There are a couple of rosarians on this board who can give you an answer. In the meantime, there are some very busy rose forums here in the GW. A link to the list is below. Among them, you will see a Rose ID forum where you can try and post a picture of your rose. There are so many roses that look alike, many times it is just a guess.
As far as buying, you don't say which part of NJ you are from but almost every garden center has them. Whatever is left should be going on sale now or soon. If you spend a little time watching the rose gallery during winter where everyone posts their pictures, you might pick out a few favorites for spring.
Also, people buy their roses online. There are several recommended companies. Some specialized more in hybrid teas, some antiques, some both. Some companies with good ratings are Antique Rose Emporium, Chamblee's Rose Nursery, Edmunds. There are more and you will come across their names on the rose forums. If you have a question about a companie's reputation, you can try looking up the Garden Watchdog and plug in the name or plug it into the search option on these forums.
Spring is the best time to plant roses. Some will say fall too. In my experience, there is more winter dieback in late planted roses. However, if you come across a rose now, I would plant it. It hasn't been a terribly hot summer and we are close to September. Just make sure you water it while it is getting established. The hardest time to plant in my experience, is during a hot, dry July and August.
If you buy a rose now, make sure it is from a nursery who takes care and waters their plants. Although it is very possible to bring a plant back to life, roses are so disease and pest ridden, I would start off strong if possible. Additionally, roses look their worst this time of year so it is a good time to see how resistant the plant might be. Assume it has been sprayed with something.
Otherwise, any question you have regarding roses, try a search. Most subjects have been covered by multiple posts and there is a chance that someone knowledgeable answered it on at least one of them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose forums

Thanks so much Loretta :) I will take a look at the rose pages and do a search.

Your advice was great as well. Since I am new at gardening, I will wait until spring for the roses.

Thanks once again!!

Vish

I have had good luck scouting out some local garden centers and picked up a few roses this time of year. The trick with them is to get them in the ground before the end of the month, baby them and give them plenty of winter protection when November gets here.

I was a The Farm at Green Village last weekend and they had some quality roses on sale. Unfortunately not the ones I was looking for.

Your welcome Vish.
I will tell you one thing that worked well for me when I started buying roses. I visited the Peggy Rockefeller Garden at the NY Botanical garden in the Bronx and also the Cranford Rose Garden at the Brooklyn location. Then I tried to pick out my favorites. The first week of June is the height of the season but something is always going on. It is good to see at anytime and see which rose performs during the off season too. That has worked out pretty well.
Another warning is beware of your season's favorite. What I mean by that is you will probably be attracted to a certain type and color more than others in a given season. The result is you get a lot of variations of almost the same rose. Lol! Especially when it comes to those peachy pink antique roses!
It is also fun to subscribe to a few catalogs now. That is known as Rose Porn. Everything is photographed at its peak and looks wonderful! By the end of winter though, you might pick out a few favorites. You will have some time to look them up here and see how they grow in general for people.

You can google and read the catalogs of the following.
Pickering Nurseries
Roses Unlimited
David Austin
Jackson and Perkins
High Country Roses
Vintage Roses
Heirloom Roses
The Uncommon Rose
Ralph Moore's Sequoia Nursery
Wayside Roses (good catalog, known for small plants)

There are websites just about roses like Paul Barden

Below is a link for HelpMeFind Roses. Here you can search a rose a number of ways and maybe find a source. Some of the sources will be outdated but it is a start. Plus there are many pictures uploaded by gardeners organized by the rose. You can see there is variations. Not every rose has a picture.

If you do order online, keep in mind that some companies are known for very small potted plants - especially ownroot plants, some will be grafted on rootstock and probably shipped bareroot. You can easily search people's experience with each company listed here. However, next spring roses carried by Star, Jackson Perkins, Monrovia, Weeks and some David Austin can be found as potted plants at the local nurseries. In March, the bag and box roses come in. I never have good luck with the Jackson Perkins box roses but I have had some luck with the bag roses. The trick is to look for nice green canes that aren't too old and roots which some companies trim too much. Anyway, you'll see. The most expensive rose can easily bite the dust as quickly as a bag rose. Also, don't get too caught up in ownroot vs grafted. Neither argument was represented perfectly for me - you'll see about that.

