What about a red China rose? Cramoisi Supérieur is not supposed to be too thorny. I haven’t grown it but check out comments section in HMF and folks in hUmid TX have and say it’s very disease resistant. Fragrance it pretty subjective so what one person detects another cannot, but since you say she has a good nose then several comments are about its fragrance. The only thing is in the warmer climates people are saying it gets large, but maybe someone in your climate has grown it. I have a large excel spreadsheet that I add to every time I read about an interesting rose with an entire section devoted to ‘low thorns’. So I just looked at my list when I saw your post.
Cramoisi Supérieur
https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.1355

I've no advice, but I want to say I hope I have a grand-daughter like you some day. heehee

You are so sweet and thoughtful.

I am immediately thinking Barcelona, but I do not know how it is for Thorns. Extremely fragrant beautiful color that stays small.

Crimson Glory has a fabulous fragrance and is the most beautiful color of red.

Like Tammy (above), I have no advice to give.

But I want to say I hope they breed a true red, highly (wafting, so it's detectable from GM's chair) fragrant, low thorn, reliably small, disease resistant rose soon. And if it also lets in the cat, that would be a plus.

It's a dark purple-ish red, not true red, but people seem to love it: https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.5024&tab=1

Well, Rifis, I did call it “The holy grail of red roses,” so why don’t we request it do the dishes in addition to letting in the cat? Oh, I know. A self-weeding rose. Let’s make THAT a thing. Shoot for the moon, I say.

Kristine, thank you! What a gorgeous rose! I see it’s a climber, do you have this rose and have you ever tried pegging it? Wondering if that might work to keep it In bounds near the pathway. I’ll upload a pic of where I’m thinking of putting in the bed of Roses.

Vapor, Barcelona’s form is gorgeous and I love the color! Thank you! I’ll look into this rose more to see about thorns and rebloom!

Tammy, thank you that is so sweet. We are a pretty tight knit group of women on my mother’s side. I, too, hope that tradition continues in my kids and grandkids.

Stephanie, thank you so much for the suggestion! I’m going to go down the rabbit hole of you guys’ picks right now!

I’ve marked on this photo to show you what I’m thinking regarding location of the bed and roses. I was thinking an underplanting of white salvia and alyssum would be pretty and help keep the weeds down.

So, going for a fairly formal look I’d say. Four roses all in a row, planted closer together than usual and salvia and alyssum in a row on either side. The bed would be rectangular, it’s hard to draw straight lines on a phone, ha!

Katherine, I was just thinking that Marie Pavie is reported to have excellent wafting fragrance. It stays small and not many thorns on mine. Mine are babies so not enough blooms yet on mine to know how it wafts for me, but I put mine next to my patio for this reason. You might consider a slightly taller red with MP at it’s feet.

Stephanie, I’ve just put Marie Pavie in my own garden this year because I read the same thing! She hasn’t bloomed yet, so I haven’t experienced the wafting for myself. That’s a wonderful idea!

I like the design!
I' can't testify reliably as to scent, but I agree with 'Barcelona' (often sold as 'Francis Dubreuil') On its own roots, it stays small, but blooms well.
I've found that, for us, Austin's 'The Dark Lady' is a very small rose (maybe 2-=ft.?) that wants to bloom, rather than grow. It's supposed to make 4' -- and maybe it can, budded.
And I love the idea of 'Cramoisi Superieur' -=- it's always remained small for us, but blooms a lot.

I was going to give you a couple of photos, but Houzz isn't up to that, this morning.

What about Maggie.... it has great scent.... red (as you asked for) ... thornless....

The best fragrance of all my roses comes from Francis Dubreuil aka Barcelona which is gorgeous red.

Katherine, my Crimson Glory is Bush form . It has impressed heck out of me with it's huge fragrant blooms

I ordered the Bush form ffrom Burlington .

I wish that I could post pictures but it is so hard to capture it's unique color.

Oh wow! I just looked up Barcelona, what a glorious rose . Now I think that I need that rose .

You do Christine! And Maggie if you don't already have her.

