I got my order in today.... Very excited.

I do have a question on one of them

This is Osiria ---- it looks black

Should I say something.... or do you think it will be Ok?

The rest look great

This is the box arrival

The pink bent over flower is Johnny Becnel... Unfortunately it was broke off the plant... but that is to be expected. I placed it in a glass of water. Hope it opens all the way.... my kitty thinks he should be able to eat it....

Then I made a mistake.... my mistake not theirs. I order Purple Rain.

For some reason I thought this was a HT.... and I thought it was supposed to be very fragrant.... neither apply.... it looks healthy... cute flowers.... but no scent :( Don't know where I will put it.... sad

Table Mountain came in.... very tall... Nice looking plant.... so excited

I also got Twilight Tyrst....

Very Healthy looking plant. Supposed to be very fragrant.

And Lobo another HT had a flower. and it is fragrant!

All in all I am happy.... More upset about ordering a non fragrant rose Purple rain than the Osiria that doesn't loot the best....

Oh well, I am happy over all

Sharon: that’s (PR) a nice color. I believe Peter K wrote in his famous book that he was so impressed with it that he lined an allee from his house in Maine down to the sea with it. So cheer up. It’s supposed to have excellent health and flower power. Put it in front.

I was fairly close

https://books.google.com/books?id=ge8eBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=kukielski+purple+rain+rose&source=bl&ots=JBycbjfQJ-&sig=ACfU3U16e3AG7fXLe7GOcnVLfcdyOEZeTg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfkujXq5vqAhUCa80KHa-nCwkQ6AEwCnoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=kukielski%20purple%20rain%20rose&f=false

Not really upset.... but I need to ASK next time.... because HelpmeFind.com has more than one Purple Rain.... I was thinking the Hybrid Tea....

But I think when mistakes are made.... one should embrace them.... but we should also learn from them..... I have the embrace part down.... now I just have to learn from them ;) . Thanks for the link

Sharon: I wouldn't say much about Osiria. One year I ordered Duchess de Rohan & others from RU and I left them in plastic bags .. It rained all night & all day and Duchess' plant got all yellow. I chopped it down to 1/2 and it grew new shoots & gave me blooms. Duchess is not supposed to repeat but thanks to my chopping it down to 1/2, it gave me blooms. Osiria is a hybrid tea and hybrid grow canes back fast. Another time I put garbage cans over Dee-lish and Munstead Wood to protect the roofers from dropping shingles down when they put a new roof for my house. DUMB MISTAKE. I literally cooked the top of both roses to death at 90 F, despite air gaps below. So I chopped them down 1/2 and they bloomed great. My zone 5a winter kill most roses down to the crown, but they sprout new canes & bloom better on new wood.

Sharon: Your Purple Rain shrub received is WAY BETTER looking than the Purple Rain hybrid tea (only moderate scent). I'm into purple fragrant roses, and most of purple fragrant roses with strong scent lose the fragrance in hot weather. That includes Big Purple, Wise Portia, Princesse Anne, Deep Purple, Twilight Zone, and Intrigue. Only Young Lycidas retains its scent in hot weather but that's a very wimpy rose. I had grown 130 varieties mainly for fragrance, but I would choose your Purple Rain shrub over the Purple Rain hybrid tea for the shrub's fantastic look & lots of blooms.

straw how does your Big Purple do. It has been on my radar for a long time. I have both twilight zone and Intrigue. Intrigue is very UNHEALTHY in my area. But I love his flower and his fragrance. I have him in a pot. He is on Dr. Huey so he can't go in the ground here.... even though he is a sick puppy, I tried to get another one in those body bags. I got it, but it turned to be Paradise.... not something that I would have bought.... another mistake.... it was mislabeled... but as I said I try to like mistakes.... in fact that was a good mistake and I actually bought another on fortuniana because I REALLY liked it.... I think the same thing will happen with Purple Rain.... I just have to find a place for it.

Twilight Zone is fragrant.... it does well fall through spring here..... it really struggles in the summer.... mine is never purple. I have seen some REALLY beautiful pictures of it being purple. Mine is redish....

MNDutch RoseGuy please let me know how Julia's Rose does for you! I almost ordered it but had heard that it was wimpy in the cold. If it lives for you I will have it on my wish list for next year.

@joeywyomingzone4 i do bring all my roses inside a frost free garage, so they are not exposed to the harsh cold.

