I'm only semi-tempted. The roses in my first order suffered a lot of damage during shipping. I wonder if Ludwig's has made any changes in its packing/shipping practices. I'm also still frustrated by the lack of information on many of these roses elsewhere, such as HMF.com. I'm interested in Amber Panarosa, Kissing, and Fragrant Peace, but I'm hesitant to buy them because I might already have them under other names.

Are you super-impressed by the roses you received from them earlier in the year? I'm not. Monica is growing well, but Naughty Nude is now only a one-cane wonder and Arctic Ice (Le Petit Prince) would have grown much larger by now, I suspect, if I had bought it from Palatine instead.

I agree that Ludwigs' packing and shipping needs some improvement, and I sent back the suggestion that for starters they use a bamboo stick to keep the box from crushing the plants as Heirloom does. It's not a full solution but it would be a good start.

As for thriving, I'd say most of mine are doing pretty well, particularly considering I planted them in MARCH for heaven's sake, long before even bare roots are recommended to plant in zone 5. They got snowed on a little and frosted good several additional times, but came through OK. All of them are well leafed out and at least half of them have new blooms since planting. Only The Painter out of the 12 or 15 I ordered is needing serious recovery time from planting and is a one-cane wonder after the other canes bit the dust. All in all, I'm pretty pleased.

I'm not too very tempted, only because June is my personal cutoff date for planting new roses to get roots established before winter sets in. However, I'll drop them an email and see if some of the ones I'd originally wanted are actually now available (e.g. Happy Birthday, Jardine, Black Magic, Ashram). Ocean in Motion looks pretty nice too. I totally agree that I want to see more hmf info on the roses before I plunge into too many Ludwig bred roses, partly because the info in their website is insufficient for planning size or hardiness.

We'll see what their response is for the roses I want to see if I bite the bullet or wait till next year. Thanks for the heads-up anyway Beth!

Cynthia

Thank you for good news bethnorcal9! I agree I wish those roses had more info on HMF... I went ahead and bought 4 roses that I never really find any more info other than Anja told me or their website. I'm new to roses so I wasn't afraid to repeat any of them :) One of their roses was planted a month ago or earlier. Was sitting there doing nothing and last week it's started adding new growth like crazy! Hope other (which are recently planted) will follow that example. I'm lucky to live in the same city, to stop by and ask questions if I have any! So far I have Zulu Royal, Liz Mcgrath, Perfumery and Delmalogica Passion. Love each of them. Actually, the photo of Liz McGrath on HMF is mine :)

When word first came through on Ludwig's getting ready to open in Phoenix (February?), spent hours researching their roses, hoping for a shot at some of those elusive European choices. The Ludwig's Roses South Africa site is very easy to search, includes full descriptions plus icons you can mouse over for explanation. Clicking the name or photo of any rose takes you to that rose's page. (The ladybug icon stands for their Eco-chic disease resistant roses, the perfume atomizer indicates how fragrant a rose is by how much the icon is filled.) At the top right of each page is a magnifying glass icon - click that & it expands so you can type in a name & then hit your keyboard's enter key, which takes you to the page for that rose. On their home page, clicking Catalogue on the top bar takes you to a detailed search page, where you can enter info or click on the categories listed to the right. http://www.ludwigsroses.co.za/rose-search/

Some of the roses appear exclusive to Ludwigs. Most pages on specific roses include a breeder code, even if only used in South Africa. Searching the rose's name & code in a new window often turns up more info.

Roses grafted on Huey aren't optimal here & early order reports of shipping damage chilled my enthusiasm. May just have to call to ask how they've improved their delivery method. If that sounds positive, might place an order. Thanks for the heads up, Beth!

That is beautiful! I see from HMF that it has a moderate fragrance. Thanks for posting your photos there too.

I ordered Purple Lodge from them. The person I dealt with was a pleasure to deal with. The plant arrived with yellowing and fallen leaves..I think it was due to being shipped a little too wet with not enough air in the rootball. I imagine they erred on the side of too much water as they are in a hot place and want plants not to dry out.

I aired out the rootball a little..left it unpotted a couple of days in some filtered light. It went on to lose most of its leaves but now has a crop of beautiful new leaves and the plant looks great. It was a nice size to begin with. I told them about the leaves and my guess about the reason. Am looking forward to seeing this one bloom.

