Great report, thanks! Have you ever tried Palatine? They have really good bare roots too, huge plants with lots of roots. Service is excellent as well.

I haven't tried Palatine. I will do so in the future, as I've read good things about them. Thanks, PtBoise

It's great to read your review of all the mail order roses you've gotten this year, PT Boise! So howz about telling us which roses you've received from them as that is an unwritten rule on the Roses Forum. :) 'Sides we want to vicariously share in your big Rose Binge!! ;)

Hi Neighbor/ptboise,
I might mention that Palatine grafts its roses on multiflora rootstock which may not grow as well in our alkaline soil here in Idaho.(I started a thread on this subject a while back, and some of us westerners concluded that multifora rootstock wasn't well suited for our soil). I've ordered quite a few roses from Palatine, and those plants have had some growth problems. I'm still reserving judgment on this, however, since Palatine does ship beautiful plants.
PS--ptboise, I'm still not sure where you live! Dry Creek, right? Diane

Great review, thank you so much for the time and effort put into this info. I`m nosy,too, and would love to know what roses you got!! Thanks again....Lesley

Great idea - thanks!

I only ordered bare-roots from Palatine & David Austin. I continue to be very very impressed with the size and health of the Palatine roses - huge root mass which helps them take off quickly. The David Austin roses tend to be smaller (canes & root development) but almost always take off well for me. I did get a small ownroot Peggy Martin from Roses Unlimited. It was small, but seems to be taking off nicely in the garden. All three delivered on time and had excellent customer service. I had to change the delivery date because my husband had to have surgery, and all three wrote back and arranged a later delivery. We're fortunate to have such fine nurseries available.

Diane - yep, on Dry Creek (west of Seaman's). Thanks for the info on multiflora rootstock. Good to know!

So - some of the roses (I'm trying to toss out a representative sample):
Ramblin Red, Robusta, Jens Monk, Purple Pavement, Daydream, Seafoam, Marjorie Fair, several Ballerinas, Lavender Lassie, Lavender Dream, Caldwell Pink, Molineaux, Distant Drums, Royal Amethyst, Int. Herald Tribune, Mountain Mignonette, Sweet Chariot, Bonica, Ch-Ching (what a stupid name), Silver Star, Reines des Violettes, Buff Beauty, Dortmund, Altissimo, Viking Queen, Darlow's Enigma, Cardinal Hume, Rosarium Uetersen, Climbing Pinkie.

To name a few. Several of the above climbers will die to the mulch line every winter so are planted to fountain at 5-6 feet. I like that affect. And, I did go on a bit of a lavender/purple run. Can't help it - love that color. Got the usual suspects locally (including Jeannie and Sally mentioned earlier - that Jeannie is already impressing me) - Livin Easy, Ebb Tide, Angel Face, etc. One that I should mention that does exceptionally well in this high desert is Crimson Bouquet. Simply the most stunning red.

We live on a horse / grape farm - so plenty of fertilizer readily available. We'll see how they do - as Diane pointed out in another thread, the weather has been cold and wet. Still in the high 30's / low 40's each morning.

I don't see S&W Greenhouse listed. I would put them right behind Edmunds. Most of their roses are top-notch Weeks, but they have many others, too. I've always received impeccable service and very high-quality bare roots from them.

I wasn't happy with Chamblees, just MO, but the roses I received were small and 3 out of 8 did not make it. I was very happy with Roses Unlimited, but then again, I drove there and my roses didn't have to go through the shipping process.They took off right away and are all going great.

This is very helpful information. Thanks for posting!

I'd like to add that if next time you place an order, you decide to check out the ownroot bands from Vintage, you are likely to be pretty happy with what you get; there are bands, and there are BANDS. The two times I've ordered from Vintage the plant sizes I received as "bands" was similar to the plant sizes I've usually gotten from Chamblee's in one-gallon pots: they were a nice size, well filled out, with no worry about whether they're so tiny that they might expire during shipping or fail to recover from the boxed-up dark shipping experience. The plants at Vintage are plenty healthy and I've seen active growth going on within a couple of days of transferring them to a one-gallon pot. I've also seen blooming on some within a couple of weeks.

The rub with Vintage comes in if you live all the way across the country and have to pay a good bit for shipping in multiples of 4 plants, even when you aren't ordering in exact multiples of 4. (I don't blame them a bit for a policy like that, though, considering the time involved in packaging.)

The huge number of ownroot varieties to choose from at Vintage is also a big plus.

Best wishes,
Mary

Here is a link that might be useful: Vintage Gardens' website

Thank you, Mary. I appreciate the info - and will give them a try next spring.

Mary, the times I've ordered from Vintage, I've always done the 4 packing. Usually you can get 8 cheaper than 6 because they give you one free and the shipping is the same. And it's an excuse to get more roses!!!! I usually pot up the bands and wait to plant them in the ground. Except for the time I drowned two bands in their pots, they have all done very well.

Vintage Gardens has the largest stock of roses anywhere, tho not everything is available every season. I live in VA, about as far away from Vintage Gardens as one can get. I am more than happy to pay shipping for their quality, variety and expertize! And I certainly have no problem coming up with multiples of four. They are also now absorbing EuroDesert's stock, since Cliff has had to retire, so their enormous stock will be bigger than ever.

What about Heirloom Roses in Oregon? I just placed my first order with them, so I can't give a review yet, but they were very helpful and I really like their website.