Have heard Julia's Rose does much better grafted, is an own root wimp. I can testify to that - I have coddled mine in the ground and its barely there. Havent seen it grafted - not going to try it again, there are better roses I can grow, though its color is lovely. Spiced Coffee is a lovely rose and is a strong grower for me.

Sharon: I have Big Purple in my garden for 8 years but it died this dry winter. It's a large bloom with many petals so it needs either wet potting soil, or dense clay for maximum water-retention. Intrigue has even darker green leaves so it breaks out in black spots with acidic rain. Big Purple is much healthier than Intrigue. Intrigue's scent is stronger. Big Purple scent doesn't come out until cool weather, and it's an Old rose scent versus Intrigue's spicy-rose scent (very much like Barbara Streissand). I would recommend Big Purple for high-rain climate since I directed my rain-spout dumping the entire trash-can of rain-water on it, and it never black spot (it's next to my patio with a limestone based), so that limestone base neutralizes the acidic rain. Below Big Purple in my garden:

MNDutch RoseGuy A zone 5a person told me to winter-protect Frederic Mistral, but I forgot to winter-protect it one winter, and lost it after 3 years. When I dug Fred up, its roots were big and woody like trees' roots, but they run on the surface, and don't go deep past 1 foot like Austin roses. Frederic Mistral needs at least 6 inch. of wood-chips or leaves to keep moist, otherwise roots dry out and die if there's no snow in the winter. It also gets WIDE & TALL as own-root, and is stingy unless doused with high potassium and phosphorus fertilizer. I would use a Bloom-formula like NPK 2-20-40 (Amazon has such) on such big roses to keep it small and force more blooms. It was really stingy the first year, then I bought sulfate of potash and it did "cluster blooming" like 6 buds on one stem. I prefer Cantigny rose park approach: they use higher-phosphorus fertilizer to make Fred pump out 20+ blooms (one large bloom per branch), much easier to cut for the vase. I would use low nitrogen (Rose-Tone once a month is enough, but SOLUBLE fertilizer high in phosphorus and potassium) to force stingy Fred to bloom. Fred has a stingy-Mr.Giant reputation even with Pakistan rose-growers (grafted on their root-stock). Below is Fred breaking out in cluster blooming when doused it with sulfate of potash and gypsum. It was an accident, I dumped out too much fertilizer.

got my rose order today, that was very fast. Sadly the lady of the mist had two branch and both were broken at the base. I sent RU an email, I am hoping they replace this one. There were a lot of broken branches this time, but not at the level as this one..

Do we have to pay shipping on every rose? Thats a deal breaker for me:(. I am in zone 8, so $8 on every rose?

Purilisa: I'm so sad to see your pics. That rose is broken so near the base, it would take at least 2 months to grow back the cane. I hope things will be resolved well for you.

R pnwz8a: Yes, shipping charge on every rose, plus $5 handling for the entire order. That's why I pay by check via slow mail to avoid the credit-card processing fee (another $5). I'm looking out my window, the band-size roses I bought from High Country Roses this year (received May 20) are 1/2 size of the gallon that Roses Unlimited send for their summer sale. That's why shipping charge is cheaper for band-size. I don't mind paying money for BIG ROSES that bloom right away, compared to the $7 cheap bare-roots (grafted-on-Dr.Huey) that I got from local Menards .. they sprouted 3 or 4 leaves and won't give me a bloom until late Oct. Plus Dr. Huey will take over if the own-root die in the winter. The last time I spent 1 hour killing Dr.Huey-rootstock, so I will NEVER buy grafted roses again, even if they are $7 each with zero shipping charge at local store.

Also first-time buyer gets top choices from the selection. When I was 1st time buyer in 2011, I called and got my 3 choices right away (Austin roses), despite calling in when the sale was almost over. As I become a regular customer, I no longer get such treatment. This year I had to e-mail Pat many times with super-long list of alternatives since the ones I want are sold out. Customers from far-away with higher shipping charge get their top picks of the roses on sale. My husband told me "spend the money for the few that YOU REALLY WANT, rather than buying things just because they are cheap and you don't enjoy them." He's right, I once bought 12 roses from Burlington just because the shipping was cheap at $20, but I didn't care for most of them & they died through winter. But if I had bought only 2 roses, I would had spent more time researching and treasure them more because I really want them, not because they are on sale. So this week I asked Pat Henry for the ones NOT on sale at regular price of $21 but they are sold out, esp. Austin roses.

