Did you ever wonder how all those beautiful roses were propagated for sale at your local garden center? There are lots of ways to start new rose plants. The easiest way is to propagate! The newer shrub roses (like Knock Out) do very well on their own roots, so they are usually reproduced simply, by cuttings. Some other roses do very well on their own roots, too. Mini and Miniflora roses are usually propagated by cuttings, also. They also have a tendency to reproduce themselves underground and can be dug and divided.

My favorite roses are Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras and Floribundas. I have one floribunda, ‘First Kiss,’ that is on its own root system. It is doing very well for its first year in my garden. A few years back, though, Jackson and Perkins started introducing their new offerings as ‘New Generation Roses’. I was all excited about trying some! New Generation was their introduction of hybrid teas on their own roots.

New Orders

I ordered a ‘Voluptuous’ rose and planted it in a ‘prime real-estate’ section of my garden and sat back and waited. And waited. And waited. This rose, on its own roots, was more interested in growing more roots than it was making top growth. I almost shovel-pruned it! But, after three years of waiting, it finally began producing some really spectacular blooms. That’s the problem with hybrid teas and some floribundas on their own roots. Sometimes they just refuse to produce the desired product…flowers!! Unless you are really patient…

The other thing about hybrid teas is that some of them are not very winter hardy in colder parts of the country, especially if they are on their own roots. How can you make a more tender rose hardier? Is it possible? It is…and that’s where ‘budding’ comes in as a propagation method. Budding is the process by which a stem bud from one rose is slipped under the skin of a hardier rose, and the bud is allowed to take over. Once the rose is growing on hardy roots, it becomes a hardier rose itself! I’m going to tell you all about this process.

Budding & Propagation

Before we start, though, you need to know that once a rose is registered, it is a ‘patented rose’ for 17 years. Hybridizers work very hard to create gorgeous flowers for us. So, make sure the roses you propagate are ‘off patent roses.’ This means they have been around for awhile. There are many of them to choose from, probably in your friends’ gardens. Ask them if you can cut a stick or two, and I’m sure they will say yes.

I like to use rosa multiflora for rootstock because of its spectacular winter hardiness. Additionally, some plants behind my garage that are the ‘prickle-less’ variety. They are very easy to work with when I want to propagate. Then I go out with my pruners in November after all the leaves have fallen and cut foot-long sticks from the ends of the stems. I then take my pocket knife and dig out all the stem buds except for the top two. This insures that I won’t have a problem with rootstock sprouting down the road when my newly-budded rose is planted in the garden.

Once I have removed all the buds, I take my handful of rose sticks and put the whole bundle in one potful of potting soil. I water the soil and leave the pot by the side of the house for the winter. This way, it will be sheltered from the wind. Come springtime, those sticks are calloused over on the bottom. I then pot them up in individual one gallon containers. Next, pot them in a sunny spot, and water daily. They put out roots from the callouses, and the top two buds I left on the sticks leaf out, and voila! My rootstock plants will be ready for propagation purposes in August!

Propagate and Share!

My friend has asked me for a ‘Tropicana’ rose, because she loves it in my garden. I know that it was introduced in the early ’60’s, so it has been off-patent for many years. I gather up my budding supplies: single-edged razor blades, florist tape, and a wooden block. Then, I take a cutting from ‘Tropicana’ that has recently bloomed, put it in a cup of water, and bring it to a table in the shade (you need to be comfortable when you are a rose surgeon!).

My Method

I then retrieve one of the pots with r. multiflora. It has a long stem to work with and no prickles to bite my fingertips. I select a spot on the skin of the multiflora rose close to the rim of the pot. I then take a sharp, new razor blade (take care not to slice yourself!!) and make a deep T cut in the skin of the stem. Dig in deep with the blade-you want to go clean through the top of the cambium (white layer under the green skin).

Make the slice at the top of the T first, and then draw down the shaft from the center of the top of the T. I then carefully separate the skin from the cambium layer. Then I select a stem bud from my ‘Tropicana’ stem. (This stem is now called ‘budwood.’) I want a bud that is large and well-hydrated.I take my pruners and cut the budwood straight across <.25″ above the bud. I then do the same thing <.25 below the bud. Then, I take my little piece of budwood, stand it upright upon my wooden block, take my razor blade, and slice down the side of the piece and cut the bud right off.

Next, I turn it around and pick out the white pith so I can see the back side of the bud and slip it into the T cut I just made in the skin of the rootstock. I slide the skin back over the bud I inserted and wrap it with florist tape snugly. Some folks like to tie up their budding with grafting tape or a rubber band, but I like florist tape because it sticks to itself and you can wrap it easily.

After Budding: Propagate Time

Once you have completed the budding process, you take your plant to a sheltered spot and keep it well watered. If that little bud is still green after a month, you can be pretty sure you have been successful. Leave the pot in a sheltered spot for the winter and wait until spring…

When the r. multiflora starts to break dormancy on the top of the stick, check your bud…it will be swelling. Take your pruners and cut off the mother plant just above that bud. In no time, a new cane will push its way up! In this case, it is our new ‘Tropicana’ rose! All the energy from that root system in the pot will go into that new rose, which is now called a ‘Budded Maiden.’ You will want to support that new cane for awhile with a bamboo stake…just to protect it from the wind.

Pretty soon, she will put up two new canes on either side of the original, and the location of those canes on the stem are called the ‘Bud Union.’ All beautiful names for a beautiful process…plan ahead, and try it yourself next year! It takes a little longer to get your rose, but it will be extremely winter hardy because of the rootstock we used, and you will have a good-sized rose in one growing season, as opposed to waiting 3-5 years for an own-root hybrid tea to do really well. Besides, it’s wonderful to watch a miracle happen before your very eyes.