Another point I wanted to make - is unfortunately a lot of cut flower roses that are for sale are not bred to grow here. They grow well in Ecuador and similar climates. Look at black baccara (a florist rose that's risen recently especially in wedding design) - it's plagued with disease when it isn't grown in ideal conditions and even in ideal conditions it is a poor performer. Love/Osiria fortunately is available as a shrub - breeder code JACtwin and is very available in the market. Snow Fire and Double Take are also very similar and available. The other reality is - that even if you do get a florist rose to root, that doesn't mean it's going to perform the same way as it does for the grower (who has at their disposal a myriad of fertilizer, pesticides, fungicides, and not to mention workers and lest we forget - a near perfect climate for growing 'florist' type roses). Don't get me wrong, I'm all for starting something from free-ish and it's certainly worth a try, but you gotta be realistic with the results you're going to get. I think you'd be better off seeking similar alternatives suited to your particular climate zone - by finding people nearby willing to give/trade cuttings on a similar rose, shopping around at the nursery's, and just overall finding something suited to and/or grafted to suit your particular conditions. Obviously, give rooting it a try (what's a little rooting hormone and starting mix?), it it roots! Woohoo! If it doesn't, well you're not really out anything and you know you can still get the rose you liked and/or something very similar to it that may be better suited to your area.

It is possible to root florist roses. These are not ideal for the garden - they are more suited to the greenhouses where they have been raised, usually in tropical climates. But if you have some florist roses, why not give it a try? Something to be aware of is that many florist roses have been treated with preservative that hinders root growth. You can call the nursery where yours were purchased, to find out if this is the case. Most of the florist roses that I have heard of rooting, were from unsuspecting recipients who left the roses in their vase of water over a period of several months, and then noticed that roots had formed below the water line. This seems almost too easy, but there it is! :-) If you would like to try a more standard approach to rooting florist roses, you can try placing them in a misting bed, do the baggie method, or plant them outside in a shady area and cover with a jar. Chances can be increased with the use of rooting hormone and wounding the bottoms of the cuttings with a sharp knife. If interested in these methods or learning more about the terms used, do a search in the rose prop forum for more detailed instructions. Have fun rooting!

Melodye, I have no idea where they get their roses from. I would assume they're grown in South America, but I'm not sure. Guess I cold ask them! Judy do you have any other grocery store chains that have a florist dept? Maybe other stores might get in marked roses too. Depends on their supplier. I do know that another store we have here, Save Mart, gets in bundles of roses, unmarked, and they're $12.99 a dozen. I just love that Safeway orders from a supplier that labels them.

I picked up two long stem roses yesterday. I think they are FREE SPIRIT too. I'm trying to root them in liquid soil concentrate. Most of the bud eyes didn't look that great and I've never successfully rooted anything before. But I'm enjoying the flowers and it's fun trying. Hopefully the liquid soil concentrate at least extends the vase life.