Rose Book Excerpt

Taylor's Guide to Roses: How to Select, Grow, and Enjoy More Than 380 Roses

by Nancy J. Ondra
(Hougton Mifflin)

"Once you've decided on the roses you want, you may have a choice of buying grafted or 'own-root' plants. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Grafted plants are top growth of a desired rose (called the rootstock).

This propagation technique enables producers to quickly create a garden-ready plant, and it allows the choice of different rootstocks to suit particular growing conditions. In recent years, a growing number of nurseries have begun 'own-root' roses: roses propagated by cuttings and allowed to form their own roots.

Reported benefits include better winter survival, longer life and minimal chance of rose mosaic virus, a common rose malady."

(Courtesy of Garden Bookshelf, distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)

Resources
Taylor's Guide to Roses (Taylor's Gardening Guides)
by Nancy J. Ondra (ISBN: 0618068880)
How to Select, Grow, and Enjoy More Than 380 Roses
(Houghton Mifflin Co., February 2002)
Order this title.