Thanks, Karen. How would you rate Cinderella for beauty and impact in the garden? What's your favorite shrub rose of similar size?

Both the foliage and clusters of perfect pink blooms make a lovely impact in the garden. Cinderella can send some long canes out later in the season, but on the whole stays at or below 4' tall. She's two years old - perhaps she'll get taller as she gets older? She has a higher bloom count and quicker rebloom than a number of my other shrubs - more like a floribunda (i.e. Day Breaker, Easy Does It, Royal Wedding, which bloom throughout the summer in my garden). My favorite shrub rose of similar size? That's a tough one - Munstead Wood is way up there, as is William Shakespeare 2000, Queen of Sweden, Quietness, Lambert Closse, Square Dancer. Hmmm - that's a tough one - guess I'd have to say Munstead Wood because I'm so in love with those deep purple heavily petaled blooms. I'm also very impressed with my first year Princess Alexandra of Kent (amazing blooms!) and Lady of Shalott. I'll have to watch them for another year for hardiness & disease resistance, but they are quite remarkable. Oh, and I don't want to forget the lovely Kordes' Summer Memories. Sorry, Mike. I'm not much help, am I?

Thanks, Karen. I notice you didn't mention 'Prairie Joy'. Is that because it's a bit larger? I actually want a shrub that's around 6 ft or so. Have you any thoughts on the Mike Lowe rose, 'Friends Forever'?

Prairie Joy is wonderful, but does get taller for me (about 5 feet). I'm not familiar with 'Friends Forever', but love the name!

Mike,

Jasmina has comparable winter hardiness to Lavender Lassie here. Which means it has above average hardiness in cold zones and improved disease resistance to LL.

Cinderella fairytale is very hardy also. In zone 5, expect approx. 50% (-10/15%) cane loss in an average winter. Less dieback in warmer winters and a little more in harsh ones. It also gets more cane hardier the more it is established. Oh, and as Karen said already, very fast repeating and great disease resistance.

Hope that helps.

If you google the Kordes Roses of Germany (you can choose an english version of their brochure) you will find great information about the newer roses. They rate most of the roses with a 4 star system for resistance to powdery mildew & downy mildew, and separately for blackspot. Also, they use a variety of bs strains to test their roses, so you are more likely to find it actually is resistant to your local strain.

The fairytale roses are based on the same sort of breeding new-with-old-roses to produce more of an old type blossom and bushier plant that David Austin has done in England. So sizes vary. The brochure does list most of the Fairy Tale roses as floribundas.

Kordes have breeding programs for cutting roses, disease resistant climbing roses, landscape roses and container roses as well as hybrid teas and shrubs, but all newer roses have a primary emphasis on disease resistance because of the new no-spray program of the nursery.

I would heartily endorse Kordes roses too - they truly do prioritise disease resistance unlike some breeders who certainly pay lip service to the concept while failing to fully engage with gardeners increasing willingness to avoid pesticides. Jasmina is a lovely, healthy and vigorous rose, growing well on a pillar as it has great flexibility.

Cinderella balls spetacularly here. In our last wet spell, all the flowers balled up, roted, and all of the buds eventually dropped off. But when the whether cooperate, it is a lovely rose, with a very refreshing fragrance. I grow it side by side with Mustead Wood. I second what Karen said above about Mustead Wood. Right now, Mustead Wood is ready to start its second flush: it has two beautiful, fragrant flowers and a dozen or so buds. Cinderella is still recovering from all the ballings, and with zero bud in sight.

Thanks for all the help. What I'm wanting is two fairly tall pink roses for either side of my garage door. I bought two plants of Cinderella last year and they are remarkably healthy, absolutely free of blackspot with no spraying and survived our unusually mild Winter with zero dieback, but they are just too pale a pink for what I want. I may try Jasmina next but what I really wish is that Rogue Valley Roses would get off their duffs and restock 'Friends Forever'.

Martina Mondidari/Carole Bouquet? Mine is new this year from Palatine, and it's a vigorous beast. Yes, she's a graft, but she's larger than any other grafted rose I've ever put in and didn't start out that way. She was tiny when she arrived and already over 4 feet tall.

So far the growth habit appears to upright, leaves are a lovely deep green against true, clear, pink blooms. I love Bride's Dream for the same reasons, but Martina is less pale. The first 3 photos on HMF are mine; the 2nd is closest to what I'd call her true color out in sunlight. Her scent is lovely & the disease resistance appears to be very good so far.

Mike,

How tall do you want the roses on either side of the garage to become? I'd go with Rosanna over Jasmina personally, but an older Kordes variety, Rosarium Uetersen may also be a great choice for you. Might want to check out 'Zaide' as well.

Carefree Beauty would also be another good choice, but depends what kind of size and growth habit you are looking for.

I planted a Kiss Me Kate as a short climber for our porch, slightly deeper, but still soft, pink with a wondergul frafrance.