Pickering and most other Canadian sources for roses graft on Multiflora. I find they do best for me. And I trust someone like P to know what's best for their customers with a much colder climate than most of the US. And mine.

It's not a big deal. Bury the bud union, and the ones that will want to go own-root will. Ten years from now, you'll be fighting suckers just like if they started out own-root.

I don't know when the assumption was first made that rose production was going to be by budding, so that was how a rose's performance should be judged. It's definitely true by the time you get to HTs, and may have been true for several decades before that. It seems to have been open for discussion in the 1840's, but I don't know if the discussion was over by say 1880.

Maureen,
Half of my roses are from Pickering.
My early yellows, many Austins and Albas. I don't discriminate between own-root and multiflora grafted roses. They perform equally well in our climate. If you want them go own root, just plant them deep, as MG suggested. In fact I strongly prefer my gallicas and rugosas to be on multiflora roots to prevent suckering.
Olga

I guess I just developed a prejudice against grafted roses. I'm looking at my records from my early days of rose growing and seeing where mine came from: Kmart!, Wayside!!, Local nursery (who got them from ?), Hortico (I got a few good, a few bad from there). Also from another mail-order place that has recently ceased business but received their early stock from another grower. Most have been shovel pruned.

Recently, a few of my small own-roots have been obliterated (from view, hopefully will return in Spring). I have children playing ball, a sister with very poor vision, and an elderly father to blame. (And to be honest I wiped one out myself ). I am very irritated, so it will be nice to start with some larger new roses in the Spring. I'm still thinking about getting a few from Vintage though.

Thanks everyone
Maureen

I have a few roses taken from hardwood cuttings (New Dawn, Zephirine, rosa primula, Graham Thomas),all OK, and was planning on doing a whole load more. Are there some that won't grow on their own roots that I cannot do then?

Grafting has the distinct advantage over own root propogation from commercial perspective of allowing propogation of larger numbers of plants per amount of budwood used. You can theoretically get one plant for each bud on the wood taken from the mother plant. When I strike my own cuttings, it is common to have four buds or more on the cutting that I use to produce one plant.

In my experience, a grafted plant, if the rootstock is suitable to your area, most often will also mature and produce in a shorter amount of time. When I buy a grafted plant, it will most often grow bigger and produce more wood and blooms in it's first and second years. My own root plants that I propogate usually take four or more years before they can compete with a purchased two year old grafted plant. And, as Mad Gallica said, if you plant them deep as we do in the north, they will usually go own root as the years go by.

Again, in my experience, it also depends to a large degree on the particular variety. Certain varieties are very difficult to propagate on their own roots. Then there are varieties that while fairly easy to propogate on their own roots, won't be as vigorous or produce as much wood and hence bloom as an plant grafted on a vigorous root stock. Some varieties that fall in to this later category in my experience would include Gloire de Dijon (Tea / Noisette ) , St. Swithun ( Austin ), Orange Ruffles and Break O'Day ( Brownell's ), and Pearlie Mae ( Buck ).

Finally, there is the climate issue. Some varieties will do very well own root in moderate or warm climates, but will not have enough vigour to grow in the shorter growing season and harsher conditions of a colder zone ( 5 or lower ).

So again, in my experience, grafted roses: if planted well, and acquired from a good producer, meaning that they are not virused, will always perform at least as well as own root. I grow both grafted and own root plants. I propogate many of my own plants for cultivars that do well own root. Some cultivars I grown grafted, simply because I know that the specific variety performs better grafted in my conditions.

So, simply put, it will depend on the variety, growing conditions and size of own root that you purchase, band, 1 gallon, 2 gallon, etc. If you buy a 1 gallon or larger own root, of a variety that does well own root in the conditions that you are going to grow it in, then its all good. It will probably do just as well, just as quickly as a grafted bareroot.

In my view, the own root, grafted debate is one of either personal preference, or bias. I'd challenge anyone to visit my garden and tell me which plants are grafted and which are own root without digging to look for bud unions.

That's my two bits worth.

Cheers, Rideau Rose Lad

This is a question that I wonder about also. I have roses from Pickering and from own root nurseries. I typically end up choosing the rose I want - then seeing who has it available. Of course there is nothing like actaully seeing them in person.

The advantage to own root that I have seen is: when a friendly neighbor mowed right over a couple of little roses they came back and one is blooming right now. I do not know if a grafted rose would come back true when cut that short.

Yep, they do come back true if cut down to the ground. So long as the bud union is buried, there really aren't many downsides to grafted plants from good suppliers.

Now my experience, in my climate, is that the own-root roses do not come back from being cut back that far. It's just too high a percentage of the plant for the roots to replace.

true, my rose cuttings take at least 3 years to get going but I am patient (and broke)

Some of my very best roses came from Pickering. I find the multiflora rootstock gives a lot of roses better vigor than own-root.