I'll chime in, Ingrid, though not with roses I've grown myself.

Kristine (think I remember rightly) highly recommends The Faun as being nearly always covered in blooms, and it gets a good rating on HMF including for taking heat.

Diane has a Dainty Bess, that she says is as tough as nails, and it gets very hot where she is. HMF doesn't rate it nearly as highly though.

"Grandmother's Hat"???

To stay 5x5 in your zone... Maybe Gruss an Aachen? Someone on here grows a fantastic one though I can't remember who. It has pretty, flouncy little blooms, sadly mine died in the cold here. But in your zone, growing it should be a cake walk.

The mention of The Fawn made me recall that I had actually had that rose in that very same spot some years ago (although I always thought of it as The Faun, which has a very different and to me more poetical meaning). I'm afraid Grandmother's Hat would grow too large and gobble up the dwarf crape myrtle behind it. I grew Gruss an Aachen for years and somehow tired of it even though it's a pretty and very good rose. I'm growing a pink oleander to the right of the birdbath and now I'm wondering if with that pink and the purple of the crape myrtle I might not be better off with a white rose, especially as I think I have only two whites in front of the house, Cole's Settlement and Bermuda Spice. Oh, the agony of decision!

The Faun in those long ago golden days

Blue Mist, smells like heaven, way better than Perfume Breeze (messy octopus canes bush). Blue Mist is a perfect round globe & constant bloomer & very drought tolerant. Now still blooming with snow. It bloomed through 24 F, zone 5a, as of Nov. 16.

Blue Mist is the MOST DROUGHT tolerant rose among my 150+ roses, it holds the record of being so close to 2 huge spruce trees yet still blooming. Finally got those 2 spruce trees chopped down today.

Any rose that can survive 12 years of zone 5a winter can handle any drought & bad soil. If given enough water, as in a pot, the blooms get bigger & more lacy.

Note how close the 20+ year old spruce tree is (upper corner of below pic):

Below was taken at 90 F hot summer to show spent blooms still looking good. Blooms start out as blue, then age to pink as spent blooms in hot sun. Bush is extremely prickly, rabbits and squirrels don't dare to come near.

Disease-resitance is top-notched. Tammy in TN with 400+ roses, acidic red clay recommended Blue Mist to me back in 2011.

Paul Barden listed Blue Mist in his most disease-resistant category. I never see blackspots nor mildew in its 12 years as own root, the wafting scent is worth growing. Hummingbird Roses in MI, zone 5a sells Blue Mist, same with Burlington Roses in CA. It's an upright round globe (more compact than Marie Pavie). Size is 1.5' x 1.5' in my zone 5a, which will be larger in a warmer zone:

The fairy would be a great choice if you dont have her yet.

Kendyl Marie is an amazing new polyantha. Should meet your size requirements.

Never stops blooming, perfect health

Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions. It's not an easy decision for me because of availability but I think mostly, as I have little available space, wanting every rose to be perfect and wonderful, and so being afraid of making a mistake. Hopefully I'll get over my decision paralysis soon.

Oh, Kristine - your The Fawn is sooo beautiful!! SWOON!

Ingrid - I love that spot...beautiful!

Straw - I disagree about Perfume Breeze. :) I love that rose and it's always fragrant. Caveats are that mine is a first year grafted rose. But, I do love the look of your Blue Mist...what a bloomer!! Mine may get too tall whereas yours is very mannerly. And the color is lovely. What's not to love with your Blue mist?! :) :)

Dianela - wonderful looking rose bush! It has tons of gorgeous blooms...I'm impressed. :)

Ingrid, I would suggest the rose Tamora, the only Austin rose I grow that doesn't get huge, but stays the size it's supposed to at 3X3 ft. My Tamora is a continuous bloomer and takes the heat well. I bought her about 16 years ago from Pickering nursery in Canada, so she is grafted on multiflora rootstock, I presume. She's a parent of Evelyn. I'd suggest Evelyn, but she can get pretty big, and I'm not sure the best place to buy her anymore. Tamora was listed on David Austin's website, but out of stock. Hmmm. I have to mention that the first rose I ever grew was The Fairy--six of them, and that rose hated my alkaline soil and dry heat. She was chlorotic from the get go, though I treated the soil with iron regularly. I grew those six for years, and I'm surprised I ever grew another rose given those first Fairies and how awful they were. In the right climate and soil, she is beautiful, so I'm sure Dianela's The Fairy is wonderful in the SE. Below are photos of Tamora. Diane

I just saw Tamora on Regans site

Tamora is sold at High Country Roses, best for dry climate. Another Austin that does well in hot & dry is Carding Mill. Bush is compact at 3' x 2' in my zone 5a. Father Jerome in Orange County, CA posted the best bush-shot of Carding Mill in HMF.

