My 2 cents I have one Austin that is an accidental ownroot (I came home with a variety of roses and found a cane laying in the bed of the truck next to an expired patent rose.) Disappointed that I had managed to tear the best cane off in transporting, I diced it up and poked them in the ground under glass. Amazingly they all rooted, they were in a bad spot so I moved them assuming they would die, to 3 corners in the same little garden. I had no idea they were not the non patent rose. They grew and grew, filling the corners of the bed and then....a bud. Clearly not the rose I had thought they were all along but instead the Austin I picked up the wrong pot of when buying. I did not want that plant, the reviews were bad, it balls, crisps etc. I was not happy. Now I had this rose I did not want x 4. Fast forward, that own root grows faster, reblooms more and is incredible. Each of the accidental cuttings is better than the grafted mother plant. I can tie and move the own root canes, the grafted plants canes break off with a stern look. It still balls and crisps, but I no longer care because with so many blooms, some still open. She still nods, but I love that charm and besides with 30 blooms in a couple of feet...what is not to enjoy. I think that how an individual plant does grafted or not depends on the plant and not so much as the breeder. That DA also will tip root and provided me with the first seedling at her feet. Maybe it is the anomaly in Austins, but this is one that needs reducing power from the root stock.

I think most discussions of "own root" vs. "grafted" may be nearly irrelevant, UNLESS one is speaking of specific varieties and specific rootstocks. Each rose variety is genetically unique, and so the root system it produces will be different from that of any other rose, and its behavior on a specific grafted rootstock may be different from that of any other rose. So it becomes dangerous to generalize too much. In reality, every rose is on a "rootstock," whether there is a graft present or not; in an own-root rose, that rootstock is simply that particular rose's root system, which is genetically unique. Of course it is true that most of Austin's roses are at least somewhat related to each other, but even there, there is enough variability that I think it becomes unreasonable to generalize too much. As for the rootstocks under grafted plants, there is a tendency for extreme vigor (Fortuniana) or moderate vigor (Dr. Huey or Manettii), or low vigor (odorata or canina), etc., and a tolerance of acid soils (multiflora) vs. alkaline (Dr. Huey). But those are tendencies. Each scion variety will behave somewhat differently on each of these stocks, and each scion variety will behave differently from other scions, on a given stock. On top of all of that, then, are soil and climate of a specific garden, both of which will affect behavior of a rose on the roots it is given. So I think it is legitimate to say "in Lakeland Florida, even on our sandy, nematode-infested soils, I prefer Austin's "Graham Thomas" and "Heritage" on 'Dr. Huey' over 'Fortuniana' (since they won't rebloom well) or own-root (since they won't survive long), but I prefer 'Souv. de la Malmaison' and its sports on 'Fortuniana' (a combination that gives excellent vigor, floriferousness, and longevity), but 'Tausendschoen' and 'Crepuscule' are excellent on their own roots," those statements may not be true of other varieties, nor of these same varieties in other gardens, in different climates, and with different soils. The bottom line, then, is Caveat Emptor. Yes, get others' opinions and experiences, but realize they may not match what happens in your garden with your set of varieties.

I don't know enough to say which is better, but 4 of the 5 DA I had died last winter, i live in Houston and did not protect them. They were all grafted, but they were not doing well to begin with which I think was more to do with location. They got way more shade than I anticipated. Wanted to try an own root in a different bed that gets a lot of sun...

Ann your garden is lovely in every way. I love love your iceberg roses and the lavender. I can’t grow lavender here because of our dense clay but I really love it. Iceberg is one of my favorite white roses also, I grow a couple ven tho they require spraying here because they are so lovely and bright white. Your princess Anne seems to be very happy and I also hope it becomes a star in your garden. Would you be willing to share more pictures of your Bolero? That is a rose I have been meaning to try and have never gotten the opportunity. The thrips really damage my light colored roses here, but they are still my favorite. The magenta rose in the background of Princess Anne is Super Excelsa rambling rose, I got it from Heirloom roses. I grow it with Super Dorothy over a small fence to hide a car trailer my hubby has there. They are both supposed to rebloom, but after 3 years they only give some sporadic blossoms here and there after the main flush. I would consider them once bloomers unless they change with maturity. On this bottom picture you can see the super Dorothy is lighter. This year they both bloomed darker for some reason if you have space for a climber in this color range I would recommend my Raspberry cream twirl. I feel pushing it lol but it really has been great here. You probably have seen my big ones on the arbor, but this one is a band from this year and already blooming. It makes long thornless stems that work great for arrangements. Picture from my mature plant that shows the color out of the sun. Some blooms have a lot of white like these while others are almost all magenta/red and they age with a lavender cast like princess Anne.