I recently tried to start a rose from cutting and ended up with withered
brown leaves protruding from a pot. A little history...

My dad until recently still owned the 1850's farm house in Southern Illinois
that was homesteaded by his family..this was also the house that he grew up
in. We returned there recently to dig up many of the plants that my
grandmother had grown there many years ago and that still grow there
today...peonies, lilies, irises, bleeding hearts, lilacs and we also took
cuttings from a rose bush that my father remembers being there when he was a
child in the 30's-40's (he thinks it was there long before that). It grows
about 5-6 feet tall small leaves, small-medium yellow double flowering
blooms, and a million large thorns on every branch (ouch). I tried to root
cuttings in soil in a shady area (NW TN area)...keeping them moist, but they
promptly withered up and died.

We would like to go back for more plants closer to the fall and we would
dearly love to have some starts of this rose bush. Any advice and/or
helpful hints would be greatly appreciated!

Sara

PS Not rose related, but there was also a tree there that my dad said was
always called the "sugar pear" tree. It was original to the house, so dated
about 1850. I dug up some of the seedlings growing around the ancient tree
and they are doing well in large pots for now. He said it has small round,
extremely sweet fruits. Has anyone heard of this tree...I can't seem to
identify it?