So sorry to hear about your roses, how heart breaking. For a sunny location, the hydrangea paniculas are a good choice, but most of them grow taller than 4 feet. A possible exception is "Little Lime", which is supposed to be a pint-sized Limelight, but it can grow anywhere from 3 to 5 feet. The paniculas bloom from about mid July through Sept in my area. Many of the mophead and lacecap hydrangeas fit your height critera, but the sunny location might be too much for them. Is it full sun all day, or just something like 6 hours of sun?

I am sure someone else will chime in soon with other suggestions.

Lois in Pa

Thank you, Lois. I'll research Little Lime.

Sorry about your rose. Have you tried knock out or double knock roses? I had similar problems with my roses last several years, gave up on them and tried planting knock-out roses. They are very robust, no signes of any disease so far, blooming from early June to mid October in the Chicago area. The more fun they get, the more flowers they have. Absolutely love them and almost no work at all. The red ones are my favorite.

Good luck,
Vivian

I agree, Vivian. I have six knockouts that I love, but the internet has pictures of rose rosette on knockouts. I would hate to lose them. Even though they are eating up the house, they are covered with blooms all season. I'm going to cut them back a third in the spring. One university site says rose rosette affects roses that are not pruned back more often. Thanks for your reply.

Rose Rosette Disease can infect any rose, regardless of its resistance to other diseases. In my area, the wild pasture roses (r. multiflora) are getting hit this year. Not much is tougher than pasture rose. But I see the diseased canes and the slowly dying plants on my commute. And any roses, regardless of type, that are downwind of the diseased plants are endangered. When I first started seeing RRD in my area, I dug up my beloved double knockout roses because they were close to the road and right in the path of the disease which spreads most quickly along roads and railways.

And now, like lainey2, I am looking for other shrubs to replace the roses I had to get rid of. Lucky for us, the hydrangea breeders seem to be starting to develop smaller versions of the rather large P.G. type hydrangeas that we like but might not have room for.

Lainy2, you also might like Tickled Pink", although it might still be a little on the tall side for you.

Following is a link to a thread in this forum with a couple pictures.

All the best,

Lois in PA

Here is a link that might be useful: Tickled Pink Thread

Thanks Lois, that was a wonderful link.