Lisa, here is more info. One has to do with how roses are sold, the other with how they are propagated. How they are sold: Bare root vs potted: Roses are sold to the public either as a dormant bare root (looks like bare sticks, no dirt) or actively growing in a pot with dirt. How they are propagated: Grafted vs own root: Roses can be grafted onto a more vigorous rootstock (a different rose) or grown on their own roots. You can buy grafted bare roots (bagged, boxed or sold through the mail), own root bare roots (not common, but there are some out there, usually mail order), grafted potted (you'll find this at your local garden center) or own root potted (usually sold through the mail, but you might be lucky enough to find a local nursery). Head spinning yet? :-) What you decide depends on how the rose is available and the growing conditions in your garden. Depending on where you live, the hardiness of the variety may be the most important factor. Many of the old garden roses are only available as potted on their own roots. Other roses are available in many forms. Zack mentions some of the other reasons. Online/mail order vendors will tell you if their roses are grafted or own root and if they are sold potted or bare root.

Hi Vuwugarden The idea that all roses are best grown ownroot is just plain wrong. Some roses do very well ownroot, old garden roses, some hybrid perpetuals, knockout-/explorer-roses, some Kordes hybrid are not comparable to most modern roses. Now and then even the odd hybrid tea does well(I grow Peace in a container, selfmade from cutting). Even in warmer climates grafted roses can do better, in general grafted roses will grow a bit taller than ownroot. These are results from large test in the fields of many countries and observation has been as much as 7 years or more. If you live in area with fairly cold winters and a short growing season I dare state that modern roses will perform considerably better as grafted plants. Not all roses does well on the most common rootstocks, but this is something the large nurseries know. Suckers are not a big problem, if you check your roses two times a season or something like that rootstock will never have the chance to take over. You simply take out some leather gloves and pull them off. Some rootstocks sucker more than others, but you will probably not see more then one or three a year per 60 roses. Catrose: when the roses gets olde they will all form a "fist" of older wood near the ground. In fact, it is not that easy to tell the difference between a grafted and an ownroot after a few years unless you do some digging. Graftpoint usually is planted a few inches into the ground. I have several roses both grafted and made from cuttings of the same variety. Growth habit is by far determined by the variety, not the root stuck. Rootstock will give stronger growth, and plants will on average grow taller. They tend no more than ownroots to get leggy, spindly. This is more determined by variety and pruning than rootstock. Scardan123; As far as I know the Meilland roses we get here are grafted. Where my family and I have been gardening (Norway, Denmark and France) we buy mostly grafted, and all Meilland roses are. There are a few exceptions; some old roses, rugosa hybrids, some park-roses, species and near hybrids, groundcovers, but even the Meilland ground-coverers I have are grafted (probably on laxa). In short, Meilland roses are no less grafted than other roses. How ownroots will do are dependent on climate, soil, growing season and care given. I am not against ownroot roses, and will happily try to root any variety from cutting. If I where to grow ownroots exclusively I would have to give up most chinas, hybrid teas, floribundas, many climbers and shrubs, at least they would stay small and puny plants. That is mostly due to the short growing season; grafted plats gets an earlier start in spring, grow faster and stronger. These roses will not be more winter hardy as ownroot, if they freeze to the ground they will sprout back, but will have problem really taking of and becoming good plants. Hardy varieties with strong growth will do better. This is at least my experience on the subject, and I have spend a lot of time and energy on different rootstocks and ownroot roses. I know this is a subject that depend very on climate, soil, care roses get..., but still I am surprised how different experiences we have. I suspect that there are differences in the rootstocks that are used, USA use other types. It might have something to do with the grafting techniques too. Here oculation is by far the most common, if not the only one; an eye from the cane of the desired variety is placed in a T-shaped cut on the neck of the rootstock. That produces plants where grafting-point is hardly seen after planting, if at all. My post became far too long, I get carried away by this subject :-)

herbstonne, you might consider "mounding" them as is often done in harsher climates to keep them cool, dark and damp until there is new growth. hoovb's suggestion of partial shade is a good one, but with the warmth they're going to be exposed to, they might be triggered into premature growth before they develop sufficient roots. I have always potted bare roots and created cylinders of either cardboard or many layers of newspaper to fit inside the cans up to the tops of the canes. I fill the cylinders with potting soil, leaving the top inch or two of the canes exposed, then place them so they get some sun, but not all day, hot sun. Keep the pots, including the extra soil, watered as you normally would until you see new growth beginning to emerge from the cane ends. Gradually, over a period of a few weeks, remove the extra soil, unless you experience a week or so of rain and over cast conditions. Removing the extra soil to expose the canes to the elements works very well in a rainy period as they harden off and acclimate to the harsher conditions quickly when kept rain bathed. Funny how both mature plants, cuttings and rose seeds KNOW the difference between a hose and rain. The plants can be stimulated into growth by heat as well as brighter light. The goal is to keep them cool, damp and dark until you have enough roots. Burying them in cylinders of soil in their cans until they "tell" you they are ready to grow should help you improve your chances significantly. That also goes for planting them in the ground as the moist soil helps prevent them from drying out until they can drink for themselves. Unless they're waxed, they can absorb water through the canes and leaves, just as they can loose it. Good luck! Kim

I think it's the wax on the canes, not the tiny buds you see there that caused the problem. The cheaper growers wax canes so that they stay green on store shelves. I've never had a waxed cane do well even where I am (and in Coastal Cal I'm in a much cooler zone than Arizona). The buds were fine -- leave them on. But ditch the waxed cane bareroots, unless you can imagine the plant without those particular waxed canes and still see a decent plant worth buying. Some bareroots are waxed only at the tops, and those ones are usually ok, because the bottom of the cane is all you need. And by the way, I've tried everything from fingernails to credit cards to hiar driers to get that wax off before hot weather burns the cambium layer of the canes -- nothing seems to help those canes to survive. They all die anyway.