Geeze, I guess I better check out Maggie lol

Barcelona/Francis Dubreuil has fabulous strong classic rose fragrance similar to Mr Lincoln and Chrysler Imperial, and stays very small, but is quite thorny. They have several at the rose gardens near me. I just got Maggie from Antique Rose Emporium earlier this year. Still in original pot after I almost killed her so she hasn’t bloomed yet but definitely has thorns. Not a ton, but a thorn about every 2 inches along her two canes. I can’t wait to smell one of her blooms. She is very resistant to powdery mildew since in a spot that only gets 3 hours of sun so if she was going to get it she would. I need to plant her soon. I love red (purple toned reds) and white roses together. A favorite combo of mine, I think of it as Yin and Yang.

The bed by the door with the glass ball on a column looks like it could use some roses too :-)

Stephanie, too funny, I agree! A climber on a Nantucket style trellis would look amazing, don’t you think? But I’m trying to keep the maintenance factor low for her as she is aging and I’ll be taking care of them other than the watering.

Katherine, what a lovely gift for your grandmother. It will be beautiful and she will love it.

I have vision problems too so I know how important fragrance will be. So go for the most fragrance

I don't know how healthy Double Delight would be where you live but it sure smells

Maybe a combination a solid red and Double Delight

I am wondering if there is more than one Maggie..... the Maggie I have has no thorns making it a pleasure to weed around.... if you could call weeding a pleasure..... It is definitely thornless. I got it specifically to put by a walkway so people would not get scratched going by it. After getting my cornea scratched I HATE roses that have huge thorns...... Maggie has a great fragrance just as does Barcelona... a different fragrance than Barcelona... I do love Barcelona, but I don't think it is completely thornless, but it isn't a shark attack. Barcelona was NOT a good grower in the ground for me... almost died and yanked him up and put him in a pot.... He is much happier... but I am in nematode country so that could have a factor. Maggie doesn't seem to mind.... both Maggie and Barcelona are own roots for me.

Why have I never heard of Purple Buttons before? I can tell you that based on the personal experience of growing the roses of the breeder of Purple Button, his roses are EXCELLENT and I would highly recommend them!

OK, some wonderful suggestions here for my own garden. Purple Buttons sounds lovely.

About Maggie- My original was received from ARE in 1997. It was my intro to growing old roses. It absolutely had thorns, although not the thorniest rose I ever had. It also got a lot bigger and wider than would work as a rose beside a sidewalk.

I don't know if this is workable but could one of the roses in this bed be a short climber placed on a tuteur? It might take more visits to your grandmother early on to train it, but then I think the once a month visits should do it. The other shorter roses could have most of the attributes if not a wafting fragrance. The climber would not need to waft if the roses are nose level. It's very hard to find short roses that are both fragrant and thornless, let alone red. If you can use a rose that has most of the features but not a wafting scent, only a light fragrance, what about Valentine, a floribunda that I think is available through ARE? It has good repeat, is reasonably healthy, is low/no thorn and red. It should do well in your grandmother's zone and be a good fit for beside a sidewalk. If you could find a short climber with the fragrance, it seems like two different roses could meet all of your needs.

Purple Buttons isn't exactly completely thornless, but the thorns are small & not abundant. Here's a link to a picture that shows the type of thorns on Purple Buttons (I am beginning to think that I should acquire this one): https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.321005

I have Valentine and love it. Light fragrance but a beautiful color. Perhaps Renda Violette on a tutor.

Kristine...if you love Crimson Glory then you definitely need Francis Dubruil. I think FD is superiour to Crimson Glory in both the beauty of the flowers and the fragrance. FD has such a complex fragrance that combines old rose with a fruity wine aroma that isn't sweet like most fruity rose scents. It's so fantastic and unlike any other rose I have smelled. The blooms are just like velvet it's gorgeous.

Ack! After reading everyone's ideas I've been enabled right into some great ideas that require the purchase of more roses and bulbs. I love the OP's ideas of red roses and white salvia and alyssum, adding a lovely red fragrant rose onto a tuteur. It would be an easy matter to add a couple old-fashioned white peonies and some white lilies (maybe trumpets or just the overly used Casa Blancas) as well as a white iris if there's room. This would add wonderful seasonal fragrance, would be pollinator friendly, reasonably undemanding and so pretty (in my imagination). I even found a red rose for my tuteur:https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.119487

I'd need to buy all of these things, of course, except for one of the Valentine roses and the iris.

