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!

I ordered from all over the place; Southern US, West Coast, and Canada. I received active bands, active minis, and bareroot. All were pretty time consuming to unpack, but the extra packing care seemed to have kept all the roses in very good shape. Interestingly, the messiest and most tangled packing job were the 7 bareroots in one box, all wrapped in one plastic bag, and they are also the largest, healthiest, bloom-makin'-est monsters in the garden right now. Guess the inconvenience to me wasn't so much a trauma for the roses. I could be way off base, but I have a suspicion that streamlining the packing process isn't a top priority for the nurseries. I'd imagine that they go the extra mile to make sure that roses arrive in good condition because there's nothing worse than having a reputation for shipping dead product. I think the trade off is extra time and $$ to make sure they don't rack up warranty/guarantee expenses.

Cathyflam, you must have a big yard! I would love to see your garden in full bloom. I have purchased old roses from Habershams in midtown. When you purchase at a nursery you can get a decent size bush without having to pay the shipping. Some people make pilgrimages in vans to Roses Unlimited in South Carolina. Supposed to be one of the best around here, though I've never bought anything there. I have purchased from Antique Rose Emporium, I think I got Maggie (fabulous!) and Cramoisie Superieur -- you couldn't ask for a more floriferous healthy rose. I've purchased in a dirt-cheap sale from Wayside several roses and they did fine for the most part. Jackson & Perkins seems to be mostly hybrid teas. They require LOTS of care and amendments (and most are probably very chemical-dependent) to look like they do in the pictures. Rose

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