Steve - Think there are more of us Darwinian approach to gardening people here than you'd believe. I don't recollect hardly anyone here who's one of those uppity-"You-have-to-go-organic-or-you'll-burn-in-hell" type people here, which is why we're all here and not someplace else (although I do haunt someplace else every once in a while). I'm like you, I have no idea on how many roses I've had to dig up & toss out.. this past winter wasn't as bad as my first winter when I lost almost everything due to ignorance (I was planting roses like trees.. too high up out of the ground, so they froze). Spring 09 I think I dug up over 40 roses that croaked, Spring '10, I think less than 25. So my batting average has gotten better! But I have learned to ignore zone numbers on roses.. I've got roses good to zone 7 that overwintered fine, I had zone 4 roses that croaked immediately. All I know for 100% fact is that if you can get own-root, DO IT as I did not lose not ONE of my own-root roses, even with some of the harshest conditions we had here, the rose being broken down to the ground, etc etc etc.
