Hi,
There is no bullet proof way for an amateur to propagate, as far as I know, I've rooted 100+ cuttings and my success rate for strikes is only c. 80%. for most types. if you are willing to spend c. 50 dollars Hortico.com will propagate a rosebush for you if you send it wood.
Good luck, I hope you get your rose,
See also the propagtaion page on gardenweb.
Luxrosa

Unfortunately, there is no "bullet proof" method for every rose, every season, every where. Your best possibilities would be if the rose IS own root and may have developed roots on any of the outer canes, almost like suckering or colonizing. MANY roses of virtually all types CAN do that. I've encountered moderns and OGRs which had rooted pieces I was able to separate away from the main plants to get going quickly, easily and successfully. Then, it's very much a matter of moving an established rose out of season. Keeping it moist, in dappled light with a lot of its foliage removed to slow transpiration and water stress, until it begins showing new growth.

I have even found old budded plants where the center of the root stock had rotted out, leaving a ring of budded plants on the outer cambium layer. These have been able to be successfully separated in to several, budded plants. The old "Al's Red", which turned out to be Red Radiance, I wrote of on HMF is one.

If you had suitable root stocks already rooted and had some experience with budding, that would also be a fairly sure fire way. Barring these, perhaps you could exchange information with the son and request the 'right of first cutting' from him should yours fail? Hopefully, he would be receptive and want to share a "piece of his dad's memory" with you. He is going to have to trim the plant back like that to successfully move it. That should permit you to harvest a good deal of cutting and budding material.

Might you know anyone in your local rose society who may know of someone who has good success with propagating near you? Many exhibitors actually bud their own for show roses. Someone like that near you might be just the ticket for getting this propagated. Are there any rose nurseries you do enough business with or otherwise have a good enough relationship with which may be talked into attempting it for you? Mailing cuttings via Priority Mail, if wrapped properly, should easily work. It's taking two and a half to three days to cross the country using that method so far this spring. I've mailed cuttings and rooted plants to friends from here in California all the way to the east coast and all have arrived in good condition in two to nearly three days.

You probably should hedge your bets and try several methods of propagating the plant. Murphy dictates trying one method guaranties failure. Trying three or four guaranties 100% success! You honestly DO need a dozen or so of that bush, don't you? Good luck! Kim

hi,
Maybe this will be of some help in addition to what Lux and Kim said. It is a powerpoint done by Jeri and Clay on their propagation method.

Here is a link that might be useful: propagation power point

Yes. That's good, and my DH has a very good success rate.

You might also want to see this, from Connie Hilker, in VA.

And beyond that, GOOGLE "Rooting Rose Cuttings," and see how many hits you get.

It is as the other folks here said, there is no one best foolproof method. Baggies in trees work for many people. For us, they just grow gray mold.

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Root Roses

Would you be able to post pictures of the rose? It would be cool to see what it looks like. Do you think it is an antique variety?

I'm afraid I don't have any advice on rooting cuttings. I've rooted mostly non-rose stuff before, but I'd agree with everyone else that there are so many factors involved that there is no foolproof method.

This time of year my "bullet proof" method is to shave the bottom of the cutting a little, dip in rooting hormone and stick into a shady bed with good soil and put a jar over it. But the humidity level is high during the spring here. That method worked pretty well in Alabama as well, but again, it was humid there.

I think Kim's idea is a good one, try a number of different ways. Gean

Thanks, everyone. Harborrose, I've pulled your PP up and will look at it this evening. I'll take pics and post them tomorrow. I suspect it isn't an OGR, but is an old HT or Floribunda that's out of commerce.

Actually, I was talking to someone in our local rose society yesterday and he told me his wife grafts roses onto fortuniana all the time with great success. I'm going to call them tomorrow and see if she will graft some cuttings for me in trade for some herself. The plant isn't really large, so I can't take much. It's on its own roots, but hasn't suckered, I looked to see if it had.

Last fall I accidentally broke a twig off my Mme Franzeska Krueger, and stuck it in a pot and forgot about it, and it rooted. Surprised me! But I want to be more certain about this one. I'll post pics when I take them tomorrow, and will start a new thread for that.

I'd love to see photos. 'Marbree' matches that description.

GOOD LUCK!

Jeri

It doesn't look like the pics of Marbree that I found on google. All of the roses on this plant are solid white, except several have what looks like little smudges of pink on a few of the petals, at the edges. From what I know of roses that have been available here in my lifetime, it is a HT, floribunda or grandiflora. I don't remember if new growth was red or not, but I think it was, which would mean probably HT. I'll post pics tomorrow, keep an eye out for a new topic.

