Hello Everyone, I am looking for some info on the best rose growers in the bitter north. Someone once told me only roses of natural red or white will grow best, as all others are dyed various colors and have been weakened by this process, so they do not survive winters. Is this true?

That's not quite true. The colors have come through breeding and introducing various color genes to the bloodlines. You may want to check out the Canadian Explorer series that were bred for cold hardiness- there is a nice selection of colors among them.

This vendor offers several of them:

http://www.highcountryroses.co...

http://www.kedemgarden.com/

Hastings, Mn

crawgarden said:http://www.kedemgarden.com/

Hastings, Mn

I second Kedems in Hastings, MN. I have been wanting to get back down there for another load of roses for quite some time. I also recommend the book Growing Roses In Cold Climates. https://www.upress.umn.edu/boo...

Canadian Explorer, Rugosa roses, some of the shrub roses and own root roses are all good bets for Minnesota. You are lucky though being in zone 4 down south of me. This gives you a lot more options. The U of M has done a lot of research on roses for our climate.

What type of roses do you want to grow?
The most important item.

What city are you near?
The climate zones for Mn are only useful in a very general manner.

If the weather average differences, you find online, between two cities, in the same zone is four to five degrees, you would not lose money betting that real life differences can be more like ten to fifteen degrees from occasionally to annoyingly often from decade to decade.

In shrub roses, from my experience, yellow is uncommon for one reason or another, so shades of white or red are what you will usually find.
If you do not want to put a lot of effort into winter preparations, covering etc., there are some pretty tough nice bush roses , mostly shades of red. (I consider pink, orangish etc. roses to be a shade of red.)
Lack of snow, such as we had most of this year, can be very hard on even tough roses.
Do not grow hybrid tea unless you want to put a lot of effort in winter prep., or are willing to enjoy variety by simply replacing ones that went belly up each year.
I do and always have heavily covered my roses in winter but back when replacements were literally quite cheap, if I lost one to three or four a year , as I said, itlet me enjoy a changng variety but now they are too expensive to be that apathetic, so while I am going to do one more big replanting, I am far , far more careful and choosy than I once was.

I was attracted to these:

Campfire looks like an interesting floribunda - Canadian Artist Series 1st edition,
blend yellow, pink & cream zone 2b Sam Kedem $17.95

Frontenac - explorer shrub zone 2b deep pink Sam Kedem 17.95, High country $16.95

Above & Beyond - shrub/climber apricot, zone 3b Sam Kedem $18.95

Morden Centennial- shrub med. pink High Country $16.95

George Vancouver -red shrub Explorer zone 3b, Sam Kedem $18.95, High Country
$14.95

Prairie Joy - pink, Parkland Shrub, zone 3b, Sam Kedem $17.95, High Country $14.95

I am not sure if these are own root or grafted rose suppliers.

They usually will say on the website somewhere if they are own root or grafted roses. If you can't find it contact the nursery and ask them. The idea of using own root roses is that if the rose freezes and is winter killed to the snow line or ground, the roots will regrow true to the rose. Grafted roses that are winter killed will often also regrow from the roots but they are not the rose you planted and you may not even know which variety of roses they grafted on to. There is another school of thought that if you take a grafted rose and plant it with the graft (knot) planted deeper then normally suggested it will in fact react more as an own root rose and/or have a better chance of surviving winters ravages. I have tried this myself because it makes sense to me but truthfully don't know if it actually worked more then a year or so because I left my gardens behind every time I moved and I moved frequently.

High Country sells own root plants. I was pleased with a recent order I received from them.

I practice the deep planting method freezengirl described above because we often have below zero temps in winter. It works quite well and many roses develop roots above the graft and essentially become own root plants.

I also plant my roses deep. Never had one shoot from below the graft and most, if not all, of the roses sold here are grafted.

Freezengirl: Excellent posting!

Balsterlinda: I cannot grow a lot of the "tender" HT roses here, J&P, Weeks, most of the "Austins", and none of the "Old" roses, etc. so I don't even try anymore. HOWEVER: Each Christmas I receive a $50. gift certificate for Home Depot from a relative, and up here, and most certainly in the US, Home Depot sells bagged HT roses (mostly Texan grown) and also up here, all the "hardy" Canadian roses, for between $6.95 -$9.95 and "Knockouts" and "Carpet" roses as well! That is pretty cheap for rose bushes! I take my small tablet or phone with me, so I can look up any offering I do not recognize. Often, there are some surprises, two of which I will purchase any time I see same: HT. "Freedom" (Red) (one of if not the most widely sold red cut bouquet flower in the World!) And it is hardy here??? Another discovery was just a sensational rose HT. "Rainbow Niagara"- an absolutely stunningly beautiful, hardy "Striper" by anyone's standards!! I always purchase an HT."Peace" or "Glowing Peace" or Chicago Peace" just for the back deck. All less than $10. bucks each, and if you wait until they are half-dead, they get really cheap!!! LOL. So, here is a suggestion. I always have the back deck loaded with HT Roses in my "Drop & Drag" 5 gal camouflaged pails, along with Oriental Lilies which I cannot bring into the house!

Check out such sources, and even if you only benefit from the beauty of the rose for the Spring & Summer, I respectfully submit it is worth it!! Bring it in the house or garage over Winter, if it survives, great! If not, wait for Spring and buy a couple more! You know, I wonder if you can bury roses like fig trees? Cheers! If you are not certain if it is alive or not, find the warmest spot on your property, hill it up, and make a "Rose Hospital" to ease your guilt. Still go buy the replacements!
Note: We should have a thread for something like "Giving away rose bush-Winter is coming, or I don't like, or wanted: Rose Bush Home, etc.

I've ordered from High Country Gardens recently and am pleased with their selection and with the quality of their plants. It's been two decades since I ordered from Sam Kedem, but some of my favorite roses in NJ came from there: Queen of Denmark and an alba whose name I cannot remember, possibly maxima.

Where to set the bud union is a matter of some debate. The story is that if you set it much below ground level then the scion will set out its own roots. When this happens, sometimes, the rootstock will get neglected and die. I've seen this happen and it can set roses back materially. In roses that do well on their own roots, though, not much harm is done. In other cases, though, the plant loses vigor. That said, becaus of our late frosts, I tend to plant roses deeply, even here in zone 7b.

I'm a fan of the Buck roses. I grow Prairie Star whose high centered roses are not quite as glorious as the best exhibition HT roses, but they have a distinctive beauty of their own.

Thank you all for an invaluable wealth of information. I am checking the given websites as well as books suggested. RpR I am west central Mn right near south dakota border-Dawson area. We have fluctuations in temps from 80 below windchill (or More) to 100 degrees above 0, gardens in general-not just roses, can be a challenge.
fwmosher-so is the growing failure due to temps where you are?
I am looking into freezin girls kedems, margieNY -suggestions for kedems and high country-I am limited in availability from lack of greenhouses here; 50 miles or more for decent plants. I may give mail order a try..Thanks Again Everyone.

Frank's comment about bringing roses in for the winter is interesting. I met a couple from Minnesota at a national rose convention who grew hundreds of miniature roses in pots. They would spend Halloween bringing the pots in and placing them in a cool, dark basement. Then in May they would set them out again.