Roses - Entry 1 - Own Root vs others

Ok....I'm not the expert....but I do have preferences.    I love roses.  I love them.   My Mom had a wonderful tradition that has sealed my love of them as now they remind me of my Mom as well as being beautiful and fragrant. She would buy me a rose bush for my birthday and in this way we built our rose garden together.   It was one of the harder things about moving out of the house for me....knowing I was leaving behind that garden and the memories.   Sometimes my Mom would pick a specific color, or fragrance, or name for the fun of it.

When the movie Bed of Roses came out and in the movie they discussed favorites and the Sterling Silver was named as one of the characters favorites because it was thornless...and the other character said that a rose without thorns is too much perfection...the next day she received bouquets of them with the note that read, "thank you for a day filled with too much perfection"...my heart sighed and I wanted one.   That year my Mom gave me my own little slice of too much perfection to remember that those days do happen and for the little romantic idealist she had for a daughter.

For my 21st, she gave me a Don Juan as in her words, "you need a good man in your life." :) It was said with humor, love and affection.   It was a deep red climber.   He was a good man.  

So it has been years since I had my own rose garden....to play in and I miss it.   So I decided to research rose types...as I was living in Oregon at the time it seemed apropos.   Roses grow pretty much year round in Oregon and I discovered Oregon is rather renowned for their roses.  I found Heirloom Roses and knew this was the place I would order from when I got a chance.

Several years later I am now in a more permanent place in life instead of just apartment hoping, on the go, changing addresses every year or six months.  And, I pulled out google and began dreaming for real with Heirloom Roses from Oregon...despite the fact that I live in Texas now.

Own root roses have several differences and I'll leave it to the experts to explain it.   If you want the details here is the what and why of Own Root.  http://www.heirloomroses.com/care/own-root-roses/   For me it was that you have a disease free, pure rose not something that starts out one thing and because of a grafting ends up being something else, a rose that is hardy and healthy. 

This company also has a guarantee that I KNOW they back up if the seedling dies within 3 months of you having it.   This kind of guarantee makes them one of a kind.  Plus this company really truly has friendly people willing to help you.    They also won't send you a seedling until it is ready to go out in the world and live on. :) 

I highly recommend own root roses.  They are different than other ones and so require different treatment to have them grow.    Thus the series of blogs.   I also highly prefer Heirloom roses from Oregon.  http://www.hierloomroses.com/  

But onward and forward as I have several crucial lessons I learned since I received my first seedling.  And, happy gardening to you all...

Example taken from the Heirloom roses site.  
Pic on far left --- shows a typical graft rose vs the own root. 
Middle---the roots exposed....left a store bought graft one with less fibrous roots, the own root on right with lots of fiber roots.  The more fibrous roots the higher chance of rose survival upon transplant.
Right ---- an heirloom rose that you will receive if you buy one. :)