I wonder if you can layer them.
Cass

Yes, I am thinking of trying this with Rosa primula which has been a sod to try with either semi-ripes or hardwood cuttings. I will do it like a blackberry and tip layer it this autumn. I did manage a hardwood cutting of Fruhlingold once but it was such a swinishly vicious rose, the city council removed it before anymore cats, dogs and children disappeared.

Campanula - I am grateful for your comments regarding R. primula. I was going to try to propagate it through cuttings in a couple weeks. Most of the other Pimpinellifoliae also are difficult (almost impossible) to propagate through cuttings. The foetidas are very very difficult. The exceptions are the sericeas which readily grow from cuttings.

I did manage a hardwood cutting of Fruhlingold once but it was such a swinishly viciou

Owww, hmmm say this swinishly viscous perhaps could be good enough to prick dog behind? (yeah I am still in search for natural dog poop barriers).

None of my three dogs will approach either Plaisanterie or Darlow's Enigma. I grow them as untrained, unpruned shrubs, so they form mounds about 10 ft/3.04m high and almost as wide. The hares take refuge there when the hounds are in chase.

Re: tip layering. I assume that when you do this you don't scrape the cane like you do when you take cuttings but do you dip the tip into rooting hormone before burying it?
Re: dog barrier. I think R. sericea pteracantha would be excellent and also inexpensive as it can easily be propagated from cuttings. Over 80% of the cuttings that I take root. It is also a very beautiful bush with fernlike foliage and huge cherry red thorns and new wood. They require almost no care and unlike most pimpinellifoliae can be pruned.

I have very good luck (90%) propagating Glory of Edzell and Robbie Burns under mist. No luck with Stanwell Perpetual, may try the air layering.

I don't bother with rooting hormone but tip-layering, i just plant the end of the cane into a hole. With R.primula, my canes are just about long enough to fasten twine round the cane like a guy rope and pull it downwards and fasten to a peg. The cane points downwards with about 3inches of buried tip. The tip continues to grow, turning upwards back to the soil surface and new roots break where the cane starts to bend upwards ( I think). I have not tried it with R.Primulas before but I like layering as it has generally been pretty foolproof for me. Nothing to lose by trying.

I''d try every possible variation of rooting cuttings to see what works.

Here's a propagator who suggests taking spin cuttings in very earliest spring and then covering them with some kind of cloche, like a clear plastic water bottle. This breaks all the rules, taking cuttings in the spring before bloom. I know that this can work because I've rooting canes I pruned off in spring. I'd experiment with truly dormant wood, too, like hardwood cuttings, in October or November.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/rosespro/msg061147001626.html

With your early spring, obviously dormant canes, I'd try different media: compost, potting soil, and, what I used when I first started rooting cuttings: Oasis floral foam in a clear plastic water bottle cut horizontally almost in half, making the upper half a lid. Stick some cuttings horizontally. Try all different sizes of wood. The cutting-grown R. sericea I received from Quarryhill was rooted from larger wood than I would have thought necessary, slightly smaller than hardwood sticks used for rootstock but larger than a flowering lateral. It was rooted in a 4 inch pot in very light potting soil. Try rooting in open air, in a terrarium, under a cloche, in a greenhouse, in a cold cold frame, inside the house with the Oasis/water bottle.

For layering, I'd scratch the cambium layer near bud eyes on some, I'd try rooting hormone on others. I'd experiment with the angle of the branch into and out of the soil and the number of budeyes I bury. I find a lot of rot here where canes touch the soil, and I don't know what that's about. I'd try different soil types, especially sandier ones. Mel Hulse used to root Rose stellata which was grown in a pot with little satellite pots of potting soil, the canes pegged down using landscape staples. At my place, roses root in the landscape mulch.

Try a root cutting in winter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagation

the will to live is astonishing really. We just have to provide a little help.

Thank you for all the suggestions. My primula has canes that arch almost to the ground, I'll try tip layering in it. About half of my pimpinellifoliae are large enough to get cuttings from. I plan on taking 5-10 cuttings from as many as I have time to do next week and more in early spring.

On tip layering, I don't bury the end. I leave 2-3 inches of the tip coming out on the other side of 5-6 inches that are buried about 3 inches deep. Once I start getting some nice growth on the pegged portion I uncover the end coming from the mother plant and cut the cane so that it is free and this end is buried on the new plant. I have never had one not take root this way. One other thing, once I have dug the shallow hole I use a wire to peg the cane down in the hole and then cover it. Pegging is what I was taught to call this method rather than layering. I buy a package of ties for chain link fences (they look like the small tent stakes) to keep in my bucket of gardening tools so I ready to peg a rose any time I'm working in the garden.

Scott