That's interesting information, Ann. I'm going to check out our Whole Foods just before Mother's Day to see if they have some of these roses. Thanks! Diane

I bought 6 in Houston recently, 3 for a friend. He has planted his [I haven't yet] and said the root systems are just wonderful - they are all very healthy looking and are starting to put out great leaf systems. Well worth the price!

Judith

I found that most of them were virused and only half actually broke dormancy. I still have two that did survive. But I don't buy them any more.

Body bagged roses may not, heck, most often, have their roots chopped to fit the small bags, not bags made large enough to fit either the roots or the top. Chopped major roots may not have been chopped, but just torn. The rose virus issues still exist, and heaven help the body bagged roses that are sitting out on cement slabs right now at big box stores where temperatures are dropping to near 0F.

Lucky finds for those who get them first in the warmer areas, less storage stress. In my part of the world, many of the canes are dead if you can see through the green wax that's used on so many of them.

These roses are in Austin pots, not body bags, if the photo I saw was any indication. Diane

The David Austin roses sold at Whole Foods were in a cellophane bag and wrapped in paper/carton. It gave the appearance of being a pot because they could stand upright. I posted the photo of the display.

These have leafed out quite nicely.

Yes, they sell the same body bags/paper potted roses at Lowes, Home Depot, Wal Mart, etc. They tend to be bigger, and aren't bare root, but I haven't seen a big difference in performance. We have done several Master Gardener result demonstrations comparing "body bags" to roses from other sources such as nurseries, and over time the difference in performance is truly negligible.

I have a 2 year old climbing america that was a body bag and was transplanted last may, it is currently 8 feet tall in its current location after being cut back to 3 ft when I moved.

My point is that body bag roses seem to show the same tendencies as buying a smaller diameter oak tree to plant. It will start out growing slower, but over time will often prove to be just as good as the none body bag rose/bigger oak tree.

The biggest issue we have found in our demonstration garden has been that the body bag roses are not always what they are sold as. We had 2 or 3 roses that were supposed to be reds that turned out to be JFK roses...

Now all that said, we bought our body bag/bagged potted roses the first week they showed up on the shelves so they were in good health. We didn't bother de-waxing them either.

I still buy nursery roses, because they are bigger roses and will get to a larger size quicker and bloom quicker, which is what I like, but if money was a bigger barrier to me buying roses, I would feel perfectly happy getting the body bag/bagged potted roses.

I saw the David Austin bagged roses here in Houston at Whole Foods, and while they looked nice, there doesn't appear to be anything special about them compared to the other bagged biodegradeble pot roses you can buy from various sources, except the DAs are more expensive and I believe are the varieties they were selling a special on from the website.

I have noticed that Star Roses appears to be using the same biodegrable pots for their plants this spring and it says to plant them in the pots.....I couldn't bring myself to plant them in the pots.

I finally went to the Whole Foods here because I was going to get the stuff to make Miso Soup anyways. They didn't have any DA roses just a bunch of herbs by the front door. It would probably be better to buy them this way than to order them from their website. At least you could actually see what you are paying for instead of the garbage they sent me from their website.

~SJN

When the body bags show up, I cant seem to help myself and have to buy a few. I planted Cl. America, Pink Peace and Medallion a few weeks ago. They have an excellent start and seem to be doing well. I think the trick is to get them early, give them a fighting chance. Later in the season, they are dried out, left in the hot sun or freezing cold at the stores and don't have much of a chance. Anyway, haven't lost much if they don't make it and its fun to see if I can get them to grow - even if they aren't the correct rose - it will be fun. I am pretty much a sucker this time of year when I go in the stores and there are roses. Years ago, when the companies would put out different roses like Just Dreamy, Colossus, Hollywood Star, etc. it was really fun to watch when they first put them out and grab all these hard to find goodies. Now.....for whatever reason, they don't sell those anymore and its the same old, same old. I did get a Midnight Magic last year and its still growing. Judith

SJN, I recently bought 2 roses from David Austin America, a Tree rose and a Albrighton rambler. Both came in very good shape as bare root roses.

I just got my 13 Da roses on the 23rd. I posted some photos of some of the horrible ones they sent me on the thread on the other 'Roses' forum on My DA roses Arrived thread. That is what I am talking about being 'garbage'. There were 4 'bad' ones. The rest looked really great. I think 4 bad ones out of 13 is pretty bad statistics though. I can't believe they would even send them out that way.

The Whole Foods in Augusta, GA told me that they would be receiving a shipment of DA roses the first week in April.

Well if I see Lady of Shalott I may pick one up. I tried to reserve it at a local nursery that gets DAs and then grows them in their greenhouse for a few weeks and then you pick them up, but that one must have gone fast and wasn't available when I put in my order.

I have to say , I bought 2 Alnwinck, 1 Litchfield Angel, 2 Gentle Hermione and 2 Darcy and the quality was great. They were all huge thick own root and are full of leaves and new canes already. I was pleasantly surprised with them. I order all my roses from David Austin and the cost of shipping always kill me. So $19.99 was really great!

Thank you so much for this post! There are a few roses I'd love to buy and haven't been able to find at my usual source (especially Mary Magdalene, Munstead Wood, Queen of Sweden and Wollerton Old Hall). At this point for me, it's quite expensive to justify ordering just one rose from David Austin in Texas, so I'd love to find one of them at Whole Foods or somewhere local. I wonder where else they may be selling them...

p.s. Buford, I was able to order Lady of Shallot at Roses Unlimited a week or so ago. Try there if you can't find it!

Chamblees has Queen of Sweden among other lovely Austins. Their price for a 1 gallon is about $12 I think.

Since this thread has popped back up I should say that DA did replace the damaged roses and the replacements are awesome. I haven't seen any of the DA body bag type roses at our Whole Foods lately or anywhere else. If I saw some I would probably get some even though I definitely don't need anymore DA roses this year lol.

I went ahead and ordered Lady of Shallot from DA because I really wanted that one and hadn't found it elsewhere grafted.

I know this is an old thread but anyone have any luck finding these in the Chicago area? We're about an hour from the closest Whole Foods but it would be worth the drive if there was a chance they had them.

I would try calling them and asking them before I drove that far. I called around several Whole Foods in my area and they didn't have them. Further south in Florida had them apparently but it was too far for me to drive at the time.

Back when I started this thread, the story was that Austen was trying to compete for the life plant market by selling smaller plants that would bloom quick enough after sale to keep gardeners interested.
They were talking about selling roses at times appropriate for different climate zones.

Does anyone have an "in" with an Austen regional representative to see if this is happening this year?

There is no Whole Foods near me. Are these Austin not-BBs showing up anywhere else? Here in zone 5, we tend to get the last dregs of BBs in late April and June. Aldis and Walmart have had the best ones. For around $5. each, I consider it worth my while to grow them as annuals. If they survive the winter, that is wonderful but I don't expect it.

I remember this post from last year and me checking my local Whole foods, we did not get any ..nothing this year either

I called the closest one to me in Nashville a couple weeks ago and was told they won't be getting any in this year as their garden selection was being scaled back. He said it was the same for the other location here in town . I took him at his word but maybe I'll call tomorrow just to be sure .

I talked to David Austin today (had to call about something else) and asked if these would be offered again this year. She said they were but didn't have any information on locations or dates. So keep your eyes peeled:) It's probably best we don't live closer to one. I would be there every other day checking! Lol

I kept checking last year as well and never found any. Now, our Whole Foods has closed so that's off the table!

Anyone in NY/CT/NJ area seen it in stores?