You have to look allot earlier in the year for the Milk box roses. They come in first thing in the spring. By now all the local nurseries even have their potted rose selection cut at least in half from people already buying.

I like the milk box roses myself. I know there are many that say that they don't do well, but for me they have always done just fine. Plus in spite of the fact that its not as good for the rose to have its roots chopped off to fit in the box, it makes it easier for me to plant. Yes, I still always add my ammendments but I just don't have to dig as deep. I put all my grafts 6 inches below the soil line so it does make for extra digging. So I would rather plant a Milk Carton rose over a potted anyday. Doesn't stop me from buying both.

Next year look really early. They have them here in mid March or so.

Thanks Rita, but I was shopping about a month ago and didnt see any. There are always plenty left over where I live. Even into June I will see them. It might just be in my city that they decided not to carry them. Glad to know there are still around someplace!

FWIW, there have been very few milk box roses in my area for several years, but lots of bagged ones at the chain stores. I think the reason is a couple of the chain stores over-stocked J&P boxed roses one year and got stung pretty bad. There was always a greater variety with the boxed roses, too. Hope you find what you want.

Gary

The only place I saw the J&P boxed roses in my area was at the Navy Exchanges (ie military PXs). They started offering them around the end of March and had a good selection. I bit on 2 own root foribundas when they had an early sale for $10 each. And they are doing great.

A few of the Exchanges still had a few just the other week (mostly HTs).

Lowes had the boxed J&P roses this year. I bought the Cinnamon Twist which is my new favorite orange rose.

I put all my grafts 6 inches below the soil line so it does make for extra digging.

For your zone, 6 inches may be too deep. Mine are about 2 to 3 depending on how much they've sunk and how large the rose was to begin with.

Most of the roses in my garden were J&P boxed roses that I bought in the 80's and 90's. Back then there was a controversy as to whether or not you plant the box (you don't). Back then J&P owned the rose market for the casual rose grower (which I was then) and I think that a lot more people grew roses than do now.

roselvr - Take a good look at all the pictures I have been posting of my beautiful healthy roses. They go own root if planted deeper so believe me I do know what I am doing.

Its not necessary to plant deeper than 2-3 inches in our zone for winter survival but within reason, a rose can not be planted too deep, they just go own root.

Sure you leave them in the box Henry, That's the reason they're in the box. To make sure the box completely decomposes, soak it until it's completely saturated and poke it full of holes so there's more area in contact with the soil. Roots will grow out of the holes into the soil taking care of the roots in a box problem. Keeping the bush in the box prevents the loss of any feeder roots which may have begun to grow.
By planting them this way, the box will have completely decomposed by the end of the first summer, at least that's the way it works for me.

Karl, I never argue with success. The reason they suggest planting in the box is to make planting as fool-proof as possible for amateur rose growers. However you and I are not amateurs and I promise you that you will not get anywhere near optimal results if you plant them in the box. Carefully remove the rose from the box without hurting the white hair roots and carefully place in good rich black compost soil which is much better than what they are in and certainly better than cardboard. If you do it right the rose will have a big headstart on roses planted in boxes. One more thing, I would never buy a boxed rose that isn't fresh. They can dry out very fast in those boxes.

I must have gotten lucky with a "stale" rose a few years ago. I wanted to buy Whisper. It was in July, and all I could find was a dried out pathetic Whisper in a box. I planted it and it's been an amazing bush. Very vigorous and healthy. I wouldnt but a plant like that on purpose, but sometimes it doesnt matter.
As for planting the box, yikes!! I tried that in the very beginning before I knew better, and it was a disaster. I had to dig them up and give them their freedom. It never occured to me to poke holes in the box, and J and P don't mention it in their instructions. I am sure that would help, but the slight bit of shock they might suffer is worth not preventing the roots from growing and being suffocated.

Rita, I never said you didn't know what you were doing. I said "may be too deep"

For me, planting too deep is not good, the roses die. I've buried them lower then what I now do with bad luck. By the time I add mulch, it's probably a little more then 3 inches under.

Mine own root too, it's how I was able to take almost all of our roses when we moved. Some I split in 1/2. In my old "soil" which was sugar sand, (before amending) most of the rootstock died off, at one time I found some type of worm which I never got ID'd but they bored holes in it. I always knew when the root stock was crapping out because the rose looked bad for a full season, next season was better as it own rooted.

If planting that deep works for you then you've found what works.

We got em' here...
lot's of em'
However only at the Nurseries, I did not see any at our chain stores, they now seem to carry the "bagged" roses... more so than the potted roses.
Lioness

roselvr - I know there are as many different ways of doing things as there are gardens. I say never argue with success. Mine or yours :-))

I am sure my roses would be fine even if planted 2-3 inches but I have always planted deeply with great success so now I just keep doing it that way. I do think it takes a grafted rose alittle longer to get going being planted deeply instead of less so but at least for me, the long term results have worked out well. I do know your statement was not intended as criticism, only another view on the subject.

In our area 1-2 inches down for the bud union is just about right and then mulch which is added every year. Now I am sadly taking out whole roses that have been chewed off by voles about 2-4 inches down. A woody stem cleanly cut through but below that much of the intact root system. There is never a sign of a bud union on an older rose. There is a deep main stem that branches 1-2 feet down and how far down or wide it goes I don't know. Clearly the root system of an established rose is deep enough to survive anything except voles. In fact I think it is safe to say that any problems that the rose may have that are due to the root system are close to the surface.

Here in Ontario it is next to impossible to find a boxed rose at any time of the year. I used to buy them because I could find old out of favour roses and inexpensively try some varieties not hardy in my area. My Maria Stern is still one of my favorite roses and she came from a box for $3.99. I would not have bothered for $15.00. I don't like the bag roses, the roots are always chopped up.

It takes an amazingly short time for carboard to decompose if one does like Karl does and thoroughly soaks it. the holes poked in it are an excellent point, too. As long as no cardboard shows above ground (that will wick water away from the plant, like peat pots do)and it is kept wet the cardboard will disappear in very little time.

I use plain cardboard boxes to "mulch" new planting beds, and can attest that it takes only a couple weeks for wet cardboard to compost. Dry, now, that is another matter.

There is a lot more to this argument. Lets say you buy fresh boxes that are dry and the roses are just beginning to bud. This is the way I used to buy boxed roses and the best time to do it because the roses are near dormant and it is early in the season when you should be planting. If you do it this way it makes absolutely no sense to plant the box soaked, punctured or otherwise. It will just retard the start that the rose gets. Alternatively it could be later in the season when the rose is growing strongly or even blooming and the box is wet or even soggy. In this case plant the box because the hair roots will be growing into the wet cardboard at that point and you will have trouble getting it cleanly out of the box anyway. This is not a good way to plant roses and not what I was talking about but if that is what you are doing you might as well plant the box.

I am not following how the box would retard growth on an earlier-season rose. Not trying to be dificult, just not getting it.

When I first read the title of this thread I thought it said "Are milk box roses obscene?" to which I was ready to reply "they certainly are!"

/me laughs

I think it all depends on who is doing the planting and how new/old the box is as well as what shape the rose is in. I personally don't like to bury the box, hair roots or not it goes even if I have to put it in the ground and cut it off.

I don't trust the amount of "filler" they add inside the box.

I just could not trust putting the box in the ground. When I bought the 2 box roses this year it was the first week the garden center put them out and I removed the boxes and treated them like a bareroot, potted them in 5gal pots. They took off and are now in much bigger pots and blooming like crazy.

Yes, Milk box roses are only obscene if you plant them without wearing your underwear.