Wanted: A standard plant for the centre bed

This is hard, I’ve not found anything yet to replace the standard rose bush that used to sit in the middle of the central bed. The Rose didn’t do too well, there is a bad black spot problem around here, and the greenfly swamped it in the end.

I suppose that I want something that can be ‘Lollipop’ shaped or can be trimmed in to a tight column so that I can keep the flowering bulbs below it. It would be nice if it flowered, even nicer if it were fragrant.

Obviously it needs to be shade tolerant, and cope with not being watered.

I know it is a tall order, but I’d welcome suggestions :-)