I have ordered several roses from RVR in the last 3 years. All of those roses are living and thriving in my garden. They will tell you if they have a rose in a one gallon pot, or just in a band. Sometimes they have a rose in both.

If you are not familiar with band roses, there is nothing wrong with them - they are itty bitty, but not sick. You just need to pot them up into a one gallon pot and treat them kindly for 6-12 months, so that they can grow roots and get bigger. Then you can put them into the ground.

Jackie

All my roses from RVR have done well except for one order, and I didn't ask them for a refund or exchange, which I'm sure they would have done. They've always been very nice to deal with and have a very good selection of roses. If Chamblee's has roses you like, theirs are a larger size and have always done very well for me.

I ordered from them last fall for Nov. delivery. All the plants (bands) were very well rooted, good sized & are putting out healthy growth now.

They ship in a long box & the p.o. smashed it but the roses were okay.

I am not very familiar with bands, only what I have read. I wanted bigger plants so Chamblees was my first choice but they only had a couple of 10+ that I wanted. I was going to try RU because they had bigger plants but they never returned my phone calls or emails.

RU is on EST so you might check what time you're calling. If they have the ones you want in stock, they ship very large healthy plants.

I also received very large plants from Greenmantle in CA.

RV has gallon & 5 gallon plants, too. ARE has a good reputation for shipping large plants. I haven't tried High Country but have read good things.

I have received excellent roses from both High Country and Rogue Valley. As a generality, the bands from High Country are much larger than the bands from Rogue Valley, but both have been equally healthy and vigorous in my experience.

Rogue Valley's gallon-sized roses are almost always quite nice. I have never purchased a five gallon rose from them so I can't comment. If there is one (petty) thing to criticize about Rogue Valley it is that I am extremely annoyed by their packaging. I find it takes me longer to unpack a small order from Rogue Valley than it takes to unpack a large order from any other mail order nursery I can think of. I have never seen so much tape used in my life. Between thorny rose bands and trying to remove so much tape that is holding them in place, I find that my hands get scratched up and the shipping box gets pretty much destroyed in the process. (Has anybody else noticed this?) Still, they are a nice company with a great selection.

I have also had very positive experiences with Vintage, Heirloom, Antique Rose Emporium and Chamblee's. I am trying Long Ago Roses this spring but I am sure it will be a wonderful experience, too.

And then there is Roses Unlimited. I have not had the chance to try them (yet), but many rave about the exceptional quality of their roses! :-)

RVR only because I love the free rose and mystery rose collection. This year cl. Darlow's Enigma, Redoubt's red and Maria Leonida.
2 years ago one of the mystery roses was cl. Devonensis. What a rose.
High country is great too.
Jeannie
RVR sure does wrap the roses tight. I'm usually so excited when the box comes I want to gget to the bands yesterday. So fun.

So far I've only gotten bands from Heirloom, but decided to try try a few from RVR this year as well. Are they similarly sized upon arrival? If not, what is the difference for those who've had both before? Thanks!

I called RU at 3pm est & left messages, they must be busy shipping or just dont need my business because they never called back.

RVR only has bands for the ones I want, I wish they had 1 or 5 gal. They told me they only have 1 or 5 gal roses when the bands dont sell & they MUST pot to the bigger size.

Greenmantle had 6 of what I wanted but only 2 in stock. My fault for ordering so late.

I will probably order most from RVR because they have them to ship now.