I'd do the same and did. Thought I was getting Therese Bugnet and ended up with a lackluster Hybrid Tea that went to heaven soon after. If it blooms before next spring then you'll know....

Ingrid

I bought 'Belle de Crecy' in a bag at HD a few years ago. It turned out to be Charles de Mills instead.

Bag roses are always such a gamble ... this is the first year that I haven't dug through the displays and brought home a few. Not saying that I still won't do it, but I've been able to resist pretty well so far.

Connie

I too caved and bought a body bag supposed Belle de Crecy at HD! Every year I swear I won't do it, and then they show up at HD when I'm at my weakest, in mid-March. Sigh. Hope it turns out to be something beautiful anyway, if its not BdC. Guess I'll never learn!

I planted 'Honorine de Brabant' this spring. Also, a bodybag from Home Depot. It's leafing out now... we'll see what comes out of it. But I am not holding my breath, I realize that it can be anything but 'Honorine de Brabant'.
Couple of years ago I bought three bodybags of 'Spartan', planted them in a group in anticipation of beautiful sight. When the time to bloom came, each and every rose was something else - I identified one as 'Love', another was yellow something and the third looked like 'Queen Elizabeth'.
How about that? Three out of three were mislabeled. I would understand if they all were the same variety, but they all were different. Go figure...
Marina

Connie, do you think becoming a propagator/nursery has saved you from body bag buying? Do Paul or Gregg fall for body bags as they detour thru the garden section when they come in to buy screws, 2x4s and a drill bit?

I have found the best way to resist body bags is to already have the rose. That way, you aren't tempted. So, next time you are confronted, make a list of all the roses on sale you don't have. Allow yourself to buy one, guilt free, and then go home and order the rest from a reputable source. Then next visit or next year, you can paw thru the display and say, "I have it, I have it, I have it," and walk away free.

Well, I was just innocently walking by and just glanced over and there she was....the name stood out amongst all the Golden Showers and Parades. So, I was kind of victimized. ;D

Good point about blooming, Ingrid.

Catsrose, if this turns out to be a dud I'm going to definitely order Belle. She really looks luscious in the pics, especially Paul's pics.

Frankly, I have no trouble resisting "bargain" roses at the marts. Its no bargain to grow a rose for a year only to find out its not the variety you thought you purchased. If the store selling "body bag" roses removed all the labels from the packages and simply called them "Roulette Roses" for $2.99 ea. would you still buy them? Because basically that's what you are doing: the odds are very high that you will not get the variety you thought you purchased. This is all fine if it doesn't matter what variety you get and are just learning how to grow roses and want something to practice on, but it makes little sense to buy these roses if you expect to invest 10 or 20 years of your time and energy caring for a misidentified and/or virused rose. JMO, of course. Do what pleases you.

Paul B.

As I hang my head in shame, LOL I must confess :)
I was in Fred's about two weeks ago and there on the shelf were the body bags. SO, I say to self, ok I'm just curious and only going to look. (NOT) So I walk over and what should I see but RDV and Barrone Prevost(sp?). They were in hideous - pathetic shape and I knew they would die, but at $3 apiece I just couldn't help myself. With all shreds of self-control gone I put them in the cart cursing myself all the way home. Needless to say , RDV is gone and BP is surely not long after.
By the way already had RDV, so the already have one reasoning doesn't work on me, too thick headed I guess :)

The Home Depot here only has knockout roses - If they had anything like BDC there would be no way I could resist either.

Paul, I have known a couple rosegrowers who became enthusiastic and very intense about rosegrowing and actually bought some Paul B roses, and who buy from nowhere else but great nurseries who started out with body bags that did well and then they got interested and refined their interests and are now buying nothing but great roses,but still appreciate the fact they had access to a cheap rose in a bag as their experiment. I know we all argue about this every year but anything to keep the rose industry and love for roses alive is fine with me. Those buy bad body bags but who would have loved roses anyway will find their way to a good nursery with great roses. JMHO. My body bags all turned out to be practitioners of once-blooming red roses. I tried to discourage a couple at a big box store recently when the wife was crying and wanting a rose for her dog's grave, and I thought I had convinced them to run up the road to PFTP but I learned later they bought that body bag. Fortunately, they got my name in case they want to know more about roses in the future. They seemed to be organicists, but not sure....hopefully they will call one day and I will be able to sell them on OGRs and good nurseries.

When we first moved out here my mom and I bought several bodybags at Walmart....the cheapest grades no less...and all were ID'd correctly. I killed them all that winter by leaving the pots outside, not knowing up here you have to bring them in.

I haven't been burned on ID yet but always reserve the right to be paranoid.

