I have for the first time got the bug to order rose bands. Mine arrived in the middle of an extreme heat and drought spell of 105 degrees! Here is an alternative to planting directly in the ground if you can't or don't want to. What I did was: I unpacked and sat all of the rose bands in the bathtub and watered them with cool water, misting them off and on for several hours. Then I put them in a pan to drain and left them for a couple of days. (It was 106 degrees out that day, and some of them came from a milder climate) The next day I potted each little rose in a larger gallon pot with good potting soil. Then I constructed a raised bed of four by fours stacked two high, one on top of each other. (in an area behind a shrub bed that only got filtered sun on the north side of my house. I took my huge bag of peat moss and reconstituted it with lots of water. I put the repotted roses in the raised bed and packed damp peat moss all around the pots, then watering in all in so that it was in close contact with the pots. The idea behind this is to keep the roots cool. My theory is that all plants have roots IN the ground, and the ground is always much more cool than the outside air. Therefore, plants like their roots cool. I could have dug and planted them in the cool earth (relatively), but I'd have gotten a heat stroke doing it. At the time, even my full sized rose bushes were suffering even with daily water, and I was having to cover them from the afternoon sun with bedsheets. (it has been EXTREME) I kept the peat moss always moist, so it kept the pots cool (they were buried clear to the top), and watered the roses twice a day, and misted them three or four times a day. I watched them like a hawk, and after a week of not wilting, not curling up, and no bugs or fungus coming out, I was rewarded with a FLOWER on one of them. Three weeks later, they have all put out new growth, some of them 6 inches or more, even in partial shade. And right now four of them have buds getting ready to flower. It is still hot out, but getting cooler, as the mid 90 degree range, but we are still in a drought from hell. I'm watering everything to keep it from dying, but the babies are doing fine. My question is, since it gets to be fall about October/November here, when or SHOULD I put them in the ground? Should I leave them in the pots, or what when I bury them? And I've got 10 more coming in mid September. My neighbor and I went in together on a huge rose order from about 4 different places, and I'm the official rose nurse. I ordered from Vintage Roses, Heirloom Roses, High Country Roses, and Chamblees Rose Nursery. NOTE: The ones that came from one place were not very big (Heirloom) healthy, but small. Do they need different treatment or more coddling?

I usually order a couple of roses each year through the mail and everyone is right. Let them know about it. When ordering through the mail you need to check their guarantee. Some places will not guarantee at all, some will up to a year and I have found one, Michigan bulb that guarantees for the lifetime of your plant. Michigan bulb has a limited amount of roses but DOES replace them. I have Candystripe by them and it is very pretty. Also you can go to Daves Garden and check out the reviews on these catalog companies BEFORE you order. Here is the link and although you can join, you do not have to, to do what I do which is the research. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: http://davesgarden.com/

uh-oh! better get things together. finally got an arbor for the entrance of the rose garden last weekend. brought it home, and the arbor is too narrow! really should have measured before purchasing... but i have to get this together. i want the clematis to grow with the roses. and now i have to make a decision about which clematis. i like so many --- was thinking of getting one for each side of the arbor, but would that look odd? thanks for the tip!!!!! --robbie--

Jon, I have ordered from a few of these vendors. The Uncommon Rose is a wonderful nursery that only deals in own-root roses. I have had very good luck with their roses and they are aptly named - it's a good place to find some odd varieties. Edmund's was recently turned over to Jung Seed Co. I have not ordered from them since the switch. Before the switch, they were one of the best out there, IMO - HUGE rootstocks, very healthy. I don't know if Jung will continue that tradition. To be fair, I have ordered roses from Jung in the past and not been disappointed - I got my Ramblin' Red from them and it's turned into a monster! Northland Rosarium is one I have mixed feelings about. They have a fantastic selection and they only sell own-roots (more on them in a minute). However, I was put off by their pricing policy. I thought they meant the $3.95 handling was a one-time addition to the bill, but they tack it on to every rose. A $13.95 rose ends up over $17, plus shipping. My fault for not reading it closely, but I wish they would just give the full price of the rose, rather than let you think you're getting a great deal. In their defense, the plants I got were healthy and strong. Your call. As MG says above, Pickerings has been an excellent supplier of roses for northern latitudes. They are starting to sell some own-roots but mostly stick with grafted. Selection and prices are great, though their service can be a little spotty, mostly because they have one really great guy doing everything by himself! In my experience, their roses are generally of fair to good quality with the occasional exceptional thrown in. I've had a few die on me, possibly my fault, but they were very prompt in giving a credit for them. As far as the arguments of grafted vs. own-root, they are endless. I don't agree that own-root roses themselves are necessarily evil. It depends at least partly on the type of rose you want to get. In the north, I wouldn't get a hybrid tea rose that wasn't grafted, but I wouldn't get a gallica that was. In the first case, own-root HTs are simply not strong enough to deal with our winters. Incidently, if you do buy grafted HTs, make sure you bury the graft 4 to 5 inches deep - they need the extra protection! In the second case, my only reason for buying a gallica or other 'old' rose would be for a hedge or other large feature - good luck if you think our winters can hold these roses back! Search this site for own-root roses and you'll find lots of good information and probably a few pie fights!