PlantFiles: Shrub Rose
Rosa 'Carefree Beauty'

Blooms heavily in the spring and fall in south Texas with smaller flushes in between. Blossoms are around four inches across. They don't last long on the bush but the volume of flowers more than compensates. Designated an "Earth-Kind" rose by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service of Texas A&M University.

"Carefree" says it all. Only problem is very vigorous growth, so pretty you hate to cut it back but it responds very well to pruning. Mine isn't as intensely fragrant as some describe. Older blooms show an occasional pale central streak on petals. Good rose.

I love this rose. The medium pink flowers are gorgeous. My rose has no fragrance. I read all the comments and no one said their rose was "very fragrant". In the description above, it says the rose is very fragrant. I think this is misleading. It's the only rose I have that is not fragrant, but I allow it a special place as it blooms all the time and is so pretty and well..."carefree"! It bloomed until mid December this year: first hard freeze. (Zone 6)
If you leave the blooms on from August on, you will have nickle sized orange rose hips and nice winter interest addition.

These roses were at my house when I bought it in 2001. The home was built in 1978. They are very hardy and bloom at least twice a year with hundreds of roses on the shrub along with a light fragrance. I get so many compliments! My home was destroyed by fire in March 2008 so I insisted that we cut the shrubs down low and dig them up. I am hoping to replant them in the next few weeks when the new house is finally finished (late fall 2008). I pray that they survive the transplant and have debated on keeping them in a tub with ground soil in the garage for the winter since winters can be very harsh in Central PA.

From HGTV.com's list of carefree roses by Mary C. Weaver:

'Carefree Beauty': This shrub rose's hybridizer, Dr. Griffith Buck of Iowa State University, once said it needed "no more care than a peony." Like all of Buck's roses, 'Carefree Beauty', introduced in 1977, is tough and cold-hardy. Its large semidouble pale-rose flowers are lightly fragrant, and the plant is reliably reblooming. The small olive-green leaflets have excellent disease-resistance. Hardy to Zone 4 or 5. Vigorous, upright and spreading, reaching a height of 5 to 6 feet.

This rose is also known as Katy Road Pink and I have found it to be very disease resistant and really does double-time in blooming its brains out. In my opinion Katy is a must have rose for your garden with outstanding low maintenance, but does need a hair-cut once in a while.

absolutely problem free and blooms a lot

This is one of the cleanest roses in my garden. It never gets any disease and blooms all the time. It's a rich pink color and although it has no fragrance, it's one of my favorite roses. It comes thru winter very well in zone 5.

I found 3 carefree beauty shrub roses at the season-end sale last November at a local nursery here in central TX zone 8 for just $4 each, so I adopted them. They had been in 1-gallon black plastic pots for nearly a full year and were struggling with roots trying to escape out the drainage holes. I plunked them into my wheelbarrow full of water and gave all 3 a major pruning to about 10 inches left on each of the 4 largest stems. Then I gave them all new homes along our side fence in full afternoon sun (shaded in the morning by our pecan tree) in deep holes filled with half composted cow manure and half bagged topsoil. It's the first week of June and they're working on their 3rd full flush of gorgeous blooms and their growth has been magical. Get some of these carefree, pest and disease resistant beauties today!

I have had this rose for about 7 years. It is disease resistant, does well in zone 5, no special care.
Carefree Beauty handles pruning like that of a climber. "She" can get a bit unruly sometimes and take over the bed she is in. Due to extended snow/cold this year, I had to trim her back to about 12" without damage. In fact she looks stronger than ever.
Canes are covered with medium thorns, leaf is pale green and petals are a soft pink

Bred in the United States. Makes a good hedge.

Parentage:
Seed: [ (Applejack x Dean Collins) x (Queen Elizabeth x Independence) ] x Improved Lafayette
Pollen: Prairie Princess