HHRD, Celeste!

I agree with you ... Palatine sends the BEST bare roots I have ever received. The roses in my Pickering order this year weren't as good as they have been in the past, but they were okay. Everyone is soaked and potted and waiting for garden prep to be completed.

I love this time of year!
Connie

I got roses from all three in the fall -- Palatine, Pickering and Hortico. (For some reason, Hortico thinks "fall" means December.) No way were the Hortico bareroots as big as the ones from Pickering. Not even close to a fair comparison -- the Hortico ones were tiny. But so far (and this is the fourth month) all of them have survived save one (Goldelse) from Hortico. Knock on wood.
{{gwi:251755}}From Tea Time

As you can see, a Hortico bareroot is only a bit bigger than a atandard pair of scissors. That is a 36" table, btw, so maybe 12" including both the tops and the roots is all you get. And this was not the smallest one in my order, but rather about average for them.

Good Luck
Kathy

I have never planted a bare-root rose. Very nice roses you got there!

Kathy,
I agree that Hortico's are small, as in teensy. This is the first year I didn't order from them...but I do know theirs are the smallest. Normally my Pickering roses are much larger, but this year I was surprised to see many that were tiny....some the size in your photo. Maybe because of all the rain last June their rose crop suffered?
I know here in NH it rained 28 of the 30 days of June and my roses suffered. I hope it doesn't repeat that this year.

Celeste

I know you are in a colder zone, but leave some room for Rosenstadt Freising. Mine grew two new basals within 3 months of planting, and has not stopped growing in the three years I have owned it. A real beast it is!

Congrats, and enjoy!

My Palatine roses were outstanding as usual. As Celeste commented, each bareroot needed their own 5-gallon bucket to soak in. I know I'm always going to get a quality bareroot when I order from Palatine.

Last year I ordered several bareroots from Pickering, and I noticed the size was substantially smaller than previously years...their bareroots were comparable in size to the Hortico order I received. The roses also did not grow as well as the Palatine roses. 'MUNSTEAD WOOD' still looks like a runt this spring, along with 'GEORGE BURNS'.
-terry

Diane,
Thanks for the heads up on Rosenstadt Freising. I have found the newer Kordes tend to grow larger than what is stated, so fortunately I wisely placed it at the back of the border.

Terry,
I'm glad to hear that your experience mirrors mine, both with Palatine and Pickering. I was surprised the last couple of years that my Pickering orders were not as large nor as healthy as usual and didn't think I could be the only one with that experience. Because I ordered from both Hortico and Pickering last spring and they arrived on the same day, I was able to compare them side by side.
There wasn't much difference, sad to say. I will still be a Pickering customer but if Palatine carried all the roses I wanted....it would be my only vendor from now on. Their roses are amazing.

Celeste

I bought my first Palatine roses last year and was also extremely impressed! Their customer service is also excellent. I have more coming this year. Last year's roses all did extremely well. I can hardly wait for this year's order to arrive.

I didn't order from Palatine this year, but have gotten roses from them for a few years. I have to say they are the best I have ever seen also. Kudos to them. i go to their site first to check and see which roses they have that I want/need before I check anywhere else.

I just finished planting my Pickering order. The roses all looked good but I too noticed the smaller size.

Valerie

Diane, I just caught your comment about 'Rosenstadt Freising' and its beastlike proportions. It was one of my Palatine roses and was planted last Saturday and is already starting to break dormancy and leaf out. Should I be afraid? Thank goodness I left it plenty of room....I think.

A couple of my Pickering roses were a little smaller than usual this year, but they were the healthiest looking plants I've gotten from them yet--much nicer than last year. Absolutely loaded with "nubbies" ready to burst out in to leaves.

I'll have to give Palatine a try--those are some nice looking plants!

Hortico's strenght lies in their selection.

Oops! I soaked all nine of my Palatine roses in a 5 gallon bucket while still bound. I hope they aren't adversely affected by this (two weeks later and I'm seeing tons of new buds so I think I'm okay). If I'll see trouble down the line would someone please advise me?

On the plus side, I was able to purchase the last two WS2000 sold by Palatine before their dramatic Austin reduction!!! Last year's leavings.

Yep, my Palatine bareroots were also huge! It was no easy feat, trying to fit those roots into my pots! Hopefully, they will only spend one summer like that. I am aiming to transplant most of them to my garden later on, when I find some spots.I wonder how mature these roses are - some of the canes were so thick...
My Pickering order looked fine, but yes, a little smaller than the last few years.
Judith

Those are beautiful! I will have to order from them one day. The only place that I have gotten bareroots that can compare is Rosemania.

Sunni

I was very happy with the plants I got from Pickering this year as opposed to the plants I got from them last year. Those were substandard, tiny plants and most died by May - that is usual with Hortico plants but not with Pickering. I didn't order from Palatine this year, by the time I checked them out, everything was sold out I wanted.

I always seem to miss the ordering period at Palatine and see that I've done so again this year, too. :( Does anyone know when their bare root ordering usually begins & ends?
Thank you! :)

Agrose, I think you can check out Palatine's website in late August or early September.

Yeah, ya gotta watch for them pretty early. I think Ceterum is right. It's around August. I remember last yr it was waaaay earlier than any of the other suppliers. And they DO sell out fast on many of the more popular varieties. I can't wait to see what new ones they'll offer this time around. I love the Kordes roses, and they've gotten many that I've wanted for yrs in the past. Palatine is probably our best supplier of grafted roses!

