If you’re hoping to learn how to grow roses without too much investment or commitment right at the beginning, then you might have a friend who can help you use a different method. If you start your flower gardening more slowly, beginning with just a few cuttings, you may get a more gradual, less time and money intensive picture of your abilities before you go wholeheartedly into the endeavor. It’s worth a try to discover whether or not you can succeed.

Some roses work better for this than others. The hybrid tea rose, for example, might be more difficult to propagate by this means, as will Gallica roses. And unfortunately, most of the roses that come from florists will not be amenable to this version of how to grow roses, because of the way they themselves were produced. Floribundas and many others that are actually garden roses do much better, and miniature roses are usually grown this way.

You should do the rose pruning in early spring, taking three or four six-inch stems (or for miniatures, three-inch stems). Cut them on a slight diagonal, in the morning before the stresses of the day. In the past, people knew how to grow roses with cuttings protected by Mason jars, and the practice still works well. So once you have your cuttings, take off the bottom leaves, with just a few at the top, and dip the stems into a rooting powder. Then set them either into your garden soil or into containers of potting soil. At this point, place a Mason jar over each stem and water now and then over the next few weeks.

When teaching people how to grow roses via cuttings, some recommend using containers with heating pads under them to encourage root development, though that may not be necessary if you’ve used rooting powder. In milder climates you should be able to grow the roses right outside, and may not even need Mason jars. Either way, it should take one or two months for the cuttings to become rooted. Once that has happened, and with continued research and rose care, you should be able to start creating a rose garden. You may discover your green thumb, and realize that this method of rose propagation is something you want to continue exploring.