I'd buy from them again just not right now as I am in remission from the rose acquiring bug.

Mustbnuts, that Candice is irresistible. I'm on Ludwig's site as we speak....

From Mother's Day to Memorial Day they offered 25% off some of their red roses. Being addicted to red roses, of course, I had to stop by and pick up Myth and Pride of England. Not all the red roses were on the discount but I have the advantage of seeing the rose in person and talking to the staff. I think you'll find Ludwig's pretty easy to work with. All of the nursery staff, so far, seems to be from South Africa so they're familiar with the roses and your best source of information until HMF and the ARS assimilate them into their databases.

I really don't need anymore roses... but I want to get AVANT GARDE and I wanted ARTISTA, but I see they no longer list it. Also want that TANNED BEAUTY and I love Fryer roses, so am tempted by MORANGE. Might get HAPPY BIRTHDAY and CANDICE too. Oh and PERFUMERY and maybe FRAGONARD and PHILAE REGIS. Gotta make up my mind....

Zuzu, KISSING is a Delbard rose apparently exclusive to Ludwigs. On the SA website it is called SABINE BOSMAN. I was kinda tempted to order it as well.

Mustbnuts, I love you photos of CANDICE. My roses from Ludwigs have done ok. I had several that broke off almost half the plant in shipping, but they've recovered fairly well. A few have re-bloomed since arriving. I did get one mismarked rose. It was supposed to be LESOTHO PRINCE, a vivid orange rose, but clearly was mislabeled. It arrived with a lavender bloom that Anja seemed to think was PARADISE, but I'm a little skeptical. It hasn't bloomed again so I can't positively ID it as PARADISE. It seemed too pinky to me. Anyway, they sent me a replacement LESOTHO PRINCE. Still hasn't bloomed yet.

Here's what did re-bloom so far:

NEW IMAGINE (they call it JUST IMAGINE)

MYRTHE (they call it MYTH)

SOS CHILDRENS ROSE

The rest haven't re-bloomed yet.

Holy crap! I just did a mock-up order, and for 6roses, it was $158+ ... but the shipping was over $70!!!! OMG what happened? Guess I won't be ordering anything. Yikes!!!

Thanks Beth for posting those gorgeous pictures. I am tempted to get SOS Children and the New Imagine. I just have no space for them either in the ground or in a pot. UGH! Decisions, decisions. There were a couple of others as well. The non-mini Vanilla has the most unusual petals. I need to stay off their SA website....

Oh dear, Beth you've done it again. I absolutely love SOS Childrens Rose. Sheesh. If I weren't waiting for Roses Unlimited sale I'd have to order it right now.

You're right, Beth. The shipping has climbed to an unfortunate level. Besides that, there's something wrong with the whole checkout process. I placed a mockup order for four roses at $103.56. When I reached the last page, the subtotal had jumped to $139.76 (probably the pre-sale price). Shipping was $44.40, way too much for four roses, especially in view of the damage my first order suffered during shipping, and there was also a charge of $8.20 for tax, which I shouldn't have to pay because Ludwig's doesn't have a branch in California. Too rich for my blood. I'm glad I placed the first order when shipping was reasonable.

I can barely find any information regarding zone hardniess and growth habit. It is a pass for me as I don't do impulse buys (or most of the time) :) Don't want to plant something and give it garden space only to find out that they are just garbage where I live

I'm with you Zuzu! I'm glad I placed that initial order a few months ago. Not sure I will place another one again now. I did several mock-up orders and the price is most economical at 5 roses for some reason. With the shipping it's comes out to about $34 per rose. Any more or less, they come out to around $38 a piece. I guess really, that's not that bad when you see how much Heirlooms gallon roses are. Oh and this is with the 10% off. It'll be more when they aren't on sale! Probably closer to $40. Oh well. I don't really need anymore. (I keep saying that... you notice..)

On my mockup order of 4 roses, the total was $192.36, so that's $48 per rose! I'm laughing at you saying you don't need any more. I was saying that more than 1200 roses ago, and I'm sure you were too. Who knew deadheading could turn into a full-time job?

$48/rose?! That's a sale!?!? :-) That's too much for me........

You folks need to take a field trip to Phoenix, albeit when the temps are a little cooler.