I think in the PNW multiflora rootstock does very well, so you can buy from Pickering and Palatine. I wanted to recommend you to check out Lynette, The Oldrosarian's website. She has a PNW garden with 6-800 roses to die for, with gorgeous photos and useful comments about every rose she grew. Alas, I cannot locate the website any more. Anyway, she gardens in British Columbia, and as far as I remember, she bought roses only grafted on multiflora and laxa. Dr. Huey is the rootstock for the alkaline soils in southern California and Arizona but you probably do not have alkaline soil in the rainy Seattle. As others already explained it, David Austin sells the right to certain nurseries to grow his roses. Some sell his roses own root, like Chamblee's, Heirloom, Vintage, RU, and some sells them grafted - for you the best choice is Pickering who has most of the Austins and their multiflora rootstock is grown from seeds so it is likely virus free. (So far I never got a virused rose from them - Austin or else). Own root, as others already explained you, does not mean that the rose will be virus free. Roses Unlimited announced a few years ago that they will clean up they virused inventory but that could not be done in such a short period of time considering the large variety they carry. There is a nursery on the west coast that guarantees (?) virus-free roses, Roses of Yesterday and Today if you want grafted plants and don't want to order from Canada, though Pickering is less expensive. And, Roses Y&T has very few plants grafted on multiflora but states that they sell only virus free plants. If you are willing to try bands, you have more choices: Northland Rosarium (WA), Heirloom (OR), Vintage (CA). I tried both Northland and Vintage and I was very happy with both though I was very reluctant to try bands. For bigger own roots you can check out Rouge Valley roses (OR)- they do not state that all their roses are virus free but accept the responsibility that no matter how many years later virus shows up they will reimburse you - so far this is the best guarantee I've read. Their selection is fantastic (unfortunately their shipping cost to the east coast is forbidding but for you it should be pretty good, I assume). Chamblee's (TX) has excellent 1 and 2 gallon own root roses, including some Austins, probably at the best price you can find. Their so-called Earthkind roses are the disease resistant ones. (Strangely enough they don't list Crepuscule among those while Crepuscule is one of my most disease resistant roses.)

Nope, we're not talking many, many viruses causing mosaic. Just as we're not talking distemper nor the common cold nor any of a host of other viruses when we discuss HIV in humans. Any discussion of those other viruses on this thread is irrelevant. The simple fact is that the "problem" of mosaic in the USA is caused almost always by a strain of PNRSV, and occasionally by ApMV. We're done now. There are no other viruses that cause "rose mosaic." That there are many other viruses that can attack roses, or that have been found in a rose (notice that this big list from HK was found for the first time, ever) -- that does NOT constitute the "problem" of "virus" in roses! And even if it did, it would be a different problem from "rose mosaic," and irrelevant to this thread's discussion. The same is true about using buds to get clean roses. That it might work, occasionally, is utterly irrelevant to the current discussion. The writer is simply hijacking this thread to confuse the readers. There are numerous methods that can be used to remove rose mosaic (the actual disease by that name, caused by PNRSV or ApMV and the only one at all likely to be bought by you at a nursery or ever seen in your garden.) Heat therapy happens to be the easiest, quickest, and cheapest, and has proven to be exceedingly efficient and effective. That's why we use it. Again I would point out that all references above that seem to indicate that it does not work or that "virus" "comes back," are misinterpretations, talking about the wrong virus, talking about a crop other than roses, are direct misquotations or misrepresentations, or for some other reason are not relevant and truthful to the conversation at hand -- specifically and uniquely the management of rose mosaic disease in American grown roses. I would recommend that readers very carefully read the links provided above -- in every case, without exception, if you read carefully enough you'll realize that they do not demonstrate what the thread hijacker says they demonstrate. I don't know what bizarre need the writer has to confuse and destroy all such discussions, but there it is -- that's exactly what's happening here. It always seems odd that someone who has done precisely no work with this disease, ever, and who obviously doesn't understand any aspect of this disease, is constantly telling Davis (and me) what's wrong with us and what we ought to be doing. Yet that writer is without the first hint of a clue. Why are such attacks on this and other forums always occurring? It makes no sense. Yet we continue to produce mosaic-free roses and make them available, and so the availability of mosaic-free roses in this country has improved dramatically over the last 30 years, despite the insults and ignorance. In an industry as large and diverse as the American rose nursery industry, undoubtedly someone, somewhere, at some point, accidentally shipped or sold an infected rose and indicated it was "VI" (a term we never use), and so the rumors begin. But despite such rumors and despite all of the statements on this thread so far, rose mosaic disease has never been demonstrated to have come back in a heat-treated rose, and the common methods of indexing really do work. Notice that no one other than the argumentative poster here claims otherwise. That's important -- NO ONE ON THIS EARTH who understands and works with these diseases -- agrees with the poster above.

I'm with catsrose - "I rarely shovel prune anyone still alive". I anthropomorphize my roses - they are like pets. If they get sick, I worry about them and try to make them get better. I also love to just observe what they do - roses do the most amazing things, especially old rose varieties. I am fine with waiting 4-5 years for a climber to get going - is is wonderful how a rose which has not done much for 4 years suddenly sends out thick, huge, climbing canes which go up like an elevator to 8-10 feet in one jump! Some of my roses are still surviving which were planted by my DH's grandparents and even great grandparents, so they are family heirlooms which I feel responsible for taking care of. I have new plants rooted from all of the very old ones (many of the originals have died, but they were 100+ years old), so I will not lose them. I figure the ones which survived so long (with very little care) did so because they like our climate, soil, etc. So, I plant more clones of those, as well as getting others of the same type (such as old tea roses). To my astonishment, two of my roses turned out to be very rare - one was "lost" in North America, although surviving in Australia & Europe. The other one we think may be "lost" all over the world. They have both gone back into commerce from my garden. So fun! So, the bottom line is that I am a caretaker, and a collector. The only time I shovel prune anyone is if they have some sort of horrible disease that the others might catch - this has only happened once, and it was traumatic. We only have 1/3rd of an acre, and much of that is taken up by the house, garage, and long driveway. Also we have many huge old trees, so the sunny places for roses are limited. Oh, we also have deer. However, I have found that my "expectations" - that my roses will enchant and delight me - are always met. Jackie

Perhaps incorrect but here is another. Gall can also enter thru the roots. Even if you never once dug within a roses root zone there will always be the underground insects ie. grubs wireworms among others that feed on roots. Most of us have nerver been so lucky to have placed our roses in the correct spot every time we plant. Sorry bart as that had nothing to do with your question. If we were able to have access to Galtrol we would be able to treat our plants before planting and when moving. Gall is a garden nightmare in a way. I'm not too bright when it comes to things like this but it seems as if the higher prices rise the less people purchase. Drop the prices to something doable and few in the nursery business would wish to deal with gall problems. Just a dumb thought. I did a bit of an experiment here in an area of my garden known to have had gall issues. Many years ago I removed all roses from this spot as several roses had become galled. For years only grew other plants here and they did well. The ground there had been dramatically improved. This is the sunniest spot in my yard and I needed it for roses. Three years ago I took the plunge and planted 7 Flower Carpets to see what would happen. I was not careful with the roses. they all received wounds right below the surface. I dug those out this year. Removed all the soil and carefully examined them. No gall was present. I'm now replanting this area in the coming spring. What did my little experiment tell me? Nothing really but I'm planting there now and hoping for the best.