Question
I have 2 questions. What are suckers on a rose bush? I read alot aboutthis but I don't understand what they are. And, if I grow Roses in New York State, are there any that I should avoid? i need a simple answer to this because I am not really good at gardening yet.

Answer
One of my favorite internet websites is "A Long Island Rose Garden" (www.moyesii.com), an entire website adoringly devoted to one gardener's passion for his Roses here. He goes into great detail and description of his Roses and I think those would helpful to anyone planning to grow Roses at home. The one detail I disagree with is his assertion that we are growing these in Zone 6.  This is undoubtedly Zone 7b.  But individual micro-climates really make this detail superficial, particularly when dealing with near-tender Roses.

The Long Island Rose Society (www.longislandrosesociety.org) is likewise devoted to an entire club's Rose gardening communications.

Further north, you're talking about growing Roses in Zones 6 and 5 - which are trickier; special treatment is needed for Roses to survive the winters.  Please tell me where you live or at least provide a nearby big city as a reference point.

If you grow own-root Roses, you won't need to know what a sucker is because you won't have any.  Suckers are growth from a grafted Rose, eminating from the root stock; they are unwanted because they rarely bloom and if they do they are not usually as impressive as the blooms on the upper part of the bush.  Not usually.