Finally, if your inclined, there are a few rose societies around. I will leave that to Diane to post if she ever comes out of the garden and checks the forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: HelpMeFind Roses

I've been in Hotlanta for most of the week, and I'm just now checking in! ;-))

Hi Vish, welcome to the forums. Loretta and bogey123 have done a terrific job in filling you in. Here is some additional information. Oh, the first thing to know is that if you ask 5 rose growers a question, you will get 7 different answers (and a lot of "it depends")...

When to plant: It depends (see!). Bareroot roses (the kinds you will receive from vendors like Jackson and Perkins, Edmunds, Witherspoon, Pickering Nursery, Palatine Roses) are usually planted here at the end of March/beginning of April. They are dormant plants (looks like a box of sticks), and will break dormancy a few weeks after planting. Other vendors sell "potted" plants, which means the plants are already actively growing. These I usually get in mid-May. Local garden centers will start selling roses at the end of April, with Mother's Day being a big rose selling time here. The local garden centers usually sell out of their stock by the end of June, some get in additional shipments. Always best to get fresh roses.

What rose do I have: Go over to the Rose ID forum, take a look at the FAQ, and collect as much information and relevant photos (full shot of plant, shot of blooms at various stages, shots of leaves and canes (stems)), and post there.

Where do you buy: It depends. What kind of roses would you like? Many recent introductions of modern roses can be found locally. If you like the "antique" or "old garden roses" (OGRs), then you'll probably have to mail order. If you don't know, then take a trip to the Rudolf van der Goot Rose Garden in Somerset County. Many of us started by buying something locally and trying it. A lot of trial and error.

Now, at this point, I could digress into a long discussion on grafted vs. own-root roses, diseases, fertilizing, etc., but that is a lot. You can e-mail me at hiptownrose2 at aol dot com, and I'll give the big story. Also, let me know about where you are in the state, and I'll point you to Consulting Rosarians who may be more familiar with your immediate area.

Some very good books are Foolproof Guide to Growing Roses, Roses for Dummies and Ortho's Complete Guide to Roses. Rose growing isn't hard, but there are a few components that might be confusing in the beginning. We are here to help!!!

Vish - it might be a good idea to use the fall and winter getting up to speed by reading & researching so that you have a good plan come spring. There is no point in rushing in and most likely not liking the result and having to redo your garden and wasting money along the way.

Anyways you will find many useful ideas here - especially ones like visiting the Rudolf van der Goot Rose Garden - its worth the drive. So is the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and Bronx Botanical Garden - they are not all that far.

If you happen to visit Chicago at all, the Chicago Botanical Gardens is well worth the time to visit, its amazing.

Vish - just had a thought that you might find useful. Get a soil test of the soil where you want to put in more roses then amend the soil this fall following the instructions provided to you by Rutgers (they are the ones you get the test from - I think its $10 for the basic test).

Also be sure to check to see what the drainage is in that area, fix that if necessary, dig in plenty of compost and other amendments (I like to use compost & manure to top dress by beds each fall). This way your planting bed will be ready to go come spring time.

I would very very strongly recommend you find out *the* most blackspot resistant varieties and plant only them. So you avoid the heartache of nekked plants year after year, or the alternative of spraying your roses more often than you take a bath.

Visit the rose fora here in GW and don't forget to look at the organic rose growers' forum. I am intrigued by the remarks on cornmeal under rose plants & wonder if anyone has had any luck with that one?

Do as Bogey suggests & spend the fall & as much of winter as possible digging fallen leaves, manure, kitchen waste (plant material only) etc and esp. banana peels, into your proposed rose area, deeply.

Excellent advice for Vish, bogey123 - or for anyone else, for that matter - regarding the soil test.

Your county extension office will most likely do a simple pH test for free if you take or mail in a small soil sample. A more complete analysis of macro and micronutrients is done through the Rutgers Soil Testing Lab and the kits are $15.00 from your county extension office, $16.00, if I remember correctly, if you want them to mail it to you. (At least, that's the way we do it here in Monmouth County.)

Some counties charge a couple of bucks for the PH only test. I know Morris County does.