That is just so sad!

All I have to say is the 7 bagged roses I bought a couple weeks ago had enough roots to get by, and so far they have all budded out and are sending out canes now. Are they mislabeled?......who knows....won't know until they bloom, but even if they are, it's still a rose for $2 from Menards. They have been doing well enough for me.

Well I have to admit I have more than a few roses that came home in a bag, most of those are ht's. They overwintered fine and have leaves and flower buds.

As with the others above, I grow body bag roses. I have good results. Some of these roses have been in my garden for more than 20 years.

There are those who grow these roses successfully. Some of you may remember diggerdave. He had a gorgeous rose garden. His wife worked at Walmart and brought home many body bag roses. Scroll through the pictures and see what you think.

I think there is room here for all opinions.
I'm not saying body bag roses are the best. There are better roses out there. I am just suggesting the possibility that they can be grown and enjoyed by many of us.

Here is a link that might be useful: diggerdave's garden

Why such malice towards the poor little affordable roses? There's nothing inherently wrong with getting one. You just have to be careful not to buy the old dried out ones. You should be able to tell from looking at them if they are dead. Yes, they sometimes mix up the labels but I like a little surprise once in a while. Are you saying we should only buy expensive roses? I got a couple at Big Lots this spring for $2.50 and they are still alive and one is starting to rebloom. Stumpy bag roses need love too :)

Linda,
Thanks for sharing that link. How pretty. After having just moved here last summer, I'm still working on my yard and it's going to be some time before I get it looking nice like that but wow I love it!

You don't by chance know what those white flowers are in the beds do you?

I bought my first one a few weeks ago. I had looked all over the county for Climbing Coral Dawn and couldn't find it until one day I saw it at the drugstore in the plastic bag. Because it was early in the season, the bag was still moist, and it was only $3.99, I took a chance. The rose has lots of leaf buds now, and looks very healthy. It is just as big and just as healthy at this stage as those on whcih I spent $20.00 or more.

I have 2 body bags in my yard that are still doing well. So that's good, right? Well considering I once had more than 10, that's not good.

Sure you can get a nice rose for a little bit of money. But if you add in the time and money you invest on growing the rose for a few weeks or years and then only to find it's virused and can't stand up to your zone cold and it dies, and you have to buy another one, it really doesn't make sense to buy them.

I believe for every body bag success story, there are 10x more failures. So just make sure to factor that in when you make that impulse purchase.

I planted 6 climbers this spring from Walmart and ALL of them are 2 foot tal already and blooming like mad.

Like anything though you have to #1 know how to do it, #2 know what to LOOK FOR when buying and #3 know that not every rose from ANYWHERE will grow.

I have had three roses from major rose suppliers not ever grow a leaf. I have bands thrive and bands die. I have had body bags die as well but that was before I knew what I was doing.......and buying the RIGHT ONES help that tremendously.

I use my ARS Handbook foe Selecting Roses and I take it with me in my car. Wal-Mart used to sell roses in plastic bags and ACE Hardware still does where I am located. I get tempted when they are marked down. They become so cheap that I can plant them and treat them as annuals. I protect them in winter and if they survive, fine; if not, oh well. Showbiz is one that I have planted as an annual. Nowadays, all the big box stores are selling Knockouts, Knockouts and more Knockouts. I have enough of those roses. Of course, you have to pay close attention to the care the roses received after they were put in the bag. If the rose is already half-dead, do I want to invest time and effort trying to get it to bloom for one season? I think not.

Lol, we have this discussion over and over and over again.

Rehab, the small white flowers in diggerdave's garden are alyssum. He used it as a ground cover to keep the weeds down. I sure do miss Dave!

Oh thank you, those flowers look like just what I might need

I agree, in principle, that it's best to avoid body bags -- IF YOU CAN. MY greatest frustration with them has been the mis-labeling that seems to be especially prevalent with the mass producers that supply my local big box stores. And, of course, I loathe the waxed canes & the mangled roots.

However, there are certain roses that one simply can't find EXCEPT in body bags. For instance, I'm a member of the minority that happens to be a big fan of 'Climbing Peace'. On its own roots it's a joke, and it's available grafted nowhere I'm aware of except in body bags.

The bagged plants in the photos on Connie's blog look pretty good compared to the ones I've seen for the past several years. For SURE, I would have grabbed (in a heartbeat!) that 'Orchid Masterpiece' that's showing in the 2nd photo. Now, that's another climber that's a "body bag exclusive". It took 3 or 4 yrs for mine to establish, due probably to the puny root system it had when I purchased it. It's a rose that I wouldn't want to be without, & I'd buy another simply to have one in reserve.

