I had one in my old garden and it did exactly the same thing. Like yours, mine was at the front of the bed and showed off it's wild growing habits. I could never train it to become a respectable shrub. No matter how I pruned or tied, it would always send out new shoots at weird angels. Like it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a shrub or a groundcover rose. I finally let it 's do its thing, because the blooms, the color and the fragrance, not to mention its health were fantastic. Like you, Moses, I decided my garden can live with a little unruliness and drama...lol My next garden will definitely have a Bliss rose again, though maybe not planted in too prominent a spot...

I hope your next garden comes sooner than you expect, and that it exceeds all your expectations. By then, another disease free version of Bliss without its erratic growth habit may show up in commerce.

Moses.

Mine is the same Moses But with hardiness I'm not complaining! My garden's been 😖devastated this year.

I'm very sorry to hear such disheartening news, Vapor. It seems like the Ohio River Valley, which extends to Pittsburgh, got pulverized this past winter. Nothing here was killed to the ground or worse, completely killed, but it's much the same for my roses as has happened to your roses. Rose gardening in these parts is no, 'walk through the park'. Hang in there, you're not alone.

Moses.

“As beautiful as the blooms of Bliss are (although somewhat flat when its petals are fully extended) …”

A somewhat softer view than:

Another, Automatic Pancake Maker,' rose is Savannah. As lovely as the bloom looks when first opening it progresses to,'Piedmont Plateau,' flat when fully open. It is a blooming machine with richly glossy, pretty healthy foliage, having a mannerly and upright bush habit. Wish I hadn't removed it a few years back for its flat fully open blooms, because so many roses today are so endowed. The prevalence of which makes this trait more tolerably accepted.

Moses.

NOBODY is as flat as Savannah….. except for possibly Stanley….

My Blisses are spring pruned now, and as the new shoots fill in and 'coverup,' their crows nest of branches, things will look prettier day by day. I did not get one basal break last year on any of the three specimens I have.

My Apricot Candy's grew impressive basal breaks last year. I believe the tendency to produce fresh basal canes as well as opting out of basals to grow ever enlarging pseudo-trunks is genetically determined. Each variety seems to elect to follow one pattern only.

Moses.

It is so healthy and blooms regularly. My only complaint is the very minimal scent. Structure is totally acceptable here and I dont look very closely lol.

One of the Home Depot plant. Some of the first blooms in the new garden.

Vapor I am so sorry to hear your garden got so much damage. I hope they recover.