I got my first order from Palantine..and they looked like the roses in the first post. They have broken dormancy and look great!

Hmmm ... Interesting post. Frankly, I am quite disappointed in the roses I received from the Canadian vendors this year (Palatine and Pickering). I thought the Palatine roses were smaller than what they've supplied in the past and, now that they've been in the garden for a few weeks, I find that they're lagging QUITE far behind the plants I received from S&W, Witherspoon & Rosemania (which has not been true in the past).

The plants shipped by Pickering this year are another story altogether -- in a word, PATHETIC (especially the OGRs).

I shudder to think what Hortico must have shipped out this year . . .

I was wondering if anyone could update on how their roses from either Pickering or Palatine fared over the growing season?

Hi Prairiemoon, I've ordered from Palatine two years in a row (and am ordering again this year). Like the other posters have said, their root systems are huge, usually with small white feeder roots evident. As a result, they take off quickly in the garden and support the canes beautifully, so I don't find it necessary to prune much back on the canes. This first-year vigor pays off when the roses go into our cold winters, and all of my Palatine roses have come back strongly in the spring. I love the fact that I can get some wonderful Kordes roses that aren't available in many other places, and the fact that they have some Austins as well. One of my favorite new roses is their wonderful Summer Memories - a creamy white 'Austin-style' rose (shrub) - kept me in roses all summer and fall. Palatine also has excellent customer service - quick to get back with any questions and to help with any problems.

Well, funny this should come up today. My Palatine bareroots for this year arrived last Wednesday. I have noticed that bareroots from all three Canadian vendors are a bit smaller this year than last, and that includes the ones from Palatine. Maybe there was something different about the weather patterns up north this year.

All of my Canadian bareroots arrived between November and December this year, which is optimum for here. The ones from Hortico came about 4 weeks ago, and all have already broken dormancy. I expect the same from the ones from Palatine and Pickering, but they are a couple weeks behind.

As for last year's Palatine order, all were fine specimens and are growing just fine. I had one mislabel, but it has been replaced by them this year. I had ordered Lady Rose (a red-orange) and what came, I think, was Ladylike (a pink), that was labeled "Lady Rose." Close, but no cookies. But again, they have fixed that now.

Kathy

For the most part, my Palatine roses did ok this past season. Altho one did die on me for some reason. I plant them all in big pots and mulch them well. Don't know why, but BONANZA FREELANDER gave me a nice couple blooms right away, and then suddenly turned brown and died. I didn't ask for a replacement, as it was at the end of summer, and it had gotten off to a good start, so it was just a fluke. Not their responsibility. I ordered another one because I liked what I saw. LAGUNA FREELANDER was a bit of a disappointment. I'd seen pics on the Kordes website a couple yrs before they offered it, and was expecting a much more "lavender-purple" color, but it ended up being a pinky-almost magenta sort of color. But that could change with subsequent bloomings as it matures. All the rest I got from them were good growers and decent bloomers.

As for Pickering's roses... they faired ok also. I just wish CREME CARAMEL would've been a better bloomer. But it's really hard to judge roses in the first season anyway.

This time around, I opted to have my Palatine's delivered in the very early spring. Thought I'd see how that goes. I never really had any problems with any of the Canadian rose coming later in the season. In fact, the Horticos sometimes do better later, but I do have theirs coming in a week or so. I'm so ready for winter to go away!!!

Very glad to hear your roses are doing well for the most part. I have only bought from Pickering, for the first time last year, so I haven't seen their new roses come back in the spring yet. I've seen a few that I wanted to order this year that are already sold out, so I was considering buying from another company. Palatine seems like a pretty good choice, since they are in Canada so their roses must be hardy to start with. I didn't think their website gave as much information as I would like. For instance, they don't offer degrees of fragrance. I like to look for strong fragrance over light. But healthy stock is the most important reason to order somewhere to me.

Thanks very much for the update and hope next spring they will outdo themselves! :-)

That "degrees of fragrance" thing in most catalogs is COMPLETELY UNRELIABLE, and borders on worthless, for many of the reasons discussed in the other thread on fragrances. In addition to fragrance being a very personal sensitivity as to different nuances, there is a strong inclination on the part of catalog writers to make up and creatively name varous "strong fragrances" for their marketing appeal.

I have many roses that I refer to as having only "catalog fragrance." Namely, they are fragrant only in the mind of some catalog writer somewhere.

Here is a link that might be useful: Question about Fragrance thread

My Palatine roses did well this year. Caramel Antike was huge right away and did great. Like Beth, I was disappointed in the color of Laguna Freelander but it is a vigorous plant. Kosmos Fairytale stayed very compact and bloomed well. I've got it paired with Laguna which didn't really work out but I'll give them both another year. The only one that didn't do much was Parole but it is only its first year.

Whenever I am picking out their roses for fragrance, I just email and ask which of the ones I am looking at is more fragrant. They've always been very helpful.

Thanks for those reminders about the variability of fragrance. Yes, I understand. It seems very few roses are as fragrant as they are described. I guess I just figure those that are designated strong fragrance in a catalog, can then be confirmed by asking on the forums and at least you have a better chance of them being fragrant, then one that says lightly fragrant.

Asking those who are growing the roses, is a great idea too...thanks.