Ideally, you are going to want mother plants large enough to harvest decent sized cuttings from without harming them by removing too much material and setting them back. You're also going to want to be able to take as many cuttings as you need to produce the plant quantities you realistically can sell. I have seen SO many really disappointing efforts made at what you propose because the mother plants were too small, potted plants which never produced enough material to satisfy demand and what WAS harvested from them was thin and weak. When you constantly cut growth from a plant, you starve it. So, what you have to answer is, how long do you need to grow those plants into sufficiently mature specimen to permit you to remove the quantity of material you propose without harming them? If you were under ideal conditions, perhaps a season. If you have water stress, extreme heat or lack of it, perhaps longer. What's your feel for a realistic answer?

I live in south car zone 8b so i have a long growing season. I understand everything you have said. So it would take at least one season until I can propagate them? Would they grow that fast?

That depends on variety, I assume.

I've never grown roses commercially, but I assume you'll need greenhouses, misting machines, a lot of land, etc... . You'll need to have a lot of mature plants to take cuttings from. You need to produce thousands of plants per year. Otherwise, you may as well work at McDonalds. You'll make more per hour of effort.

I was thinking of it more as like a small nursery business maybe with some landscaping in the beginning. I would like to produce roses and native wildflowers.

@Paul Barden just provided you with the most expert information you will get from anyone as he has successfully accomplished what you wish to do. Even he will verify the old joke, "how do you lose a million dollars? Open a nursery!" That is something you do out of love (obsession) because it quickly becomes like caring for an aging, ailing parent. You never get a day off. You can never safely take a vacation away from the place, unless you have become so blessed and successful you can afford help you can train to care for and run it the way you want it handled. No matter how tired you are, IT is always there and demanding your attention and efforts. You are always at the mercy of the weather and water availability.

If you are still set to do this, you can help hedge your bet by early producing multiple mother plants. You can cut twice the material from two well developed plants you can from one, so plan on growing multiple mother plants. How many of each depends upon how quickly the variety grows and matures in your conditions. Something large and vigorous like Sally Holmes may provide what you need from one plant. A White Pet may require three, four or more.

I'm sure you've read of disbudding the plant to force growth. Don't let them flower until they grow to the size you want. Sure, see a flower to insure the plant is what its supposed to be, then practice birth control. Don't let it flower so it puts all the time and energy into growth.

Focus on those plants which require as little effort from you as possible. Focus on those you plan to use extensively in your landscape efforts so you control the availability and quality, unless you find it's to your benefit to purchase them as opposed to producing them. Focus on those not produced by every other source.

@roseseek "You are always at the mercy of the weather and water availability." Ain't that the truth. I'm reminded of Burling, who fortunately for her was so widely beloved that she was able to crowd fund a new well. Otherwise, who knows how she could have carried on with no water.

Near you, Antique Rose Emporium had a lovely site in Dahlonaga Georgia. They sold the property as a private home.

Ashdown Roses, a former supporter of this Antique Forum on Gardenweb, went bankrupt up in Landrum SC.

Almost Heaven roses near Charlotte was another great place; it didn't survive the death of its owner.

You don't seem to understand plant diseases or shipping costs or what sizes and health people expect in their plants.

I don't think you know anywhere near enough to do what you propose.

Learn how to grow roses where you are and grow them impressively. Then we'll talk.

I would rather buy plants from ARE; I know what I'm getting.

Some will probably slam my comments, I stand by them because I have known a lot of small nursery that specialize in roses in this part of the country. Most have not survived.

Thank you so much everyone for all the information. I’ll just need to get plants and let them grow, which I have time since I haven’t even finished highschool😂

@lucianob2022 since you haven't finished high school then you do have time. I would pay attention to stillanntn6b comments about the smaller nurseries and them shutting down. Ashdown Roses, btw, had been a successful nursery until the collapse in the 2008ish era. Paul Zimmermann, who owned it does really good videos on roses on YouTube. Take the time to learn about roses and how to grow them and then look at doing a business.

If you are planning on doing landscaping with/ as well, learn about plants in general and how to take care of them. Don't just be a mow and blow landscaper, no plants like that.

