Heirloom also has a nice selection of DA's in band sizes.

Ordered a few last spring from the DA catalog, pretty sure they are grafted on Dr. Huey. They arrived in good condition, nice sized bareroots. I would order from them again.

I've bought all mine direct from David Austin in Texas. Last year I bought over a dozen, and this year I bought 15 more. All have been healthy, vigorous, and beautiful. You cannot beat David Austin's customer service, it's been incredible. They've helped me with questions, replaced roses I didn't like, sent me free ones with my orders, just been wonderful. All the David Austins from them are grafted. I haven't grown any own-root, so cannot compare them. But I can HIGHLY recommend buying from DA if you are okay with grafted.

I totally agree with robynb. I just picked mine up last Friday - huge plants, great root systems, wonderful customer service. I ordered another rose at the last minute and it was free!! They have always been great to deal with - I am nearby so pick mine up, fine establishment.
Judith

Thank you for the helpful information. Heirloom still has Sceptr'd Isle so I will go with them or David Austin's bareroot grafted. Any advice?
Also, how do the DA climbers compare to shrubs of the same variety?
Thanks again

Heirloom still has Sceptr'd Isle so I will go with them or David Austin's bareroot grafted. Any advice?

Just remember that Heirloom sends those dinky little bands--healthy, but need extra time to grow up. I'm too impatient to wait on them.

Austin's bareroots are healthy and already big--no extra waiting. I've never had any complaints about the roses they send.

Kate

A few observations from my growing over the years, others may have different experiences. Our summer temps are very cool compared to the rest of the country. All roses grow best above ground with temps 80 and above until the mid-90's. Own-root have then a slower growing rate to reach their mature size no matter where you are. Here it takes an additional three to four yeas. So mature size of own-root takes a total of 8-10 years to achieve. It is because of this that I would recommend grafted roses unless time is no concern. I would also recommend dr. huey (DA Tyler Texas)rootstock over multiflora (Pickering, Hortico) rootstock because it influences more rapid growing. Who you choose to buy from is also dependent on your budget as well as selection.
I also protect my roses by tying them up, spraying them, pegging them to the ground in winter (including the ramblers/climbers) and covering them with leaves and cement blankets. If I did not, the winter die-back would not make growing these worth my effort.
There is no difference between the climbers and the regular roses by the same name. It is how you grow them that determines whether they climb or not.
{{gwi:232910}} Graham Thomas (dr. huey)/Eglantyne (Multiflora) I would never stop buying from ARE, Vintage, Pickering, Ashdown, Hortico, HOGR, and others because I know what to expect and how to grow what I get from them - but that came with experience. BOL jimmiegeorge

Yes, the cool summers are not good for a lot of modern roses. The stupid things just don't grow. If you understand the most rootstocks were chosen to make the roses grow bigger than they ordinarily would, you can connect the dots and understand there can be an enormous performance difference between grafted and own-root.

I have yet to have an own-root Austin perform satisfactorily here. They just have a terrible time getting bigger. Right now Sharifa Asma is in a pot in the garage, after about ten years in the outer world produced a 6 inch plant.

Personally, I'd get Austins from Pickering. To the point that if Pickering didn't have a variety, I'd choose a different one.

I just received my DA rose (Emma Hamilton)..in Tyler. It is a very robust bare root, and I pored over the literature included with it for an hour. Nothing is finer than being an obsessive rose grower when you receive your rose in a box. I received notification that it was shipping...received it 3 days later.

They are soo nice at DA in Tyler. And, it may just be me...I love how they have kept things "British" in their literature, etc.

PS - I love how they have suggestions for certain climates, container appropriateness, sizes etc. And you get the big catalog with your order, to boot. Its a beautiful publication.

Very pleased with them.

Can you tell us where you live and what kind of soil you have? For me, Pickering roses in Canada do the best. They are grafted onto multiflora which thrives in my clay soil. Dr. Huey roses seem to be more popular in the south & western states. Since you're a cold zone, you have a shorter growing season and may lose some small band own-root plants so I would avoid that and if you get own-root get the larger sized gallons or 1-gallons.

Dr. huey grafted austins do well for me here in IL. I have had some for over a decade now. Dr. huey seems to do better than the multiflora I get from pickering, but there is little choice as far as antique roses on huey I am finding. I have alkaline clay soil here (lots of limestone quarries around).

I also have some own root, while they take a while to get as large as the grafted. They seem to be doing well as the majority of the austins I have are very vigorous and winter hardy. Esp. the generous gardener, that thing is huge, with nearly no tip dieback this winter of 21 below F. Pat austin - still puny, hope she made it.

