Sure wish I could get to Lowes. I'm going to have to find a way. Interesting you should mention the roses condition at your garden center. I went to Hornbakers here and have never left without roses. The roses however were in terrible condition. They had healthy leaves but the canes and crowns were definitely not okay. Two perennials and the roses were why I went. You know there in bad shape went I left with none. :-(

Same here! I am trying to be supportive of a local business that carries a variety of roses because I am so sick of Knock Outs and nothing else everywhere else but if they're trying to charge $29 for really horrible looking roses, I 'm going to buy healthier roses where I can find them. Plus I guess it's really good to encourage the big box stores to look beyond Knock Outs:)

I bought 3 Kordes First Crush potted roses at Lowes. They came in last week at $24.99, probably for Mothers Day gifts. They were already reduced on Mothers Day to $12.00. Now I need to find a place to plant them. Two will probably go where I have 2 Angel Face that never have thrived-they are just puny, non thriving plants. I hate to throw them away, but they are in a flower bed in the front of our house and are not attractive.

Oldworldroses, may I ask where in SW Ohio as I live there too. I recently went to my local Lowe's, but the batch they had of First Crush look so miserable they were sending it back. The fragrance was spectacular, however. I initially went to buy a replacement Summer Romance, but it didn't look or smell as I had imagined. .. almost white with no apparent fragrance to me or anyone else. It was mid-afternoon so it could have been the time of day according to the Newflora site. I was just hoping for fragrance. Does anyone else grow SR and is yours fragrant and pink?

I just picked up a Kordes Fitst Crush today for $24.99. Looks great, but I couldn't detect a fragrance which is odd.

My First Crush does have fragrance, but its usually only first thing in the morning. Which is odd because the fragrance is STRONG and lovely in the morning but by the afternoon its hard to detect. Give it time because I remember the exact same thing when I first got mine and the fragrance did in fact come.

Interesting about the fragrance. When I smelled it at Lowe's in later afternoon it was VERY fragrant and the Newflora site states it is most fragrant PM. The Summer Romance, on the other hand, had zero fragrance which again jived with the NFlor info which said it's fragrance in early AM and evening. I didn't buy it as I need to smell it first. I can see how temp, humidity and time of day can affect fragrance. but I wonder if growing conditions do.