I much rather buy the bigger (1 or 2 gallon roses) and less of them then the smaller band roses. After a month or so growing band, 1 and 2 gallon and bare root (grafted) roses, I must admit that I find more satisfaction in the 1 or 2 gallon own root roses than in my band roses, they are still very little and "weak" (even worry about them in my frost free garage). I'm only very satisfied with the Austin grafted roses, they are doing wonderful. On the other hand, with band roses you can, specially if you are like me and growing them in pots, you can have a few varieties and see which one you like and which ones you don't like, without spending too much. Shipping is always a deal breaker for me, not only with roses, but with everything I buy online. That's why I love Amazon. With roses however I found that you get what you pay shipping for (except Edmunds), Antique Rose Emporium charges a good amount for shipping, but the plants are big and good looking, they are probably 1 or 2 years ahead of the band roses I bought. Yes, shipping is steep, I had to pay $8.00 per rose too, but I'm willing to pay that if I get good sized roses.

MN Dutch - watch for Antique Rose Emporium's Black Friday sale - they do free shipping on your order. Hoping they do it again this year!

@MNDutch RoseGuy , I ordered from Antique rose emporium during their last free shipping sale, the plants I got were bigger and older than RU.

@strawchicago z5 This time, I was very disappointed as so many plants had broken branches-big pieces broken not small branches. One plant was completely broken at the base. When I reported it to RU, they said file a claim with UPS. So they are not responsible for damaged package. So if UPS refuses and RU refused then I have now paid for a small stub of a plant. This particular plant had a long branch and smaller one, and the way it was package is what caused it to break.Don't think this is ups fault. There is no buffer at the top.

purilisa When there are many plants broken, it's UPS fault. UPS is very good in repaying the damage. I know someone who got paid hundreds of dollars by UPS for her computer malfunction through shipping, later on her computer was fixed & found out that it was NOT UPS's fault. I ordered at least 12 times from Roses Unlimited in the past decade, and ZERO BRANCHES were broken by their packing method. Same with the 2 friends in my Chicagoland who ordered since 2010. UPS is clearly responsible and they will pay the damage in shipping. This is the first post among the many on Roses Unlimited that report such extensive damage. UPS should pay at least 1/2 of the total cost of your plants.

purilisia: you can also talk to your credit card company or bank if you used a debit card, why you are unhappy with your purchase/transaction. For me they have always taken care of it and I got a full refund. Once for glasses and once for online purchase of dresses from china. In this case it is absolutely RU's responsibility. They picked the carrier service and charged you mightily for it as well for the packaging. That is how it is in the US marketplace. If it were me I would not let it go. Its your money. If you paid by check there may still be a way.

Straw: Thank you for reminding me about Perle d'Or! I kept mixing it up with Reve d'Or.

Do you have any idea how I might be able to get Annie L. McDowell? Own root or grafted???

And when one orders from ARE Black Friday Sale is there still good inventory left? How do yo get your order in on time?

I have Annie L. McDowell in my zone 5 for many years. It's best as own-root (non-stop blooming). Burlington Roses in CA has Annie. Shipping cost is cheap but band-size is VERY TINY, 1/2 the size of High country roses' band.

Straw: are you sure Burlington has it? I think I asked are and she said no. I will check. Any other source?

I got 3 Annie from Burlington in different years, way back in 2012. Burling is a friend of Kim Rupert (Roseseek), he's the breeder of Annie. But Annie is hard to root with Burling's less rain climate, one has to ask Burling in advance for reservation.

purilisa your break is much worse than the break that I had... mine was way up while yours is down low. It does look like you will be able to cut it and get new growth... but that really isn't the point.... especially when you pay for the plants. Hopefully RU will be able to help them out for you.... I am SURE it isn't there fault... but hopefully they can get UPS to rectify the problem....

I use to buy my kitty his canned cat food from our local Sam's Club, but when they closed it down, I did not want to drive to the other one 20 miles away.... so I tried to order it on line. I also tried from Chewy's ... and from Amazon... in all three cases the CANS were not only DENTED some of them EXPLODED.... I SWEAR the UPS driver (Amazon now has their own driver but they use to use UPS) use to throw the box up in the air and body slam it just to hear the food cans explode.... so when my box of roses came in the side was slightly crushed I figured the UPS guy was up to his old tricks.....

Interesting. I found ALMcD extremely easy to root. All cuttings took, but unfortunately died do to the early cold snap in November that froze the baby roots in my vestibule. I do not believe it is your responsibility to claim as it is the shipper that pays the insurance and is reimbursed. The same thing happened with my first order from Chamblees and they immediately replaced telling me that's what they pay insurance for. That's disappointing.

