I'm new to this Forum and thought it would be nice to contribute my experiences since I am from Central Florida. I have been growing roses, mostly antiques for a few years. Also I grow them from seed. Both RU and Chamblee Roses are great. I have received roses this year from Roses Unlimited, Chamblees and also Rogue Valley Roses. The Roses Unlimited roses are in 6" pots and are by far the largest right out of the box. They seem to have been rooted at least one year and maybe more? The Chamblee's Roses were packed with paper around them and a plastic sleeve to help hold moisture and soil in, but the down side is that they arrived a little crumpled but they will be fine in a few days The Rogue Valley Roses arrived first and they come in plastic sleeves (bands). They seemed very dwarfed (leaves very tiny, etc.- so that they didn't all look like what I ordered) upon opening the box. Now that it's been three weeks out for the Rogue Valley bands they have taken off like mad and are nearly twice the size that they were upon arrival, and the leaves are about 4 times larger, are very, very healthy looking, looking very much like the plants I ordered and some are blooming and all of them have buds except for one. The RV roses are approaching the size of some of the RU roses now. The Roses Unlimited are blooming like crazy now and the plants look exceptional. The Chamblee Roses will need up to a week or so to catch up because of the shipping stress. However, if I give the Chamblee Roses some time, they will be doing as well, if not better than the Roses Unlimited, from experience, and I think the Rogue Valley roses will be doing great too. Bottom line is that you will pay more for the Roses Unlimited roses, but the roses will arrive ready to plant ( they are awesome), if you wished, no babying needed. That said, I always pot up the newbees for around 1 year into a one gallon pot or 3 gal. before planting in the ground, with Mills Magic Mix, and I give them a pressure regulated soaker hose water connection. All three nurseries I mentioned are great. Roses are really very resilient and when they arrive, I unpack them, water them and put them into the shade for at least 2-3 days. And also I re-pot them immediately or ASAP.

I'm with you, Cori Ann. I love the Delbards and I've been asking Pat at Roses Unlimited for Claude Monet for some time now (no mother plants of other Delbards, sadly). Another place to check for Delbards is Long Ago Roses, since Linda occasionally has some. I sent her cuttings of Edgar Degas, who is truly to die for, so she might have some of him in the future. Back to the OP, Roses Unlimited is the best as far as the combination of variety and quality of gallon plants goes. Their boxes can be a pain, but my trick is to take the rose out of the box, rather than box out of the box. If you slit the tape off those mini boxes in the boxes at the corner, I find you can pull out the pots without ever removing the mini boxes that are stapled in like there's no tomorrow (one more reason they arrive in such good shape). When you buy as many roses from RU as I do, speed is essential. Speaking of which, in case there are other truly insane people like me, Roses Unlimited does bulk orders of roses. If you buy 66 or more roses, you get a price reduction on all the roses (I think 10%) plus dramatically reduced shipping (I think mine drops to $4/rose rather than $7/rose). Maybe you're not insane enough to order that many roses for yourself, but if you can talk your friends and neighbors into a group order it's a great deal. Cynthia

Mine came too!! I have one open bloom on dames de chenoceau and it smells wonderful. My last shipment was climbers and they all had long canes neatly tucked as well when they very well could have whacked it back . I appreciated that! I love roses unlimited!

Mindy I'm sad I didn't get to go. I probably would have grabbed a few more though, with no plan for them. It's for the best I didn't get to make it over there. lol Super healthy plants! *edit When do you ever see all these things on one rose? It sounds like a winner already. LOTM - Strong fragrance. 100 petals. Quartered bloom form. Continuous bloom