Joey: Very good questions. Here are what I learn about own-root roses: 1) Where they are bred and the TYPE OF SOIL & weather predicts where they will be successful. Roses bred in acidic & rainy & less sun England will be successful in acidic & high rain East coast. But roses bred in alkaline & hot & sunny Southern France will be successful in alkaline clay & sunny garden. 2) How vigorous the root is? The newly bred roses ARE VERY VIGOROUS as own-roots, and can survive BOTH Pakistan 113 F hot summer and my zone 5a winter of -20 below zero. Vigorous roots are both long (at least 2 feet deep) and spreading wide. Vigorous roots are also THICK to store water in dry summer/winter. Dee-lish can die to the crown, but the root is so deep that it can go for 1 month without watering, either through a cold & dry winter or hot summer. Dee-lish has a climber as a parent (Graham Thomas). If a rose is bred with a climber in its genetics, it will have deeper root. 3) It's the selection of the fittest. In breeding roses, there will be many seeds ... and only the fittest seed sprout up to be the most vigorous root or to be disease-resistant. The other dozen to 100 seeds either don't germinate, or sprout some wimpy plants that black-spot & less petals, or can only bloom once a year. This answer your question directly, breed roses in your cold zone and see which seed can sprout in extreme cold temp., and which seed has the deepest root to survive the winter. English roses, bred in a colder climate than France: most have climber-heritage or Old Garden Roses' genetics, and English roses are actually favored by hot climate folks in Pakistan due to the vigor of their roots. Deeper root = more weather resistant. I hang out in Facebook Fragrant Rose Lovers group, where most Pakistan posters are. English roses are favored in both extreme hot and extreme cold climate due to the toughness of their roots to survive long periods of drought.

I live in zone 5 a little west of Madison WI and have a "Blaze Improved" that has been in for over 8 years. I live in a valley so I get lots of wind and a little cooler climate than in town, my lilacs bloom 2 weeks after the ones there. I didn't do a very good job of taking care of Blaze (didn't prune, water regularly, or fertilize up till 2 years ago). The pictures below are from today, October 3rd, and it's still cranking out the 2.25" blooms on the 5-6 foot canes. It does get BS here but I don't care, this has got to be the bloomingist rose I have. The color is a true, rich, beautiful red that does not fade (picture color is pretty accurate). Little or no fragrance to me. I don't do anything special in the winter except dump a half bag of chip bark mulch on the base for winter and sometimes if I have extra oak leaves I use those instead. There is very little die back or pruning to do come spring. From what I've read, 'Blaze' is zone 6-10, blooms on old wood, and 'Blaze Improved' is zone 5-9 blooms on new and old wood, if that helps for pruning. Very consistent and dependable. This is a repost from the Blaze topic.

After working in the patch (forest) yesterday...I came across my "My Valentine" blooming under another tree. Picked a few and put them by my pillow. I do this a lot so when I wake up all night long I can smell the islands. Well, the scent was 10 times what the others were and still smelling strong in the morning. Love this one....well, love them all I guess. What a great season it has been.

That's a 'Welcoming Red' Lotus of classic form. Source: PondLotus.com https://pondlotus.com/collections/all/products/welcoming-red-lotus Last spring it was a little 1/4" x 6" root like tuber clipping on when I got it. Concerned it would not make it being so small. It put up a 3" diameter leaf. And then each leaf one bigger than the next, until 12". Then it started flowering with large flowers, one after the next. The fragrant flowers only last a few days each, but they keep being It was grown in 4" of mud in a 22" x 6 black plastic lotus tub. I buried two waterlily fertilizer sticks under the mud and put in a sunny spot. To overwinter, the lotus tub was submerged 6" under the surface of side pond intended for tadpoles. Once I find more mud, it is big enough now to consider planting into that pond.