Roses are deciduous woody perennials. They originated in central Asia millions of years ago and spread over the Northern Hemisphere. Strangely, no wild roses have been discovered south of the equator. A fossilized rose found in Colorado documented that wild roses grew in the Midwest more than 35 million years ago. Native wild roses are still common in Kansas today.
Most garden roses are hybrids grafted onto a hardy rootstock.
Many hardy roses are as easy to grow as spirea and privet. Show roses, however, require considerable knowledge, skill and care. The first step in successful rose growing is to select a rose species and variety that is adapted to the growing location, use, personal preference of the grower and the amount of time and care one is willing to spend. This text was extracted from the publication, MF-799.