Hi again, Mike ...
I've heard about rose plants grafted to a root of a different plant, and thought maybe that's where the miniatures came from. If that was it and I took a cutting, then it would be a clone of the plant as it was before getting put on a new root, wouldn't it?
Yes, it would still be a clone because no new genes were added to the rose.
Grafting the cutting to a different root stock essentially does not change the plant characteristics. Grafting a rose of any class can add other benefits to the rose. For example, many roses benefit from having additional vigor provided to the rose grafted to a more vigorous root stock. If the grafted rose has a suckering habit, grafting the rose to a root stock can limit the suckering trait. If the rose is incompatible to the ph in the soil where the rose is planted, many root stocks are more forgiving and grafting allows you to grow a rose in soil where an own root rose would not thrive. If the root stock is more cold hardy than the rose you want to graft, it may allow you to grow the rose in a colder zone. Those are the reasons for grafting that I can think of off of the top of my head tonight ....
There many good reasons to graft a rose, but in essence, the genetics of the clone does not change just because it has been grafted.
When Ralph Moore started breeding miniature roses in the US, there were only five miniature roses available to him. He went on to introduce more than 700 roses to the commercial market. The miniature rose breeders who followed after him, used the roses bred by him to start their own breeding programs.
One of Mr. Moore's criteria for introducing a rose to commerce was that it HAD to grow well own root and did not require grafting to perform well. Other breeders in the US followed his example.
He bred many break through roses during his career and his work has been carried through all rose classes by other breeders.
It's a good question, Mike, because it takes learning about roses beyond just looking at pretty flowers.
