You crack me up Patty! Love this. I am the same way. I tell myself every year I'm not going over board but then proceed to order oodles of EVERYTHING. That's the fun in our beautiful hobby. Don't let anyone dull that sparkle. Jump in and have fun and good luck with everything you've ordered. Can't wait to see pics!! Judy

To be sure I'll share this experience. What ever it turns out to be.

I placed a rose order from Brecks this year will report on how it turns out too. It looks like it is scheduled to ship on 3/7, which I think is way too early for my zone, but it's bareroot and all indications are that we're getting an early spring starting next week, so maybe it will be okay. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much, so we'll see.

I have ordered roses from MB and Brecks before. It is a hit or miss thing with MB. Sometimes you get nice plants and sometimes they sent very very small plants. Most of the roses MB sells are own root roses, I think. For the very small ones, you would have to baby them for awhile. Brecks roses were very nice for the last two years that I ordered from them. Their plants were so much better than J&P. I haven't got a mislabel from Brecks. I think Brecks got their roses from Weeks grower.

Thanks Arlene that will be good to hear. That does seem early for shipping to Ohio. Maybe you could call them for a delayed shipping. I know bare roots can be planted earlier than potted. Especially if you have leaves or straw to cover the canes. Maybe a bag of soil to mound on them would work. Is your soil thawed out yet.

Than you Karen if they arrive alive and true to name I'll be pleased. I've experienced twigs don't enjoy getting them but at least I've done it before. Great news on Brecks.

It would be nice and helpful if we all show pics of our orders when them come. Then folks can choose where they feel comfortable ordering.

My friend is expecting an own root Tequila Supreme from Michigan Bulb today. I talked her into it, so I hope they send her the correct one and that it is healthy. I will feel partially responsible if it isn't right.

Jasmine I'm forever adding a little caveat with suggestions for fear that I'm steering someone wrong. :-) I certainly knew about MB before I ordered so at least I only have myself to blame.

Here is a pic of the 3 roses i got from Brecks last year:

Patty, The soil never seemed to freeze here this winter, which is very unusual. All of my other roses have leaf buds beginning to swell and green canes practically to the tips. Not sure how this 4 day stretch of cold we're having now will affect them, but between the warm winter we've had to this point and temperatures in the 70's predicted next week, I'm treating this as a zone 7 or 8 winter (as opposed to the zone 5 winters we've had the last 2 years) and hopeful my rose will take if it actually arrives and is planted next week (IME Brecks can change their ship dates without notice). I will mulch or cover with a clay pot if any more extreme temperature swings are predicted. I agree that it would be great if others could share their photos.

Karen, Thanks for sharing your pictures. Do you have any photos from later in the season? How did they perform for you?

My son sent me 3 Doris Day roses for mothers day last year. I had never ordered from Brecks, but they have done very well.

I ordered the grad-bag deal a few times. I had about a 90% success rate with dormancy and a 70% success rate getting them through the summer. I was very pleased with the quality of their bare root roses. I actually had more of a problem with the roses I got from JP than I did with the Breck's roses.

Lots of good information here, thanks everyone.

Brecks was great for me as well. I got 3 of the grab bag offers in the end. I got 5 roses for $19.95 and did that 2x then the price dropped again and I got 5 more for $9.99. All 15 roses arrived in good condition, particularly considering they were end of season sales and were in storage for longer than usual. I did have 2 that did not break dormancy (those were ones I ordered separately. Julia Child and Sheila's Perfume) and they gave me a credit for this year. Out of all the ones I got from them 5 didn't make it through the summer (non uncommon in my neck of the woods). I didn't bother asking for a credit as I got them so ridiculously cheap. This year, if they have that sale again, I will be ordering more :) It was great fun waiting to see what you got in the grab bag and all the roses they sent were of good quality. Also, customer service was great.

I ordered from Michigan Bulb this year as well. I had no idea they had a bad reputation. I ordered two butterfly bushes and got a coupon for free shipping and a free bag of bulbs (picotee begonias). They did take a while to arrive, but it was clearly written on their site that they would not ship until the end of February for my zone. Everything arrived in good condition and I paid half of what they cost on other sites (kaleidoscope butterfly bush and Black Knight, each was $8 or so) and much less expensive than my local nursery who had Black Knight for $20. Overall my experience was good. Maybe I just got lucky. :)

I've been pleasantly surprised that the roses from Breck's have been pretty good and have leafed out well, with no mislabels that I can find. I agree that my experiences with Brecks for roses that break dormancy and survive their first summer were much better for Brecks than Jackson & Perkins, even though both were late-spring clearance purchases. The only glitch with Brecks was that they sent me the wrong climber collection, something that wasn't even available online, and it took quite a bit of convincing to explain this effectively to the non-native English speaker in the overseas call center. Once we got that straightened out, they did send the correct collection at no additional cost and told me to keep the erroneous one.

I do admit that two of the around 8 roses I planted cankered out after a few weeks and after emailing them with no response, I gave up on trying to replace the roses with that call center. I believe I could have received the credit but just didn't want the hassle of trying to explain it in the detail it would have required with those call center staff.

Cynthia

I've order many times from both Brecks and Michigan Bulb, but never roses. They sell everything and mostly bulbs so that's what keeps them in business. I've never had any problems with either of them for bulbs. All you can do is wait and see what you get and go from there.

The all time worst one ever was a place called Growquest. I don't think they're around any more. At least I hope not! I also got some roses from QVC once. They deal through Cottage Farms. It was a collection of 12 miniature roses and 10 out of the 12 were misnamed and 6 of them didn't even last the first season. I'll never buy roses from QVC or Cottage Farms again.

I'll add one to that Interstate nursery. They have amassed a stunning 6 positive comments and 62 negative. I went to the qvc web site a while ago to see where they get their roses. It used to be Hirts. So looked up Cottage Farms on Daves Garden Watchdog. Your experience seems to echo the reviews.

I've had similar experience with Cottage Farms. My minis grew great the whole summer then didn't make it thru the winter. Everything I've ever received was tee tiny but I've only ordered 2 or 3 times. Goofy me though ordered a climbing Angel Face bc it's the only place I could find it. Praying for the best!! Judy

My rose arrived this morning and thought I would share a photo. It was in transit for over a week and there appears to be some minor damage to some canes which I'll prune out. Otherwise it looks good.

I've ordered from Brecks a few times. I ordered two this year. One looks great and the other is not doing anything yet but they've only been planted 3 weeks. They had good strong roots on them so I'm hopeful it comes around. I have to say their customer service has been very good. Last year I had one rose that didn't make it and even though I planted a little late for a bare root they gave me a credit for a future purchase.