Last year while working at a discount store garden center I gave a talk on roses at the  Home and Garden show at the county fairgrounds in early March.  The store  encouraged my involvement in these activities.

As I left work on my way to the fairgrounds I purchased two inexpensive  packaged roses to use for demonstration purposes. These had just arrived that morning. I wanted to show why one should not purchase cheap packaged discount store roses and why I suggested buying good quality roses from reputable suppliers. I had no prior knowledge of the condition of the part of the rosebush hidden by the package but enough confidence that it would serve as a good example. 

When I opened the packages during the program in front of some 25 people I exposed almost non-existent root systems that had been severely chopped so they would fit in the package.

This is the reason many home gardeners have bad luck with roses. The top can be very healthy  with lots of strong canes and viable buds but if there is no root system to support those canes and any new growth the bush will dry up and die. I often hear people say they can't get roses to grow. No, not when they have 3 strikes against them to begin with.

For beginners I recommend ordering from reputable mail order suppliers or purchasing healthy potted roses from local garden centers. Remember, you get what you pay for. A good healthy bare root rose from a reputable supplier will cost upwards to $20 but you will have a much better chance of being successful with it. Better to buy one $20 bush and get roses than 10 $2.00 bushes and have them all die.