They're entirely different.
Different shades of pink. Different growth habits. Different flower form. Different petal texture.

It's like apples and oranges, to be honest.

Jeri

So they are exactly the same then? :)

I can see that SDLM is a lighter pink and Pink GaA is a medium pink? How is the growth habit different?

Someone described SDLM as a pasty flesh colored rose. Not the most alluring description I'll grant you but having seen it a number of times it did fit the description somewhat(maybe I'm watching too much CSI). Pink GAA is a prettier shade of pink IMHO.

Jeri is right, these two are like comparing apples and oranges. I can describe how they perform in my garden with my climate. Hopefully that will help.

Once established, say 3 or 4 years, Souvenir de la Malmaison has the constitution of a pit bull. It's absolutely the toughest, sturdiest, rose bush I've ever grown. Its canes are thick, rigid, and if you ever fell into the bush by accident, it would eat you alive like a pit bull with its sturdy thorns, and it would never even break one of its canes. And for me, it's unbelievably healthy, but SdlM is widely know to be near perfect for the climate here. It's a heat seeking missile during our brutal summers. It thrives on it, and nothing can stop it from blooming. Its blooms are the stuff dreams are made of, and they are extremely durable, even during our summer in full sun. In the fall, this rose will blow you away once established. You will harvest lots of perfect cut roses for indoor vases at that time of year. This rose wants to grow, demands to grow, in full sun. To my nose, its fragrance is a powdery smell, and I can always smell it. It is more strongly fragrant than Pink Gruss, and their two scents are nothing at all alike. The color ranges from blush to light pink, depending on how hot it is. No Texan should garden without it because it's so well adapted here & the blooms are so beautiful. It grows wider than tall, but over several years here, can reach 5 ft tall. Roses that ball drive me insane. For example, Clotilde Soupert, Paul Neyron, & Archiduchesse Elisabeth d'Autriche infuriate me during the spring. But in my garden, Souvenir de la Malmaison does NOT have a balling problem. It is very rare to ever see a balled rose on my specimen of SdlM, even during the spring. Obviously, the right climate means everything to SdlM. It's the difference between an ideal rose and a disaster.

With all the fine characteristics mentioned above, it would be logical that I should like SdlM more than Pink Gruss an Aachen. But I don't. It's just a personal thing with Pink Gruss ... it is by far my favorite rose. The bush is much more china-like to me, with its canes and branches being twiggy and relatively thin. Because of this, its blooms nod more than SdlM. In both bush and bloom, it is far more delicate than SdlM. But with that delicacy comes gracefulness. Its blooms do not last as long as SdlM and they are not very good for cutting. My nose is crazy about the scent of Pink Gruss. It's a very soft, fresh fragrance and it's perfect to me. When conditions are right, it can float on the breeze (as can SdlM). You will note that many varying comments are made by people on the scent of the Gruss roses. Some say it's deliciously scented (like me, Graham Stuart Thomas, & David Austin), others say its not very well scented at all (like Carrie from this forum and Liz Druitt). I suppose you will not know until you try to smell it yourself. During cool weather of spring & fall, the blooms on Pink Gruss are very large and look very "old rose" to me ... just perfect. During the heat of summer, the blooms are somewhat smaller and do not last nearly as long as the blooms on SdlM. In my garden, Pink Gruss is more susceptible to the occasional blackspot breakout than SdlM. But it always shakes it off, keeps on blooming, and is a reasonably resistant rose in my garden compared to most other roses.

I've grown SdlM & Pink Gruss for years, and Pink Gruss is much, much easier to incorporate into a small garden. Even over several years, the plant maintains a dwarf-like shape, even with little pruning. And the fact that Pink Gruss is very nearly thornless is most appreciated in tight quarters.

They're both among my all time favorites.

Randy

I forgot that you asked for a bloom color comparison. As for bloom size, in the cool fall both these roses can produce blooms that are as large as 5 inches wide. But Pink Gruss' blooms will get smaller during the hot summer.

