You are a wealth of knowledge! Where do I find own root roses, then?

Heirloom Roses. My lord, that place has the most spectacular rose photography (and great quality plants and customer service, as well!). Prepare yourself. Have fun. Beware the David Austins. Sigh....

http://www.heirloomroses.com/

Damn! I just went and looked myself! Must... resist....

Brushwood has own root climbers. I have so far resisted Heirloom Roses.

You might want to post to the Rose Forum, I've had help there a lot. I used to buy potted roses locally, until I was advised to try bare root roses from Pickering in Canada. I've ordered from them a couple of times and have been happier with my purchases.

I believe Pickering is closed this season due to a death in the family, but the Rose forum can send you to other sites. I think Palatine was one they sent me to the last time.

It's still hard to find roses that are disease resistant and tolerate the weather. I'm still trying different varieties. So far, Julia Child is the one that performs the best for me and it's fragrant too.

I grow these in zone 7 and they are disease resistant. I grow quite a few heirloom ramblers that are very disease resistant and I grow them along a three rail fence. Not sure For my more shrubby roses, I would humbly suggest looking into these for you location; *some* may be pushing it for 6b. Lynnie-zone 6b, Shailer's Provence, Russelliana, Violette, Portland from Glendora, Morey's Pink, La Belle Sultane. Some are fragrant. If you are interested in the old heirloom ramblers, ask away on the Antique Rose forum or I have a few as well and just love them.

I take cuttings each year and I plan to plant some up in the mountains of NC this fall on a property/zone 6b. I also purchased quite a few of the roses I write of above, from a woman in NC who also does mail order, Linda Loe of Long Ago roses: http://www.longagoroses.com/

this is a very informative site:

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/index.php

there are some very reputable mail order rose sources as well. Try to buy own root roses.

Roses Unlimited is having a sale right now:

http://www.rosesunlimitedownroot.com/

Hope this helps
patty

Some of the "old fashioned" roses are actually relatively new ones bred by David Austen:Abraham Darby and Grahm Thomas. Others on the list may be too. The two mentioned did not do well in my zone 5 Boston area garden. As Barb points out, in our climate you need to know more about the rootstock. You also want to know more about its heritage. It is not optimal f it gets killed to the ground every year, even if it regenerates. Personally, I think it stresses the plant and I know it means later blooms and smaller bush size.
If old fashioned means double and fragrant that's a popular definiton. But it doesn't really tell us anything else about the rose that helps us know whether it will thrive in our region.
Marie

All the roses described as 'old fashioned' are new ones from David Austin. While they do tend to be a bit hardier than HTs, they aren't really that much more disease resistant. So I'd recommend passing on that list.

For dieback roses, I've found a strong rootstock to be a necessity. They just don't have enough ooophm to regenerate otherwise. So long as the bud union is planted at the proper level (below ground) there aren't any drawbacks to grafted roses, but the big advantage of a lot more vigor.

The usual New England recommendation for hardy, disease resistant, repeat blooming roses with scent are rugosas. Here, they are almost impossible to find locally because the nurseries have trouble sourcing them, and the ones they do get are quickly sold.

I just bought rugosa roses this year from cold stream farm, along with various other shrubs and seedling trees. They are newly planted so I can't report on how hardy they will prove to be, but I see a lot of rugosa roses in my area thriving.

http://www.coldstreamfarm.net/p-186-rugosa-rose-rosa-rugosa.aspx

Last year I purchased 6 climbing roses, 3 from a place that was going out of business, and 3 Sorcerer roses from Heirloom Roses. They all survived the winter in good health, but none bloomed last summer. The area where I planted them has grown in with some shade giving shrubbery which I cut back at the end of last summer. I think I may end up moving them over where the rugosa roses are, along a fence that gets sunlight all day long.