I have rooted old-fashioned antique roses and have had success with 4 inch long soft wood cuttings in potting soil with rooting hormone keeping the potting soil moist in bright shade. I rooted two roses from my grandparents' home about two and a half years ago and they are over four feet tall now. I have done it all times of year but I have been more sucessful in spring and fall. I don't see that it would hurt for you to try now. You will know within six weeks or so if the cutting rooted. I put three or four cuttings of the same rose in the same pot and usually 2 of 4 make it. You can try again in the fall if some of them don't work. You should probably leave them in pots and protect them from freezing weather next winter. My experience has been that the roses bloom a little less than a year after being rooted and are a good sized shrub within eighteen months with regular blooms. (Again, it doesn't really freeze here more than a few night a year, so that might matter.) Can you tell if they are the old-fashioned own-root garden roses or grafted? If they are old fashioned, the roses put out new side growth with roots. The rose might also be many smaller plants with roots. Check and see if there is a side shoot with its own roots. If so, I have divided the roses successfully in February here by cutting the side shoot from the main shoot with the roots and digging that portion up. Then I cut them back and palnted them in pots and babied them for a few months until they recovered. Finally, the rose forum people are exceptionally nice and helpful and many live in the South, so you might be able to get some good tips from them.

The above is good advice on all accounts. I have also rooted the grandiflora Queen Elizabeth that way. And some root easier than others. The main thing is to not let the soil dry out during the rooting process. I put my pots in a shady spot during this time. Try the rose forum. There is also a rose propagation forum on Gardenweb also.