A couple months ago I had no idea what fortuniana was. I have been a lifelong gardener, but never big on roses. I appreciated their beauty, but every example I had ever seen in real life, at least where I live in S. Louisiana, was usually a couple spindly twigs or long bare canes with a flower here and there. Of course with the incredible fungal pressure due to the incredible heat, humidity, and rainfall here, hybrid teas cannot be successfully grown unless you are willing to spray, which I suspect 99% of gardeners, especially in this day and age, are not willing to do.

As I started to read more about roses, I learned about the fortuniana rootstock, which apparently can go a long way to eliminating a lot of the "bare spindly stem with flower on the end" problem due to their vigorous growth.

Well I went to see Mr. Mills at K&M nursery in Mississippi about a month ago and picked up 12 roses. I also have several Dr. Huey hybrid teas I've picked up at Lowe's/Home Depot over the last several months. All of the roses are still in the pots and have been well watered without fail every day. I have put a little Rose Tone and some alfalfa pellets in each pot. I have even given some of the Dr. Huey plants a couple applications of liquid fertlilizer. But the difference i the growth rate of the fortuniana plants is already clearly in evidence. Every single one of my fortuniana grafted plants is at the moment full of new large robust stem growth. There are several pencil sized shoots growing off virtually all of the plants and several of them have already had many blooms. Compare this to the potted hybrid teas (many of which seem at least a season older than the fort. plants) and it's like night and day. The growth rate of the Dr. Hueys is absolutely anemic in comparison.

Can't tell you how excited I am to get these puppies in the ground this fall and really see what they can do when the roots are unleashed from the confines of the pots. Several of the fort. plants already have small roots coming out of the drainage holes going into the ground.

One thing I have noticed is although I get lots of blooms already, they blow very quickly, are usually small, and not as full as ones I have seen in pictures. I am sure that is due to the heat, their age, and the fact they are still in small pots. Will this improve when they are in the ground and have developed a larger root system?

Is there anyone else out there with experience with fortuniana rooted plants that have noticed this difference between other root stocks?