Mine had shoots when arrived. After planting some of the shoots dried off but many developed. Our spring is not hot though.

This is sad Superteeth. It does not look promising. Maybe you could buy potted roses from Antique Rose Emporium in Texas. These struggling ones sound like they were sold too late to do well in your area.

I have 1 bare root doing the same thing. I keep cutting back to green pith on the inside of the canes, but there is no sign of leafing out.

It's been over a month and all the others around it are doing well.

I wish I had advice to share instead of a similar circumstance.

sbkrlyn, I really hope mine do the same, but as more time passes...not to mention that all the first shoots died for me. There's only one that is actually growing after that initial setback. Looking closely at where the shoots are coming from some are coming from a place where the first shoot died and some are coming from different places altogether.

Sheila, I hope you're wrong! I'm still keeping faith that this week of cloudy weather and rain will wake them up. But I specifically wanted grafted roses because of their vigor, as Texans don't have to worry about a lot of the problems of grafted roses (like a freeze that kills to the graft).

Dingo, I don't have them mounded up but I was reading about mounding and I think I might just end up speeding up the dieback process through the introduction of fungus if I do that. That said, I saw one of the roses doing particularly bad with the heat and I provided it shade with a cardboard box. She's not dying back fast anymore, so hopefully she'll wake up with the rest of them.

jc, I wish it was one that was doing poorly and the rest leafing out instead of what I have (which is the other way around)! Really crossing my fingers for a change from this weather.

I am curious if they were planted too late.

I know that several vendors stop shipping bare roots to zones once it starts to warm up.

I don't know what the downfall of planting bare roots late is though.

I am in N. TX and have had much better luck with own root roses. They take some time to get big but the grafted seem to always revert back to Dr. Huey. Those roots are so strong that they over take what ever has been grafted onto it. Also. the bare rooted roses that I have tried are always hit and miss. You could try Chamblees Roses and Antique Rose Emporium. I have always had very good luck with anything that I have received from them. Good luck!

jc, both Jackson and Perkins and Edmund's Roses are still shipping bare root roses to Texas...and it's already pretty hot here. I guess the downfall is what I'm seeing now, too much heat and not enough roots to uptake the water needed to combat that heat.

girl, I believe the thing about grafted roses is that if you don't stay on top of the suckers that come up from the rootstock that they will eventually overtake the graft. I do have about 70 own-root roses too, but I decided to try grafted ones because I like the idea of roses growing faster and having roses that are otherwise weak on their own roots being feasible for the home garden as a result of grafting. I'm new to grafted roses, though, so I'll see soon enough how much of a pain it is to keep on top of those suckers!

Unless they are turning black I would mound them with mulch. Sounds like they might be drying out. Did you bury the grafts?

I know what you mean about the suckers. It just seems that eventually they out pace the top growth so much that I throw in the towel and dig the whole bush up. I hope that you have better luck that I do. Of course, I seem to always find another grafted rose that I cannot resist when in a garden center or nursery. LOL I will never learn...

Dingo, I did not bury the grafts, partially because I don't want the roses to go own root and partially because it's unnecessary in Texas winters. They were initially looking shriveled when I checked on them every day, but now they actually don't look shriveled any more. I'm hoping that means that they've built up a root system and are now waiting to put out new growth? If the canes are green that means the plant is still alive, so they must be doing SOMETHING!

girl, yeah, I hope that they don't sucker so badly that they overtake the grafted rose! I bet I would be the type to never learn either! It just seems that the most colorful, interesting roses are always grafted, though! I don't blame you!

Super, I garden on 2 acres so I don't have the patience to deal with roses that want to sucker back to Dr Huey. Maybe in a smaller garden that would not be that big of deal. I think that here in TX the bare root roses are the biggest challenge. Our springs are typically short & that is a stress to bare root roses that need time to establish. Maybe not so much further North.

I don't like the sound of that slow die back. When you cut back the parts that are turning black cut a little deeper into the green part and look at the center of the cane. If it is moist and a greenish white you still have live cane. If it looks dry and tanish the cane is dead. Even if it still looks green on the outside. If it is alive mounding can help it retain moisture. It may just be trying to establish a root ball before it leafs out.

It must be a warm climate thing because I have never had Dr. Huey show up on any live rose in my garden in 15 years of growing. I do have one growing from the grafted stump of a rose that had already died that I hadn't dug out. But that's the only time it's ever showed up. I'm sort of glad it did because I couldn't seem to ever get anything else to grow in the spot and good old DH is doing marvelously!

I know it’s warm there but why would you not want them to go own root? I seem to remember reading that there’s less issue with root stock suckering if the graft is buried. Like Seil, I’ve not ever had that happen - all my grafts are buried.

seil, the center was moist and greenish white on all the roses, so I guess that's a good sign! I'm hoping that's it, that they're trying to establish a root ball first. The forecast is actually calling for cloudy skies and intermittent rain for the next two weeks, hopefully that's the break they need from the dry air and heat to wake up.

Dingo, I thought that if the graft is buried and the rose goes own-root that the rootstock would eventually die and the rose would have the (typically poor) vigor of the grafted variety? That's what I'm trying to avoid, because these roses that I bought are not known for their vigor on their own roots, which is why they're grafted. It seems to be typical for the more interesting roses.

I don’t know the answer to that! I know the grafts can fail after a number of years, so if they have gone own root you won’t lose the rose if that happens. Mine have to be buried here. Which roses did you order?

Love, Purple Tiger, Royal Welcome, First Prize, Clouds of Glory, Honey Perfume, Lady Bird, Simply Magnifiscent, Crescendo, Hypnotized, Malibu, Oregold, Cabana, Elegant Lady, Soft Whisper, and Signature. Long list, all from J&P.

That said, I was checking out all the roses today after getting back from work, and one of them is pushing new growth! It's raining a lot and will be cloudy and rainy tomorrow, which again is hopefully the weather they'll need to recover from this heat and sunshine. Then it'll be sunny on Saturday and Sunday, and then rain on and off all next week. I think it'll be the perfect conditions for them. Hopefully there's not so much rain they get waterlogged (they are in clay soil, after all).

Hey, I just checked on them again after this rainstorm, and 3 more are pushing new growth! I'm glad I didn't give up hope on them!