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.