So, it's a love/hate relationship I have with bagged roses. I avoid them when I can, but I sure appreciate the several that thrive in my garden.

jaxondel,
I have two cl peace roses that came in bags on the front side of my house. I love them.

Another rose I love that seems to only be available in body bags: Moonlight Magic. A light mauve with a heavenly scent. I love it so much I have three in the garden right now.
Every time I give a bouquet with this rose included people remark on it.

I agree that the unaware consumer should not buy the "body bags". But I also agree with many here that sometimes, you just stumble across one you can't resist trying to grow; I found Lillian Gibson this spring in just this way.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings blog

Oh Boy!!! :D Linda in Wisconsin, I am extremely happy to hear all the good new about your MOONLIGHT MAGIC. I have never bought a bagged rose before as I'VE heard so many negative things about them. Buuuttt...lol, when I was at Fred Meyers I couldn't resist buying a bagged MOONLIGHT MAGIC. And I sure hope it turns out to be labeled correctly 'cuz yours sounds exactly the type of rose I love. Sounds just heavenly!!! :D

Debbie

Well, depends. My 'Pope John Paul II' and 'Tuscan Sun' were plastic bag roses. They were own-root, so no RMV infected rootstock. They were fresh off the truck (literally), early in the season, so weren't dried out, and they were very recently harvested.

If you know what to look for, and when to look for it, you can get lucky. However, they were just a few dollars less than a good specimen from a local nursery. If my favorite local nursery had had them, I would have preferred to buy them there.

Dove Song:
Oh, you will love it. Give it lots of TLC to give it a good start. I like to start them out in pots to give them a better start. But I'll bet you have yours in the ground already!
The fragrance, the substance, the color (hope you like mauve!).
Here's what helpmefind has on it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Moonlight Magic on HMF

Linda, I LOVE mauves. Thanks so much! :D

OMG! I bought Cl. Peace in a bag 6 years ago. It got shovel pruned last fall. In 6 years it gave me ONE flower! Not one flush, but ONE bloom the first year it was planted! It grew like a darn weed to 10 feet tall but never put on another bud. I couldn't stand it any more so out it went. I just bought Candy Land to replace it!

As I said above, those of us who adore 'Cl. Peace' are members of a distinct minority :)!

This rose IS something of a 'problem child', but I've found it to be very responsive to TLC. A heavy feeder, 'Cl Peace' seems to have a preference for organics like fish emulsion, kelp, alfalfa tea. When I get my annual load of stable manure, 'Cl. Peace' invariably gets the first helping, and I try always to hold some in reserve for a second, late season application. IMHO, it's worth the extra effort.

When I plant a rose here in Florida, out of necessity I dig a "$100 hole", and it's not worth the trouble to plant in that hole a rose that has a good chance of being mislabled or dies from having the roots aggressively chopped. If I had the type of soil I could just dig a little hole and drop it in, then I would probably risk it.

I can't help myself if I see some for $2. I feel like I am saving them. I bought probably 6-8 of them, and probably lost 2 or 3. At that price, so what!

I'll give body bags a try when it is a rose I could not buy otherwise. I've got some pretty nice certified roses like Today, Picante and Aztec Gold as body bags and all are doing great. Here is a picture from my garden of Today.

Here is a link that might be useful: Today @ HMFR

I hesitate to ask this, but feel like I must know. Has something happened to Digger Dave? I always loved his rose photos in another website years ago. In my photos, I still have one I saved called "send to dave."

I am afraid to say this but....if it is a rose I want and it is cheap and has just a touch of green showing I'll buy. ;-))

sayhellonow:
Digger and Deb had to sell their home (and roses) in Montana. They moved to another state. Digger was posting on other gardening forums a few years ago. I have a feeling he is still out there gardening.

Digger dropped out of all the forums and I recently heard that the reason is he has health issues. I miss his garden and lovely roses very much but what I miss most is his quick wit and delightful sense of humor!

I appreciate the information. I always enjoyed Dave's posts -- especially when they were accompanied by his photos. I hope he will will resurface here one day. If any of you are in touch with him, please tell him he's missed.

I miss Dave and Deb sooo very much!!! They are often in my thoughts and prayers. Sadly, I don't know anyone who is still in touch with them, and yes they are greatly missed by a whole bunch of us!!!