Last week I received 2 roses (DAs "Crocus Rose" and "White Pearl in a Red Dragon's Mouth") from Ashdown Roses. I got an email that they were on sale. They were in excellent shape, and the Dragon's mouth rose has 3 new buds on it. I also received (DAs "Christopher Marlowe") from Jung Seeds a week or so ago, also. It, too was in excellent condition. I would definitely order from either place again. Ashdown's sent me an email that they were delaying shipment until the weather cooled a little....and then the rose arrived as was promised. I am sorry you had a bad experience with J&P....however, you are not the first person I've heard that's unhappy with them. Hope you can get a response from them, or either your money back. Michelle ps...I'm not the Michelle with the adult beverage and the credit card mentioned above ..lol (*.*)

Jackson and Perkins, IMHO, is a model for what went wrong with the rose industry. I don't blame only them for this, but they were the "face" of roses for decades in this nation, and they were responsible for leadership (or a lack of it.) The public perception that "roses are hard to grow" (at least any rose aside from Knockouts) is a direct result of years of trading research and honest effort in for marketing and making a quick buck. There is no excuse for the endless parade of hybrid teas that fall victim to blackspot, the claims of "hardiness" from roses that are not at all hardy in cold climates, or even the lack of own-root roses or alternate root stocks. I can forgive a company for trying to introduce new products vs. just selling classic, unpatented rose varieties, but when the new roses have the same problems year after year for decades, that just points to a complete failure on the part of the company. People have put up with much more nonsense from rose sellers than they have with almost any other garden product: "hardy" roses that are not, "disease resistant roses" that fail to resist any real disease, and so on. Is it really any wonder that the Knockout roses have so effectively replaced all other roses? Why? Because they actually deliver what is promised, and most folks are so shocked by that concept - a rose that actually grows as advertised - that they will only buy that variety for fear of being lied to yet again. While Jackson and Perkins may have at one time been a boon to the industry, they ended up being a perfect example of what went wrong: marketing trumped quality, and we were all left with dead, black-spot covered roses as the result.

This years J&P Test Panel has actually been pretty good in my opinion. I have already stated that I love Summer of Love and Malibu from it and they are definitely keepers for me. As for the other two, the jury is still debating but for the most part it is good news as well. JACdrama, the red/white stripe has bloomed once so far and they were pretty nice but could have a little tighter form to them. The color,size, and fragrance were nice. I hope the form tightens up and that the rebloom is good. If so, I will definitely find a spot for it in the garden somewhere. JACelvet, the dark velvety red, was super slow to break dormancy. I am telling you that it took a good 10 weeks and I thought at about 7 weeks it was about to dry up and die. In a side conversation with the J&P rep one day when they called to try and get an order out of me, I told her of my concerns with it. She offered to send me another so I let her and three weeks later a second one arrived. Lo and behold the very next day my original plant broke dormancy like gangbusters and has done a nice job of catching up with the rest of them. The second JACelvet bush they sent broke dormancy that very first same week so now I have two very good growing JACelvet plants. The bushes are growing vigorously and have started blooming. The blooms could use another few petals to fill them out but the form is decent with good petal shape and petal substance that makes them last a long time on the bush. the color is excellent. Many times first blooming cycles end up with fewer petals on the blooms than what I would like but most times that is one thing that will definitely improve with a little more age and maturity of the rose bush. I truly think this will be a keeper as well and this will be a good rose when it matures. All four bushes have had very good disease and insect resistance with my usual spray program that I use on all my 225+ roses. They've had no disease or insect problem at all even including the nasty little thrips I get each and every springtime. All of the potted bushes were growing well until I sprayed a new amendment item I bought on-line on all my potted roses including 18 mini's on my back deck and my pot ghetto where the test roses are currently growing. The stuff left a greasy,waxy, gray residue on them and stunted the growth of the big roses and almost killed my mini's by defoliating them almost completely. Thankfully they have all rebounded as the stuff has been wearing off of the leaves and the bushes are putting on new foliage growth. This little tragedy slowed the growth on all my roses but they are coming back and I cannot fault the roses for this as it was definitely my fault for spraying them with the stuff--Liquid Karma it's named. Maybe I got the quantity wrong, but I don't think so. I sure won't use it again, that's for sure, so I just wasted my good money for nothing. For the person who asked, all the test roses that J&P is sending out are own root. I was surprised at first by this as o/r hybrid tea roses for me have generally not been very good growers especially in the first year. However, these have been the exception both last year and this one. last years test roses grew and bloomed well and continue to do well this year too. I am condifent that these test roses will do the same. J&P has done a commendable job of carefully and correctly selecting o/r roses that will do well without being on an understock like Dr. Huey which is what they generally use on most of their roses. John

James-you are getting some good advice here, the best information comes from growers in your zone. Listen carefully to what Jeri is telling you. If you use specially mixed rose soil from your nursery let them know you plan to amend with 6" of compost. I know roses are heavy feeders but that seems like a lot. More could be better though but do ask. Also make sure to mix the rose soil and compost together which i think will make for better water penetration. You might want to mix some of the amended soil with the existing garden soil inside the bed as well-again this is about the way water travels in soil. Gemini is an easy to grow, beautiful HT with big flowers. The one thing you should know is that it doesn't really have a scent-at least not to me. A rose i really like is called Elle. Smells delicious, smaller, more compact size, glossy dark green leaves. Color is described as pink and cream but I have found the color to be very variable-always has some pink which can be a light medium pink or sometimes shade all the way to a bright fuschia around the edges. Centers are yellow with peach to orange blends throughout. I really like the shape as well, little more open than some of the HTs. That said i don't live in california and i don't know how she'll do in 4-5 hours of sun. According to me you should wait until spring to get the rose you really want. Plant some cheap petunias or other colorful annuals to get you through until then, rip them out in the spring. Good luck