The roses I grow, whether bare root plants bought online, or five gallon nursery plants from my favorite local nursery, grow and bloom their first season in my garden. Always. I don't understand this waiting three years for great growth and blooming. And at my age, I don't have three years to wait. Diane

First season, potted nursery plant.

In the ground three months. First season bare root purchased online.

First season, purchased online, one gallon potted plant.

Diane - I adore the coloring on the last pic!!!

Moses - last year was my first year with some own root roses, and I found they barely grew. I'm hoping for much better this year.

Mine are slow to establish. In any case I'm not fond of "old adages",at least not when it comes to gardening. Everyone's conditions are different,every plant is different.

Unless it’s an own root bare root rose, I will plant all own roots in containers, get them to about a 3 gallon size, then plant them in the ground. The adage works for some, not for others. Some varieties like McCartney, Traviata, Madame Anisette just leap and continue leaping. I really do think it is varietal, some are just incredibly vigorous and some are not.

I've found this to hold true with an own root Above and Beyond climbing rose. It certainly slept its first year, then crept out across the ground, and now it's 8 feet tall in its third year. My own root Earth Angel slept in its first year and is now in its second year and putting out strong basal growth. And, my first year own root Crown Princess Margareta is really exploding. Although, I think I bought the plant in its second or third year of age.

I will usually get a few blooms in the first year but most of mine are from High Country and they start out small so yes for me 3 years is when they really start to impress. Mine alwsys start in pots for a year or they dont do so well right in the ground.This is why I love bare root rosed, they really take off quickly.

like Kristine, many if my own roots arrive as small plants from High Country Garden and they usually spend their first season in pots on my patio only make it into the ground the following spring (If there is space available). My first choice of rootstock is multiflora and roses grafted on multiflora tend to hit the ground running for me.

I planted an Albertine rambler in 2021 and it definitely leaped in it’d third year. Here it was last summer in the early part of the growing season. The fence is 6 ft tall and the trellis is about 8 ft high.

Meanwhile I planted Cornelia as a bare root in the fall of 2021 and she has had a slower build up, but she is finally up to about 5 or 6 feet and I'm hoping she keeps her foot on the gas!

I would say the sleep, creep, leap adage does largely apply to grafted roses, Moses. Even in the ‘sleep‘ phase I usually get reasonable growth and blooms, some skip that phase altogether and romp away. So much depends on the size of what your receive, the vigour of the individual rose and your specific soil, climate etc.

Own root is not really a thing in Europe, but for those I would think 4-5 years is reasonable, for climbers to develop a good framework of canes and for shrub roses to bulk up??

Nollie, my roses are grafted and I love them. Diane

Nollie, I only have one (1), grafted bush, a True Bloom True Devotion probably grafted upon Dr. Huey, not multiflora. Everything else (some 50 odd bushes), is own root, which own root bushes have overtaken the rose market in the USA. Just 30 years ago own root roses were practically unheard of. My suspicion is that Americans are getting lazy, and grafting is more work, plus smaller mom and pop, internet rose nurseries are proliferating like mushrooms as can be seen at: Etsy, Temu, EBay, etc., and the expertise needed to produce a sellable grade #1 grafted rose bush is beyond most of their capabilities.

Climbers always take their time to get to their full potential, but if you have the room, the wait is well worth it.

I agree, a good compatable rootstock seems to give the scion super-flora energy. Rarely does even a weak grower, own root, not grow respectably if grown grafted.

Moses.

When I first began gardening here everything was planted with grass by the previous owners and all the roses, even those own-root in tiny pots, took off like gangbusters. Now I buy roses in two-gallon pots, and these are own-root, and those planted in the ground began to grow right away and a month or two later have buds. My roses fortunately don't have the diseases that Moses deals with and I imagine that can make quite a difference. On the other hand they've been savaged by ground squirrels and roof rats to the point where some are really struggling. It is still an open question whether the roses will survive, but my fingers are tightly crossed.

Markay,

I agree, multiflora rootstock roses always excel in these parts. Wish such roses were available from more nurseries. However, I am getting a bit too feeble anymore to dig a proper hole for a well grown grafted on multiflora rose with roots not chopped off. So own root gallon size or thereabouts roses are still within my physical abilities. 😥 However, all is not lost. Just about all roses being sold now are container grown, and usually gallon size or less, so I am still able to select my roses from a large pool of beauties! 😁

Moses.

A lot of the Meillands tend to grow very large and have very thick and sometimes thorny canes and they seems to be a bit more resilient against the likes of squirrels and rabbits that want to chew and bring down canes in order to get to young leaf growth. Even with potted roses, they seem to leave holes and expose roots…

Grafted climber Colette first year. She is a Meilland Romantica.

Colette, first year, one month older than the above photo.

Oh, here is Colette in 2024. The photos above were from 2013. Diane

@Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6 I was just writing to another gardener today about how SLOW my Boleros are growing. They were planted in February 2023 and grew a bit and bloomed. Last year they grew an inch or two and bloomed a lot. But the plants haven't grown more than six inches or so. I'm not sure if 2025 is technically year two or year three, but the new growth has just emerged, and I'm crossing my fingers they finally take off. They are own root.

@Diane Brakefield how often does Colette bloom for you? We were considering it for a rose arch at our house. Randomly, the A-Z guide to roses doesn't even list it as a climber!

Diane - incredible!! Do you ever have people wanting to take wedding photos in front of your roses?

@roserobertpdx,

My own root Boleros were a disappointment, taken into account all the pros and cons.

The pros were: powerful fragrance, long lasting bloom, winter hardy w/o any protection in zone 6b, and very good repeat.

The cons were: weak necks, especially with frequent summer showers here, and black spot victimhood.

Mine only achieved 16" in height by year 3, and were unruly growers...not neat and tidy looking. The short stature was no issue since they were mixed into the Drift roses at the front of the rose border. So their untidy growth habit was masked by a neighboring Drift rose. With their nodding trait, the blooms could rarely be seen nicely, just the arched neck with a downward facing bloom. No good.

The black spotting was the game changer so they got shovel pruned about 2-3 years ago.

Moses.

My own-root Bolero is a couple years old and only maybe 18 inches tall which makes it hard to enjoy the fragrance. I saw it offered on MF rootstock and was tempted, but the verdict is still out on blackspot resistance.

@Markay MD-Zone 7B I would say my Boleros are also 18" tall and about two years old. I know they CAN get bigger, but I am wondering when. :)

Robert - that's a shame about Perfume Factory. I love mine, but we don't really have blackspot here. If a rose gets it here, then it's gone and would be terrible anywhere else too.

Markay and Robert - that's strange that both of you have Boleros that are short after 2 years. Guess it's not very vigorous.

@rosecanadian I need to take it back. My Bolero's just sent up about 8" of new growth this week, and it's getting taller every day. I guess it was just waiting for year three to take off. :)

Well, that's encouraging to hear! Go, Bolero!!