was taking photos of. They had trimmed it so that it looked like a small tree. Slender below and expanding out to a big wide parasol of foliage and blooms. Incredible sight. I don't know if it was trained on a frame or not.

well I am afraid I am also going the same route as Mads....only I want to also suggest Nevada or a moyesii. Moyesii 'geranium' is smaller than most and has stature, heft and, after the stunning blooms, it has HEPS - what is not to like. Regarding the early yellows, I have R.cantabridgiensis which, at this moment, is changing colour and looking stupendous with ferny foliage which is fine enough to catch the sum through the leaves. As a group, many species roses have considerable more grace than any shrubby blobby hybrid - a sweetbriar such as Amy Robsart looks marvellous, to my mind....or there is nutkana plena....oh I could go on....and on....at great tedious length - I am sure you can see where I am going.

um, sorry Zaphod, beating my favourite drum as usual - ignore 'shrubby blobby hybrids'- get a bit carried away. but hey, a picture
{{gwi:300010}}
Moyesii - looking scruffy at my allotment.

I second Rosa hugonis, , primula, or another one of the early yellows, they have a very pleasing architecture many roses just do not have, and although they do terrible here disasese wise, the Moyesii 'geranium' is also similar in having a unique architecture and unique color would probably be amazing in your climate too.

In fact you'd think you'd see these type of roses being sold instead of some of other once flowering spring bloomers like the flowering quinces and forsythia other sorta stuff that people continue to plant but are not attractive out of bloom at all. These species serve the same function as many of those but are BETTER due to their foliage (primula gives off an incense scent too) and fall color and often black or red hips.

ISPAHAN does bloom a very long time and is very gorgeous, though from what I've seen of how people treat it they sorta let it go wild and scramble about and flop over a fence or somewhere it can be super languid and appropriately unbridled sort of the pillar treatment. I think one of the species will get much more attention.

R. hugonis flora pleno is a double hugonis
ALSO look into the spinosissima hybrids Hazeldean and Suzanne, Suzanne is pink just like Ispahan. Hazeldean did not do well here, but out where you are it probably would be happier as it's colder and not as hot.

Rugosa hybrid 'Mrs. Anthony Waterer' might be nice too, there's a gorgeous stand alone shrub on HMF at the Columbus Park of Roses.

What about Gros Choux d'Hollande?

Here is a link that might be useful: whole-plant image of young Gros Choux d'Hollande at HelpMeFind

I have to thank you guys on the recommendation of the species roses. I wouldn't have gone that way on my own. No experience with them...so far. I'm particularly drawn to the yellows.

R. spinosissima - Largest blooms, super hardy, maybe a little narrow per HMF's estimate. Color is white though.

R. cantabrigiensis - The size range freaks me out a bit as it swings from 6.5 ft to 16 ft. 6.5 ft would be perfect. I may dismiss this option due to uncertainty.

R. hugonis - Still a little on the tall side, also the least hardy of the bunch.

R. primula - Size estimates sit in the sweet spot. Smallest of the bloom sizes.

The hub asked my to change my planned planting location, so now its will be next to my Hansa. Shape and size are a bit more important. I'm leaning slightly to R. primula with R. spinosissima as the runner up.

Any advice narrowing down the four choices?

Hi Zaphod42: Check out this thornless red bush that Paul Barden raved "This is one of the BEST garden shrubs I have ever grown: rounded, full foliage, no disease and bountiful bloom. Highly recommended." It's thornless "My Stars" bush by Ralph Moore, with bright red single-petals, perfect round shrub. Ralph Moore's "Gina Rose" is similar to "My Starts", also thornless, but red with a touch of pink.

See the link below for "My Stars" thornless bush and Paul Barden's comment:

Here is a link that might be useful: Paul Barden on

I will follow others.
Primula, Hugonis or Canary Bird. Nothing can beat early yellows here. They are hardy, fragrant, early, very healthy and bushes are very graceful. Thorns are not so bad as some pictured at HMF.
Moyesii is terrible here in terms of BS. Looks great ,but not healthy.
Olga

There are yellow spins as well as the absolutely gorgeous single cherry...but they do stay smaller than the xanthina/primulas. On the plus side for the spins, they have a lovely mounding, almost unnaturally perfectly topiaried shape but, unless you went for a spin hybrid, they are small(ish).
True, Cantab will get to around 8 feet although it has the largest blooms of the yellows but it does have fantastic autumn colours too.
Sadly, white seems unacceptable...which is a shame as I had a brainwave - there are few roses more glorious than the fabulous Louis Riel (I think Pickering has it) - a hybrid between the glorious R.glauca and a spinossisima. I have coveted this rose for years as it really has EVERYTHING, especially the most stunning foliage. At least have a look before dismissing whites/palest pinks. It may be a little large but it is amenable to cutting and shaping and can be kept quite neat (the spins, as a class, have a lovely symmetry and rounded voluptuousness).

