Chamblee's in TX. is very good. Nice customer service and beautiful roses. You can order on-line. Probably my favorite at this point. Super fat canes, and healthy plants.

Another good online vendor is Pickering. I've had good luck with their roses as well. Online ordering as well.

Regan Nurseries in CA has some harder to find roses, I bought Leonidas & Black Bacarra from them.

Ashdown Roses in NC. has also been a vendor I've used. I like their web page.

Betty

May I ask what roses you are looking for? Believe it or not that can make a difference.

I have made several purchases from Heirloom Roses and David Austin Roses. Been happy with both vendors so far. Next spring I will be receiving roses from Roses Unlimited and Hortico. The former has a great reputation, the latter not so much. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the rose from Hortico which is 'Canary Bird'. Since I cannot seem to find it anywhere else I am kind of living on the edge with that one.

Hope this helps.

Kate

I've ordered from Pickering in the past, and again for next spring. Very satisfied with their plants and service. I am also ordering quite a few from Palatine this spring, as they have been getting wonderful reviews from other forum members. They ship to the U.S.
Judith

Melz, I hope you do not consider my question as an intrusion but - where do you garden? While for own root roses that makes no difference (except the shipping price if you order cross country vendors), with grafted roses it matters the part of the US where you live. For example, if you live north or on the eastern US, multiflora grafted roses will be the best for you (Palatine Roses or Pickering nurseries) while if you garden in the western part of the US in alkaline soil, roses grafted on Dr. Huey may be better for you. Then again, in zone 8 or higher you may consider roses grafted on fortuniana.

I prefer to receive big healthy plants that take off fast and I have acidic soil, so my first choices are the two above-mentioned Canadian vendors. For own root plants I like Chamblee's, ARE or Ashdown but there are a large variety of own root nurseries that have excellent reputation though I haven't order from them yet (but I will)

I order bands only if I want a rose that is not available in larger size. If you order bands (that is, small 'seedlings', then again matters where you garden because in a cold climate bands have a harder time to get to a plant of some size and will need winter protection in the first year, maybe even in the second year.

To summarize it: mail order is the way to go if you want quality plants and if you want to be in charge as to what to grow and what not to grow. In our area all the local stores and nurseries have the same 25-30 varieties, not much to choose from.

rogue valley roses is excellent

I've ordered from many sources. The best were J&P, Ashdown, David Austin, Heirloom. Some that were OK, but I had issues with were Chamblees, Wayside Gardens and Dutch Gardens.

It does depend on what types of roses you want, where you live and garden, and what you are more comfortable with (bare root or potted).

The bareroot roses from Palatine are huge and they have varieties you can't get anywhere else. They are grafted on multiflora and that might be a concern depending on where you are. Jackson and Perkins also sends large bareroots but they are grafted on Dr. Huey. Their customer service was great to me. For ownroots I like Ashdown, Heirloom, Moore's Roses, and Roses Unlimited. The only vendor I've had a problem with is Hortico which sends very small roses. One of the roses from them died and they'll replace it but I have to pay shipping. I've decided to get the replacement from Ashdown instead.

You can check Garden Watchdog for reviews on any vendor.

From previous posts, I know that melz is in my neck of the woods.

The best rootstock for this area is R. multiflora. The best vendors that I have found are Palatine Roses (big, huge, bareroots, one was so large that I had to start it in a 16" pot, which it has grown out of and rooted through) and Pickering Nursery. Wisconsin Roses is excellent too, but I wouldn't recommend them the first time out, handling of maidens (newly budded bareroots) isn't difficult, but requires patience. For own-roots, Ashdown and Roses Unlimited, minis from Nor'East Mini Roses, Almost Heaven, Rosemania.com and Bridges. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Countryside Roses, I met the owner and I know those plants are well taken care of.

I must be the only one to have problems with plants from David Austin (grafted on Dr. Huey).

Locally, you will find that 95% of the plants will be grafted on Dr. Huey rootstock, with the remaning 5% being rugosas that are own-root (they sell out early in the season). There are a couple of vendors in Monmouth county who try to vary their stock, they usually have their availability lists online in early April.

I am in North Jersey. The garden sits on a corner in full sun from morning till evening. The ground is raised and seems to dran well. There is a full underground watering system. I learn more every day

Can it be true? Palatine has a minimum of 20 roses per order?
Any other source of own root SDLM... the bigger the better?
TYIA

Susan, get your own-root SdlM from The Antique Rose Emporium. The shipping will be substantial to your location, since you are quite a distance from Texas and they ship large, 2-gallon plants. But you will not be disappointed with their specimen of SdlM.