If he was 85, that means he was born in 1928. Assuming they married in their 20's and bought the rose then, that would put them buying it in the late 40's or in the 50's? Was there a white rose popular at that time?

I don't have access to HMF's advanced features, but going through Vintage's catalog here are some white HT introductions for the 50's:

White Swan '51
White Christmas '53
White Butterfly '54
Premier Bal '55
White Knight '55
June Bride '57
Garden Party '59

(Of those, Garden Party looks the most like what you describe.)

Some Floribundas from the 50's:

Horstmann's Rosenresli '55
White Bouquet '56
Iceberg '58

This post was edited by bellegallica_zone9 on Thu, May 16, 13 at 2:02

Belle, thanks for your research! It looks the most like Premier Bal. I looked it up on Bing and found this pic, which looks the most like it. I'm betting this is what it is.

That is a very pretty rose. I hope you can root it.

That was fun. Vintage's advanced search features made it quick and easy.
A paying member of HelpMeFind would be able to do more.

HMF says Premier Bal was introduced in France in 1950. So either it took a few years to make it here, or either of those dates could be wrong.

But I made a lot of assumptions. If you could get more info from the son, you might be able to get a cut off date for searching. Was the rose always there as far as he remembers? Does he remember any stories connected with it? ("You're father gave me that rose on our first anniversary.") Does he or any siblings remember one of their parents planting it? What grade of school were they in? (I have a terrible head for dates, especially my own, so I have better luck trying to remember what grade I was in and working out the calendar year from that.)

Belle, I'm going back today to take cuttings, and will ask him some more questions, thanks for the suggestions. All he could tell me yesterday was that it's been there for many years. I doubt that it was planted right after it was introduced here, whenever that was (HMF doesn't say), and I don't know how long his parents owned the house. The neighborhood was built mid-fifties, and a lot of the original owners are still there (they're pretty old now), or the houses haven't more than 2 or 3 owners. I'm the 3rd owner of my house, built in 1954.

I tried this method with other varieties too. Pictured below is a somewhat difficult-to-root tea rose, been a month in the water, and only still callusing.
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And in the end, there were just several roots forming on this tea rose. So unless the variety can root very reliably without rooting hormone, with this method you will likely get few to several roots, since rooting powder cannot be used here (will be washed right off by the water).

Having said that, I find that taking heel cutting increases the success rate for more difficult-to-root varieties.

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Then there are those varieties that are prone to shed the leaves if cut and placed in water.... These will obviously be difficult to propagate with this method (leaves are needed for rooting semi-hardwood leafy cuttings).

Check the pH of your water. Highly alkaline, salty water inhibits root formation. Better to use distilled or filtered water, not "softened" due to possible salt. Also, the method shown above works very well where humidity is HIGH. If yours isn't, you'll have to cover or mist to maintain the "close" conditions. All methods work somewhere. It's figuring out what the enabling conditions and circumstances are which allow them to succeed, that enable you to succeed. Kim

Last, but not least, just wanna share pics of some graft-cuttings I have rooted in water. I grafted some buds on-the-bush (on the Chinese rootstock) and then took leafy cuttings after the buds have taken a month or so later. Here they were after another month of rooting...

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...and the grafted bud shooting few weeks later....
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And I wish you good luck with rooting the cuttings!

From the "I'll try anything" subcategory..

Stab a potato with a knife and insert your cutting. Plant all in shady area in rich dirt.

Yes, I forgot to mention that the water here is neutral to slightly acidic, and soft with low TDS. And humidity is high. Thank you, Kim, for adding the info.

I'd like to add, about the issue of humidity. Besides misting or covering, perhaps having shorter cuttings put in tall cups might also help if the humidity in your area is not enough.

Pictured below, I've tried taking very short cuttings (two leafy nodes) and placing them in 7-inch tall transparent cups. There's a hole drilled an inch from the bottom of each cup for overflow of excess water.
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I put this batch under full sun, with much success (in December, when the weather is nice and cool in Taiwan, any other time the cuttings would be fried under the subtropical full sun here I guess).

As everyone says, hope you'll try different methods and good luck! :-) Hardy

That high-alkaline, rather saline water inhibits root development probably helps to explain why I have never gotten anything to root that way. In fact, DH uses filtered water on young cuttings.

Jeri

Very interesting, Yardheh! I made 2 cuttings, both are new canes about 18" long. There's enough material to experiment with, and I'll try what you're doing with some of them.

Here's a pic. All the blooms are disintegrating, but this pic give a pretty good idea what they look like.

Rooting in a potato worked BEFORE they began treating them with chemicals to prevent them from sprouting. If you can find one not so treated, it may work. Most of the American potato crop is treated for longer storage. Kim