An outstanding shrub rose that is short and compact is Winnipeg Parks. Here in Tropical Minnesota WP gets a little over two foot tall and about as wide. WP has dense, dark green foliage and almost constant color. The flowers are double, medium large and almost HT in form. The color ranges from almost red to very deep pink depending on the weather. It is crown hardy plus here. The amount of Plus depends on the winter. I have had no disease problems with the plant and the lawn rats seem to prefer other roses. Two Town and Country roses that have done well here are are Cape Cod which is a little smaller plant with single flowers that resemble large apple blossoms and Kent. Kent is a little larger plant with beautiful small dense leaves and small white double flowers. Kent might push the definition of "short" in a warmer zone, but you can shear it with a hedge trimmer. Regards, Charles

Aztreelvr mentioned it above, but I want to reiterate that the Coral Fountain (Russelia equisetiformis) would work perfectly for you from what I can tell of your desires. It is perennial, and is very hardy. It doesn't take much water, and it is only a bush size. Mine is only 3 years old, and it blooms year round, throwing up pretty red flowers all over the bush (although more in the spring & summer)- the hummers love it! The only down side is that it spreads rather easily...branches can take root when they touch the ground. But, it's not that big of a chore to pull any seedlings that have started every couple of months (I give them to friends, and they have them in their gardens now!). That's my suggestion! Good luck! Tristan

The winter was very cold and long here in Ontario. Here's an update about how things did in my neck of the woods... My two Morden Sunrise died down to the ground, but they're sending out some nice shoots with buds on the ends. (Maybe 6'' long now). My Champlain had a few inches long left alive, it's an own-rooter too... Marie Victorin had quite a bit of dieback, it had gotten about 4' high, now there was maybe 7'' long of green canes left... John Cabot surprisingly died to the snowline, shich we had alot of, so he had about 4' high of cane left. The flower carpets (my first roses, about 9 years old now) died to the ground, as usual, and are sending out good, but short shoots... rosa glauca barely had any dieback, it did awesome... the wild roses - acicularis and virginiana - did really great, no dieback at all. Even, in one exposed spot the other (hardy zone 3) perennials all died completely, except for good ol, acicularis, with again, no dieback. The rugosas had little dieback... Quadra had very little dieback, although it was about 3' high in the Fall, so it was under snow... Martin Frobisher had most of his tall shoots die completely back, now all I have left are two tall 4' high twigs that look like they're gonna look like awkward lollipops! Emily Carr died to the ground, but has nice shoots now, a few inches long...Alexander Mackenzie did well, with a little bit of dieback, but it was a short bush still, as did Morden Snowbeauty. But the rugosas, even the zoned 4 rugosa 'Belle Poitevine' had very little dieback. The potted roses in the shed are long long gone... I gotta say, though, those wild roses did really well! Here I'm days to a week to having some buds open.

Seaside - I hope it works! :) :) Kristine - I am so in love with your Lavender Crush. I hope I can find one next year! Beautiful Twilight zone color. :) :) I hate it when the camera won't take the right color from the rose...very frustrating. I'm so glad that you saved Sweet Madame Blue...she's a beauty...and the color is wonderful.