If there is someone to ask, you SHOULD ask.
Sometimes, when you ask, you acquire quite a bit of information in the process. (And, of course, sometimes you will be told NO.)

But I would ask, before you take cuttings from cemetery roses, if you are reasonably good at rooting cuttings. Forgive me if you are very very experienced, but I have heard SO many horror stories, from people who took rafts of cuttings and then threw all of them away, I've become super-sensitive.

For the first several years during which we explored old plantings, we took no cuttings at all. Only photographs. We didn't take much until we knew we had a chance of rooting them.

Jeri

Ha...and here I was going to stay it depends on how fast your get away car is....lol Kidding!!

I would ask or if possible find out when they are pruning or cleaning up their garden.

Hi Jeri, no I haven't tried cuttings yet, I was just going to start with hips /seeds and see what random blooms mother nature gives me (if any take of course). I found some informative threads on here about doing that. I would like to try cuttings someday if I come across a rose that looks abandoned, old and of a forgotten variety.

Here's a link to an article from the Texas Rose Rustlers site on the subject:

Here is a link that might be useful: texas rose rustlers

NorthTX -- FIRST play around with cuttings. There's a whole raft of material on line, on rooting cuttings. Learn THAT skill. It's something you'll need, even if you want to propagate your own seedlings.

Jeri

What Jeri is saying is accepted rose rustling etiquette.

Only take cuttings if you have reasonable expectations of success with rooting them,

Ask permission, if you can

Leave the rose in better condition than you found it.
(deadhead, remove dead wood, etc. Nothing drastic, though.)

Contact the Powers-that-Be that manage the park. I'll be they would love to have some volunteer help managing and maintaining the roses.

I have rustled many an old rose from cemeteries and old home sites. In each case, these are the rules I live by. I know of two roses that no longer exist on their original site, and one more that is affected by RRD. Each of these lives on, though, here in my own garden and in the gardens of friends.

To practice rooting roses, give the method on my web site a try. It was taught to me by a dear rose friend, and it has yielded good results for folks who use it. I'm using this technique right now, rooting some fall cuttings of the rarer roses from my collection. The link is below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Click on How To

Perhaps you already know this, but unless it is a species rose the seeds will be different plants with different flowers than the rose it came from.

I don't think taking some hips is quite the same as taking cuttings. I would never cut someone else's plant with out asking first but I often pop off a hip or two on roses in public places. It does no harm to the plant and they'd just fall off and get eaten by the critters eventually anyway. Taking actual cuttings is a different story though. You are altering the plant and that, I think, requires permission.

Although my roses are obviously cared for I have had people cut (actually tear) branches off and I was very upset about it because they did damage to the rose. If they had asked I'd have cut them for them myself because I love sharing them. I think most of us do enjoy sharing our roses so just ask and I'll bet you'll get those cuttings.

Some/many/? public rose gardens have a late fall or early spring public rose prunning day. The ones that I am familar with "reward" the volunteers by allowing them to keep canes and hips.

Not everyone will say yes when asked. I received a no because the owner enjoyed watching the birds eat the hips.

Also you'd might want to familiarize yourself with RRD. I'm assuming the seeds may be infected with the virus too...As Jeri said there are some pretty rude experiences each of us have about cuttings. I had a stranger walk by one day and ask if he could have cuttings from my climber America. I said No. I told him what the name of the rose was and that it was fairly common in the trade if he just wanted to buy a fully grown plant. Then I explained that my rose was diseased (RRD- which he didn't seem to grasp) and would shortly be gone from my yard. He left (none to pleased) and the next day I saw that many branches had been cut off. I never saw this man again, but what a horrible thought it is/was that he was propagating infected roses to spread/sell to who knows who and where......Maryl

A great many people don't "get it" about plant patents or -- for that matter, the common courtesy of not mucking up someone else's roses.

There was a local lady who dried roses, made arrangements, and sold them -- some to local retailers for resale. Which was fine, but she would come down our little Lane before dawn, and cut all the blooms she could reach.

She was more than a little weird, and when my husband went out early to run the dogs, and caught her, she curled up on the ground in a fetal position. Since this had been going on for months, we called the cops, who found a nice stash of pot in her car.

They lectured her strongly, scared the bejabbers out of her, and she never came back. Some people never learned how to behave in the Society of Humans.

Jeri

I agree that one should ask if possible. I can't believe the nerve of the woman who took Jeri's blooms.
Something to think about- whether you like the idea or not, the age of observation and recording is here. While maybe for now one might still have privacy in a cemetery, what with tiny cameras and drones if you filch a plant or cutting without asking, someone just may be watching.

