Bolero is my favorite of the group. It is a heavy bloomer, is quite healthy but best of all it opens even in our worst weather. Has never reached 3 feet here most likely because she doesn't stop blooming long enough to grow.

Cream Veranda is my next vote. Very healthy and a heavy bloomer. The only fault here is it does ball in very wet weather. Maybe she just needs more fertilizer.

Golden Buddha I shovel pruned long ago for disease issues.

Have never had Sequoia Gold.

Another short favorite here is own root Floral Fairy Tale. A beautiful, healthy and prolific blooming rose. In another thread on here those who had this rose grafted saw taller sizes. Those who had it own root seemed to all have a shorter version.

It seems odd to me that 'Golden Buddha' had disease for you, because for me it's my cleanest rose in a no-spray NJ garden. Since it's the only one of the bunch which I have, I'll tell you about mine -- it stays rather short, blooms in waves every few weeks, has an apricot fragrance, fades to off-white after a couple of days but keeps its form for a week or so before petals crumple, and (for me) seems immune to blackspot but may get a touch of mildew when it's that time of year (such as about right now).

:-)

~Christopher

Moses, you know if you log in on Gardenweb you'll hear a variety of responses that will just complicate your life! I grow all the ones you mention except Sequoia Gold, and by far the most frequent bloomer is Cream Veranda. Never out of bloom and often covered. It also stays reliably short (knee high) though I can't comment on the fragrance since I have a poor rose nose. It's not highly fragrant however. I agree that the Floral Fairy Tale and the rest of the series (Elegant Fairy Tale, Kosmos Fairy Tale) are reliably heavy bloomers that stay short, but they may also have limited fragrance.

Closely following is Golden Buddha and I don't see any particular disease trouble with him. The color is intriguingly mutable and it might have some fragrance. Bolero is more "meh" for me and not a frequent bloomer. Paloma Blanca (a Buck rose) is better for me and hardier to boot. I think if you want fragrance in a white Pope John Paul is better, and mine at least stays shorter than advertised.

Have fun

Cynthia

Cynthia, thanks for your excellent advice. You've got me curious about the merits of Paloma Blanca. Can you give me a rundown of its merits? Thanks, again!

Sure, glad to be helpful! The pros of Paloma Blanca are rock-solid hardiness in my zone 4 pocket of the yard, blooms off and on all season, fairly large clusters of bloom, and a nice clean white color. I like the form of the rose in the early and mid stages, though it does open up like a lot of roses do once the blooms are mature. I don't see any particular disease pressure from blackspot on mine either, but I don't tend to notice blackspot sometimes. These photos are from various times of the year and I don't see significant BS on any of them. PB is a fairly compact bush and stays under 4', perhaps as low as 3' some years.

Cons include a noticeable browning of the edges on this rose under many conditions. Mine is in part sun so it's probably not sunburned crisping, and I don't see evidence of thrips on my other roses in the area. Also, I can't detect any scent, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have one (I can rarely smell most roses).

Here's the closest thing I have to a whole bush shot. You notice the yews to the right are trimmed off to about 4' and Paloma Blanca doesn't come close to the top. The dwarf daylily in the shot is under 2' high.

This one shows the blooms a little more closely, in more or less typical form for this rose.

Now here's the browning I was talking about on an otherwise nice spray. Obviously not all the blooms brown at the edges and back, but enough to be noticeable before the bloom is really spent, at least when you get the blooms close up. I don't think of PB as a cutting rose, for this among other reasons, including form.

At its best, it can have a nice center to the bloom, with clean lines.

Bottom line is I quite like this rose, but Cream Veranda still blows it out of the water for frequency of bloom, and both are equally hardy. If you're wanting the pure white tones though, PB is a good rose.

Cynthia

Cynthia, thank you for the great info about Paloma Blanca. I wish I had tried it a few years back instead of Macy's Pride, another white rose of somewhat the same order as PB. Macy's Pride got shovel pruned a few years ago. Its flowers were not really attractive to me like PB's appear to be from your photos. I have a strong leaning toward white roses. They make a rose garden look noble and refined. I can't have enough white roses.

You know, Buck roses like PB are not quite as popular as they were just 10 years ago. I tried about 10 Buck roses over the years with only Quietness and Aunt Honey remaining in my garden. Quietness still thrills me to this day. Buck was quite a remarkable man, his accomplishments were considerable considering he did not have a rose industry behind him. It shows you what one determined person can do if they keep at it.

CV flowers like crazy, and always having some blooms on it

Have to agree with you farmerduck - CV is an absolute workhorse and they don't get much better than that! None of the winter dieoff we get with Knockout roses either.

Moses, glad you enjoyed the views of Paloma Blanca. The blooms do get a bit frumpy toward the end of the cycle, but I have Macy's Pride too and I know what you mean. Even in a better spot, it would be a filler rose. I dearly love some Easy Elegance roses (like Sweet Fragrance) but I also have immense respect for Buck and his independent campaign to breed roses for our kinds of cold climates. If you don't have Earth Song, it's one of his best roses and a real workhorse as well. Honeysweet is also quite intriguing in the flower form and coloring. I have about 20 of his roses and I love growing roses from a near "neighbor" from Iowa.

Cynthia

Another vote for Cream Veranda. Its just a super bloomer. It always has buds or blooms on it. I just recently replaced on that I lost (moved it to a pot that it wasnt happy in and it died on me) and I have to say, its even more stunning than I remember it being. I don't think you could go wrong with Cream Veranda.