Not a rose expert.

I think it depends on the type of rose. Some are more vigorous on their own roots than others. Bands will always be own-root, while the larger sizes may or may not be. Of those you listed, I only have Polka on its own roots, planted as a band last spring. It has seemed pretty vigorous to me so far. I always prefer to buy in band size for several reasons, but that's me.

I bought a New Dawn from HD last year and it is has done pretty much nothing the whole year. Leafed out and grew a couple canes, but still sitting in a 3 gallon container. Also came with Dr Huey growing out of it too. Personally, with the hot temps in summer, I like the bands because it's not such a shock to them and by the time they're ready to plant, they've already gotten used to their location in my garden (also a smaller hole to dig). I agree that it depends on the vigor - some bands are bigger than bare roots after 1 year, but others are smaller or ~roughly same size. But I've also gotten cheaper bare roots from places like Bay Laurel nursery ($3 flat shipping w my co op) and Raft Island Roses (prob more like $30-$40 per rose w shipping). My White Eden is in a 20 gal pot and medium-smallish sized compared to, say, Blush Noisette (20 gal) which was a band or Perfumed Breeze (bare root, 10 gal but bigger). All of them are 1 year old. After this year, they're definitely going to be the same size as the 2 year old 5 gal Honeymoon I got from my local nursery...but it could also be due to the fertilizer, potting mix, and shade that my pots got vs the in ground, full sun, no shade location...

I’m not in Norcal, and I don’t know Eden, but even if the others at a big box have very aggresively pruned roots, I bet they will meet your requirement in 2 years, and thus are clearly the best value.

Here's what I have found, of the 10 big box store grafted bareroot roses 1 had Rose Mosaic Virus...they still can live 10 years, but need extra care. Of course, that was one of the ones I loved and would like cuttings from.

The bands would be the safe bet to avoid RMV or pay more locally. But you could also plant some fast growing annual salvia or hyacinth vine along the fence and wait until your bands catch up.

I don't know anything about Regans roses.

Own root roses will never sucker on you so that's a plus. Big Box store roses are older cv usually and a poor selection. Get the ones you really want and the extra year will be worth it.

@chadinlg Zone 9b Los Gatos CA

Own root roses can absolutely sucker. Suckering depends on variety, and own roots are actually much more likely to sucker than their grafted counterparts if that variety is prone to it...

I bought $60 five gallon rose from Regan nursery (Fremont) last spring for the head start, then realized the bottom third of the pot was filled mostly with wood shavings and dirt, with plenty of top growth disproportional to the size of the root ball. The size of the root ball was similar to the ones I bought from homedepot for $25 (2-3 gallon size), and by the end of the season all of them were pretty similar in size (Regan 5 gallon, Summerwinds nursery 5 gallon, Homedepot, and gallon-size mail order), with the mail order bands a bit behind in development. My experience might not apply to all of the 5 gallon roses sold by Regan, I guess Regan might grow some of them and also purchase from other wholesale distributors. The 5-gallon rose purchased from Summerwinds had the root ball filling the entire pot (sandy potting media), wholesale name on the pot was a Japanese name I don't remember. Regan policy did not allow return last year, Summerwinds and Homedepot did. Hope this info helps.

I think Chad meant own root won't have understock like Dr. Huey growing.

I agree w/Sheila.

At least I do now. It’s funny - when I first read chad’s comment, I thought: “He’s wrong. Not suckering would be bad. You’d miss out on getting a bigger rose”. So MM was not the only one who was confused.

Yes, there's a difference from what I think of as true "suckering", which I believe is actually worse with own-root roses, and understock "suckering", which is when the understock starts sprouting canes, trying to take over the scion.

I can't comment on the sources of the plants mentioned,however from my experience New Dawn is such an uber-vigorous rose that it would be fine as an own-root, whereas I have read that Eden is very slow to grow as an own-root, and an own-root Eden that I had confirmed this, though that could've been due to poor cultivation, etc, on my part.

Bart bart and Mischievous Magpie (CO 5b) I just got done reading about the suckering on own root...apprently it often happens with Old Garden Rose varieties and people in England are especially worried about own root for that reason.....bet that is why David Austin does NOT sell own root in UK.

Yes my remark was about rootstock suckers.

I have not bought own roots, but have rooted cuttings, including old roses and english roses, the suckers are not a problem if you like a shrub rose look.