Congratulations and welcome to the forum!

Micro-minitatures are very tiny with blooms no more than a half an inch. Miniatures have blooms around an inch or so in size with leaves of an appropriate size. Miniflora blooms are larger, usually somewhere around two inches in size, with a little larger leaf as well. Floribundas are about three inches and hybrid teas four and up. Shrub roses can have just about any size bloom. These are generalities, of course, so there are exceptions to all of this.

Please, don't be fooled into thinking that minis and minifloras will all remain small plants though. The "mini" only refers to the size of the bloom and leaf, not the plant. Depending on the variety and conditions they will get as large a bush size as any other rose. There are even climbing miniatures that will get 12 feet tall. You are in a colder zone so you will probably have to prune them quite a bit in the spring but even so make sure you give them adequate space to grow in.

Thanks, Seil. I think the two that are (I hope) growing in the back yard are miniatures, then. The flowers are about an inch, and the leaves at most have gotten ever so slightly smaller across than the blooms. Over the two years, neither of the ones that have come back have gotten taller than about 8", although I have to say that I'm going from memory and guesstimates. I never thought to actually measure them.

The space I'm looking at is about six feet long, and as wide as I choose to make it. It's a typical New England back yard, with a paved front part, and a raised lawn area. I've been planting flowers (annuals) in a 1-2' strip at the edge of the retaining wall for some years, and am ready to do something more substantial there. I think the sun is okay once spring gets here, for roses in that spot. Sounds like I have some studying to do!

Wait until you start planting mini's and miniflora's. 4 can lead to 6, 6 to 8,8 to 10. You'll know what I mean when you start. I know. My 10 turned into 80 in a BIG hurry. It was tough getting things back down to about 20ish.

LOL! Just as bad as the standard sizes, huh? I don't think I'll have that problem, though. I just don't have room. The house takes up most of the lot, not much yard left over. I talked my DH into trimming the maple tree in the front of the house to let more sun through for my Crown Princess Margareta I put in this past May. I feel sure the city would not smile on my pruning their tree, but you know, the rose needs more sun!

With the new mini, which is in a pot that's just over 2" across, I'll have three. They get morning sun till about 9:30 am, full shade across the middle part of the day, then sun from the southwest from about noon until 3-4 pm. I didn't know own root from grafted when I planted the first two, but I'm pretty sure the new one is own root. It has four canes coming up around the pot. It had buds, so I know it's white, but I cut them off. They started turning brown, and was pretty obvious they weren't going to open. The label only said Parade, so I'll have to wait till it blooms in the spring to try to identify it.

I also originally said the new bed could be as long as six feet, but enough snow has melted this weekend that I need to adjust that to about 4'. I'm thinking of doing a half circle so they'll have more room between them, and I'll have more space to add mulch and such as needed.

The more I think about it, the more excited I am to get started, hehehe!

Does anyone in my zone have any experience with a somewhat disease resistant mini? I don't mind pruning to control size. Fragrance would be nice, but isn't necessary.

Regrettably a lot of minis seems to be disease prone. I'm sure there are some that are better than others but I'm not familiar with any. Mine tend to black spot just like the big ones and maybe some of them even more so. I wonder if it is because they are some what lower to the soil than their big sisters?

There are a few minis known for their fragrance. I know Scentsational is one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scented mini list from HMF

Matches what's happened to me, Seil. I originally started with one rose, a red Parade (if it had any other name, I've long ago forgotten it). It was a gift for Mother's Day, and when the blooms were done, I planted it in the space I'm considering for the new bed. It did fine that year, and I was actually surprised that, when the next spring came, it came back. It did well the first full year outside. Then I added a yellow rose, again a gift, and it did okay, and they both came back. Then for the next Easter, since I had added a cat and couldn't have a lily in the house, my daughter gave me a miniature rose. When I planted that one, everybody suddenly got BS.

So, to make a long story short, the only one of the 3 I have left is the original red. Since I started using less chemicals, and started feeding the soil, it's come back and actually gave me three blooms this past season.

I'm not sure about being close to the ground. Could be, but I also was trying to grow a big box climber at the time that was a BS magnet - only lasted a year and a half before I cut it down.

Does BS get in the soil? Or is it strictly wet related?

Thanks for the link - HMF has been bookmarked for a while now. I'm also trying to find the email address for Karl from my local rose society - he was immensely nice and helpful before. I'm hoping he knows of a local nursery that has small roses I can actually see.
LynnT

One of the nicest roses I've ever grown is a mini called Mother's Love. It has perfect foliage of an unusual almost blue green color. The flower is lovely as well, but the foliage is so pretty that I'd grow it for the foliage alone. I have not seen a hint of black spot on it. I got it from Heirloom roses and have always been very happy with their minis.

Oh. My. It looks like porcelain! If you grew it in NH, then it's definitely a candidate! Thank you!
LynnT