Well, though not all that old - I have them going on 30 years since purchase and my grandparents also grew roses- moving bushes from home to home over approx 50 of their 65 yrs being married. I don’t believe there is an age limit. The big issue is grafted roses require a little more attention to details when planting. Own root once they are old enough to plant - not necessarily when you get them, can just be planted with no thought. But all grafted roses, you have to make sure the bud union is well buried or you will get suckers. I have never had an issue because - well, I make sure the bud union is buried 3-4” and to protect from cold also - absolute minimum of 2-3” in my zone 7 east coast garden. In my early years of growing roses, our winters were colder and we got more snow and I hilled teas, shrubs, etc and wrapped in burlap/stuffed with pine-tags . Climbers were laid over and covered in soil or well hilled, wrapped and stuffed. And of course after spring frosts, everything has to be unhilled and set right again. However, our winters have warmed so much it isn’t as necessary if you select the right rose for the right location in the garden and hardiness zone. Dr Huey is a very common used rootstock - bred in 1914 and and is extremely vigorous though not particularly fungal resistant but that isn’t of concern when using the rootstock. It is a hybrid of the Wichurana lines named after the German botanist Max Ernst Wichura and produced sometime in the mid 1800s. It is a beautiful rose on its own and they are seen across the country in old graveyards, estates and plantations blooming without any assistance with lots of showy dark red blooms. It’s main down fall is its propensity to black spot but yet it seems to overcome that and come back each year. The strong marketing push to own root is one of a labor shortage, lack of skilled budders, and greed. If you can selling a tiny cutting that at the very most is 32 weeks old (from a grower who gives a 5 year warranty) and the rest are at best 16-20 weeks (with little to no warranty) compared to full 2 year olds that have had a full year in the field and then another year+ in the field with its graft —- and sell for the same price - which do you think corporations will demand are grown to help their bottom lines? Do not be afraid of well grown, healthy, well budded/grafted roses. Grafting has been the primary method of rose production which began in the late 1800s with a beautiful but week growing hybrid tea called LaFrance. Grafting it allowed for a much stronger growing plant and it has survived to this day and you can still purchase it. Many of the beautiful old roses full of fragrance just weren’t all that strong on their own roots. And today they are own rooting roses with little to no warranty that may not last you a year or two. No one has ever tested many of these roses - because everything was grafted and the couple of under-stocks were strong so no issue would be expected. Unless you want a particular rose that you can only find as own root, and if you are a beginner gardener and have just started with roses — look for grafted roses from an old established company like Jackson Perkins or go with David Austin who offers both in various types but they offer 5 year warranties.

I really have mixed feedback on this issue. I totally agree that the robust growers in cold zones do fine on their own roots and you don't have to worry about suckers from the graft. Too robust growers (like gallicas) can be better grafted so that you can plant the graft ABOVE the soil (only) for those super-hardy roses and avoid the gallica taking over the garden bed. I also agree that grafted roses of the wimpier varieties of HTs and floris are more robust in their first year or two and tend to grow bushy faster than own root versions of those plants. However, I've recently started to experience the down side of grafted HTs in a cold climate. First of all, virtually all of the grafted HTs and floris that I've planted with the graft properly buried have gone own root over time if they've survived. For instance, I bought In the Mood grafted from a local nursery and it was fabulous and bushy in its first year. The second year and for every year after that, it was a knee high one-cane wonder until it finally gave up the ghost and died after about 6 years. The same process has been happening more gradually with my grafted Savoy Hotel. It was lush (maybe 4.5' by 4.5') and incredible in its first year or two, ranking in my top 20 of roses. Every year since then it has declined and come back from the winter more slowly. By August this year, my plant in optimum sun and soil conditions has just now reached almost 3 feet with 3 canes on it and a couple of blooms here and there for the first time all season (nothing at all in June). Here's a contrast picture to show that effect - this is 2013 in June for Savoy Hotel at its full 4.5'x4.5' glory. Savoy Hotel is at the bottom right corner keeping up with Madame Isaac Periere in the back of it with no trouble. Granted, this was a particularly good rose year, but you can see the relative sizes. Now just one year later in 2014, here's Savoy Hotel in front of MIP (bottom center) also in June, and this was an average rose year for me. It's too late for MIP on the shepherd's hook to be blooming, but you can see MIP's height by the purple clematis. Notice that she's now in 2014 only 3' high and has about 4 blooms every couple of weeks. She has declined from that since, even though she's still a very nice rose. I don't have any more recent bush pictures for her since I only get the scattered blooms any more, and only late in the season to boot. One other effect I'm seeing in my older grafted roses this spring in particular is graft failure for a lot of my well-established roses with the graft well buried. Even under the soil, it seems like a grafted rose starts running out of places to grow new basal shoots after a while. For instance, this spring I lost an 8 year old Dream Come True (the tall rose at the left of the first picture) for no good reason that I could see, and it was a mild winter. Sure, you see pictures of 50 year old grafted HTs in warm climates, but those are warm climates. I suspect that if we have a 50 year old HT rose in cold climates that started out grafted and is still alive, it has gone own root in that time and is a robust rose on its own roots. My reluctant conclusions are that if a rose is going to be a wimp, it will reach that state on its own whether own root or grafted. If I get an own root HT rose through its first winter it will increase in size to its sustainable height and vigor and more or less stay there for the duration. If I get a grafted HT rose through its first winter, it will decrease in size to its sustainable height and vigor and stay there till the graft fails or it goes completely own root. There are only a few roses where I think the graft did give the rose a little boost in survival over that first winter, Memorial Day and Oklahoma come to mind, but for the most part I don't think it buys me anything in either survivability or vigor after the first year. That's why I tend to grow my HTs and floris on their own roots. I want to know the long-term height it's really going to be in its early years, I get reliable winter survival of the original rose from own roots if they get to a good size in their first year, and I don't have to dig up a massive root system when it dies or deal with suckers. Just my two cents Cynthia

Sultry I will definitely try to make it to the botanical garden while I am down there. I also greatly enjoy walking at the Miami zoo which has a lot of nice plants all around. Have you been there before? Sunny I do not have a set list for K&M as I actually do not need anything, but there are many I would love to try on that rootstock. Mostly I am interested in comparing some hybrid teas like Moonstone which did well in my garden despite being a hybrid tea. Also Veteran’s honor is usually looking great at the Birmingham botanical garden. I would love to have a cutting garden from a few selected varieties of hybrid teas. I also would like to try Plum perfect because I bought 7 own root and they have been healthy but I’ve barely grown. I should also say this is the first time having this issue with any Kordes which usually have extreme vigor. I will definitely try to stop by some times this spring if possible. I will let you know when I do :), it would be great to meet you there. Ok so plants I have had success with so far. Going to count the ones planted at the lake because they are the only ones that received any supplemental water or fertilizer this year. Fantastic health, no fungal diseases until late October/November when they got some damage. Dark desire Flamenco rosita Florentina Mel’s heritage Earth Angel Awakening Kendyl Marie The fairy Guirlande d’amour Peggy Martin Laguna (gets cercospora ) Honeymoon Bathsheba (only David Austin this year) Bordeaux cityscape Crazy love Olivia could have possibly performed this well, but I moved my 12 plants this year to the lake and killed half of them. The other half struggled to aclimate.

#1 grade is 3 canes at least 5/16” thick. If you count the base of the 3 small canes as one big cane, I think it passes as #1 grade, It looks like a decent enough bare root to me to give you good garden performance.