hehe this is one I can answer ! I have two Bunnings nearby, and seem to end up at one or the other most weeks.

In my area (south east ish suburban Melbourne ) Bunnings can get bare root ("body bag") roses as early as late May-June. As a rule, these tend to be really cheap end roses; think well out of patent classic/popular hybrid teas similar to Mr Lincoln , Eiffel Tower, Julias rose, Just Joey etc or floribundas like white iceberg, europeana, Bonica and lilli marlene.

But they do get a few of the older more obscure Austins. In previous years I have seen Yellow Charles Austin, The Dove, Perdita, Claire Rose, Cymbeline, Tamora, lucetta, Happy Child etc, It seems to be luck of the draw, because different stores have different varieties..To be honest, I ended up chucking a lot of the body bags of mine, as they were either dud plants, not suitable for my area and didn't grow well, or they were bought in a bargain induced frenzy and were just..wrong..

My advice is to look up all the older austins and make a checklist of ones you would like, so you can avoid the ones you don't have room for.

Still have Cymbeline tho..shes lovely. and its a good way of experimenting on the cheap.

Last year they were all around 9.95 (year before they were 8.95 I think),

They usually have higher priced more popular PBR roses nearby ( think Pierre Ronsard, Ebb Tide, burgundy iceberg, etc). I think they were around 12.95?

Warning- They dont tend to be very good quality , so check them thoroughly for dodgy canes etc, try to get a good look at the graft area, and you have to get them early, as the best ones go very quickly. I think they just get the one shipment, and the rest stay till they get sold...One cane wonders abound!

Keep an eye out for the Delbards - they seem to appear a couple of weeks later as "potted barerooted" for around $ 16 /18. That is, bareroots that appear to have been potted in the minimum sized pot available. They look to be a bit better quality with more and thicker looking canes. Either Delbards is keener on quality control, or the plants keep better that way.

Thanks so much for your reply, Curdle :) I am not far from you in Gippsland, so what works for you should work for me!

I do have a DA wish list, so I'll keep an eye on what Bunnings bring out. I was wary of the quality, with good reason obviously. Sounds like I am better to keep adding to my Treloars order as I keep saving up!

Im going to email them tomorrow to see if I can swap my Black Caviar ones for Lady of Shallot :)

ohh..always liked the look of Black Caviar, but was cautious about buying it cos sadly dark red roses tend to fry out for me. (still trying with Austin's the Prince with little success). Lady of Shallot is lovely though, if you have the room. I was keeping her in a pot but ended up passing her on to someone that had garden enough to give her the space she needed.

Roughly how wide would LOS spread?