A recent ARS magazine, or was it the Annual, had a great article on this subject. You can look it up on the ARS web site.

I also like the following:

Chamblees
Palatine

Kate

Rose Petals has great roses.

And don't forget Antique Rose Emporium...

For cold zoners, I can praise without hesitation both High Country Roses and Northland Rosarium, as well as the Canadian sources.

Two new southern nurseries are Rose Petals Nursery and Angel Gardens. I recently received two nice roses from Rose Petals, a bit squished in transport, but nothing serious. They have a very nice selection of some of the wonderful found roses which were previously available only on the West Coast. Angel Gardens is using organic growing methods in the humid Southeast, a very impressive achievement if they can make it work.

As for RVR, (sigh), I am looking at a. a 'Shadow Dancer' which is likely not striped (we shall see), and b. what appears to be a Wicherana rambler inserted into the spot reserved for 'Pink Cloud', which is what I had ordered. The alba I ordered in the same shipment has finally this season decided to grow, so that would be 2, or perhaps 1, for 3. (sigh). RVR does offer a range of roses which cannot be had anywhere else, and the plants are well grown and healthy, but I think there is a lack of management expertise. Maybe a good general manager should be engaged? Most of the problems I have had with RVR look to me like the result of someone's half ****ed fast fast shortcut.

And I am very happy with my first ever order from Chamblees.

Angel Gardens
Burlington Nursery
For love of Roses
I ordered from all three this spring and was pleased with them.

Nastarana, RVR was very good to work with when I received a wrong rose a few years ago. I promptly emailed them a copy of my invoice and a photo of the bloom and they resolved it to my satisfaction...

Greenmantle Nursery is certainly another reputable one.

Witherspoon sent me 3 beautiful plants this spring. Customer service was great when I had to change the shipping date due to the cold weather at the beginning of April. Plants were well-packed & arrived on the day they were supposed to. I would definitely order from them again. A pleasure to deal with.

First order from Angel Gardens arrived in great shape mid-April. Well grown gallon rose doubled in size the last month - very pleased. Two more on order now. Only organically grown source of which I'm aware - important to me

Much prefer ownroot roses so tend to order from nurseries which supply them. Years ago placed large orders with Hortico & Pickering for grafted roses. One stuffed all the bareroots in an enormous plastic bag higgledy-piggledy, resulting in a briar patch of broken branches & roots nearly impossible to untangle. Can't recall which, since both were ordered & recieved at the same time, so unfairly reluctant to order from either again. Finding ownroots prosper more with the freeze-thaw cycles so common here, seldom buy grafted unless unavailable otherwise.

Very happy with my only order from Rogue Valley Roses a few years back. Gallons arrived cross-country looking as if they'd been hand-delivered from across the street. Would order from them again in a heartbeat if they offered the roses I'm seeking in gallon pots.

Not a fan of bands, ordered a few hard-to-find roses from new management at Heirloom during last Summer's sale. Pleased with those on arrival, potted on, they've doubled in size & likely will pot them up one more time before planting out. Bands usually take a full year here to gain the height & heft I like to see before they go into the garden among perennials.

Heirloom currrently offers some of their roses as gallons, apparently with plans to offer more according to the new owners' previous posting here on the forum. At the moment, they're not easily found on the website, so the link below is included - click on "One Gallon Pot" on the lefthand list under "Container Size" between other search criteria of "Color" & "Fragrance" to find them.

Chamblee's last day to order for shipping this season is May 28 (shipping already over for some states) & deciding now which roses to order from them due to so many good reports. Intend to order from Roses Unlimited this year for the first time.

Appreciate the recommendation for Rose Petals. Not finding them at Garden Watchdog, passed them by.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gallon category

Vettin, what I have is growing like a rambler, not like a large flowered climber, and I have not yet seen a flower. Maybe it will really turn out to be the real 'Pink Cloud' large flowered climber, although everything about the foliage, long, thin leaves, and canes, long and flexible, says rambler. I am not also not understanding how they manage to sell the same rose under two separate names, Mme. Plantier and Armide.

lets hope you haven't bought 'Pink Clouds', the Moore multiflora climber instead!

