Look at rugosa roses, rosa pomifera, and wild/species roses (dog rose) for hips for tea. I'm sure someone will be able to give you great advice about minis. Some of them stay small and some grow (as you note) to be big. As for spray roses, try looking for spray roses. You might also like polyantha roses if you like panicles of small blooms (and many of them are more fragrant than roses grown for the cut flower industry).

Cecile Brunner is often referred to as The Sweetheart Rose. Did you used to get a catalogue from Sequoia Nursery or Nor-East Miniature Roses?

This is a really interesting article from years ago about miniature rose breeding

https://scvrs.homestead.com/HarmonSaville.html

Carla in Sac

I think it might have been the Nor East catalog. Name rings a bell and Sequoia does not.

Carla, that was a great little article. It's amazing the impact one person can have on an industry. Too bad his passion wasn't passed down to at least one of his kids. It sounds like he had a huge production at one time.