OK, I've got to get busy and quit fooling with this!

Sharon, where did you get your Maggie? I have Valentine and after a year on own roots it is only about 18 inches tall so definitely a small red rose with no thorns, but I don’t detect any fragrance.

Stephanie, I got mine from a r e.

Pippa, you are so right

absolutely need Barcelona

I better get it ordered

It looks like it is not too tall which would be great for a pot which is where it will be

I just texted Burlington to see about ordering Barcelona

Thanks for the suggestion

I love those dark reds

What about Dakota Redwing? I hesitated to suggest it because I just got it this summer and potted it up. It seems healthy so far and the several blooms that I allowed were fragrant and pretty if you like deep colors as much as I do. Too soon to tell whether its fragrance will waft. The only idea I have for size is what is stated by Rogue Valley and HMF and they say that it may be too big for your space. Mine seems to be an upright rose. It's thornless so far.

I love my Dakota Redwing, Kes. It is very upright. Might be better on the house corner with shorter mounds in front.

Thanks for the pictures, Sheila. That was helpful. I think I'm going to love mine, too. There are so many good things about this rose. It does seem too tall for along the sidewalk but might work in the corner.

Maggie gets pretty big here and is more of a cerise than a true red.

Marie Pavie stayed small for me for several years but is now about 6x6'.

I agree that Frances Dubreuil would be good depending on zone.

I got my Maggie from Cool Roses in West Palm Beach Florida..... it is about four feet tall and 3 foot wide. I have had it one year. It is definitely a stronger grower than Barcelona for me.... though I love both...

Sheila, I love your Dakota Redwing.... have always wanted one, but it doesn't seem to be grown locally.... makes me think it might not do well here in Florida... But it is one that I always seem to gravitate towards while browsing HELPMEFIND.COM

Erasmus, Does your Maggie have thorns? And where did you get her? Yours is spectacular! Sharon says hers doesn’t have thorns. Vaporvac and I have Maggie with thorns from ARE. Wondering if there are two versions of Maggie being sold.

Stephanie, I do not know if my Maggie has thorns. I am not at home for at least another week to check so I can report back on that then. Mine is from are as I mentioned so I wonder if it's a rose it might start out low Thorn but gets thorny as it matures. But it could be that there are two clones out there or perhaps someone has the real Francis. however, I agree that it can present as more of a deep Cerise as opposed to the red of Barcelona. I have some pictures of my original Barcelona before it died next to a variety of pink roses so if I find those pictures I'll post them because it gives a good feel of its relative color.

Another almost thornless one is Gruss an Teplitz. It's very fragrant. Mine's not a big plant but is getting a little taller. It has taken its time to reach 5' but is in some shade. It reblooms well. Gets some blackspot. Mine faces East as well.

Blooms are medium size.

Perhaps someone that grows it can comment on the thorns of Alex red.

Here is a picture of Crimson Glory

Boy is it ever hard capture

kristine_legault's ideas · More Info

Erasmus. you have some gorgeous reds!

Griffis red and your Gruss an Teplitz is one that I would love to grow

It's not a true-red, but perhaps you'd like a bed of "Sophie's Perpetual". It's almost completely prickle-free, smells great, and blooms a lot. Alone it has a rather gawky habit, but if you had a bed of them, they'd sort of interlock into a hedge. Blooms start pink but "suntan" to cherry red.

:-)

~Christopher

Rose de Rescht would be too thorny, but there are a couple of more Gallica like Portlands that aren't thorny and very fragrant. They're more deep pink than true red, but can look reddish in cooler weather:

Marbrée

Pickering Four Seasons

Also deep pink/almost red, fragrant, a little more thorny--but not too bad is

Red Radiance

Closer to true red, small and very fragrant, but a few more thorns:

Eugène de Beauharnais