Randy

Roses from Witherspoon's are great. Nice, fat canes with beautiful roots. I've never had trouble with customer service there.

Check their website. You won't be disappointed.

Susan, why do you think Palatine has a 20 rose minimum? Maybe for wholesale, but for us it's maybe 3. I ordered 5 this time around. Their plants are the biggest of anybody's.

Pickering is ok, but they don't have the selection they did about 5-10 yrs ago. Regan's is great. They order their roses from over a dozen suppliers, including Hortico. And while Hortico has a somewhat bad reputation, they have come a long way over the last few yrs. They have the hugest selection of very difficult to find roses of all kinds. I just got a 9-rose order from them a couple weeks ago, and they were all nice and green and had big roots. Their plants are a bit smaller than some, but they grow like weeds for me. I have another 22 roses coming from them before Xmas. Rosemania has good plants too. Nice and big. And if you order 3 plants, the shipping is free. Ashdown is wonderful for own-roots, but for me, the shipping is pretty expensive. Same goes for Roses Unlimited. But RU has a really wonderful selection of hard to find roses too. And the plants are quite large. They carry a lot of the Guillot Generosa roses.

There must be a problem with their website...when I go to place the order the site tells me it must be a minimum of 20.
I have emailed them. Thanks all!
Think Spring

I have liked Pickering and Hortico. I tend to order from Hortico most because of the variety. They might not be huge but I can find stuff there that is not available in other places. Nothing a little miracle grow will not fix. I also like they they grow in a cold climate so it gives me confidance that they can hack my winters. They tend to ship by zone (when it gets warm where youlive) this means that the warmer the area the better the plant, I think the smaller more pittaful ones are left at the end for people like me. They also tend to have many backordered. I have to say that I would have ordered from some of these other places but they will not let us bring roses from the US to Canada. Have fun shopping on line.
Liane

Here is a link that might be useful: hortico

I can find stuff there that is not available in other places.

Well, it is true if you look at their website. Alas, the reality is different. Not once when I ordered from Hortico they shipped the roses in one shipment as they promised to. They always tend to have crop failure or some other excuse. This year they did it again. Around the end of October they had everything I ordered and all roses should be shipped after mid-November - they said. At the end of November it turned out that they didn't have the roses that they were supposed to ship. Maybe just maybe in January they will have them...
Crop failure etc. can happen to every nursery but it cannot happen every given year. To sum it up, Hortico is not dependable at all.

Palatine and Pickering are very reliable, and the quality of their plants are far better than Hortico ever was.

Palatine uses multiflora root stock. If that will work for you and they have the ones you're looking for then I'd go with them hands down. Huge, HUGE bareroot plants and great service to boot.

Seil, I agree with you 100%. My best and largest bareroots I have ever received came from Palatine. They were much bigger than the famous Edmunds 'giants'. Not to mention that their plants were the healthiest roses I've ever got.

Pickering is very reliable, I have ordered from them for several years. All the plants have been healthy and correctly tagged. This year I also ordered from Palatine for Fall, and once I saw those roses, for Spring. They were fantastic, very large healthy plants and huge roots. The customer service was also excellent, they are a very nice family. I also have an order in with Hortico, I have put it off two years in a row because of everything I have heard. So far the order has been delayed and won't be shipping until sometime this month. However, so far the customer service has been good.

Melz, can I jump in and ask how to view Palatine roses. I cannot get past the search venue. Someone, anyone?

Carla

Carla, the search page is how you get to the list. Just click on the "Search" button (leave the "Rose Name" field blank), and the entire list of available roses will load. It might look like nothing happened after you click the button, but scroll down the page and you'll see the listings.

OH dear...I am now up to 30 for spring! Alchmyist, Boule de Neige, SDLM( 2), Sandra Renaisance....etc.etc.
This is all YOUR fault...The FORUM MADE me do it (:

Randy, in zone 5 SDLM probably would not survive the first winter if it is not grafted. Based on what Mad Gallica keeps saying, I would never advise a zone 5 gardener to get a marginally hardy rose own root.

I just received a very nice rose from Northland Rosarium. The pot was twice as wide as the standard Heirloom band, and the plant was packed perfectly! It is my first order from them. I am very pleased...

Here is a link that might be useful: Northland Rosarium

I have always had great results with Ashdown Roses. What I like is they have a great varity and some roses that you may not be able to buy anywhere else such a Delbard and Peter Beales. They also ship either in pots or "potless".