Found this image online. Beautiful.

How is the Plena different than the standard R. spinosissima?

As a purely hypothetical question....what if a person bought both the R. primula and the R. spinosissima? Would they go next to each other? And, hypothetically, how long do you think it would take the average husband to notice that his wife doubled the number of roses they said they were going to purchase? Hypothetically, of course.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rosa spinosissima 'Plena'

Primula and spinossissima will bloom at different time. At least this is my experience. Usually approx 3 weeks difference. Primula is done with flowers when spinossissimas start to bloom. I have both, but if I had to choose onw, I would choose primula.
Olga

Speaking of husbands do you mean notice in the garden or in a bank statement :)? If you mean in the garden, my husband will never notice. He just does not go outside. I can plant two dozens or just one.

olga

If your husband isn't a gardener, I would say the answer would be "never". Unlike Olga's husband, mine does go outside. He appreciates the garden as a whole and willingly digs and waters, but as for knowing what rose is where he doesn't have a clue. I would say you're pretty safe.

Ingrid

bake a (large) pie, then simply confess. All will be well.

Your husband will notice the 'Plena' very soon, it suckers like crazy and will fill your yard if you don't control it from the beginning with some sort of barrier. I inherited two large thickets and it's impossible to count the individual roses in them. The largest patch is now 6 x 14 metres (20 x 45 ft). We cut the grass next to it on one side (and forbid the grandkids to walk barefoot there) and pull the suckers in the gravel on the other side, but it's a hopeless struggle. The neighbours fight it on their side. It is a dream in June, a scented cloud of double white blossoms. The foliage is nice too, just now starting to turn russet, maroon and greyish violet.

The best freestanding shrub in my own garden is Rosa californica plena but the most beautiful large shrub is my friend Helena's Wasagaming. Her pictures are on HMF. It reblooms well and gets hips.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wasagaming

In my climate most of these become much (much!)larger than 5 by 5 so I guess I can mention my favorite, which may not get too large for you. This would be Wolley Dod's Rose (AKA Duplex). It could be my favorite rose period. It is disease free and looks beautiful in bloom and not. Another idea is Rosa Glauca. The foilage and hips are so pretty.

Will the r. primula sucker like that as well?

My primula does not produce suckers, but it is grafted from Pickering. My Hugonis is own root, but does not sucker too.
Olga

Sorry, posted too fast. My primula is from Hortico, not from Pickering.
Olga

Swamp rose is a once bloomer, and looks quite nice when it's not in bloom. It may be a little larger than you want, though.

also, it appears there are primulas and primulas - various clones seem to lack the incense scentof the foliage (or my nose just fails on this one) Some folk swear theirs is a strong as a buddhist temple whereas other (me) can detect nothing. If you decide to go with these yellow springtime roses, then I would have to say that hugonis would be my choice because it can be grown with a 'leg' and actually limbed up to make a very good freestanding specimen whereas many of the species roses make clumps (and in the canse of the spins, they often have no detectable lower limbs at all, just a rather cushiony soft mound (like a hebe or juniper - of course, this is one of the reasons why I love their density). Annoyingly, there are a number of glorious Canadian roses not easily aquired over here (apart from Ormiston Roy). These, while having spins in the parentage, benefit from a degree of manipulation (although a smidgeon of hardiness can be lost). A common, but very beautiful rose is Shepherd's Golden Wings which will be recurrent and also hardy in your zone. If only I could get my mitts on Beauty of leafland and Hazledean or even Suzanne.....In europe, Doorenbos bred a couple of interesting roses although they are getting hard to find (still trying to get my hands on a good Doorenbos selection). Oh yeah, just remembered the lovely yellow Aicha....
You may well find that this is the beginning of a new exploration into the joys of wildling roses (obviously, I am a mighty fan) - for all round grace and vigour, they have never been matched, even though some hybrids come close (the fruhling series, which might not manage zone 4 and the likes of Karl Foerster)
I am shouting now - LOUIS RIEL.
Have fun choosing and hope it does not get out of hand )although you won't be sorry if it does).

Kakwa very winter hardy hybrid Spinosissima white semi double reaches about 6 ft in Brooklyn by 4 wide a beautiful freestanding once bloomer. If more folks saw it in bloom it would be very popular!
I second Louis Riel beautiful smokey blue foliage!