I am not trying to keep it at 2 foot, that is just the height they are at now. I WILL have to keep them shorter than 5 foot, more like 3.5 to 4 even if it means regular pruning throughout the summer. I don't mind doing that. Where it is it will actually make a barrier to keep the dogs in the parking lot should they get away from thier owners as well as making it easy for clients to find us. I like being incognito as a grooming salon because I do not need the extra business, so I dont really have a sign. I use the roses as a directional tool for new clients. LOL These random canes, if the rose was grafted, would look like rootstock suckers to me, but as they are own root that is not the problem. BTW the tag, I believe, says 2-5 foot tall as does HMF and from the looks of the established plants they are compact enough to shape well at any height. I guess we will have to wait and see. If they dont work here, I will move them in the fall to my house along my fence row at the road. They can do whatever they want to there. Get as large as they want to get. Privacy fencing with flowers sounds good to me!

Hi Vuwugarden The idea that all roses are best grown ownroot is just plain wrong. Some roses do very well ownroot, old garden roses, some hybrid perpetuals, knockout-/explorer-roses, some Kordes hybrid are not comparable to most modern roses. Now and then even the odd hybrid tea does well(I grow Peace in a container, selfmade from cutting). Even in warmer climates grafted roses can do better, in general grafted roses will grow a bit taller than ownroot. These are results from large test in the fields of many countries and observation has been as much as 7 years or more. If you live in area with fairly cold winters and a short growing season I dare state that modern roses will perform considerably better as grafted plants. Not all roses does well on the most common rootstocks, but this is something the large nurseries know. Suckers are not a big problem, if you check your roses two times a season or something like that rootstock will never have the chance to take over. You simply take out some leather gloves and pull them off. Some rootstocks sucker more than others, but you will probably not see more then one or three a year per 60 roses. Catrose: when the roses gets olde they will all form a "fist" of older wood near the ground. In fact, it is not that easy to tell the difference between a grafted and an ownroot after a few years unless you do some digging. Graftpoint usually is planted a few inches into the ground. I have several roses both grafted and made from cuttings of the same variety. Growth habit is by far determined by the variety, not the root stuck. Rootstock will give stronger growth, and plants will on average grow taller. They tend no more than ownroots to get leggy, spindly. This is more determined by variety and pruning than rootstock. Scardan123; As far as I know the Meilland roses we get here are grafted. Where my family and I have been gardening (Norway, Denmark and France) we buy mostly grafted, and all Meilland roses are. There are a few exceptions; some old roses, rugosa hybrids, some park-roses, species and near hybrids, groundcovers, but even the Meilland ground-coverers I have are grafted (probably on laxa). In short, Meilland roses are no less grafted than other roses. How ownroots will do are dependent on climate, soil, growing season and care given. I am not against ownroot roses, and will happily try to root any variety from cutting. If I where to grow ownroots exclusively I would have to give up most chinas, hybrid teas, floribundas, many climbers and shrubs, at least they would stay small and puny plants. That is mostly due to the short growing season; grafted plats gets an earlier start in spring, grow faster and stronger. These roses will not be more winter hardy as ownroot, if they freeze to the ground they will sprout back, but will have problem really taking of and becoming good plants. Hardy varieties with strong growth will do better. This is at least my experience on the subject, and I have spend a lot of time and energy on different rootstocks and ownroot roses. I know this is a subject that depend very on climate, soil, care roses get..., but still I am surprised how different experiences we have. I suspect that there are differences in the rootstocks that are used, USA use other types. It might have something to do with the grafting techniques too. Here oculation is by far the most common, if not the only one; an eye from the cane of the desired variety is placed in a T-shaped cut on the neck of the rootstock. That produces plants where grafting-point is hardly seen after planting, if at all. My post became far too long, I get carried away by this subject :-)

Great tutorial Nell, I'm going to try this with some of my shrubs. This method really works with perennial Asters (Michaelmas Daisies). Great way if sharing with someone through the mail :o). I usually do this in march, dig the clump, discard the center, cut the roots into small pieces that have growth buds on and either replant 3 or 4 pieces back in the hole, in 4" pots (garden club plant sale) or wash them off put them in ziplock baggies in a bit of damp paper towel and send off in the mail. I should think this should work with other plants as well. You've got rid of the soil, so there goes the weight, when the root cuttings arrive they can be potted up and grown on or planted out. This is how my daisies came from England as no soil is allowed into the country. The only other way I could have got them would have had them rooted in rock wool, this was so much simpler. Annette

I have only two Austins (Golden Celebration and Darcey Bussell) on DH roots and they are planted in a spot with Sycamore root competition, which is probably the only reason I can grow them there. They both have spotless foliage. I am inland quite a bit and at 1800ft. We do get May-Gray and June-Gloom, but it burns off by between 10AM and noon. I have Paul Neyron, which is a rust bucket right next to Rein de Violettes with pristine foliage, never a spot of rust or mildew. All my Teas get a little mildew except Monsieur Tillier. My Lady of Shallot is on her own roots and does very well with perfect foliage. I really want Evelyn but now I am a little scared by the 12 foot canes jerijen mentions. I have Star of the Republic with only a couple blooms that have been scented and I really want scent in my roses so thinking about replacing with Evelyn. But will give SotR a 3rd year to see if those blooms get consistent scent. The 3 or so blooms that I caught with some scent were an amazing strong lemony fragrance. Maybe just doesn't give scent in the heat? I also have James Gallway on its own roots and near Golden Celebration but further from the sycamore. It is establishing more slowly and not behaving like a climber at all yet, next year with be year 3 so maybe I'll get long canes in the Spring.