splitting roses?

by Debby
(Whitby, ON)

can you split roses at the roots to make 2 plants?

Doug says that if the rose is on it's own roots - and throwing lots of suckers, then yes you can dig up a shoot and move it.

It it's a grafted rose - then no you can' divide it.

So the first step is to decide if it's on it's own roots or grafted.

Rule of thumb - unless it's a big old-fashioned shrub rose, it's grafted.

You tell about the graft by looking (or remembering) whether there was a "bud union" a swelling on the plant where the top was grafted onto the root. You should have planted this about 2 inches deep if you were following tag-directions or 6 inches deep if planting with the northern deep-planting system.