Thanks for this update Moses!

Ann

I received an order from Chamblees last month and am pleased.

And, I just purchased a High Country Roses gift certificate which was a great deal, 25% off until the end of the year.

That's great! I was hoping they would keep quarts at the old $11.95 price. Someone mentioned they have them at the store for that price. I use to buy a lot from them, but probably won't buy as many at the higher price.

Vaporvac,

Is it Chamblee's that has/had quarts for $11.95?

Moses

Well, their gallons used to be $$11.95 under the old owners just recently, but someone wrote that they bought quarts for $11.95 AT the actual nursery. They thought that was the normal price and size in addition to the gallon and larger. I'm wondering if it's only for locals. : (( I'm fine buying smaller and growing them up, but as we know, they have some unavailable elsewhere. Beggars can't be choosers.

I now used the Wayback Machine to look at Chamblees site on Jan 8 2017. I was able to see the price for MOTH: $11.95.

In the FAQ section was the statement “ we ship 1 gallon roses...”

Vaporvac,

Could have been clearance items. Anyway, there's hardly a rose source selling any size for under $20.00 anymore. Stargazer (online at Amazon), High Country Roses, and Burlington Roses, are three that come to mind.

Moses

I know, Rifis. the price changed under the new ownership last summer. : ((. I know Moses! It just means fewer roses! I mainly buy ARE with free shipping, Burling and HCR with the Discounted Gift Certificates! I have cuttings so it's hard to justify buying too many more. I'll have to try Stargazer. I'm hardly buying any except some unpatented new varieties. I still want Life of the Party aka Huntington Centennial Rose.

The new owner is more into profit earning. I can understand that, they probably borrowed a business loan to purchase the place, but raise the price too much, too fast could lose customers.

I missed the old price too.

I’m okay with them upping the price if they bring more roses since they have free shipping at 100. My problem is I have what I need from them and so after my spring order comes I won’t have any more to order.

The roses might have been less before, but the shipping was way higher!

Dingo makes a good point. When several years back, Chamblee's was selling roses for about $10.00,_and they had a far more extensive line, I was almost paying as much for shipping as for the roses.

I hope the new owners will sell TRUE one gallon and three gallon roses, with roots all the way to the pot's sides, holding the soil together. Many times a one gallon rose from the old Chamblee's was a pint sized rose, just recently up-potted to a gallon. I will find out soon enough. I am especially anxious to get our Cynthia's (Nippstress), recommendation, Summer Sun.

Although all in all, I was very pleased with the roses old Chamblee's sent.

Moses

Just want to mention that the old Chamblee’s used to have two or three plants in one pot, so you paid $10-$11 not just for 1 rose. :-)

I really hope the old owners enjoy their retirement, they have done some good deeds to this country.

Summersrhythm,

Yes, I do remember taking advantage of the multiple plants per pot. Stretched the dollar quite a bit.

The good memories of Mark and his nursery are part of my rose life.

Moses

You know everyone Moses. I didn't know the old owner's name. Is there a different Mark owns ARE? I hope he won't retire soon. Here is one of many wishes......Chamblee's will drop the price in half in 2020. Hopeless? :-)

Summersrhythm,

There must be two Marks then. One is retired, and the other going strong by all accounts.

I doubt that a price drop is in the future, especially since Heirloom Roses asks over $40.00 for a gallon rose.

Moses

I actually think the price is OK. I just wish they'd sell quarts for a lesser amount. I'm sure I'll buy from them again, but they seem to have dropped many that I wanted. Perhaps as they get the hang of the rose market they'll add some back if they've kept the mother plants. I'm sure they did a cost analysis to determine what price to charge.

Back in 2014, I even bought 6 DA roses from Chamblee at $11.95 each, unbelievable. But only two survived under my black fingers, what a waste.

Thanks for the heads-up about Chamblee's website being up. I always wondered how the old owner Mark could afford to send roses as cheaply as they did at $10 each or so, with nice large well established roses. I don't think their prices are out of line compared to everyone else selling gallons. I just wish they'd expand their product line again. Virtually everything they have is something I either have or have killed too many times to plant again. Among those I fear Moses, is the rose Summer Sun. I've had it fail to overwinter for me at least 3 and maybe 4 times. It looks lovely but don't take a recommendation from me, as much as I love Kordes roses.

Cynthia

Cynthia,

I meant to write Garden Delight, NOT Summer Sun! Sorry about that, and again, thanks for your invaluable advice.

Moses

Moses, happy Hanukkah! :-)

Summersrhythm,

Thank you, and Happy Hanukkah to you and your loved ones, too. I am a Christian, and miracles, as Hanukkah commemorates, are inspirational and faith building to me.

Moses

Thanks Moses. For some reason I thought you celebrate Hanukkah. :-) I am a free spirit, but I celebrate Christmas with my family though, they are Christians. :-)

Ah Moses, that makes sense - Garden Delight is fabulous and comes with my heartiest recommendation! As for which holiday you celebrate, with the name of Moses you would be a shared name tradition between Those who celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas. Blessings to you in either circumstance, and we are grateful for your continued presence here.

