Yes it is frustrating to get info about the EE roses from Bailey's. I'm a member of the ARS North Central District (MN, WI & the Dakotas). At some of our meetings, MN people have complained about Bailey's promoting their products to the gardener because they are strictly a wholesaler to garden centers & they just don't seem to want make any effort to deal with us, rather they just want to promo their products thru garden centers. So if you don't have a garden center that pushes Bailey's products in your area, you're going to find it hard to find many of the EE roses. Also about a year ago, I remember one of the other roses forums having a discussion about Baileys & Ping Lim, the EE hybidizer, parting ways so if this is true, the EE roses may be on there way out as a Bailey's product line.

Kiss Me is on my short list. Its Easy Elegance cousin Sweet Fragrance has been growning in my garden for 4 years now, and it is one of my favorite roses. Blooming machine, nicely shaped bush like Kiss Me, rich orange sherbit color, not much fragrance though, and very good disease resistance (some BS), all describe its assets. However, Sweet Fragrance has poor winter hardiness even with generous protection in W. PA, zone 5/6. Without protection I suspect it would die over winter as your Kiss Me does. Both roses' kinship as Easy Elegance roses could be indicative of other roses in this line being poor winter survivors Up North. Even with very good winterization: a roofing felt collar 16" in diameter filled with fine pine bark mulch, only kept about 2" of growth above the crown from dying. Even so, my Sweet Fragrance bounces back quickly in spring, and by July 4th. it is 30" H x 24" W. SW has never exceeded these dimensions every since its first year. It is also one of the first roses and last roses to bloom for me. Hope my heads-up on Sweet Fragrance sheds some light on your Kiss Me.

I was attracted to this line of roses because they were advertised as being winter hardy and own root, so I purchased Sunrise Sunet, Kiss Me, Grandma's Blessing,Funny Face, and Fiesta two years ago. Fiesta throws long canes and didn't bloom much this summer, and Sunrise Sunset was SP'd last week due to RRD, but was a bloom machine before getting sick. I planted Funny Face next to Queen Elizabeth and she has grown tall and also is constantly in bloom. These roses shrugged off the ugly '07 Easter freeze without any permanent damage. I love these roses and plan to add the rest of the line to my garden. I purchased them from D.A. Hoerrs Nursery and Greenview Nursery in Peoria, IL....not sure if they ship, but you could check their websites. Hope this info helps.

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.