Also since you are still in high school learn about areas that grow roses and what kinds well. You never know, you may not always stay where you are right now. When I was in high school and all the way up to my junior year in college I swore I would never leave Oregon other than for school. I just hit my 2 year mark in the St Louis Missouri area. (and I spent 2006 to 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia)

Brandon

@stillanntn6b i understand your points. I also understand the quality that costumers expect, because it’s what i expect myself. I’ve studied everything to do with disease and culture for about two years now. I’m not going to just do roses. I want to do roses, perennials, and native perennials. And in the beginning I would do landscaping along with the nursery side. I didn’t know about all the nurseries that have failed so thank you for that information. I suspect part of that is them specializing in just roses and not marketing enough. I plan on making youtube videos, intagram posts, etc to get my business out there.

@Brandon Garner I’ve done landscaping for some family friends before. I really know my plants since I’ve just been obsessed with plants since I was little. You can just show me a plant and I can identify it and everything you would need to know about that specific plant haha.

@lucianob2022 plant knowledge is great. Unfortunately it's only about half of the required knowledge. Specialize in business, taking every class possible. Being under capitalized and insufficient knowledge of HOW to operate a business are two leading causes of failure.

@HU-504971591 - I think everybody has been giving you excellent advice, and it’s really wise to go into any endeavor with your eyes wide open. However, I hope you will be cautioned but not discouraged! It’s important to dream, and if this really IS your dream than you should go for it! I’m in the arts (music) and a very wise person once said “only go into music if you simply can’t live without doing so”. Because music is, of course, an incredibly risky, low-paying area, and the odds of success are perishingly small. I realized very early that I couldn’t live otherwise, so I went for it. It’s been difficult and a struggle a lot of the time, but with many, many moments of transcendent beauty and joy that make it all worth it. I think probably the specialty nursery business is the same - if you can possibly imagine doing something else, you should probably consider it. But if you can’t, then GO for it, and Godspeed! You’ve gotten great advice and tips from everybody, and clearly it’ll take a huge amount of work, courage, and determination, but if it’s what you love, then you have to reach for it! It is, after all, your “one wild and precious life” (Mary Oliver).

You absolutely need this book by Tony Avent: So You Want to Start a Nursery. Tony owns one of the most successful rare plant nurseries in the US, and yes, he survived the turn down in 2008. He gives some of the best advice, as well as warnings, for starting a new business, and it's all based on first-hand experience. The man just happens to be really funny, as well. If the nursery ever does fold (God forbid!), he could start a second career as a comedian.

Best of luck in your endeavor. As Tony would say, "You're gonna need it!", lol.

John

Edit: the book was published in 2003 (I just checked my copy), but it's still just as useful (and funny) as ever.

Don't be discouraged... but don't bite off too much either. There's a lot of steps between buying a plant to be a mother.... and getting to nursery and landscaping sales. And it can be really easy for any gardeners large scale and small to bite off too much.

Along with the business classes make sure you learn about your state and areas tax structures. Small business, cottage industry, zoning laws. The zoning laws part can be important if you are starting to run out of your backyard but are bumping out to commerical scale.

AND, get to know your County Ag Agent REALLY well. There can be many opportunities to engage with them over such "fun things" as RRD, Japanese Beetles and all of the assorted new fresh hells associated with a warming climate as pests and diseases move northward. Learn the rules and regulations concerning EVERY aspect of your proposed business so none of them come back to bite you.

You can quickly produce a lot of cuttings from a new plant especially if you buy from ARE, their plants are huge. The first year you should be able to take a few cuttings, let's say five. If you're good at growing, these five cuttings they should be nice looking 1 gallons by next year. So next year you take 10 cuttings from your original plant and five from each of your new plants. Now you have 36 plants. It literally increases exponentially from here. Cuttings from young plants root so much better than cuttings from older plants that have been cut too often.

Join a local rose society, members throw away tons of potential cuttings when they prune their plants.

Producing new plants is a craft as much as a science. If you can get a job in a nursery that does their own propagating, you can learn a tremendous amount in a short time.

There is plenty of money to be made in both the landscape and nursery industries. A love of plants is essential. Don't be afraid to hire experts for areas that you are not expert in, maybe for example you might need help with taxes, licensing or getting a tax number . You do not need to know it all to succeed.