Sharon: Thank you for the truth about UPS guy. A friend said his daughter wants to divorce her husband .. this guy works for UPS with such overtime that he's never home. UPS job is the most stressful job. I talked to a young guy and he quit UPS after a few months. Google and you'll see "UPS drivers lead the industry in alcohol and substance abuse associated with stress at UPS UPS drivers rank in the top 9% of most stressed adults in the nation 1.8 million worker suffer workplace injuries, 600,000 of those injuries are “ergonomic related” such as repetitive motion." I got my order from High Country Roses this May with zero broken branch and the UPS guy was friendly & took time to chat, so it depends on locality.

VaporVac: Annie needs acidic rain water to grow, and Burling in dry & hot CA doesn't have the rain to root Annie. Annie died instantly on my sister in Mission Viejo, CA since she doesn't have the rain to nourish Annie as a tiny band.

Yes. My cuttings root much better with rain than hose watering or misting.

I did get two ALMs from Burling and they are great. I think she found them slow to grow own root, but it is such a wonderful rose I wish she would do it anyway. I bet some customers could turn a grower off attempting the special ones. If I were Burling, I would only send ALM to patient people who are very kind to baby roses.

I emailed her yesterday to order roses but I’m probably too late.

vaporvac: I use water from my toddlers baby pool for watering most plants, it’s a day old hose water and sometimes older mixed with rain, leaves etc. The birds and my cats all seem to love nature tea water. Yuck lol

I did not want it to sound like I don't think there are good people at UPS.... in fact I know several that are... my ups driver at my office is very friendly and courteous.... sometimes if I am putting an order together for shipping and not quite done, he comes back even if I say he can pick it up the next day.... there are good and bad people in every walk in our life.... Sad that the people get so stressed out.... I use to always be stressed.... I had to over come it.... mind over matter.... my health depended on it.... and roses helped me destress.... I love to walk through my garden.

Sharon: You said it so well, thank you. Roses with calming scent like Princesse Charlene de Monaco DE-STRESS me & bring me temporary to heaven. Last fall was rough on me, my Mom at 93 was sick and my 8 older sisters were fighting over Mom .. I was so stressed out and the only relief was sniffing roses, esp. Princesse CdM. Last fall I forgot to winter-protect roses with leaves, and lost Stephen Big Purple (lived in my garden for 8 years as own-root). I look forward to sniffing St. Cecilia (also died in winter). No matter how big their roots are, I need to winter-protect with leaves during dry winter.

Received my 6 roses from Roses Unlimited Summer Sale yesterday July 1 at 6:00 pm. This is the first time in a decade that I got dented box with hole. I ordered more than a dozen time from RU since 2011. UPS guys are overworked with the Covid-19 crisis. Thank God there's only one TOP tiny branch broken off. Box has a big dent on top, and ripped at the side. In my 15+ times ordering from Roses Unlimited, this is the 1st time that I got a broken branch.

But I'm happy with the plants I receive: very healthy with big stems. Plus the plants are tall so I can plant at least 4" deep for zone 5 winter survival. Below pictures compare the gallon-size roses ($12 summer sale) from Roses Unlimited with the band-size roses received from High Country Roses mid-May ($19 to $18 each). Gallon size is many times bigger than band-size. I planted the band-size in a warmest location and will move it after they survive zone 5 winter.

Do you get an email with shipping or tracking information? My order was supposed to ship out on Monday, but I haven't heard anything to know whether it did or not.

I did not get a tracking number either, but I did receive my order today. one of my boxes was a little crushed too, see picture. The roses in that box were a little damaged

, Artistry got the worst of it, but after cutting a few branches off it is a good as new. All the roses I got will make it, it’s super hot and humid here in MN, so I had to unpack them quick during my lunch, I work from home, before they start cooking in their box. Here is where I think things could possibly improve I agree the plants are of excellent quality and big, but here lays also a packaging issue, these plants are not bigger than heirloom or antique rose but yet their packaging is excellent. Heirloom I can understand, they are a big company and they charge a lot per rose, Antique charges a lot for shipping too. I think they use a sturdier box. As I said before I’m not a big fan of staples but that’s just a personal thing. At the end of the day what counts is the quality of the plants and I think Rose Unlimited is doing a great job. I don’t think they are cheap even with this sale, due to shipping charges, but I would buy from them again. One more thing, the communication could be a little better but I can deal with that.

