What rooting medium did you use? Did you do anything to increase humidity? Is your parent plant strong and growing well?

I root The Prince and don't find it especially hard despite the fact it doesn't have a lot of vigor. For me it doesn't work to make a miniature greenhouse with something like a plastic Pepsi bottle. In the past I've either rooted them in open air or used a misting system in which tiny emitters are hooked up to a timer and they come on at regular intervals. For most of the past 25 years I've rooted them with no additional humidity. Your climate might be more arid though.

Do you use a rooting hormone? For years I used something like Rootone but in more recent years I use Hormodin 2 or 3. I take cuttings all spring and summer and even in fall and winter. I used hard wood prunings just yesterday. Do you score or scrape the cuttings lightly at the base for about 1/2" before dipping in rooting hormone? Do you remove all but the top two or three leaves? Are the cuttings free of blackspot? I think cuttings that are about pencil diameter do a little better, and about 5 or 6" long. I bury the cuttings for about 1/2 or 2/3 their length in sand. Keep moist, not too soggy.

Where you locate your cuttings matters....too much sun and they'll fry, too little and they'll rot. They need at least bright shade, or dappled light, or occassional sun. Not full sun I think unless you have a good misting system. Malcolm Manners in FL roots many of them in lots of sun but has a misting system set up and he likes to keep more leaves than I do.

Don't give up! I have some varieties that have been consistently hard to root and all of a sudden one year a lot of them will root. I think it has to do with how the parent plant is doing and if it is well hydrated at the time the cuttings are taken. Once you have success your plant will know you mean business and it'll fall in line.

Hi @erasmus thanks so much for such a detailed response.

The cuttings were plump, green, pencil-thick and from a healthy, vigorous and BS-free plant. As with all cuttings I push at least half of the length into a free-draining mix of 50-50 basic multipurpose compost to grit and keep moist but not wet, not covered but in a sheltered place. The only real thing different is I’ve never used a rooting hormone so I will definitely use that next time - plus the fact that this one has always failed where others have taken!

It’s great to hear you have been successful with The Prince and I clearly need to keep trying. It’s a rose that has its fair share of quirks, but it’s always been really healthy for me and the blooms are to die for.

Finger’s crossed for this year!

I agree 100% with every single thing Erasmus said about rooting cuttings. In coastal Calif., I have particularly good luck with rooting roses in fall/winter in the open air in dappled shade. One of my trading partners in No. Calif. has the same experience. Regarding The Prince, I currently have three well-rooted cuttings. It's kind of hilarious, b/c I decided not to prune my bush of The Prince in January, with the intention to make a ton of cuttings of it this winter. But I didn't, since so many folks were getting it from Garden Roses LLC. Now that they seem to have gone under, I guess I'm going to be making a lot of cuttings from my un-pruned plant! Anyway, I don't find The Prince to be hard to root.

Thanks @susan9santabarbara, snap! Mine went largely unpruned too this winter, but due to various family crises keeping me away from home at the right time. Hopefully I will have lots of cutting material too and I only need one rooting to take..