I purchased many potted roses from HD all from Mea Roses
in texas.
That included Belle de Crecy and Honorine de Brabant.
They are some of my best ogrs.
I pulled them out of the pot, soaked them and planted them in the ground and mounded them.
They did great and this is the third year.
Moved Honorine de Brabant last fall still looks o.k. but will need to cut down the winter damaged canes.
Belle de Crecy is growing like a champ and has little pink buds poking out now.
The flower form is beautyful.
I would buy more if I could find them.
Anybody in Wisconsin that has a HD let me know what they have.
You can kill the most expensive rose with improper care.

StanC

Well, I confess - I, too, bought a Belle de Crecy from HD this spring. Like you, I was just walking by, and there it was in the midst. Couldn't resist! Now I'm worried! Well, only time will tell. If it's not Belle, hopefully it'll be something else that's beautiful. Keeping my fingers crossed!

catsrose, you may be onto something. I saw the bag display at Walmart last month, and I didn't even turn down that aisle. Lowes and HD? With an old house like this to restore, they're my second home -- and I haven't even taken a glance at the roses there. I have a greenhouse full of baby roses, a couple hundred in pots from last year that I still have to find places to plant, and two orders of bands from Vintage coming in the next couple of weeks. I don't think there's a variety in a bag that can compare to what I have here already.

Most of my bag roses from the past (classic HTs, mostly) have been used to see which ones I like ... then I have bought them budded on multiflora from Pickering and Palatine and given them a permanent place in the garden.

I forgot that I have the HD Honorine du Brabant, too. It's one of my oldest roses -- I look forward each summer to her initial flush of bloom ... ahh, I love those stripes.

{{gwi:244373}}
Connie

About three years ago HD had potted antique roses. I almost bought a couple but decided to wait. They haven't had them since!

I figure even if mine doesn't bloom this year (I'm assuming it won't if it's truly Belle de Crecy) I can at least see how the foliage does. If the foliage turns out to be healthy enough I'll keep it whatever it ends up being.

Gorgeous rose, Connie. I adore, adore stripey roses and stripey kitties!

IF ANY ONE FINDS A BAGGED Belle de Crecy from HOME DEPOT LET ME KNOW.
HOPEFULLY CLOSE TO MILWAUKEE.
STANC

My bodybag has leafed out, and it's definitely not an HT, thank goodness. I'm going to get it in the ground today in a spot where I can control any possible suckering with the mower.....if it's the type to sucker. It's definitely not going next to the neighbor's yard, lol.

Here's the guilty party's website, in case you want to complain. Say, has anyone ever figured out how to get the wax off those things?

Here is a link that might be useful: Mea Nursery

Good grief - what I find unbelievable is not the fact that someone would purchase a Belle de Crecy or Honorine de Brabant from HD but that THESE ROSES WERE AVAILABLE AT HD AT ALL!!!

I have never seen anything other than Knockouts and the usual moderns at any of the HD's or Lowes around here. Maybe I should be glad that the stores aren't offering them so I won't be tempted :)

Lynn

This post brings back memories. Five years ago, I was at Home Depot getting bags of manure and spied a nearly-dead, potted Belle de Crecy. It was towards the end of summer and no one felt compelled to water it. It looked rather pitiful, but I thought they would mark it down and I am
really good at nursing roses back to health. To my surprise, they wouldn't mark it down but the nurturer in me knew it would die there so I paid full price. It was
the only one left and I felt sorry for it...and I wanted
Belle de Crecy.

Fast forward to the next spring.....
Not only had I saved it, but it had turned into a whopper of a rosebush. It seemed to want to repay me for my kindness. It had dozens upon dozens of blooms, but it was NOT Belle de Crecy, but rather Mr. Charles de Mills.

This turned out to be a blessing of sorts because no rosebush has brought me greater pleasure. Charles de Mills
is my favorite rose of them all and this particular bush
is one of the most spectacular in my collection of over
300 roses. Even though it wasn't Belle de Crecy it was
a rose that stole my heart.

Celeste

Lynn, since moving to the Midwest I've noticed a lot more antiques than when I lived in the south so maybe it's simple geography. I even saw Marchesa Boccella at Big Lots.....or it was labeled that way at least.

Celeste, what a happy ending. I wouldn't be too disappointed if mine turned out to be a CdM.

While I've only bought a few bodybags, EVERY one of them has has been true to name and performed very, very well. Probably one of the healthiest roses I have is one of the first ones I bought--a Golden Showers bodybag from a box store. It was an inexpensive way for a newbie to try roses, and it has been fantastic.

On the other hand, the potted roses I've purchased have had some that only did so-so and were shovel pruned, but they all survived.

The only roses that have ever up and died on me have been bands mail-ordered from reputable small nurseries. The ones that I've pulled up after they've passed on have tended to have underdeveloped root systems--one or 2 tiny little roots.

