I think you’ll be just fine with these as own roots in No CA. You may be able to find them at a local nursery the Spring, grafted onto Dr. Huey. That’s how I obtained my Carding Mill, quite a few years ago. I planted mine very deeply, hoping it would eventually go ownroot. My Molineux was planted this past Spring, from a one gallon container, as an ownroot plant. I ordered it from The Antique Rose Emporium. Although it has suffered from an onslaught of insects this summer, it’s beginning to recover now that our nighttime temperatures have gone down significantly. I’m curious as to why you prefer them grafted? I know it’s all a matter of personal preference, but I try to find them on their own roots whenever possible. If you can only find them on their own roots, it’s a pretty good sign that they grow very well ownroot. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you find a David Austin that no one offers on its own roots, ONLY grafted, that’s a pretty good sign that it won’t do well on its own roots. The exception to this can be a newer David Austin rose, that’s only being offered grafted. Sometimes I’ve seen them offer a new rose grafted first, and then on its own roots in subsequent years.

I prefer my David Austin roses on their own roots whenever possible. I have a couple of reasons. First of all, most of the DA’s get FAR larger in the warmer zones than the size David Austin lists in the description. I don’t need the extra vigor of rootstock Dr. Huey adding any size when most of my roses already turn into giants within a year or two, especially DA’s. (That being said, you did chose two that have a tendency to remain compact, which is why I chose them, as well. I already have some truly enormous growing DA’s, and I really do appreciate the smaller ones.).

My second reason is the rootstock itself. I strongly dislike Dr. Huey for two reasons.

First, even though I know most roses have some form of Rose Mosaic Virus, wether they are grafted or not, DA’s on Dr. Huey are the only ones that have shown such problems that I’ve actually removed some of them. I could put up with some of the telltale “variegated foliage”, but it went far beyond that. I had to remove a beloved 7? 8? year old ‘Mary Rose’ that was not only covered with the mosaic mottled leaves, but the virus weakened Mary’s immune system so severely that she suffered from every fungal disease possible. This is in hot, dry So CA , where we don’t even get blackspot. This rose was defoliating from blackspot, had powdery mildew year round, and other strange leaf ailments I couldn’t identify. As I understand it, there are many different viruses and strains of viruses that make up “Rose Mosaic Virus”. In warm climates in particular, RMV is usually mainly cosmetic, and many roses don’t show any signs at all, even though they are infected. Whatever strain or group of viruses some of my DA’s on Dr. Huey had were disastrous to the rose, eventually weakening it to the point that it could not fight anything off. It became so severe that removal was the only option.

The “removal” is my second reason for my prejudice against Dr. Huey rootstock. Have you ever tried to remove a 7 year old rose grafted onto Dr. Huey? I hope you never have to. I’m STILL finding sprouts of Dr. Huey popping up even though my son was “sure he got it all”. Dr. Huey is the gift that keeps on giving. It can be real nightmare when you think you’re finally rid of every last bit, and go ahead and start planting your new plants there. Start watering to get the new stuff off to a good start, and who crashes the party? You guessed it, it’s the Dr. again.

I’m may have just given you all sorts of information you don’t need, or already know. If so, sorry and just ignore it. But, I really think these will do great on their own roots for you. They are both real beauties, and I couldn’t have chosen better myself. Oh yes, I DID choose them myself! May I say you have very good taste? :) My Carding Mill isn’t blooming right now, so I’ll see if I can find some pictures from earlier.

Molineux today, just starting to recover from terrible insect damage.

Lisa