Rooting Roses

I have several roses that have been passed along from person to person over the years.  They are not like the tea roses or knockout roses in the stores nowadays.  The Dr. Van Fleet goes back to 1910 and was commonly introduced in 1930.  The Seven Sisters from which I got a cutting dates back to at least 1940 and is still growing in a yard on the other side of town.  Others really don't have an official name.  My mother named a pretty yellow rambler the Genett Thomas after the lady who gave it to her sometime before 1950.  The Helen Snyder rose,  a dainty pink rambler, dates back to about the same time. My mother called an erect beautiful pink rose the Mamie Keith after the woman who gave it to her.  And so it goes. 

But the important thing is to take cuttings and root them.  I am not particularly good at this. I just cut a six or seven inch stem at an angle and take off excess leaves, leaving two or three at the top.  I do use Rootone on the underground part.  I put them in a pot of mixed rich soil  or in the ground  in a fairly damp place.  I say I am not very good because I am lucky to get a couple of new roses out of the dozen I might put in a pot.  I am sure other people do better, but I am happy just to get one new plant out of each planting endeavor. 

The successful one is the yellow rambler.  The other one is probably a failure.

Then I either leave the survivor in its original pot or put it in a larger pot and set it down on the edge of the woods to grow.  Some root where they were placed in the ground and get to stay there indefinitely. This wandering Mamie Keith was rooted in the dampness of the downspout and is settled there temporarily.

Later I put the larger plants in a row in my garden. Sometimes I have to wait for them to bloom to know which is which.