sakura, I just received my 4 roses from RU yesterday, and they were in standard 1-gallon pots. But more than that they were big & gorgeous & blooming!

Sherry

I believe most nurseries ship in "trade gallon" containers. They measure about 6 1/2" by 6 1/2". Standard practice. You will see the same thing at retail nurseries.

It's sort of the same thing as buying lumber ... a 2 x 4 isn't "two inches by four inches" and a trade gallon container isn't exactly a gallon.

This said, the roses I have received from RU are THE BEST ones in my garden ... Period. The roses are well rooted, well cared for, and completely ready to jump and grow as soon as you plant them.

Connie

I've purchased over 70 rose bushes this year from Roses Unlimited. They are the best roses available mail order, as Connie said, period. I have been ordering from them for a few years now. It wouldn't hurt to pot them up a while into a slightly larger pot if you want a little larger plant before setting it in your garden. Just don't use any of the moisture control potting soils...roses hate it. A good organic, high quality potting soil is the best. Pat Henry suggested I mix a small amount of Mill's Magic Mix in the potting soil, and if available, well rotted and composted manure. I used a handful of worm castings. The growth and health is unbelievable.

If you feel you are satisfied with the root system for your garden and climate conditions as is, then follow the directions you were sent about planting the roses in the ground, and they will take right off.

I think you'll find their roses are well worth the money.

Sandy

I ordered two and the containers were kind of squished together, not completely packed with mix, so they would fit in the box(you get 2 for the same shipping as 1). But the packaging is marvelously sturdy and the plants look SO healthy. It's great that they're potted .. didn't have to rush to get them in the ground.

I just planted them this week and I'm really excited about them. IF I have money to buy more roses next year I will definitely order from RU again. *Thinking about Marie Pavie & Gruss an Aachen. Unless someone wants to send me cuttings, hint hint hint. :)*

I buy all my roses from RU, and have never had a problem. Their policy is if you are dissatisfied, call or email them, and return what you received for exchange. There was obviously some mistake made, and it behooves you to correct it with them. If you do not get satisfaction from them, then complain here.

My two pots were squashed together, half the soil dumped out, root balls only occupied the very bottom of the pot, and I lost some feeder roots getting the root balls out of the containers. For the twenty dollars I paid for shipping and handling, I must admit I expected each container to have its own "space" within the package. They do look healthy, nothing was broken off, which is a plus. I planted them, so we'll see how they do before I remark further--if they do well, then it's not a concern, and I'll order again.

Sandy..i have never heard that about roses not liking the moisture control soil.I use it all the time in my pots and they are all doing fine. Some of them have been there for 3 years and are still fine.

Wow, I am glad that your roses are doing great in the moisture control soil for you. Perhaps it is a climate compatibility situation. Maybe the fact that it is holding water in the pot combined with a hot humid climate allows unfriendly organisms to thrive here. I haven't been able to keep roses healthy in that type of potting soil, and have lost a few as well. Trish (from Ashdown Roses) has told me she has had the same experience with roses dying in the moisture control stuff.

By all means use it if it works for you. I'm all for conserving water as much as possible.

sandy

Prairie-rose, your roses should be fine, and if not, Roses Unlimited will take good care of you. The carriers that provide the shipping service sometimes jump up and down on these boxes, I think. It doesn't seem to matter who I order from or who provides the shipping. They see the "live plants" printed on the box and go "Yipee"!

Roseman, I had to chuckle when you said that if satisfaction wasn't obtained to complain here. Most nursery owners would care about that. I complained a couple of days ago on the antique roses forum about a complete lack of customer service by a certain nursery, and got jumped on, including by the owner. No attempt was made to contact me at all, which prompted my complaints. (I had made several attempts at a private resolution first. Never heard back).

You would never get treated like that by Roses Unlimited. Or Ashdown Roses, Vintage Gardens, or the Antique Rose Emporium, for that matter.

Sandy

I'm not terribly upset about the containers, just a little surprised and disappointed--but not a deal breaker by any means. The roses will probably be fine, you are right--I haven't contacted RU because I feel fairly confident they'll do OK. If they totally languish or decline in the next couple weeks, then I'll give 'em a call. I'm pleased to say they are the healthiest, most intact roses (above the pot) I've received this year--I'm used to losing shoots, canes, many leaflets, or having to pick off the blackspot or mildewed leaves, so it was nice not to have to trim off something or spray--that's definitely a big point in their favor. I don't have qualms about anyone reporting mail order experiences, as long as it sounds factual and fair (not overreactive, or sounding like a vendetta against a company, or demonstrating a lack of understanding about roses)--other people should read and make their own judgments and take things with a grain of salt, just as I often take others' experiences with a grain of salt. Bottom line, I can't think of any company (roses or any online nursery) I've dealt with that sent me something so bad, or had customer service so bad, that I wouldn't order again if they had what I wanted and the price was good.

My two pots also were squashed together and half the soil dumped out like Prairie Rose and like yours, Sakura, mine were only 1 quart in size, but!!! the plants were absolutely BEAUTIFUL! gorgeous and so healthy looking. I have never seen such lovely, pristine stems and leaves a full flush of moisture stored within the stems that outbeat any stems I've ever seen from my local reputable nursery... You can tell a lot! about RU's greenhouse care they gave to their roses by the suppleness and softness of the leaves and their big leaf sizes. Grant it, one of my roses, the Frederic Mistral was over 2 foot high and didn't fit into the box, so it was bent to fit the long box and thus suffered bruising, but I unbent it, and propped it up to a bamboo stake for extra support... My Mistral I guess to be 1 year 7 mos. My Tiffany I guess to be just 6 mos. old. The Tiffany was only 1/5 the size of my giant! Frederick M. but again, gorgeous soft large! leaves (in proportion) and one huge spent blossom on it that was 1/3 the size of the entire plant LOL! Both seem to be doing super! unlike my sick baby rose from Heirloom Roses (2/3rds of the plant have already shriveled and died)... In spite of RU's packaging I am still very thrilled about my plants...

Thank you people for your quick reply!
I found one of rose with broken stem but I am sure it isn't serious damage.
It is nice to hear about good reputation of Roses Unlimited.
I will continue to order from this rose nursery in near future.

My experience with Rose Unlimited has been an excellent one. Beautiful, large plant, healthy. Went directly into the garden, where it still flourishes today. Can't wait to order from them again. A top notch vendor in every way.

Sandy, I agree with you about the Moisture Control potting mix. My container roses HATED that stuff. I don't use it anymore and they are much, much happier.

Randy

Great experience with them as well-ordered a few times! :0) Phyl

prairie-rose, since you did have some concerns about your shipment, why don't you discuss the situation with Pat Henry at Roses Unlimited? It never hurts to let them know how the containers arrived, and perhaps after a chat you'll feel a little better about it.

I just wish ALL the shipping companies would quit sitting on my boxes before they get them to me!

Sandy

Sandy808,

I didn't want to raise a stink if that's the normal way they ship (remove some dirt, squeeze pots together)--they have lots of happy customers, so maybe I'm one of the few who was a bit taken aback. My big problem was getting the rootballs out of the misshapen containers intact--but after a few days in the ground, they look fine, no worse for wear than any of my other mail ordered roses this spring, so unless they take a sudden turn for the worse, there's no real problem. But yeah, I also wonder if a hairy gorilla in a brown UPS uniform was doing the Samsonite thing on my shipping box, LOL!