I'll put in a good word for Cydney at Rose Petals. I put in an order for 9 one gallon roses, so they shipped in two boxes. One box was damaged by FedX, PLUS left in the sun on my front stoop in spite of me giving them specific instructions on where to leave them. All the roses were good sized and healthy. But in the one box with damage, two roses had the tops completely broken out, and one had been unpotted, basically bare-rooted. When I called, Cydney was horrified and immediately sent replacements. She was so sweet. I sent pix, so I HOPE she got a settlement from FedX!

John

Grafted roses:
Palatine
Regan
Rosemania
Witherspoon

Rosemania sells only a few of the more popular varieties of hybrid teas and floribundas, besides the gardening supplies they sell. They ship very healthy bareroot roses and have a flat shipping rate of $12.00. Robbie Tucker is very knowledgeable and helpful also.

Own-root:
Roses Unlimited
Northland Rosarium
Heirloom

Glad to learn about some of the others listed and will be giving them a try in the future.

I've had good luck with Rogue Valley, Roses Unlimited, Chamblee's, but my favorite continues to be ... The Antique Rose Emporium.

Randy

Here's the list so far......

Angel Gardens
Antique Rose Emporium
Burlington Nursery
ChambleeâÂÂs
Greenmantle Nursery
Heirloom
High Country Roses and Northland Rosarium (Cold Zones)
Long Ago Roses
Palatine
Pickering
Regan
Rogue Valley Roses
Rose Petals
Rosemania
Roses Unlimited
Witherspoon

Trospero, it did occur to me that I might have gotten 'Pink Clouds'. If so, maybe I can pass it along to someone who wants to use it for grafting.

Heads up. Long Ago Roses no longer ships to the west coast. Sad but true.

Antique Rose Emporium roses are 2 gallon and are the healthiest I've received. I don't always have luck with bands even though I repot them as soon as I get them. I've lost quite a few roses from Vintage and some from Burlington.

Diane

I've also received WONDERFUL healthy large roses from the Antique Rose Emporium. A little expensive shipped to OR, but the roses have a 100% success rate and ARE has a nice selection. The reps are good communicators. Every rose was exactly what I ordered.

Rogue Valley Roses has been wonderful. The bands aren't huge, but they have been healthy and I haven't lost any. I even received a phone call from owner Janet Inada herself once. How's that for service? All roses have been exactly what I ordered. RVR's waiting list works and representatives have emailed back promptly to inquiries.

Pickering has been great! Susan even worked one on one with me, not just once but twice, when my order suffered from credit card discombobulation. Apparently, my credit card automatically rejects purchases outside the U.S. unless cleared ahead of time. (This was news to me.) Pickering roses have been healthy, substantial, and spot on varietywise. Another forum member is dealing with multiflora suckers on her Pickering roses. It's too early for me to speak to that possibility on my recent batch.

Heirloom has been a bit of a mixed bag. The roses have been healthy. Some bands have been more substantial than others, but I've only lost one of the oh-so-many I've ordered. A significant number of OGRs (maybe 15% to 20%) have been mislabeled--sometimes twice in a row-- the original (imposter) rose and the replacement (imposter) rose! Heirloom's Austins have always been spot on varietywise, as have other moderns. At times, the reps have been a little testy about replacing mislabeled roses but they have done so.

Vintage, alas, is no more. Sigh. I hope the stewards of the Vintage Gardens continue the website and continue propagating those rare OGRs. I wouldn't mind having a shot at some of those Vintage hydrangeas, too!

Carol

Forestfarm has an incredible selection of species roses, plus some well known OGRs. Own root. Have purchased from them within the last year and a half or so.

Colvos Creek Nursery carries some unusual species roses, and has sent me some HUGE plants in 4 inch pots for $5 or $6 each. Own root. Purchased from them last fall.

Joy Creek Nursery also carries a small selection of roses, including some rare OGRs. I haven't bought any roses from them, but have other kinds of plants, and they were all good sized, healthy and well-packed. Purchased from them within the last year to year and a half.

I ordered only once, in 2011, from Rogue Valley which was recommended highly here. I was greatly disappointed. I fear some of the recommendations were based on purchases made too long ago to reflect how well they've been doing lately, and that the owner is a really nice lady which may have tipped the scales. However, the box I received was thrashed as has often been reported on this forum, and the plants, well, tended to be very small. In fact one was the smallest rose I've ever received from anywhere. This was Stanwell Perpetual, which looked like a toothpick with a few leaves.:( It is now 3 years old and is still a shrimp, whereas the 1 I bought from Heirloom several months later, because the RVR one was so tiny, is now over 5 feet tall and blooms prolifically.