Where you get these roses will be determined by which ones you want. Some of them are more difficult to find than others. One I would like to get as a grafted plant is Claire Rose. I have an own-root one, but it hasn't grown all that much. There aren't many places that sell it as a grafted plant. The rootstock can make a difference as well as to how a plant does.

I found this a very interesting thread! i, too, have had problems with growing David Austin roses ownroot, and I live in California, but it's within the coastal belt so we're a bit cool much of the year. It's taken me years to get my ownroot DA roses going, ditto for old Hybrid Teas. We only have consistently hot weather from August-early November, and I've found that very small ownroot band roses often perish in our coolish, often cloudy weather. I have an ownroot Ambridge Rose that took nearly 6 yrs to get going - I've got it planted in the sunniest spot in my garden where it gets reflected light from a nearby stucco wall. This is the only area that a rose like Francis Dubreuil/Barcelona is happy in. Many roses simply do not like the chill and mistiness that we humans enjoy as a respite from the strong southern California sun. I placed an order this year from the DA website. However, if ARE still had Abe Darby in stock, I would have ordered from them as their roses are really strong, large and healthy.

I've grown a ton of Austins when I was still living in NC where we had heavy clay soil, and there's no question that David Austin in Tyler, TX sells the best and biggest ones, all grafted on Dr Huey. DA also has absolutely superb customer service, that's important, too.

If you like own root, J&P's new generation Austins did also well for me in NC, although they never quite gained the size and floriferousness of their bigger siblings from Tyler, TX during a span of 3-4 years.

Smaller own root plants from other vendors however never even remotely caught up with the big monsters from TX. Small blooms, puny plants in comparison.

Pickering btw sells good plants grafted on multiflora, but again, no match for the ones from DA.

Here in England I get them again directly from DA, but the plants are smaller and don't look as impressive, different rootstock. They generally do very well though.

Bustopher, I just received my grafted Claire Rose from DA today, in England of course, sorry!

Andrea

This post was the reason I bought my roses from DA.
Jackie

I know a lot of you prefer grafted, but with my winters, I'm going to stick with own root roses. Carol at Northland Rosarium carries several David Austin roses and so does Heirloom Roses. I'm in almost the same growing zone as Northland, so I hope if they grow well there, they'll grow well for me. At least if they freeze to the ground, I'll still have the same rose I ordered.

Also, my Fantin Latours from Heirloom Roses (realize they're not DA) have done beautifully on own root. I have a short growing season, but they've grown very well over the last year. I guess it all comes down to personal preference :)

I too, have had great luck with David Austin in Tyler. Their customer service is great, they give advice freely which I appreciate!

lavender lass

You won't be disappointed with your roses from Carol at Northland Rosarium. I have been buying Heirlooms for years, and when I discovered N.R. two summers ago I couldn't believe the difference. They are own root, but so much hardier. They took off the first year! I was just amazed!

I bought a couple of Mortimer Sacklers from David Austin, and they were very large and healthy plants. Later I happened to read a Paul Zimmerman post mentioning that Dr. Huey doesn't last more than about 5 years in South Carolina, so I think I'd not go with that graft again for this area of the country. (I believe that DA does use Dr. Huey for their grafts.)

What I'd do now, if ordering Mortimer Sackler again, would be to order it as an ownroot plant from Roses Unlimited. Other ownroot roses are all doing very well here, and I like not having to worry about where the "real" rose starts, in terms of how low I might be able to cut off a cane if it has some disease or winter dieback. And in this section of the country, ownroot roses take off in growth the first year. Paul Zimmerman, who has grown and sold both types with the same varieties, has said that an ownroot plant catches up in growth within about three years to whatever it would have been if grafted.

But if I were ordering a grafted plant for use around here, I'd want the rose grafted onto Multiflora or Fortuniana.

Best wishes,
Mary

Does anyone know where DA grafted on Fortuniana can be obtained ? Here in nematode country it's almost a necessity if you want to get more than just a few years out of a rose.............sally

Priya

I live Atlanta GA. Planning to plant some fragrance english roses. Hear good things about David Austin roses. Can anyone please give me the contact number for DA shop in Texas I would like to talk to them.

Google David Austin Roses - click on the American flag and their 800 number will be there. Highly recommend them - I live 2 hours away and will be picking up my order shortly. Like others said, HUGE roses that grow extremely well. Excellent customer service. A first class company.

The own-root Bishop's Castle that I purchased from David Austin Roses were the lustiest, biggest bare roots that I've ever purchased, either grafted or own-root. Roots were about 3 feet long (which meant digging a 6 foot hole to spread them out). They also grew faster and stronger than any of the own-roots from other companies, but that could just be how Bishop's Castle grows. I have no comparison.

Hortico is my #1 place to go for DAs. :-)