From my experience, suckers are are a lot more dependable than cuttings. Maybe half of the cuttings I take strike roots, but nearly all of the suckers I divide from the mother plants do.

Is there a particular method for digging up the suckers and repotting them?
I have a bunch of Therese Bugnet suckers that have been there for two years and I want to remove them without killing them..if possible.
Will it matter that they have become quite a size in the two years since they popped up?

I'm ruthless... I just dig them up and throw them in pots.

I'm more surprised when they don't make it then when they do. I havn't lost many suckers, they almost always make it. I think sometimes we tend to overthink things like this and make it harder than it really is.

Have you done it yet? How did it go?

No I haven't dug them up yet. The snow is finally gone and it has been raining the last few days.
The first nice day that I have...I plan to dig them up and pot them.
I already have new homes for 2 of them :)

Could you guys tell me what a "sucker" is, (besides me! ha ha! ;)

What I mean is, are these the new growths for the year? Ok, like on an apple tree, the new growth that goes straight up and you have to cut back to get apples--? I have only rooted in water, but houseplants only. I usually have so much success that I leave them in the water and get lush plants and if I plant them in the soil, I only get 1/2 as much if that. I tell ya, it is definately easy to see if they need water! I have had people exclaim over my thick 8' vines, but I would really LOVE to try roses!!

Thank You!!
Glo

glocat-

A sucker is when a rose is on it's own roots and it sends out a "runner" (like with strawberries). The runner then comes up a short distance from the mother plant and forms another plant, with it's own roots. If you dig it up and plant it, you then have a separate plant! Not all roses will sucker, and they have to be on their own roots, not grafted. A grafted rose is attatched to a diffrent rose's roots, so any suckers that come up will be a diffrent rose than what is on the top.

I hope that made sense!

I dug up 5 suckers and they are in pots and doing well. One of them was as high as my waist but I managed to get lots of roots.
They will make nice gifts to my friends :)

Wow! I have GOT to try that! I had heard that you could snip a piece of the top and put it into water and it might root, (which I think is also spectacular), but never heard of babies popping up! I would have been too scared to dig them up and move until now.

How does one graft? It is very interesting! Is this something anyone can do?

I AM new to gardening. I once had some beautiful tea roses when I got my first home. They were horrible and I nursed those guys into perfect health. Someone came over and told me to cut it entirely back for it to be stronger the next year, (now I had these guys for 2 years and never cut them back and they were more beautiful every year), but I listened to this "seasoned pro" and lost all of my roses.. Can you guys figure out why this person said to do this?

These guys did well on my little "Oasis" in the desert. Now that I have a new home with an established yard, I can't wait to see what blooms. (I see BIG roses!!)

Glo

(and thank you for your reply!!)