Betty,

Do not worry about the RU roses. I get some every year and of course it gets much colder here than just a frost. Saying that though, I still have all of my RU roses in 5 gallon pots. I'll plant them within the next few weeks. I can baby them with weak fertilizers and keep them well watered this way. Now, saying that, this is just me and others here have good luck planting right away. Experiment both ways and see which works best for you.

Thanks Mgleason--That makes me feel better. The four from Roses Unlimited are really taking off. I will post pictures of them soon.

Betty

Own root roses from Roses Unlimited are mature plants with larger root systems. Those from Amity Roses are bands, newly rooted cuttings, although some may be a little larger than others. These smaller bands should do better if planted in one gallon pots until they get some size to them. Confining the roots in a pot seems to make them grow better. In the ground they often make roots and don't grow much top growth until the next year if they survive the winter.
They can be better protected in a pot. On hot sunny days, you can move them into a filtered sun area then back again
as necessary.

Betty, it would help if you tell us where you live (central PA, south NJ, that kind of info).

Also, I have found that own root HTs are not as robust for me as grafted. Depending on where you live, you may want to try roses grafted on R. multiflora rootstock instead of the usual Dr. Huey rootstock. I have had excellent success growing HTs on R. multiflora rootstock. Vendors who carry R. multiflora rootstock are Palatine Roses, Pickering Nursery, Hortico (all of the above are Canadian nurseries, but they ship to the US) and Wisconsin Roses (roses are "maidens", newly budded plants that grow quickly).

Yes, location definitely matters. In the northeast, in general, we don't like own-root tender roses. My experience is just a more extreme version of Diane's - they just don't have the oomph necessary to grow back from winterkill. Correct rootstock helps a bit. However, it isn't multiflora for me because my pH is too high. Hardier roses helps a lot.

Location is everything in gardening.
We can't advise on winter protection without that.

I can say, that using cow manure under rose cones for winter protection is just about guaranteed to kill your roses.

But, you may live somewhere that doesn't require protecting roses in the first place, or where roses freeze no matter what you do.

Tiny little roses from 2" pots won't survive well planted into the ground, without special nurturing. Larger roses from say 1 gallon pots or so will do fine in the ground. Doesn't matter whether they're own root or grafted, it's the size. When I buy the 2" pot roses I put them in 1g pots for the first year, and I protect them with wood shavings in the winter. Something light and fluffy that breathes and drains better than manure. But, we're borderline here as far as needing winter protection.

Anything bigger, goes right into the ground, but our winters are relatively mild compared to truly cold winter areas. We don't go below 0 F, and not much below 15 F, which is where real winter damage starts on established roses. Frost doesn't matter.

As time goes on, you will ALL be growing own-root roses.
If new cultivars can't hack it on their own roots, it's going to be very unlikely that they'll see commerce.

To make budded roses, you need budders.
That's a very skilled job.
It's almost impossible, now, to find really skilled workers who want to work on their knees all day,
budding, for low wages.
The children of the skilled budders went to college, and became lawyers and doctors and suchlike.

You CAN, of course, buy VI rootstock, grow it, and bud your own roses taking budwood from own-root plants.
(Hopefully, VI plants.)

Jeri

I don't know. I've had a lot of success growing own root roses. Even small ones. I plant straight into the ground no matter what size. My OR roses are robust and healthy. I have David Austin own root roses Gertrude Jeckyll, Tamora and Abraham Darby, Rooted cuttings of Tahitian Sunset and of course all my minis are own root too. They get winter protection of mounded shredded pine bark or wood chips and I pile snow on them over the winter. Everything has survived. I have more problems with my grafted HTs. They take a lot more winterizing than the OR roses.

Gilli

Perhaps the individual cold-hardiness of a cultivar is more relevant to surviving winter than whether
it's OR or budded.

I'd not have thought Fragrant Cloud would be cold-hardy.
It's got a hefty dose of Pernetiana in its pedigree, after all.

Jeri

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Thanks to all. I am learning a lot. I just took pictures of my Own root Roses. I purchased 2 Touch of Class and 2 Moncheri Roses from Amity last year. One Touch of Class did not make it. We had a hard 5 day freeze the first week in April last year. This was following a very warm March and my roses had already started to leaf out. They were still covered with composted cow manure and mulch. I only added the cones to the 4 from Amity roses. I lost around 8 of my HT last year and that is why I decided to try Own Root roses.

I purchased 4 roses from Roses Unlimited a month ago during the sale--buy one and get one free. Those roses are growing well and full of buds. I live in Louisville, Ky. I have 31 HT, and I love HT, and I have one English rose and 8 Knockout Roses. I have a small yard and keep the Knockout Roses small. I just pruned them again a few weeks ago and they are still happy and about to bloom again.

I am learning so much from this forum and all of you know more than some of the rose growers. I guess I will just stick with buying roses from Roses Unlimited for the future and continue to learn from all of you.

Betty

Sorry about the pictures--some came up twice.

Betty,

I have had great luck with own roots from Chamblee's. Last summer I moved 5 of them in pots from Toledo to Cleveland, OH in the back of a pickup truck. Then they had to sit for another month before I get to plant them--in late August of all times! They bloomed anyway, well into October, and without winter protection they all survived and have been doing very well.

Granted, I live very near Lake Erie, which keeps things a little warmer here than the rest of Cleveland, and I have a privacy fence that may block some of the winds that we get around here. But overall I would buy stock in Chamblees if they sold it, because everything I've ever bought from there has been top notch and performed well (provided I bought plants suited for my zone, of course!).

Good luck--I would just let them be free for the winter and see what happens. My personal philosophy is that anything that won't survuve a winter in my garden isn't worth the pampering it would require to keep it alive.

Jennifer

Lavaglut from Chamblees
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Strike it Rich from Chamblees
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Oops--my error--that second rose photo is Livin' Easy, not Strike it Rich. I always confuse the two!

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks, I will check out Chamblees, and by the way your roses are so beautiful!!!! Wow! You must be doing something right.

Betty

I hope everyone thoroughly digested what Jeri said. And, like Gilli, I plant own roots of any size right in the ground at any time. However, I have learned not to plant Teas, China, and Noisette bands after September. They need more time before winter hits.

So far (my 4th summer here) grafted Hybrid Teas have been my worst performers--more disease, bug, and deer prone, worst winter survivors.

I don't have problems with own root floribundas, shrubs, OGRs or minis. For me, own root HTs are not as robust as grafted on R. multiflora.

-- For me, own root HTs are not as robust as grafted on R. multiflora.

*** That's location/environment-specific.
Here in the West, R. multiflora is a very sad puppy, and short-lived.

Jeri