I think the business agreement was that the J&P apparatus was still in place for this spring. After that it all switched to the parent company. So spring orders may be like J&P has been in the past, but after that, I'll be waiting for feedback from others before I order.

That catalog surely looks a lot more Park/Wayside-ish than ever before.
The folks who bought J&P own a share of Park/Wayside. These same folks own a cellular propagation facility in Hodges SC (which is the titular address of Wayside.)

My question is ...J&P now offers two roses: the big grafted (I'll guess they're still on Dr. Huey and may be the last of the crop from the growing fields at Wasco) and own roots. Now the own roots were described on a website of theirs that I found last fall as being smaller. Are those grown out in Wasco or SC? But more important to me is the question of their ownroots being tested where and in what soils. A rose that grows well on its ownroots in the alkalin soils of Wasco (Dr. Huey being the prime example) is probably not going to do well in my soils.
So I hope to see some of the ownroots from J&P in public gardens within several hundred miles of me. At the prices they're asking, I'm going to wait to buy.

Hee Hee ... DH picked the thing up the other day and thumbed through it. He looked up and said, "Geeze -- they all look alike."
Now, there's a dyed-in-the-wool OGRE. :-)

Jeri

Devon, to answer your question-- I'd call them and ask questions relating to my particular concerns. I would hope in the case of either grafted or own-root roses, that they could identify where the plants are coming from and if it is a Wayside source. I'd also like to ask them if they plan to expand their offerings of roses on their own roots. Those are the sorts of questions other suppliers can and will answer. Gee, do you think now that they are going to realize all these economies of scale that their prices are coming to come down???????

I loved the cover too, as I have been to Paris in April twice. A pretty rose too, but unfortunately most of what J&P sells are not good performers in the north.

The only time I've ordered from them is when they had an exclusive on a David Austin and I couldn't get it anywhere else, such as Crown Princess Margarita and Christopher Marlowe. As far the rest of their roses, I'm very leary of the hype.

Ann, I have no idea if the J&P ownroots were tested or not in reference to soil but the J&P ownroots I got in the past were huge and healthy plants and they do very well in my soil.

If you are right about own roots needing special soil testing then most of the own root nurseries should share this problem, or is it not so? And if not so, why not?

I have never heard of own roots having the same problems with soil issues as grafted roses.

Could you provide a link to some info?

Centerum,
My reasoning is that I think there's a possibility that they may have been selecting cultivars that make big plants in the sandy playa lake bed that is Wasco. When the big producers started thinking about going to own root roses / faced up to the increased expense of grafting roses over time as manpower expenses went up/ tried to follow trends, they were still owning the growing fields in Wasco so they were going to be growing those own roots in Wasco or in the desert fields in Arizona.
My reasoning would be that they'd choose the white HT for 2007 that grew best in those conditions, rather than the white HT that might grow well cross country even if it didn't make as big plants in CA and AZ.
Each cultivar is its own rose; some make hair roots that do better in sands, some may prefer heavy clay. Some may do better grafted on Dr. Huey; some may have better color grafted on canina. Some may even make better standards than dwarfs (grafted on very short rootstock- a phrase from the early 1900s) back when the sellers of roses recommended how to grow different cultivars.
I doubt that, when it comes to own root roses, one soil fits all.

Pollyanthas and multiflora ramblers are notoriously susceptible to chlorosis in alkaline soils. I have to fight with chelated iron to grow them, and I'm by no means the only one. Would they have this problem grafted onto an alkaline tolerant rootstock? I don't know since I've never managed to get one to test. Rugosas also have trouble with lime, but to a lesser extent. I'd really, really like to get a rugosa grafted onto R. canina, but I think we are well into the land of DIY science experiments.

I have not been ordering the J&P roses for a while, but I have been buying them locally. I can pick them out myself. I know that there is a lot of picking on J&P amongst rose lovers, but they have had a couple of winners come out. I am referring to Veteran's Honor and Signature. Both of them have made names for themselves on the show tables and are quite beautiful in their own right. Even though I wonder if any of their marketers know what a rose is at times, once in a while they do come out with something worth while. So, maybe Dr. Zary and his folks need a little pat on the back in spite of their corporate reality.

Pollyanthas and multiflora ramblers are notoriously susceptible to chlorosis in alkaline soils.

*** FWIW, (since I have incredibly alkaline soil and water) there are SOME Polyanthas which tolerate alkalinity better than others. Most of the Poly-Teas seem to be fine, and some of the others too.

Jeri

I've been drooling over the catalog as well, mostly dreaming of the day I can have a proper garden instead of my balcony gardening...And as I'm totally out of room, its more of a theoretical read!

That being said, I do look for ideas for roses with a compact habit more appropriate for containers than the hybrid teas I'm working with now . (Maybe there's a little space left for Frankly Scarlet...darn!)

It seems a lot of their floribundas, shrubs and groundcovers are own-root this year-I've learned that's a good thing for a container gardener. Now if I could find a home for an HT or two, lol...