This method works well.

Praise the roses. Talk about your garden and your love for roses. Praise the roses. Offer some rose food or free mulch. Offer a free rooted cutting when you get one. Praise the roses.

I agree that it always helps to be sure you know you have a decent chance of success before you ask.

Actually, if a cemetery is sufficiently cared-for and supervised to have security devices making recordings, you probably should NOT take cuttings, without permission.
:-)

Jeri

wow. great points of view! I would be mortified if i found someone in my yard taking cuttings from my roses.

Maryl, what creeped me out was that he was on your property while not home, but even more so if you were home sleeping. Ewww.

Seil is pretty much right in line with what I was thinking.

And even from a legal perspective, there is a huge difference between taking cuttings vs. taking hips.

If the rose is a patented rose, then taking cuttings even with the owners permission is still stealing (you would be in violation of the patent).

However, as hoovb pointed out, the plant from the seeds would not be the same plant as the parent, harvesting and planting seeds from a patented plant is NOT in violation of the patent.

when no one is looking?

I repent with sackcloth and ashes.

Oh, well, REALLY -- This is very simple.

A rose growing where no one now lives, where only the presence of neglected plants indicates that the site was once a garden, now derelict and forgotten -- or a rose growing in a long-unmaintained cemetery -- is NOT going to be protected by security cameras and drones.

Such roses are valid targets for collecting, propagating, and distributing.

By contrast, a rose in a maintained private garden should not EVER be collected, without the express permission of the property-owner.

PERIOD.

And -- before you take cuttings from a forgotten site, make sure that you have at least a valid chance of propagating them. If not -- take pictures, and go on your way.

Jeri

Jeri, I think you are, unfortunately, incorrect. Whether someone wants to take a chance is up to them, but no one, today, should count on not being seen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Increasing drone use and privacy concerns

It's OK, Harborose, I did chuckle at your jest and I have been victimized by thieves. Let's not lose our sense of humor here, please. After all if we can't laugh surely we'll be crying. And I hate when that happens!

My brother wants to get security cameras for the yard. For several years now, besides the roses being stolen, we've had our apple trees stripped clean of fruit either at night sometime or when we weren't at home for some reason. We use those apples for cooking all winter long and were very upset by the thought that someone climbed, and we think shook, the trees to get every last one down. The shaking is bad for the trees and my fear is some idiot will fall and then have the gall to sue us! We're pretty sure they went as deer bait no less because we've had several guys stop and ask if they could have them for that purpose. I really missed my applesauce, baked and apple pies the first year. Since then we've been trying to pick them earlier. They're not as sweet but at least we get some.

Lucille -- With respect -- it's not that way in actual practice.

Gean -- Once, while giving a talk about Old Roses in Cemeteries, I was asked if we asked permission before going there, or taking cuttings. Without thinking, I replied: "But everyone there is dead."
THAT got a laugh.

But, truthfully, as the climate grows drier, and more once-abandoned sites are turned into housing developments, more and more old plants ARE being lost.

You might check, tho, for Rose-Rustling "Etiquette" and stick to those guidelines.

Jeri

Jeri

Please cite your authority for what you say. From what I hear, observation and recording is increasing. I would be so relieved if those stories were untrue.

Why are we so serious with this drone talk? I would have to say that drone use is probably a good thing to fight big crime, but I doubt the government would spend all that money to use it for catching people clipping roses in old cemeteries. IMHO.

I would not be surprised to hear of drone use here....of course that would be up in the national forest where all the pot plants grow...and I think the "growers" really mind if you take "cuttings" there....although you can buy the "cuttings" on craigslist.

Lucille, I an others I know have rustled old roses for years, and continue to do so. Nary a drone has ever approached us.

Of course, we all wear aluminum foil hats while we do it.

;-)

Jeri

I have a few plants that I traded fertilizer or other starts for a piece of. Now the originals are long dead and gone and it makes me sad to see them dead by neglect or under the new owners driveway. Many I plant I begged a piece of when a house was going to be sold. I tried to buy a good Heritage 3 times and got so so plants but the piece I asked for was the plant that grew the best. If the person says no, then say thanks and keep your eye on it. I have seen gardeners whacking away at plants and asked if I could have a cut off piece from the ground. I always get one that way. If you hang around long enough, you will get it.

I used to get my figs stolen. I feel bad about the apples. Hopefully the thieves will get caught and punished for that.