In Indiana you probably won't see packaged roses come in until early March. Maybe late February but I'm not sure. When you start to see them get them early. They will have already been in cold storage for many months and the stores will not take any kind of care of them. The sooner you can get them home and start babying them the better. Warmer climates have already had packaged roses in stores since before Christmas. So they were much fresher for them. By the time we start getting them in the colder climates they can be pretty dry. Pick the ones that look the plumpest and moistest and don't bother with any that look dried out. When you get them home open up the tops of the packages and water them! You can store them in a cool, dark place for several weeks to keep them dormant until it is warm enough to pot them up but during that time you want to keep them watered. It doesn't have to be a lot but keep the packing medium (a lot of times that's sawdust or wood chips) damp.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2807749/austin-roses-at-whole-foods

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2864831/about-the-david-austin-bagged-root-roses-out-there-now

I take a trip to Houston every February to visit a friend and get my 15% off gardening supplies as I am a member of the Houston Rose Society. We always used to go by Whole Foods because they would offer David Austin roses about that time in lovely boxes tied with pretty ribbon. Really good plants. The last 4 years - they didnt have them. I called DA about a week ago and they told me that they were selling out of roses so fast they werent able to sell to other places much. So......I am surmising that DA roses are going to be hard to come by or impossible to get at places like Whole Foods, nurseries.......I just got an order in a week ago and looking at my list now to see what else I want to order. I would suggest ordering from them in case they should sell out later on......am thinking if people wait thinking the nurseries that had them last year will have them this year then they dont - then DA's stock gets low.......these roses will be hard to come by, then you never know what DA is going to discontinue..........Now I could be wrong and they will ship to a bunch of nurseries, but this is what the girl I talked to told me. Evelyn is so back ordered it will not be available until 2022 and who knows how fast others will sell out. Gabriel Oak and Eustacia Vye seem very popular so am glad I got my order for them in right away. Their catalog should be mailed out the end of January they said. I live 2 hours away and always before, just pick my roses up as well as a catalog but due to covid, no pickups at all, so mine have to be shipped.

There has been mention in a couple different threads from people in different states saying that their local nurseries that normally carry DA wont be able to their orders filled this year.

I am lucky to live near a big and wonderful local nursery that sells hundreds of DA roses every year. Well not this year. They are offering just 12 Austin rose varieties, and only four of them are non yellow (DA must have had a few yellows left in their inventory to share). What a way to treat a seller that has sold huge numbers of Austin roses for years. I do know that online sales of seeds have skyrocketed, too. Many seed varieties are out of stock that are normally easy to get this time of year. To make matters worse, the postal service is very slow, sellers warn, and one seed seller is totally shut down with the staff quarantining. Diane

Oh, Diane, let's hope our national nightmare is over soon.

That is all really helpful! I’ve heard from a few different nursery owners that it has been absolutely insane how busy they’ve been since COVID! It makes me happy to know that they are getting good business, and more people are paying attention to their gardens, but it makes it challenging for the rest of us haha!

Seil, thanks for the advice on snagging any bareroots as soon as they come out and then keeping them moist but dormant until it’s proper time to pot! I wouldn’t have thought of that! :)

Diane, alameda, librarian, thanks for the heads up that DA’s are becoming tricky to get your hands on.

Another question I’ve been wondering: So normally I’d just order bareroot roses in the spring, especially since I’ve heard that its least stressful for the roses to be shipped bareroot, but due to moving circumstances, I’m hoping to do a fall order of plants from hopefully DA. Has anyone in the Midwest ordered roses during the fall planting season? Did the plants do okay? Or would you just recommend me to wait until Spring 2022 to order bareroots?

And rifis, thanks for the links to old threads on DAs at Whole Foods. Too bad it’s not still like this! Oh well, I guess them not being able at other stores in order to keep up with their online sales is a good thing, since it means more people are planting roses!

Ive never found any Austins at Whole Foods just at Lowes. They were labeled as something else.

A few of our local Lowe's carry DAs, but it's only a variety of 3-6 each year it seems.

I even still have my DA Fragrant English Rose box that I purchased at Whole Foods in Glastonbury CT .

Hoping to purchase again !

Madison - the best possible rose info/advice comes from people who garden where you do - have you moved to Iowa? What part, vaguely, and do you know what climate zone you are now gardening in? That info may help someone who is near to you give you more specific info about DA roses and how they do in your new area, and where to get them.

Jackie