The answer is -- "It Depends."

What sort of rose are you talking about? What specific rose.
Is it going to be a budded plant, or is it growing on its own roots?
What time of the year/growing cycle are you talking about?
What are your specific conditions?

All of those factors (and others) affect the question, so it's just not a "one-size fits all" thing.

Jeri

That often depends upon several factors, Rebeccah.

How much are you into "immediate gratification"? What's available where you are right now? What fits your desired budget better? Are the roses you want even available bare root right now? Are there any other factors which might enter into the decision right now, such as previous success with bare roots; need for immediate maturity due to a party, wedding, visitors, etc.? I have a friend who usually plants bare root but has two daughters using her garden for their weddings in less than three months, so canned bud and bloom is what she chose this time so she'd have a greater chance of the look she wants, when she wants it.

The market has shifted to canned in many areas, as much for the ease and success of the nurseries as for the consumer. Many people want to see the flower before the buy, and probably as many don't want to have to deal with attempting to bring a bare root out of dormancy. They'd rather have the flowers now and pay a bit more for them.

If you've had success with bare roots where you are and might prefer the lower cost, and possibly greater selection, plant bare roots. If you fit the second group better, and don't mind the higher prices, get canned. If done properly, both are fine. Kim

thanks for the advice. I live in middle tn and the weather is crazy here right now. tornadoes one day and snow the next. There are some bare roots available. Im wanting ebb tide this year if I can find it. I usually buy the ones in containers but people want sprouts and I have to take cuttings and try to root them. What about own roots? How well do they do? I know Im asking lots of question but it seems like people on here are very knowledgeable and any advice would be greatly appreciated?

Same answer: it depends. Some roses are only available own root. The only own root varieties that haven't done well for me have been hybrid teas. They just have not been as vigorous own root as hybrid teas budded on R. multiflora rootstock.

Bare root roses are just plants that were taken out of the soil when they were dormant and kept that way for easier shipping. If you're buying a potted rose at a local nursery it probably started out as a bare root rose that the nursery got from a supplier and potted up and put in a greenhouse to break dormancy and get it growing before selling it to you. It will bloom sooner this year than a bare root that you plant yourself but ultimately there won't be any difference.

Own root or grafted is a debate we've had here many times. It's your choice and a matter of experimenting with which ones do better for you. Own root roses do take longer to mature than grafted roses (which are usually already one or two year old plants) because they are usually smaller newly rooted cuttings. They may be hardier in colder zones because you don't take the chance of the graft dieing in a freeze and ending up with root stock growing instead. And some roses do indeed do better grafted. They are not very vigorous growers on their own roots and need the added boost they get from growing on a strong root stock to perform well. But not all HTs are like that and not all other classes of roses perform their best own root either. It really just depends on the rose and the location. Location can play a big part in any roses performance. Not just by zone or state either. Even different locations in your own yard can have different results. Some roses only come grafted and some only come own root so just go with what you like and try them and see.

Thanks for the advice. i think I'm just gonna get what I like and try my best with it.

I have both kinds and what I can say is if you want a big bush full of roses fast, get the bare roots or big container. But buy a quality one, not a bargain one.

If you want to choose from hundreds of wonderful roses, buy an own root rose. Some rose growers will even ship out a larger size own root plant ( more $ for shipping ) in case you don't want to raise a newly rooted rose that needs more watching for the first months.

Myself, I like growing the cutting sized roses on in pots, eventually to grow them in the ground. The little cutting sized roses look different as young plants than they do when they are big and mature. The stems they grow can be bigger and stronger and show you what the final shape of the rose will be ( narrow, wide, slow growth, fast growing long stems,etc. ) You wait for these smaller plants to grow the roots substantially and then in following years the rose grows its mature canes and starts making roses like a mature bush does. You have to be patient but it is worth it. I like the more natural shape of the plants when they are on roots they grew themselves.

I also will buy the grafted roses. You choose the kind of grafted roots that like your soil best. Some roses that wouldn't grow well for me as own root plants, did much much better on different roots. I think the best thing is to find out which rose you really want to grow out of all the choices there are and then ask here to see if they grow well in your area and on what kind of roots.

Find the best spot in your yard and treat your rose like a king. The roses that have the best spots in my yard on the best soil getting the most water always grow the best.

I've had better luck overall, being a less experienced rose grower (4 years), with own root plants. For example, I have about 250 roses in my yard in East Tennessee; this year, from what I've been able to tell, I've lost 5 grafted and 1 ownroot. The 5 grafted were all planted in the ground and were suppossed to be hardy to my zone. The own root that I lost was Mlle Sombreuil which was potted. Now, according to HMF, it should have been hardy to zone 4, but being a tea, I highly doubt that. I'm going to see what happens to her this spring before I dump her though...the beauty of an ownroot plant is that it can die back to the ground, and re-emerge from its roots as the same variety. With grafted, once the bud union dies, the variety you purchased is gone, and you're left with rootstock.

Tammy

Don't be too hasty to dump the grafted ones either, Tammy. It's still too early to tell if they'll send up any new shoots or not. A couple of years ago my Oklahoma looked completely dead. I had to prune the canes right to the graft in April because they were all black. It was in a pot and I didn't need the pot so I never got around to digging it out. When things really started to get warm in May, well after everything else had leafed out and started blooming, Oklahoma sent up two new basal shoots. I thought at first they were root stock and ignored them. Well when they bloomed they were OK! That rose is now planted in the ground and doing great! So wait until it's a lot warmer before you yank anything. Sometimes they just need a little more heat to wake them up. Snowfire is another one that's notorious for that. It never gets started until well into May. Maybe it's a trait common to roses that perform better in hot weather or something?

A bare root is the same as a container ...except the soil has been removed for the economics of shipping..OWN ROOT is something quite different.

Depending upon the source of your bare roots, there is a possibility that the plant is mislabeled. If you purchase a potted plant in bloom, you're sure to get the rose you prefer. If you are ordering roses, then the shipping charges for potted far exceed the shipping charges for bare root and you're dealing with a reputable bare root supplier so I'd go that route when possible.