With only a few OGR varieties at one small nursery mail-order has become my friend.

Sherry

Flowergirl..I am in Washington state as well. I am over here in Gig Harbor. NO..there are no OGR's available at Lowes. I think most folks are getting them mail order. I think Roses Unlimited is good, although their website isn't the best..they are very nice and I have never read one bad thing about them. Also there is Rogue Valley roses..and I have bought from them and have been pleased.

Very few OGRs you would find at Lowe's: usually Z. Drouhin, Rose de Recht, Comte de Chambord (many, many years ago when I was willing to check chain store roses and I didn't know any better), and even those were often either mislabeled and/or virused. In the last 5 years or about their bagged roses weren't even cheap.

Not a chance to find a tea rose even in the south in these chain stores, and if you garden on the east coast you get roses grafted on a rootstock that would not be good in this area. So why bother?

If your heart is set on a particular OGR unless it is as common as the dust you will only find it via mail order, and even if it is as common as the dust you won't find it at a Lowe's or a local garden center unless you're lucky (& even then it will probably be virused).

At the biggest place I can go to locally (north of Boston) I will find Austins and Rugosas (Rugosas grow here like weeds - literally) - maybe a couple of OGR's, but the rest will be the usual HT's & floribundas.

You might also search HelpMeFind to find nurseries that are a driveable distance but not local to you. Dunno where abouts you live by your ID, but the other poster says Wash. St. so for example, Christianson's is in Mt. Vernon, Wash. They are fiber pots in take-away only, no mail order.

I dont know where you are in the PNW but we have several sources locally. There is Christiansons out on the flats near Mount Vernon-thats north in Skagit Valley. They always carry some potted Antiques-plus Austins. Antique Rose Farm in Snohomish carries some-not as many as you would think from the name(has to do with Antique stuff) to the south in Oregon is Heirloom not far from Portland and further south is Rogue Valley roses. If you are ordering own-root there is no better source than RVR(though many equally as good) You still have plenty of time to get in an order at Pickering in Canada. They have an enormous selection, are grafted and nice and big. They take care of all the import details for you.

patricia

I don't even bother to go and check the local nurseries anymore. Welcome to the mail-order. That is the only way. I used Pickering and pleased. Others might as well be good but do not have experience.
Good luck. It is always wonderful to get the package, feels like Christmas.

I'm in Tenino, WA. It's about 15 miles south of Olympia. Portland is 2+ hrs away, Skagit is 3 1/2 hrs away. I thought there was a rose place in Gig Harbor area, but zyperiris lives there, so guess not. There are a few roses that I would like to try. Was hoping to Find maybe one of them so as to make the decision for me. May sound silly, but that's me. I should probably back away from any impulse buying and wait until I can see these roses in person. I have lot's of time until summer to locate the best public gardens locally to scope out these beauties. I have heard that our local rose garden in Olympia has ripped out many OGR and replaced with Austins. It's been several years since I was there. I remember Pt. Defiance has a large rose garden. And the Woodland Park Zoo is supposed to have one, I think. Kids are grown, no field trips for me for a long time. Thanks for all of the help. I didn't realize that store bought roses were often virused. You are all an educational wonder and much appreciated.

They're virused because of the propagation methods used by the big rose growers. Rose mosaic virus is largely passed along via grafting, so becoming free of it while still grafting is a big challenge, especially when RMV symptoms may not show until a couple of years down the road, or maybe not even then.

It's literally not worth their effort to be that stringent about growing virus-free roses.

If I understand correctly Pickering also grafts their roses, but they do it differently because they don't propagate their rootstocks via cuttings the way the large American growers do. Instead Pickering starts Rosa multiflora seedlings, and then grafts the buds onto those seedlings once the seedlings are big enough to be rootstocks.

Flowergirl, I understand wanting to see the roses in person before you buy. That's why I take at least one trip per year to Roses Unlimited. For me, it's about 3 1/2 hours away. If it's early, they let me wonder through all their greenhouses. I know the plants are babies but I can still see the bloom on most of them. If I go later, they have many roses planted around. It's fun and I learn alot.

If you can ever get to somewhere like Rogue Valley Roses, I would think they would let you visit the nursery. They have been VERY helpful to me on the phone. You could call and ask.

PLUS, if you are thinking about a particular rose, post here and you will get great input from folks in your area about how it performs for them. Even though I prefer to see before I buy, I've grown to trust the folks on this forum. Hope you find what you're looking for.

mail order is your friend here and you can also feel good that you are supporting some independent nurseries which have a good record on plant care and are usually highly knowledgeable and keen to pass on information gleaned from years of hands-on breeding and raising plants.

flowergirl,

Here is the link to Raft Island Roses in Gig Harbor......

Here is a link that might be useful: Raft Island

"Kids are grown, no more field trips"???

How about a grownup field trip? Grab the DH (or sometimes even better, the best girl friends ;-) pack a lunch and yell "Road Trip!!!" as you pull out of the driveway!!! Woo-hoo!

Flowergirl, I live in Tacoma and can tell you about almost any OGR and how well it will do here. The next meeting of Heritage Roses Northwest is Feb 21st and there will be some nice old roses for sale there. Email me if you want to go and I can give you the address. The roses are at my house growing out now. There is a good mix of roses which will do great where you live.

Lance

Lance, I want to come to that meeting. I can't wait to meet you!

Flowergirl, there is a rose place here..they are really great. They carry quite a bit of roses..maybe some OGR..I still think online is a better source.

Flowergirl, I want to go to this meeting. I know Tenino is a ways..but if you could make it to Tacoma I could pick you up and we could car pool in my van if you would like. Email me Zyperiris@aol.com

Boxofrox, thanks for the link. I thought there was a rose place up there. My Mother in Law went there on a field trip last year, but couldn't recall the name.

My pleasure.