Neither posed any major disease issues in Zone 9b SoCal desert climate. Compassion had "soul" with a wonderful scent and was very easy to train. Polka was easily three times the size with monstrous, thick, stiff, "bolt-upright" rebar canes which could have been used to reinforce concrete with the most outrageous prickles of any climber I've grown. It had pretty flowers with little scent and quickly outgrew the 7' fence and 4' deep bed it was planted in. IF I needed a climber again and only had those two from which to choose, it would definitely be Compassion. I've "done" Polka and never want "kissed" with it, again.

I have a first year polka and love the color and shape of the flowers. Very healthy and vigorous in 9b.

Thank you friends for sharing such valuable information and picts!

erasmus: such beautiful picts! Thank you. It does help me see the colors. in your zone 7 do you see a correspondingly bigger Polka than Compassion as roseseek sees in her garden? The growth in my garden will be much closer to yours. Do you think I can grow these roses as climbers?

Thank you roseseek! Your passion tells me a lot. The canes on Polka wont bend even when they are young?

Thank you Oliver. Very beautiful blooms. Thank you for sharing!

You're welcome, Katyajini. It that climate, Polka made extremely stiff, extremely thick rods which split and kinked instead of complying. Of course, in other climates it may likely work well but not in the Santa Clarita Valley. It was the bane of that garden. Don't get me wrong, the flowers were beautiful, huge and there were regular flushes of them but that plant demanded blood, LOTS of blood. Give me Compassion, Royal Sunset or even Social Climber any day. Those were easy, even fun, to train and they flowered even more than Polka.

Thank you roseseek. I dont get you wrong at all!!! I see you are passionate about gardening and roses. I like that! :)

I have Compassion and love her! She is super healthy here, but that won’t mean anything for your climate. She is dark pink with orange undertones in cool weather. Flowers that developed in our 90-95 degrees heat wave this week are much lighter. She also ages to become more muted and gets antique paper look after a few days, at least in my soil and climate. I love her changeable blooms. Very few thorns. Mine is a baby so I can’t say about habitat except it will obviously be a climber in my climate. first pic is large cluster in recent heat. A single bud April 1, 3rd and 8th. Much darker in the cool Spring. Fragrance is really lovely too.

Both of these are gone from my garden,but i could see-sort of-trying both again.I had them before I knew much about roses, and both were "unsuccessful" as climbers for me; they both have a fairly stiff habit, and need support, I think, to encourage them to climb.Also, I didn't do enough soil preparation,and so neither got tall enough to be trainable as climbers.

Compassion has beautiful dark green foliage,and the colour of the flowers is a wonderful blend of pink,peach,cream that give a glowing effect, as the centers of the flowers are shaded darker than the petal edges. They have a classic HT form. Roseseek's comments about Polka's habit seem to me spot on-the canes on my plant were hideously thorny and rigid. However, in his comments he didn't mention what to me was special about this rose-the colour of the flowers, In my garden they were a perfect pastel-like, orange-sherbet tone-no vermilion at all,not even in the buds! and they were indeed large and fluffy! Of the two, I think I'd prefer Compassion however,perhaps mainly for the foliage and the fact that it started blooming earlier in rose season, if memory serves me. Polka's flowers are nice, but as a plant I found it rather ugly-very large,light green leaves,and those THORNS...

I've almost ordered Polka a few times. She is so pretty with her wavy sherberty pink petals. I am now envisioning her to be like Laguna with the "huge thorny monster" descriptions lol. I dont know if I need another like Laguna, one might be enough :0

I am unable to compare the size of the plants because my Polka was/ is in so much shade. For awhile my Polka was shooting for the moon.. it was about 9' tall . I agree with Roseseek that canes are about as stout and sturdy as rebar and thorny. But some canes arched over and bloomed along the canes. I think if you caught the canes young enough you could train them. My Polka didn't rebloom that well until larger.

My Compassion is a vase shaped unsupported plant that also gets some shade but more sun than my Polka. Compassion was awarded three gold medals and a fragrance award. My ARS Encyclopedia of Roses says Polka can be grown as a short climber or large , arching shrub. I'm not sure what they mean by "short."

Both have lovely color, Compassion has the fragrance, Polka has huge , beautiful blooms. I bought Cl. Royal Sunset this spring and it is impressing me already with it's great vigor, seems healthy, and is a beauty. Also very fragrant.

Thank you everyone such full feedback! helps me envision my plans...

Stephanie: The colors of your Compassion are soooo lovely! The picture turned out so real. I think my family will welcome it!

erasmus thank you for answering my repeated questions! you must have a gorgeous garden.

bart thank you.

sjn I think I still have so much enthusiasm because I have not played or managed thorns and stiff big canes in a long while.

I actually have to rethink Polka...that it tolerates light shade and has bright pretty flowers is a plus but little fragrance and thorny??? Well I have time to think it over..

Joyous gardening to all. My summer is 2/3 gone!!!