Do you care if it is scented? If not, I have heard great things about the Knockout series as far as disease resistance, long bloom season, and ease of care. Pink Double Knockout might fit your needs.

I have grown The Fairy and it bloomed for a log time with clusters of many small double roses. Often more roses than leaves were visible because it was so full of flowers. It also is unscented.

You could also ask on the roses forum.

David Austin's shrub rose 'Gertrude Jekyll' is a favorite of mine, lovely old rose fragrance and bonus, a repeat bloomer. Supposed to be hardy to Z5 but to be on the safe side I'd try to find one grown on it's own roots. Ht. 3-6 ft. but pruning shears could keep it lower.

Annette

I would vote for The Fairy Rose too. It blooms almost non-stop from June to Nov. No pests or diseases either. I've never even seen a Japanese beetle on any of mine. Completely carefree.

I've been reading about The Fairy and it sounds great. I'll look at the Knockouts and Gertrude Jekyll next. This is fun. Thanks a lot for the suggestions.

TM

Annette, David Austen roses are not hardy if they are on their own root. That's why here in Ontario, they are grafted to hardier stock. Yes they do quite well here in our zone 5 climate. I've 2 of them and will add more.

Bourbon roses, Explorer roses all do well. Let me give you a link to a Canadian supplier just for referencing. You can see how many options there are for your zone.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pickering Nurseries

Ianna it's the opposite here, a lot of the roses for sale here have been grafted on a rootstock suitable for California and don't fair well when we have a bad winter. D.A.'s on their own roots thrive here but then I'm Z 7-8ish. I stopped buying grafted roses and haven't lost a one other than the ones I have dug and given away. What rootstock is used in your zone 5?

Annette

TM, here is a pic of The Fairy in my slope garden on July 2. I have 3 of them in there and they are invaluable for constant bloom and interest. As well as low-maintenance on a slope. They play nice with other shrubs, trees or perennials and annuals. They do "rest" around August, but come back for another great round of bloom in the fall. You don't have to, but I do find that the bloom is better in the fall when I snip off the spent blooms, which is easy to do since they're all clustered together at the end of each branch.

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This is one of mine from Oct 26 a couple years ago.
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The last hurrah Nov 26.
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This is going to be harder than I thought. Thanks, Annette, Babs, Thyme2dig, Ianna, and Mary Lu for helping me with this. Thyme2dig, your slope garden is outstanding, and I really like the looks of The Fairy. Mary Lu, I know you have a lot of roses, and thought maybe you would see this post. The Easy Elegance in your picture is just covered with blooms, isn't it? Very nice!

TM

I see that you have some nice suggestions for some roses that meet the height requirement (going to keep an eye out for the fairy rose and sunrise sunset :-) ), but thought I would offer another suggestion from my experience. I have had 'bonica' for several years and really love it. Sorry, no pics of the whole shrub, but it is a very pretty soft pink.

forgot to mention that my zone listed is Canadian zone info so equal to US zone 5 and bonica is listed as hardy to zone 4(US)
it is about 4-5 feet tall, but I keep it pruned (brutally at times) and it responds by blooming happily.

Greylady, is Bonica scented?

Bonica would be another great choice to consider TM, I haven't grown it myself but have seen it in other gardens, it's a winner.

Annette

Thinman, the link below opens to a page with all the shrub roses that are good for your zone. It's at least good to my Canadian zone 5 which is equivalent to a US zone 4.

Also FYI- explorer roses were especially bred from Canadian cold temperaturs.

Annette-- that's a good question. I never really bothered to find out. The David Austens here in Ontario are sold as grafted onto hardier stocks and that's all I needed to know. So far I've had no trouble with any of mine. No graph separations - nothing.

Here is a link that might be useful: see shrub roses good for zone 5

My personal favorite is Peace, although I think it's a tea rather than shrub...

What about one of the hybrid Rugosas? I've heard they are pretty easy care, no spraying needed. You could look to the Pavement series for shorter growers.

Bonica looks great, too. How am I going to choose? Now I'm not sure that one rose is going to do it for me. :)

Ianna - Thanks for the links to Pickering Nurseries. They have a lot of good info for each rose. It's a shame that their business is being so crippled now by being cut off from US sales.

TM

Thiman, I only meant to show you the wide variety of roses that can survive in your zone. Knowing the trade agreements (should have been renamed trade prohibitions) between the US and CAnada, I know it would be next to impossible to order from them from the US.

Ianna

Yep, I got that, Ianna. Thank you.

TM

I have had a Bonica rose for 10 years and I love it. It is very hardy and needs no special treatment. Blooms from June to late October in my zone 5 area. Lovely soft pink flowers. Just plant it and enjoy.

Most of my roses are from the Antique Rose Emporium.
These are mostly roses saved from old gardens and cemeteries. Rose Rustlers decided to try to save as many as they could before they were lost forever.
There is a window to select your zip code and one for your zone. See the online catalog for other types. I typed zone 5 and small shrubs. Notice the intro dates on these roses. Some are from the mid 1700's
This is buff beauty climber. I bought the original in 1998 and this is from a cutting taken in 2005 or 2006.
Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: roses hardy in zone 5

TM, have you picked a rose and planted it yet? If so, which one did you decide on?

Mine are all leafing out now and I haven't spring pruned most of them yet. Way behind this year.