Below is Carding Mill in my zone 5a, it's blooming now at 24 F. Below pic. was taken Nov. 10.

Below was Carding Mill in spring, bush is compact and is best for HOT & DRY & alkaline climate. Color is also best at alkaline pH (it turns orange). With tons of acidic rain, it turns boring pink.

It was a wimp under the rainspout in soaking wet clay, at less than 1 foot. So I moved it to a DRY SPOT next to a huge spruce, plus fixed my soil with the entire bag of coarse sand, and it shot up to 3 feet.

Below was Carding Mill at 90 F hot summer with the most blooms. It blooms best with FLUFFY soil high in calcium and potassium for its many petals. Tend to blackspot with too much rain in dense clay, and does best in loamy & fuffly soil with fast drainage. Constant bloomers need more potassium & calcium to stay healthy.

Constant bloomers like Baronne de Rothchild, Blue Mist, Wise Portia, Munstead Wood, Carding Mill, Gene Boerner, Evelyn still have blooms with the snow storm yesterday Nov. 16.

Roses that bloom well with extreme cold are also heat and drought tolerant with deep root.

Gene Boerner was the only rose that bloomed at 100 F in hot summer, along with Double Delight and Chicago Peace at nearby rose park.

Gene blooms best in hot temp. and fluffy & fast-draining soil, and Gene Boerner is 100% thornless. It's a 9th-year own-root. But it has zero scent, versus Carding Mill has a good myrrh scent. Carding Mill is good for the vase, but I never cut Gene (boring pink like Belinda's Dream), see below Gene Boerner in my raised bed for fast drainage:

Carding Mill is my fav. orange for the vase, along with Versigny (waterhog). Carding Mill gives 10 times more blooms than Versigny (died twice in my zone 5a, versus Carding Mill lives for 11 years).

Tough Austins that can survive my zone 5a winter at -20 F below zero also do well for Khalid in Pakistan at 112 F. A friend in hot Texas informed me that Versigny also died on him. I dug up dead Versigny in my garden, and the root was only 6 inch long, versus over a foot long and spreading wide for own-root Carding Mill.

HMF allows cuttings exchange of Carding Mill, so it's legal to root. Rooting Carding Mill & Golden Cel. is 100% success, versus only 50% success rate for Evelyn. The easy to root roses are most vigorous in loamy & fast draining soil.

Below orange pink is Carding Mill, left is Evelyn. Dark reds are Munstead Wood. Those 3 own-roots live forever and bloom until Thanksgiving in my zone 5a.

Oh yes, I saw Tamora at High country

straw, Blue Mist sounds like an absolute winner in every way, thank you for that recommendation. I had a rose, called Lavender Mist, which is not the same rose, but looked very much like it, which I liked very much. Diane, Tamora sounds and looks like a winner, but I think the warm color might not look quite right with the cool pink oleander on one side and the purple crape myrtle on the other.

Here's my Lavender Mist, pretty much a dead ringer for Blue Mist, although I don't remember if it lived up to Blue Mist's sterling qualities. Yet another rose that this idiot gardener didn't keep long enough.

I have warm pinks and peach roses next to purples and cool pinks. Most of the time, I couldn't plan where my roses were placed because I had to use what space there was, regardless of color. I think it all works out because nature has a way of blending things nicely. Remember this one? Purple on one side, yellow on the other of Augusta Luise who has a very changeable color. Pale pink to dark apricot. It's all good. Diane

Oops, the pic I wanted disappeared. Diane

You know, you're absolutely right Diane. I love to magnify your photos to a larger size; it makes me feel as though I'm sinking right into those gorgeous blooms. I know your conditions can be challenging but your roses are gobsmackingly beautiful (I know that can't be a word). My little sticks in the ground are hardly growing, although I do see new little shoots, but I have to look at everyone's roses here to take heart that it can happen yo me too.. I know it will never be what it was but once they bloom even a few roses will be heavenly.. I loved Carding Mill and if I had to choose between it and Evelyn I'm not sure which way it would go. I do like the idea of having roses like Blue Mist among those that have large, puffy blooms, just for the contrast, but I suppose the smaller ones would more easily fall prey to the squirrels.