So maybe when recommendations come in for particular nurseries it can be stated how long ago the most recent purchase was because things can change.

Melissa

I purchased a number of roses this season. All the bare roots came from David Austin Roses. Bands came from Heirloom. One gallons came from Chamblees. Customer service from all three companies was superb. As a beginner who blew the first go-round with roses, I had more than a reasonable number of questions, yet all three companies remained eager to help from beginning to end. Each company had its own unique method of packaging, all were very well done, and roses arrived in great shape.

Heirloom's bands looked more like small shrubs than the rooted cuttings I've seen from other vendors. Chamblee's one gallons arrived full and blooming, and David Austin's bare roots took off like race horses out the gate.

All the roses are doing well, and I couldn't be happier.

David Austin Roses
Heirloom Roses
Chamblee's Rose Nursery

I wouldn't hesitate to order from any of these three companies again.

jannike

The most frequent complaint about Heirloom under its' former owners was puny plants, so it is good to hear that the new owners seem to have addressed that issue.

I will say about the former owners, that in over a decade of ordering plants I never once received a mislabeled plant from them.

Oh, yes! Forestfarm in OR. It has changed ownership and is a nonprofit now, I think. It has always been great! Wonderful staff, big healthy plants. I only received one mislabeled rose of the many plants ordered over the years, and the rose is both pretty and a mystery. I will post it sometime in hopes of an ID. Forestfarm sells many species and some OGRs and moderns. It also sells other great plants. Christopher/Aqua Eyes would have a shopping party if he lived on this coast!

Joy Creek's selection is modest but all I have received been good plants--roses and otherwise. Really nice folks. It's in Scappoose, OR. If this nursery has what you want, I recommend it.

I haven't ordered from High Country Roses in a long while, but the roses I ordered (back in the day) arrived in good shape and thrived. As far as I know, they are growing well to this day.

Carol

I give a big recommendation for Northland E near Spokane, Wa. All My plants I have received are big healthy plants and great folks to deal with on your orders or information

I just now got off the phone with Heirloom and they were superb about addressing a pricing question I had; got an email back from the owner, Ben, personally. Couldn't be happier with the service I received and now looking forward to 9 more roses on their way to me!

My bands from both RVR and Heirloom, ordered and planted last year, are doing very well, and my first shipment from Heirloom this year also looks great. Both were well packaged and healthy plants. Heirloom's were smaller to begin with, but everything has essentially evened out now, especially after our harsh winter.

Petals from the past ! I have purchased 8 excellent roses from them this year. So friendly and helpful. I also had chamblees , and heirloom roses. I was really impressed with all 3 companies. I'm excited about my heirloom roses, getting ready to bloom

My 'Pink Cloud' has now bloomed and is clearly not the largeflowered climber, but some sort of rambler. I do not currently have a functioning camera and don't think I should have to go right out and buy one to please the management at RVR. Nurseries used to take your word if you had a mislabeled plant. I hate to give bad reviews at Dave's Garden, but two recent orders I made with RVR have both had serious problems, and as of right now, they are my least favorite place from which to buy roses.

Tessiess, hadn't heard of Colvos Creek. Just checked their website & they've decided to close (sigh).

Here is a link that might be useful: Colvos Creek Nursery

This post was edited by vasue on Sat, Jun 21, 14 at 14:32

"The moral is ... it's not the fact that mistakes are made. We are all human and no one is perfect. It's the way that the mistakes are handled and made right that is the measure of a business ... any kind of business."

*** Truer words were never spoken.
I haven't had many BAD nursery experiences. Good ones stand out it my mind.

Like the day I told Ralph Moore and Carolyn Supinger that I better go back to the greenhouse and get a 'Sweet Chariot,' as I had killed one.
I was terribly embarrassed when they would not allow me to pay for it, since the plant sold me earlier had died. In vain did I explain that I'd had it for 2 years, and it only died because it accidentally wasn't watered. They MADE me take a free replacement.

But I have known nurseries that would not replace a mislabeled plant unless you sent back the wrong one! How ridiculous is THAT?

Or the Canadian nursery that sent me a plant with ALL of the canes snapped-off at the bud union . . . and would not replace it because they "wouldn't do that."

Go figure.