Randy

The color on Pink Gruss is a blend of various soft shades of pink, often including salmon pink. The buds on PGaA are not impressive, but the blooms that open up from them DO impress me:
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The bloom color on Souvenir de la Malmaison is more of a solid blush to light pink, with much less color blending than Pink Gruss. They are almost always perfectly formed, large, and jam-packed with petals. Typically, the color is a lighter shade than Pink Gruss. The buds are things of beauty in their own right ... large, soft pink, cotton-ball-like things that look ready to burst open into the perfect bloom.
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Well they are both smallish plants with pinkish flowers, one with an amazing if not overpowering fragrance (SDLM) and one with nearly zero fragrance (PGaG).

SDLM has many more (and thinner) petals, and mildews more, and the flowers tend to be ruined by a lot of rain. PGaG doesn't mildew much, handles rain better and is a shorter plant (3') than SDLM (4'+).

Flower form is quartered rosette (SDLM) vs shallow cupped (PGaG).

SDLM has a very pale pink color, PGaG is light-bordering-on-medium-pink, sometimes with touches of coral.

Both always have a least a few flowers on them.

Both are easy to root.

Hardiness and BS resistance are not an issue here.

Both are ones I have tucked into small spaces where there is insufficient room for larger roses.

PGaG is to me both reliable and charming, while SDLM is merely ravishingly gorgeous.

Thanks to everyone, especially Randy, for that fabulous comparison. I think Pink GaA will work better for this particular spot, but I will most certainly try SDLM in a different spot in the future.

Randy, I so enjoyed your descriptions of these 2 beautiful roses. I just received my order from Vintage which included 3 Pink GaAs to go with the two I already have. I just love it! I should probably get SdlM, too. I did have a tiny baby last March but it got PM and died so I've stayed away from it.

Thanks for the passionate prose.

Sherry

Randy - that's a GORGEOUS picture of SDLM! Now I'm tempted in getting this rose.

Sherry, I am really glad to year you are enjoying your Pink Gruss an Aachens. I keep trying other roses, but PGaA is still my favorite of all. I guess that's why I have 5 of them in my garden.

Jimmy, SdlM is a stunner.

I like what hoovb said above ..."PGaA is to me both reliable and charming, while SDLM is merely ravishingly gorgeous."

I guess I like stuff that is "reliable and charming", because Pink Gruss is "my" rose :-)

Randy

I just pruned all my roses and am going to try to root my Pink Gruss clippings for my newly expanded front bed. Randy was the reason I got Pink Gruss. I already had the reg Gruss & loved it. The pink Gruss is wonderful as is the incomparable SdlM. My SdlM is going in another expanded bed with a few other compact bourbons. I love the compact bourbons and the Grusses! Now Randy, if we could only get our hands on that White Gruss Cupshaped showed us last summer! :o)

Adrienne

Randy how big does your SdlM get? I have a huge empty wide open spot, full sun, in part of my backyard that I'd love to plunk a heat tolerant rose in. I should probably put a tree there but it's so darn rocky it'd take days to dig a hole big enough to plunk a tree into.

Adrienne, I hear you, I would take a Gruss rose in any color that it comes in, including white!

Michelle, after about three years in my garden, my SdlM showed that it is really a mid-sized rose rather than a small rose in this climate. Mine wants to be about 5 ft or maybe even 6 ft tall by 6 ft wide, if I would allow it. It would be the happiest if I would let it get that big, but I planted it in the wrong place to let it get that big, so I prune the crud out of it, and it has been okay with that. But, like I said, it doesn't get that big until after perhaps four years. It just seems super-happy here for some reason. No other rose that I grow handles the summer heat as well (as long as you keep it watered).

Randy

Perfect Randy, thanks! I just went out and bought her at my local garden center. The space that I have is big and empty is about 20'x20' and full sun. Even the bermuda grass thinks it's too bright there (I hate that dang grass). I'll just water the heck out of it.
Wouldn't you know they had Black Bacarra at the garden center too and she just hoped on to my cart. Evil little plant. I have a much less sunny place for her though, don't want it getting faded in our blazing Texas sun.

I think you will be a happy camper, Michelle.
SdlM will take the first year dabbling her toes in your soil, making up her mind about her new home.
The next year, she will start rockin & rollin.

Randy

Does anyone have the climbing version of GaA? I think I would be thrilled to have one, but would like to know others' opinions and where they got theirs.
Thanks.

Sherry