Straw, HCR often has a coupon up to 20% off, a 25% reduced gift certificatein the Autumn, as well as their Fall sale. One can specify shipping date with all these sales. This significantly reduces the price of their roses.

straw I am so sorry about your mother's health and your sibling problems.... that is the stress that I had a few years ago too. My mother passed away and brother had gotten the farm in SEVERE debt... taking out money in mom's name... though she knew about it.... they figured if my father passed away (because he was in worse health) they could pay off the debt. but mother passed from a massive stroke. My sibling wanted me to pay off his debt and I refused to do it... he threatened me, my father... the rest of the family.... it was awful. Then my brother tried to take over the farm because Dad was not able to do the books... Dad put me in charge and my brother went ballistic.... I could not take all the pressure and ended up coming back to Florida a couple of week early... got here the night before hurricane william hit.... it was suppose to be a tropical storm but came in as a cat 3.... I lost the roof of my house and my ofiice..... which led to more problems.... but in short it took a REAL TOLL on my health... I got old before my time. I lost my balance and could hardly walk.... gained tons of weight.... lost part of my vision ..... but then I decided to get a dog and garden. I got up and took Oracle for a walk about 5 am.... get back and do some gardening before heading to the office... It really turned my life back around... I learned the hard way that stress is bad.....

I never got an email back :( I guess I was too late. Dutchguy are you Dutch living in the USA? If so, me too! :)

@CottageGardenRoses-paz6 yes, born and raised, moved here when I was 29. i have not dealt with her before, so I don’t know if she is just really busy or is not really that responsive.

joeywyomingz4b I get zero e-mail from RU regarding shipping date, but after my check was cleared, I got the boxes delivered within a few days.

sharon2079 My Mom passed away peacefully Oct. 2019, and my siblings are at peace ever since. I'm so sorry about your brother being so bad. Gardening is my "heaven" time. At 58 I realize that I can't control others' behavior, so I control my behavior .. that is, to find my own happiness, rather than depending on others' for my happiness.

Straw, I am so sorry to hear about your Mom. I recall you writing about her often and know you must miss her so much. Sharon, that is just terrible making a hard time even worse and robbing you of a chance to grieve and take care of yourself. I'm glad you were able to find some sort of respite.

I think the RU owner lost her husband and is carrying on alone and doing the best she can. I'm sure I wouldn't do as well.

Straw sorry about your mother. I know you miss her.

Sheila you are correct. I admire RU for continuing on.... I hope she gets some peace and enjoyment sending out roses to those of us who order .... knowing that she is spreading some joy..... one should not be upset with her for what happens in shipping.... I do believe that some of the drivers thinks it is a game.... how much can I bang up this box? Not a very fun game for those who are waiting on packages.....

I'm just glad she didn't call it a day.... I couldn't imagine.

Pat, Stephanie are wonderful! Mine arrived yesterday - nothing broken and Tempi Moderni had a bloom on it. My UPS driver must have been in a benign mood!

StrawChicago I am so sorry to hear about your mom. Prayers for your family.

My RU order arrived this afternoon and I am happy with the roses. The box was very crumpled and I was worried that they might be damaged but they were good inside. Rhapsody In Blue (my alternate since Lady of the mist was sold out) has lost all but the top couple of leaves but the canes look good so hopefully it will fill out again. The roots on one Wollerton Hall were broken almost in half so I immediately put it into a bigger pot to get them protected and under some soil. Hopefully it pulls through.

I have a feeling a lot of newly hired helped is compounding this shipping damage problem.

Vap, that is probably true. The roses are packed well and very healthy so hopefully everyones' will start growing quickly. We had a big surprise rain late today so mine got that wonderful rain water to kick start them. By the way.....I found a much easier way to open the RU roses - which you all probably know, but I just now figured it out. I started using a box cutter - What used to take me forever I now do quickly.

I think it the "crushing" of the boxes must have happened in the first distribution center, since we all come from different areas in the US and all have the same damage to our boxes. I planted all 12 yesterday and they look healthy and big, even Artistry doesn't look too bad. I was worried that it was the rose I really was looking forward too, because I always have that "luck" that something I really want is either the only one that is out of stock or the only one that's small/damaged/DOA when I open the box. These are for sure the last roses I order this summer, it is super hot here in MN and that takes the fun out of planting. Now I can sit back, somewhat, and enjoy my roses :)