When growing roses here in Western Australia we strongly recommend that you only plant roses that are grafted onto Fortuniana Root Stock. At the beginning of our rose journey we weren't aware of the different root stocks that a rose can be grafted to, if we had of been more informed we could have avoided a lot of unnecessary heartache. Here in WA we suffer with sandy soil syndrome which renders our soil void of much needed goodies that go for making good growing conditions, plus our soils don't retain moisture well. In the Eastern States of Australia soils are quite different to ours and are more condusive for growing roses well. As a result, rose growers there use a different root stocks, such as Dr Huey and Multi Flora to name a couple.
The earliest mention of it use as a rootstock was in 1903 in Australia. A rose grower near Perth was short of stock and decided to bud some plants onto Fortuniana stock; the vigor and floriferousness of Fortuniana became apparent, and continues in Australia and New Zealand even today. The popularity of Fortuniana grew like wildfire.
Fortuniana, is vital to a roses well being here in WA, it tolerates extreme heat stress, different root diseases, resistant to Nematodes and have a larger root system, that extend much further and have a deeper tap root than other root stocks which is what is needed here in Perth . Fortuniana roses will have a better foliage growth and will grow more vigorously than roses on the wrong root stock for here in WA. The Rose Society of WA recommend only to use of Fortuniana, we only buy from Nurseries who guarantee Fortuniana as the root stock, however there our nurseries who aren't doing the right thing buy the customers. So beware, places like Bunnings, Big W and Masters, to name a few aren't doing the right thing by their customers, however with Bunnings at certain times they will have Fortuniana roses, but they do not advertise this, because they still want to sell the stock lines that are on an inferior root stock for here in WA. In particular you should always avoid buying bare rooted roses from any store, not only are they on the wrong root stock, they are mostly grown in South Australia clay soils and will more often than not, never last more than a couple of seasons and will always do poorly.
So why does selling roses on the wrong root stock here in WA continue to happen, well for two reasons, Firstly and most importantly, it is a cheaper option ($$$$'s), secondly, Fortuniana grafting success rate is not as prolific as other root socks, so when it's all about the $$$$'s, companies will always go for the cheaper option and usually at our expense.
The earliest mention of it use as a rootstock was in 1903 in Australia. A rose grower near Perth was short of stock and decided to bud some plants onto Fortuniana stock; the vigor and floriferousness of Fortuniana became apparent, and continues in Australia and New Zealand even today. The popularity of Fortuniana grew like wildfire.
Fortuniana, is vital to a roses well being here in WA, it tolerates extreme heat stress, different root diseases, resistant to Nematodes and have a larger root system, that extend much further and have a deeper tap root than other root stocks which is what is needed here in Perth . Fortuniana roses will have a better foliage growth and will grow more vigorously than roses on the wrong root stock for here in WA. The Rose Society of WA recommend only to use of Fortuniana, we only buy from Nurseries who guarantee Fortuniana as the root stock, however there our nurseries who aren't doing the right thing buy the customers. So beware, places like Bunnings, Big W and Masters, to name a few aren't doing the right thing by their customers, however with Bunnings at certain times they will have Fortuniana roses, but they do not advertise this, because they still want to sell the stock lines that are on an inferior root stock for here in WA. In particular you should always avoid buying bare rooted roses from any store, not only are they on the wrong root stock, they are mostly grown in South Australia clay soils and will more often than not, never last more than a couple of seasons and will always do poorly.
So why does selling roses on the wrong root stock here in WA continue to happen, well for two reasons, Firstly and most importantly, it is a cheaper option ($$$$'s), secondly, Fortuniana grafting success rate is not as prolific as other root socks, so when it's all about the $$$$'s, companies will always go for the cheaper option and usually at our expense.