Depends on what you mean "part sun"? Roses need at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight to bloom well. They may grow and bloom some what in less but certainly not prolifically

A pink rose named Quietness is very hardy and blooms very well for me. It is not constantly in bloom but repeats very quickly. Another good one is the bright red Home Run. It usually has a few blooms open all the time and is very hardy as well. I believe it comes in pink now too. Julia Child is a yellow rose that blooms a lot for me too but may not be quite as hardy. There is of course the Knock Out series of roses that come in single, double, red, pink and other colors as well. They are supposed to be hardy but aren't always so look around your area and see if people grow them there successfully.

Many of the David Austin English roses are hardy in zone 5. Try Gertrude Jekyl and Evelyn if you want fragrance. Orchid Romance is a new rose by the Knockout guy. I am starting to look into Kordes roses.

I have quietness and it is great. Ebb Tide too. Also, the David Austin rose heritage is good but taller . Champlain is a bloomer but no scent. Rugosa roses have scent.
ROSES NEED ALL DAY SUN AND THEY NEED MORNING SUN.

This post was edited by sam4949 on Fri, Jan 16, 15 at 1:06

Ditto the sun concerns. For a some rose suggestions, see if you can find any of the Easy Elegance roses 4 sale in your area. Great disease resistance & good winter hardiness, may have some cane died back in the winter but they're on their own roots so just prune off dead stuff, fertilize & they'll come back nicely.

Thank you all for the suggestions everyone. The roses would get ~6-8 hours of sunlight, mostly after 10:00 a.m. I would be planting them inside of a circular, 7'x7' dwarf boxwood hedge.

After researching all of the suggestions above, I am trying to determine what would be the best for an inexperienced rose gardener: Double Red Knockout Roses or Kashmir Easy Elegance Roses? Has anyone compared these varieties? Is one more fragrant than the other, and does one need more light than the other? I seem to be drawn to red roses.

Knockout and Easy Elegance roses are not fragrant. Your best bets are Austin roses. See link below. You can request a free catalog. I order mine own root from Roses Unlimited. If you get grafted roses, plant the bud union 3 inches below the ground. Protect from rabbits with chickenwire or hardware cloth. I just weed, water and fertilize.

Here is a link that might be useful: David Austin Roses

Besides easy elegance roses of which I have many. You could look at kordes roses. Cream Veranda stays about 3x3 and in constant bloom. Three true reds that I have in that size are Home Run (not a Kordes), Kardinal Korlorscape and Milano. They are healthy and continuously in bloom.

Definitely stick with the Austins for zone 5. I have grown many of the red ones in my zone 5 gardens and have loved each and every one of them. There are a couple of other reds that I really enjoyed, Ramblin Red and Quadra, both are hardy and disease resistant.

Hope that helps. Have fun making your decision.

Valerie

I have heard that "Party Hardy" from Weeks is a good one, will check it out this spring...

Hi UncleHippy

Welcome to GW and there'll always be plenty of opinions for you to pick from in our responses here. In many cases, you have to decide between easy roses and highly fragrant roses, particularly if you like the "classic" rose shape (those are hybrid tea roses). Since you're asking about Knockout and EE roses, you know that these are more open flower shapes and indeed good for beginners. They should both be fine in the amount of sun you describe and equally easy to grow. In terms of impressiveness, I'd go with Kashmir. It has been thickly covered in blooms in a partly sunny spot in my yard, much better than my Double Knockout. Know that neither of these is consistently a "fire engine" red color - red as a gardening color varies a lot, and both of these tend toward the crimson side of the color scheme, though much redder than roses that are called hot pink.

I agree with Rick (predfern) that your best chance for easy roses that have some fragrance are the David Austin roses. There are some drop-dead gorgeous "red" Austins that tend toward the purple side of things - Munstead Wood, Darcey Bussell, and The Prince are all easy and compact good bloomers for me. The Austins that tend more like red (but none are remotely fire engine red) like Tess of the D'Ubervilles or maybe Tradescant are less frequent bloomers for me than the ones I listed in the purple range. The hardiness of Austins is good for most zone 5 regions, but it can vary depending on the part of the country you're in - the east coast gets more trouble with blackspot that can weaken a rose if severe, and that might lead you toward roses like Kashmir more often. If you let us know the general region where you live we can help more with that.

One compromise that you could consider about easy vs. fragrant roses is to plant low plants of frequent bloomers (like Kashmir) and then put a few more fragrant but stingier ones behind them (or between) so you get your hit of fragrance that way. It depends on how much room you have.

Bottom line though is not to be scared of planting roses and don't let people tell you they need fancy care or expensive food or spraying if you don't want it. The roses you describe should be tough for a zone 5 winter and not need much care, though every rose needs dead wood cut out of it and some trimming at least once a year (nothing including perennials and grass is "no-care" in a garden).

Have fun

Cynthia

Based on pics from various website, both Kashmir and Double knockout are beautiful but I prefer Kashmir better. I like the high centered flower shape of Kashmir and that dark red colour.

I am a big fan of D.A. roses but I haven't grown a true red D.A. rose yet. One thing to consider about most of D.A. roses is that they are water hogs. If water is an issue in your area, you may have to consider that. A few posters have explained it on this forum before that D.A. are bred in England and the English weather is definitely more rainy. It is very useful to know when you grow them.

Good luck and enjoy with whatever rose you choose. In the end, all roses are beautiful in its own way and it will grace your garden like no other plants will.

I think Benjamin Britten is one of the reddest Austins. At least that has been my experience. I have also grown Munstead Wood, Darcey Bussel, TRadescant, Tess d Uberville, The Prince, Hunter and a few more I can't remember their names. There are a wide variety to choose from. I love the Austins.

Valerie

I would not call David Austin roses "easy" to grow. Easy to me, means you don't have to spray them.

There are at least 2 varieties of the Easy Elegance roses that are nicely fragrant. I grow both of them. Neither are Red, though.
Kiss me- Pink
and
Sweet Fragrance- Apricot.
It is supossed to be a non spray rose, but I spray all of mine anyway.
Here is a pictue of Sweet Fragrance (The apricrot rose in the foreground)- It is one of my all time favorites because it blooms constantly and grows to 3-4 feet tall on neat well proportioned bushes with beautiful shiny leaves. Fragrance is a 7 out of 10. Not bad for easy care!

My Kashmirs are huge, 5' tall, first year own root plants. Love em, but not low!

Prolific, hardy, fragrant, compact, shade tolerant is a tall order.

My Iceberg roses tolerate afternoon sun and still bloom a lot. Sorry, not fragrant.

Sweet Fragrance is lovely, may have to give that a try.