Flowering quince vs Shrub rose

In Central Europe watch for fire blight (Erwinia amylovora): a dangerous bacterial disease in which shoot tips look scorched, and which can spread to apple, pear and quince. On strongly limy, alkaline soil the leaves turn yellow from iron deficiency (chlorosis), which can be a problem in many gardens of the region. In wet springs fungal leaf spot can strip much of the foliage by midsummer, blossom wilt can affect the flowers and aphids the young shoots. Late spring frost can ruin the early flower buds.

Black spot, powdery mildew and rust can strip susceptible cultivars, many English roses among them, by midsummer: those need several preventive sprays a season, whereas resistant cultivars (ADR-rated ones, for example) stay healthy without spraying if you clear fallen leaves and give them an airy position. In spring aphids cluster on shoot tips and buds, rose sawfly larvae chew or roll the leaves and rose chafers and other flower beetles eat into the blooms; a big bush usually grows out of the damage. Most cultivars are winter hardy in Central Europe, though the cane tips may die back in a hard winter. Plants sold in the region are nearly always budded onto a wild rose rootstock: set the graft union about 5 cm below soil level when planting, mound 15 to 20 cm of soil over the crown in autumn, and tear off at the base any suckers from the rootstock (smaller, paler leaves), because they overtake the cultivar. Pruning is light: in early spring cut out dead and old canes and shorten repeat flowerers by about a third, then deadhead in summer.