One thing I've realized over and over again since becoming interested in roses (and plants in general) is that I can never be sure how I'll feel about the look of the plant until I see it in person. Things I've thought were so so in photos ended up being favorites in real life, and the other way round, too. I wouldn't worry so much about picking what you think would be the "perfect" rose and avoiding "mistakes". You could change your mind once you see it in your garden. We make mistakes and happy accidents all the time whether we want to or not. Good luck with that spot. Whatever decision you make doesn't have to be permanent, after all. And what looks great in someone else's garden might not look great in yours, and the opposite is true. But I bet you already know all of this :)

So true, Magpie.

Ingrid, I love your Lavender Mist, which reminds me a lot of the hybrid musk, Ballerina--at least in your photo above. I need to find out more about it. Could you use a repellent for the squirrels? They're usually made of pepper and peppermint oils. And for the deer, which I hope you don't have around, eau de rotten eggs is in most of deer repellent products. I use a pretty good one for deer--it works most of the time. I feed birds, and I have a great squirrel proof feeder. We had only one naughty squirrel who finally gave up and left. Hilarious. Amazon is a good place to research repellents, and it's where I buy my deer repellent. I wish you great success with your new garden. And thank you for the nice comments about my roses. It was a hard year, the hottest on record, for the roses. And 2021 was the second hottest. I can imagine things have been heating up where you live, too. Diane

Ingrid, for a beautiful and bulletproof white rose that stays mannerly ( 3x3 rounded bush) you might consider 'Bolero'. It's the best white rose I grow...and the best rose I grow in my entire garden! I have over 30 bushes. I know Grace of Grace Rose Farms in Southern CA also grows it and it's a favourite for her too. It's very healthy, highly scented, almost constant blooms, and does well in heat and rain.

Your comments are so wise and encouraging and I appreciate them deeply. I did try all the recommended squirrel repellents to no avail in the past, but there are considerably fewer ground squirrels now (after coyotes and hawks apparently making inroads) so the problem might be more manageable. What I've done with my new roses is wire barriers around most of them and fronds from my pepper trees that smell very pungent around all of them, and I do believe it's helping!

I've just now scrolled back through all the roses mentioned and pictured here, and talk about the agony of decision. After some nail biting I must admit that rosylady's Bolero has really caught my fancy, especially as I've heard so many good things about it over the years. I'm off to check out Grace Rose Farms!

Ingrid...Grace Rose Farms is a cut-flower grower who sells garden roses as florist cut flowers. I don't know if you're on Instagram, but she has a great account there where she shares pictures and reviews of roses that do well in her very hot and dry climate. There is a wealth of information and inspiration there for rose lovers, particularly CA rose growers.

Here is another picture of my 'Bolero' hedge (this picture was taken in June 2020 in its second season. I purchased all of these as own root plants in 2 gallon pots at Walmart!)

And here is the hedge in August of this year in its second flush of bloom. I think it looks so lovely in the late summer! I love a rose that stays so healthy with such beautiful leaves.

Rosylady, your plants of Bolero look outstanding, and it's unbelievable that you scored these at Walmart. I really need to get out more.

Ingrid, I get out plenty but never see anything nice like a Bolero at my Walmart, Lowe's or Home Depot lol

Ingrid, I have 3 Bolero and for me it is bulletproof. The blooms are full and romantic, sometimes with a blush of pink.

You can't go wrong with Bolero.

Roselady, your Bolero hedge is magical.

I can't believe that you found them at Walmart. We must have a very uninspired buyer at our store

I would suggest Little White Pet (aka White Pet) - plolyantha discovered in 1879 (dwarf re-blooming sport of Felicite-Perpetue). Even in my garden, where everything gets super big, it stays a lovely bush about 3-4 feet high/wide.

Here is a pic of one of my LWPs:

Jackie

Jackie: Wow !! gorgeous bush. What does LWP stand for? Thanks.

I’m gonna guess Little White Pet

White Pet is adorable. This post has furnished me with a wealth of great roses that will do well in my climate and conditions. Many thanks!

Ingrid, if you have a good nursery nearby that sells bare roots, it's likely that they will have Bolero available in January.