Cynthia

Cynthia,

Thanks for your encouraging words. They are precious to me. I hope to be around for a long time.

BTW, it took me a couple attempts to post this short comment. Still struggling with message wipe-outs, and outrageous spell check "corrections," like: "elephant" for excellent, and "instigate" for instead of. I'll persevere.

Moses

I received my order on 11/28/20, shipped from Texas to CA. I got home that evening and was excited to unbox my 5 roses. Upon unboxing, I noticed the plants were green, and some with soft new growths, and I was happy until I started taking them out one by one.

The downside, packaging was quite sloppy. One of the "kiss me kate' roses was bent and broken more then halfway at the main cane during packaging, the invoice and inspection report were crush at the very bottom of the box with dirt, a dirty orange pot was cracked and shoved in between two roses to prevent it from moving during shipping. As I began taking the plants out one by one, they were quite dirty. The leaves visibly had dirt on them, it also had some copperish dust on them, and lots of white mildew on the plants. That's when I took them outside to pressure wash them. However, most of the dirt, copper dust, and mildew did not come off. Quite disappointed at this point and got dark outside, I left them in the garage. I had to cut off a bit more than half of the 'kiss me kate' at the broken bent area due to poor packaging.

The next morning, sun was up and I was able to see the roses better and inspected them thoroughly before planting since most of the dirt, coppery dust and mildew did not come off. Although pressure washed the night before, that morning, I have discovered that the roses were infested with what I thought were mites. First encounter ever with these critters. They were so tiny, and crawling everywhere on the leaves, especially underneath the foliage. These mites can easily be missed. So chilling, I immediately took pictures and videos. I sent the photos to the seller and request for the plants to be shipped back to seller and I wanted a refund. I was unable to upload videos to seller, but did send pictures.

The seller responded with no apologies for the bad experience but insisted that the coppery dust is iron from the East Texas well water full of iron and great for the roses and believe in sending "healthy plants with leaves and lot of times bud and bloom." I guess she forgot to mention healthy plants infested with live mites. She offered no solution to the broken rose, and as another reviewer have stated, they just told her to clip it off, but I had already done that, so I guess not much to suggest there. I paid full price for the plant, but have no choice but to cut off more than half off, so do I get a discount? Seller also identified the mites as spider mites and suggest that I go get some neem oil to treat them. I insisted on shipping the roses back and requested a refund.

However, seller's response was that I need to go get some neem oil to spray the plants and they will be fine. Then to do another treatment again in 7 days and I shouldn't have any other issues. She will talk refund if the neem oil doesn't work. Customers should never have to go buy products to start treating pests on their newly arrived plants.

Under their FAQ: Does Chamblee's have a warranty/refund policy?- "[...] or at ANY time you have a question or a problem pertaining to your rose, Please notify us immediately. We will offer a one time replacment, or issue a credit or refund (less the shipping charges) of the rose(s) only. [...]All roses need to be planted in the ground as soon as possible after you receive them."

Planting them into the ground soon won't be happening . Not trying to infect the rest of my other plants. I have sprayed the plants with an insecticidal soap for organic gardening before the seller got back to me. It's so disgusting and much work. I have emailed another request for a refund and for plants to be shipped back to seller, but seller ignored my request and stopped replying to my emails.

If you are buying online, beware, poor customer service, no apologies, and hard to get a refund unless you spend more money to treat the pests they sent. A refund will only be talked if treatment is not successful. Infested plants are not considered healthy plants. I don't have spider mites in my garden, and without knowing prior to discovering them on these roses, I have pressure washed some of them into my garden. I hope they DO NOT survive!

It's unfortunate. After this experience, I finally came across older reviews and complaints about the same pest issues on the roses they've ordered and sent from this plant nursery.

That is really a mess to say the least and the lack of customer service is dissapointing

To receive roses in that condition is unconscionable!

I recieved a broken rose and the seller immediately replaced that rose, as they should.

I am sad that this happened to you !

It certainly is not a way to get a new company off the ground with terrible packaging and horrible customer service

Let us know how this all works out

I have received plants (different vendor) in the condition you describe and they did fine. Don't wish for the plants to die. Give them to a kind friend who can rescue them. It is not the plant's fault.

If you are keeping them, I would remove all the leaves and dispose of them in the trash since that is were most insects are. I am sure the roses will do fine, but I would be more concerned about introducing a new pest in the garden. CA is full of dozens of types of spider mites though. I did once remove all leaves and soaked an entire bareroot rose in a hydrogen peroxide solution since I was worried about disease and pests and saw evidence of it on the leaves. It did great once planted! I am not finding any notes on what percentage hydrogen peroxide that I used but I soaked 5 min in something pretty strong, probably 1-2 cups of a standard 3% solution per gallon water. https://homeguides.sfgate.com/kill-spider-mites-peroxide-82697.html