I prefer full sized balanced tops also but particularly if there is a limited supply specimens like this may be all you can get.

I am much more concerned about the fact that you have it sitting in water. And rather dirty looking water at that. I never do this, there is no need to soak bare rooted plants and if you leave them in water long enough they will lose nutrients to the water, may even drown. And if the water used is not clean it might contain infectious pathogens like water molds.

The water was just a placeholder until I planted it; it's brown due to a bit of humic acid to neutralize chloramine to allow the root microbe innoculant to stay alive.

It doesn't look like the greatest of roses but it doesn't look that bad either. I would go ahead and plant it.

I always soak my bare roots too. Mine are in buckets under lights for now. If you live in a warm climate and you get your bare roots in early in the year you probably can skip soaking but in cold climates they've been sitting in storage a long time and could surely use some moisture by the time we get them. That and the fact that stores around me are getting them in now but there's no way I can plant yet. Maybe a month before I can dig in the yard. It's warm though and they will start to leaf out no matter where I put them. At least in water I know they won't dry out any more and the new growth will be green and not sickly white.

Zwolfey,

Soaking bare root roses is standard practice. A day or two in water should do it. Do not use hot water, cool water only, please.

SWEETNESS is a lovely, fragrant rose.

The top doesn't look bad at all....very healthy and in good condition. The shoots are just erupting...that's good. If I received the rose I would be satisfied with the top canes....but the roots, from what I can see they look chopped off.

That's a grievous negative if they are. I would definitely read them the riot act if I received a rose whose roots were chopped off. J&P should be more responsible.

Body bag roses sold at local businesses come that way, with their roots chopped off, in order to fit into the body bag, but not a reputable nursery's roses. The buyer, you and I, know that fact if we purchase a body bag rose. We are willing to take a chance on such a seriously compromised rose for a number of reasons: cheap price, desired variety, experiment/exercise our nurturing skills on such mutilated roses...a challenge. However, a top rose company should not chop the roots off. This is totally unacceptable.

Please tell me that I'm wrong...that I'm not seeing clearly and need to clean my glasses, and the roots are all intact, or that you chopped off the roots thinking that doing so is OK. If you did, well the deed is done. Proceed with giving the rose the best possible care.

O.T., Zwolfey, Is humic acid an ingredient in the dechlor I use to neutralize the chlorine and chloramine in my fish tank water?

Thank you all for the responses; the plant has definitely perked up since that photo was taken, although some of those smaller canes are dying back a bit. I called JP (or Parkseed I should say) and they were helpful in the sense that they admitted the plant looked small but suggested I plant it anyway and they would replace or refund if it didn't start growing by June. The roots are an ok length, a bit broken off but I'd still say a good 7-8 inches for the most part (much better than the stubby body bags I've found in the past). That being said, the $5 Moonlight Magic I picked up looks much healthier -_-

@Moses W. Thank you for the vote for Sweetness; I'm very excited for it (assuming it grows ok). I had one before (granted in Hawaii) and I was impressed it managed to survive in that difficult climate. I've got much higher expectations for it here in Portland :) As for humic acid, I don't believe that's the ingredient used for water for fish tanks. The only reason I used it was that I had it on hand for some compost tea stuff and had read that organic acids or sugars could be used to neutralize chloramine. For chlorine, I believe leaving the water out overnight in the sun is sufficient to get most of it to dissipate (might need to fact check that though).

It looks Ok to me,though I don't know how much that nursery charges for their plants. A lot of times I (here in Europe) have recieved much, much, much smaller plants,with only one branch coming from the graft, with roots chopped short, etc. For some nurseries it seems to be almost standard practice to shorten the anchor roots quite a bit,actually! Here, we don't have that "the customer is always right" concept,BTW,so in several cases it's worked out better to start the small plant out in a pot and let it grow for a season or so in that before planting out in the garden. Maybe my standards are just lower, lol! In any case, it sounds like their reaction was quite reasonable and acceptable.

I always soak bare-root roses!

I also soak my bare root roses.. probably longer than recommended and they all seem to love it. Tho i change the water weekly and add a little fert. until Im able to pot or find a forever home in the yard.

J&P are very good at replacing roses, I've had two that did not make it. I put in a call and they replaced it no charge. They also recommend diluting epson salt in water and feed the rose that once its planted. Best of luck Zwolfy.