Nothing that I've said above is statistically valid--I've only bought a few body bags, while I've bought well over 100 bands. I like supporting small nurseries and think box stores are generally evil. But there is some advantage to having the plants in front of you so you can pick out the healthiest one. And if I saw an OGR that was on my wish list as a bodybag at a box store, I'd snatch it up in a heartbeat.

Will I continue to buy bands as my primary source of roses? Yep. But I don't have problems buying a bodybag. Especially if it's an OGR--vendors track what sells, and if they can sell some good old roses, maybe there will be more of them available.

I am proud to say I did not buy any bodybags this year (I paid full price for everything LOL)

My BB from last year are actually doing much better this year - the one I lost over the winter.

My DH the other day, when strolling through my garden commented on the Olympiad (body-bag blue-light special) said, "that's my favorite rose out here"....I was thinking of all the money I've spent buying all these Austins, and Maggie and SdLm (which is the 2nd SdLm I've ordered from a well-known online nursery...argh) but I wanted it so bad from the pics. that Randy had of it. And this Olympiad came from Walmart in a bodybag for $3.89 one day when I went in to get cat food and some printer ink....go figure...Oh well, Life is funny like that, ya know??...(*.*)
Have a great day!
Michelle

Pretty pleased with my body bag Belle.
Purchased 4 years ago at Fred Meyers for $2.50.
The first year I had no blooms, the 2nd year a late frost killed her buds, no blooms, but last year she was WOW!
Very excited to see what she will do this year :o)
Here she is with her first blooms last season.

{{gwi:257911}}

One HD purchase I don't regret is Betty Prior which was blooming away outside in the sales area. She's bushy and blooming in an area that's rather shady, and looks very healthy. Sometimes it's just too temping to pass up a tried and true rose when it's staring you in the eye and asking for a home. I'm afraid Angel Face made it into the garden in the same way. Oddly enough she's grown to almost five feet tall and is literally only a foot wide. She didn't look like that when I bought her.....

Ingrid

I agree with Patricia43, my first ever rose purchase was from HD in CA, I didn't know what I was doing, I don't even know if I planted them correctly but hey they grew! It started my love for roses, here I am now with over 70 roses from various small mail order vendors.
In my garden now, I have 1 rose that came from HD, Louise Odier- she was planted in 2006 and she is happy and blooming in my garden.
2 came from Lowes- Fragrant Cloud and Julia Child, planted in the pot in 2006 also, they came from J&P.
The others came from Heirloom, Roses Unlimited, Chamblees, Rogue Valley and ARE, all doing fantastic.
See? If it wasn't for HD, I would have never tried growing roses.

Last month on impulse I picked up Reine des Violettes for $7 at HD in a BB. It is growing fine. I see OGR's in BB at HD frequently and have never tried them before. I have it planted a few feet away from Ballerina. I figure they can both grow together in a frenzied, beautiful mess!

Bamabelle's post struck a funny note with me......while walking around the yard with my two teenage daughters one time, as they looked at the roses and smelled and compared, they both pointed to the scraggly Buck "Blue Skies" and said how much they LOVED that rose and then compared it to my lovely Marquise Bocella and Cymbaline (which were both in pots but blooming) and each declared "I don't like the PUFFY roses"!

*sigh*

Oh my, what is wrong with kids these days? You do know unless you intervene now they're destined to move to Florida and grow HTs with bright orange 4-inch blooms waving around above leafless thorny sticks?

teeandcee,

Now I remember why I moved from Florida!

Do you all know my kids? :)

Both of them LOVE the HT shaped rose (which I do, too) and for them, the louder the color, the better. I bought Mardi Gras and several other loud colored roses for my 14 year old, mostly with the thought that it would develop an interest...even if it is forced on them by my making them take a stroll around the garden with me while they text a word or two to their friends and fight with each other the entire time.

I'm hoping that whichever rose they like in the beginning, that it will expand in the future to include all kinds - INCLUDING THE SO-CALLED "PUFFY" ROSES!!!!

Lynn

Lucretia, I said all that from Florida experience too, lol.

Lynn, my hubby is the same way. He can't figure out why I've not plastered the yard with every orange and chili pepper red rose available. I do have a Home Run that I love the color of and am planning on adding a Don Juan to the mix this year too along with some brightly colored perennials.

I also couldn't resist and bought two body bag roses from HD - labelled "Reine des Violettes" and "La Reine."

Judging by the prickly base of the new growths, I'm almost 100% certain that RdV is mislabelled and most likely will be some other hybrid perpetual. I see some flower buds so hopefully I won't have to wait much longer before I can determine its true identity. I'll most likely be posting pics in the Rose ID forum.

Meanwhile, the rose labelled "La Reine" is slightly more promising. Growths are completely smooth with not a single thorn. It may still be mislabelled as a notice the package classified the rose as a bourbon, which wouldn't be correct if it truly is "La Reine."

I'm still hoping I will be pleasantly surprised and won't have to resort to shovel-pruning.