[From Peter Schneider on Roses, by Peter Schneider, pp. 86-7:] Patio roses are those roses that are too big to be miniature and too little to be floribundas, they are compact, profuse-blooming roses which bloom constantly or nearly so, thrive without extraordinary care and show excellent disease resistance...
Jerry Justice, Justice Miniature Roses, says the larger miniatures, what Europeans call patios, are his bet for the next rage among rosarians...
[From Miniature Roses: Their Care and Cultivation, by Sean McCann, p. 14:] Pat Dickson of Northern Ireland was the man who introduced the name Patio roses... His description of Patios is that they are smaller in flower, foliage and stems than the compact-growing Floribundas and should grow from 14 in (36 cm) to 21 in (53 cm)... after a quick rise in the number of Patio roses in the later 1980s, there has been a definite slowing down in their appeal and production by 1991... many of the top-rated miniatures ('Loving Touch', for example) grow bigger than the Patio roses when they, like the Patios, are grown on budded stock. If the British Patio roses were to be grown on their own roots, I am sure that many would easily fit into the miniature market.