Based on my experience, buy it budded.

I have two plants of Peace, own-root as a VID plant from Vintage and also budded onto multiflora rootstock (from either Pickering or Palatine, I don't remember which.) I used to have it budded on Dr. Huey, too, but I dug it out because I needed the space. The own-root plant is anything BUT vigorous, growing modestly and blooming somewhat. The budded plant settled in nicely and did great, until last year's late freeze set it back. Peace definitely looks like one of those roses that is meant to grow on the roots of another rose.

I grow other HTs own-root (MOST of mine, BTW) and they are a mixed lot. Some thrive, others struggle and die, and most are somewhere in the middle. Honestly, the only reason I keep the own-root Peace is to hopefully, one day, have it offer buds to make virus-free budded plants. I'm not there yet, but at least I have the raw materials to make it happen.

I have a Peace rose that we think must have been planted in the late 1940s, from where it is and other roses that were planted nearby. Of course, it was undoubtedly budded at that point. However, although it was planted as a bush, it morphed into a climber somehow, and is now climbing 12-14 feet up & over the top of a large pomegranate forest. It is doing that to survive - that is where the sun & light are, none at the bottom of the Peace rose.

I have never seen a sucker on it, and the Doctor suckers horribly here - almost every rose budded on it is gone, because I got so tired of digging them out. Anyway, I would guess that my Peace is now on its own roots, no matter how it started out. Its longevity is another clue. It is certainly vigorous - so you might try it on its own roots - perhaps the own root version likes warmer climates like yours & mine.

Jackie

I hate to say it be my even my grafted Peace isn't the most vigorous grower. If you do go own root be very patient with it because it will take probably 3 to 5 years to get any size.

What Peace really dislikes is being pruned. Folks, if you can, leave it be for a few years, own root or otherwise, and only then will you see what it can do.

I have one that I got as a mislabel in a bodybag that said something else. When I figured out what it was, I planted it in a place I didn't care about and can't really get to very easily behind a big iron fence, so it gets left alone back there.

It seems to like its privacy there. Every once in a while when I need something for a show I make the effort to get to it and take a bloom, but otherwise, it's on its own, and it clearly likes that.

Mike----if you have a 25 gal pot, go ahead and get it on either Dr Huey or fortuniana. Just DO NOT prune it hardly at all for at least 3 yrs. And then just to shape the bush a little. As far as big pots go, Dr Manners at FL Southern had almost ALL his roses in 25 gal. pots. Most were on DR Huey. When I lived in Winter Haven I spent a lot of time over there watching how thing grew. That's when I was convinced you can grow great roses in 25 gal pots. Most of my roses in FL were in the big pots. I was going to do the same thing up here but my wife wanted them in the ground. Dug 25 gal. size holes and put my roses in those holes. They love it. Anyway, I would get on either root stock and put it in a big pot. I think you'll be happy. Don't feed it a lot of chemical fert. Find out what people were feeding their roses 60 yrs ago. My Peace is a young but VERY happy bush. Just planted this past spring and bushy and growing and blooming like crazy.

We have a large Peace that we got from Wayside Gardens in 2004 that is now around 7 feet high. It has never showed any signs of a virus--I've learned to recognize a couple of them. Despite our subzero weather, it survives winter just fine with a wrapping of burlap on the lower 2 ft or so of the canes. I recently cut back one of the canes to the bud union in the early Spring--it has responded with new growth low on the bush.

Thanks for the tip, Kathy. I have been pruning mine every spring with all my other HTs. Maybe that's why it's under preforming.

You'll find with Peace and many of its seedlings, such as Sterling Silver, the best treatment is to simply snap off the spent blooms where they'll fall off anyway. They need all the foliage and wood they can generate to push them along. When you prune, leave as much wood as possible. Forget the standard rhetoric about what must be taken or left and remove what is obviously diseased and unproductive. The "good stuff" needs to remain as long as possible. You'll find them both significantly better performers when they're permitted to retain all that stored energy and food production capacity. Of course, YMMYV, but in general, this has been shown to be the more successful treatment for them in many situations. Kim

Thanks everyone! I guess that settles it: I'll get it budded; might even go cheap, seeing as my Chicago Peace is doing fine. I had a virused Peace before I moved from Alabama and left it behind some 12 years ago. Even virused, it was a good performer. Thanks for the tip about avoiding much pruning. I'll do that.
Mike

Some of us consider 'Peace' and it's sports (especially 'Climbing Peace') to be heavy feeders. If you fertilize your roses regularly, try to give 'Peace' an extra shot or three each season of something organic (fish emulsion or liquid seaweed). And if you can manage to do an annual top dressing of composted manure, you'll definitely be rewarded -- trust me.

Much of our rose cultivation lore comes from the Hybrid Perpetual period. Heavy pruning and heavy feeding were definite benefits for the class in general. Peace took more after the HP ancestors as far as husky plant and dense, full flower. I agree with you that it does require more resources to flourish, so extra feeding is beneficial. What it didn't inherit is the heavy pruning, so feed more and pinch less. Kim

There's a great book I found somewhere used, paperback, years ago, called "For Love of a Rose," about the Meilland family and the development of the Peace Rose. It's such an improbable true story its quite interesting. Peace was one of the first 3 roses I ever tried to grow, as a kid in the fifth grade. I ordered them from a Sunday newspaper insert: Peace, Mr. Lincoln, and Queen Elizabeth. They all grew and bloomed despite my terrible job of preparing (or rather, failing to prepare) the planting holes. A couple years later I was in awe at seeing a gorgeous majectic specimen of a Peace rose bush growing alone prominently in the front of a yard along my school bus route. I was so impressed. It looked as if the plant had 20-25 huge blooms on it all at once. I will always have a fond impression of this rose; chalk it up to nastalgia, but it is also true that the coloring is ever variable, subtle, yet rich and beautiful, the blooms look great at every stage from bud to fully open, the blooms are quite large and last well, the stems are always thick and well-formed, and the blooms nearly always one to a stem. Every once in a while, I even catch a whiff of fragrance, though that is not its claim to fame.
Mike