I second the rave review of High Country Roses. They are my preferred vendor for cold hardy roses.

I have bought from Heirloom Roses and they sent me healthy plants. They were a smaller than what you get from some other own root places, but a healthy plant is what you really want and they send you that.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Wanting to offer my experience this year, since I went a little nutso also on the ordering:

Palatine's bare roots were the best; about twice the size of what I received from Edmunds. Both are doing great, but the Palatine bareroots are already all 3 feet tall or more & ready to bloom.

Rosemania: Good sized bareroots, very small minis, but I never have a problem with them.

I freaked out a little bit over the wispiness of my Northland bands, but they are doing quite nicely now as well. Not the nursery's fault at all that our weather has been chaotic. A little more sun & these lovelies will be fabulous.

I've ordered many roses from Vintage with great success; they're also very helpful and knowledgeable. The great attraction of course is their huge variety of roses. Rogue Valley and Chamblee's have also been good sources for me. I think they all try very hard to get it right which I appreciate, given their workload and in most cases limited funds.

Ingrid

I agree with your 2011 review of High Country Roses..not any more. I think they have insufficient root systems now. They were out of Utah and now out of Colorado.

I'd have to say my experience was quite different from the original poster. Edmunds consistently sent me the smallest bareroots of all the sellers who claim to send #1 grade. Some of the roses I received, well there is no fathomable way they could be considered #1 grade. I often wondered if they got the leftovers after the big names like J&P picked the fields over. That said, they package fine, they are good about refunds, they are nice over the phone...the plants were just consistently small (top and roots).

I now order from just three places now if at all possible:

Palatine - The best bare roots I ever received, gargantuan succulent root systems, plump healthy canes, plants that grow with great vigor. Their care in the product really shines through.

K&M - Fortuniana rootstock suits my climate, they provide a big selection of excellent plants, actively growing plants in 2 gal containers that are packaged with the utmost care.

Nelson's Florida - ditto on the fortuniana, equally well grown.

PT Boise, where are you? I noticed you last posted in 2013. I miss having a neighbor out here in the sticks also posting about roses and our similar growing conditions. I hope all is well with you, and you're still growing roses. I'm still in Hidden Springs and growing roses, too, those addictive things. Diane

I agree ARE is awesome. I want to.put in a plug for Reverence for Roses, who sent me two huge, well-developed bands a couple of weeks ago. Their only downside in a smaller selection.

I agree with the Crimson Bouquet. It's the best small sized rose bush in my garden too. I'm surprised not more people grow her. Thanks for this review and others comments as well, because I had no idea of all the places to get good roses. I should relay my experience too with the few I have ordered from.

Heirloom: good healthy plants but only two have bloomed in their first year. I am assuming that's normally the case with new roses and for own root. I bought two Earth Angels and both are sending blind shoots. Red Minimo bloomed like crazy. Blue For You bloomed like crazy. Abraham Darby is too new to say. I personally like Heirloom but it is very expensive I must say. All their roses have sent basals from the roots so I am happy.

J&P: I recieved one band of Ballerina that hasn't bloomed and I don't expect it to till a few years but is doing great! I got two bareroot roses that are doing fine as well. One is Heirloom which was free and is doing exceptionally well and Spice it Up which is taking a little long to establish. I will say I have some pest eating the buds before they can form properly and that may have been the problem with the two EAs as well not blooming yet.

High Country Roses: I got a Paul Neyron where the top growth looked amazing and there was an ok amount of root mass. It didn't fall apart when I transplanted it so I am waiting to see how it does.

Rogue Valley Roses: I got three bands from them and while the root mass on all of them was massive the stems look a very sickly yellow and one stem on one plant of the two is maroon with some white stuff on it. Still waiting for them to look better. They are starting some signs of new growth as the bud eyes are starting to swell. Hopefully they will be ok. I got a Dakota Redwing, Yves Piaget, and Bouquet Parfait. I needed a couple shade tolerant roses. Yves is the only one going in a pot in the front. That's only if it starts growing more before the fall cutoff planting time too.

I need to try Palatine this fall if they get the roses I want back in stock. Also K&m sounds good too. I did preorder from David Austin for next year and it was my first time. I hope it won't be a disappointment.

The only thing that is a bit confusing to me personally is the nurseries that just have a list of roses with no real way to know which are currently in stock. There is no online cart. How do you order? Call or email? Sorry nooby here!

Hello Va Joh

Is there a particular nursery you are interested in? The small ones all seem have their own quirks, that's part of the charm, but I'm sure someone here can help you out.

For K&M, I usually email them my list. They'll reply back with what they have, then I'll call to confirm and give my payment info.

To me the award for the most annoying packaging goes to Roses Unlimited. They had those roses so tapped in the box that I thought I would break them before I got them free. A pain indeed.

Best packaging award goes to Heirloom. Perfect, easy to access container. Their box engineer has it perfected.

My nicest, largest bare root roses came from Palatine.

This year I will try Regan because of their close proximity.

Thanks BenT that's actually the one I was thinking of. I want to try them too along with a few others. I like how Regans has good selection and I want to try Palatine in the fall.

One place I will say was great for mail order plants was Romence Gardens. They have a few rose selections too but not too many. Their plants are huge and that's why they are a little more expensive. I haven't tried their roses but if their plants are any indication on quality, I would do it in a heartbeat if there was a choice available that I wanted. They have really fancy packaging and ship lightning fast.