I'll be very interested to hear how everyone's Martha Stewart rose does!

I believe otto and sons will have martha this spring too ! i want to see it in person :)

echo , thats such a pretty rose ! is that the climbing one ?

Whoops @HU-659494112 I totally missed your question. The portion of crown that had gall was buried and would have remained so if I had not taken it out of the pot and washed the roots off, which is what I do with all bare root roses. If they look good, then they get soaked (just roots) with a smidge of Root&Grow added to the water for however many days it takes to see swollen buds ie breaking dormancy. Does this actually do anything for the rose? Who knows, but at least I get to look at the roots and trim broken ones and dead canes.

Jen, I have never been to Otto and Sons. Is it worth the drive?

Lily, not a climber, HMF says up to 5ft tall though

Strange I don't see this message on here.

SD Shine, you are most excited of MS than fancy florist roses? You are a big Martha fan too? I love her, she cracks me up.

What florist roses do you have or want? What did you think of sorahana? I'm guessing your local contacts don't have her.

Yes the drive to ottos is worth it !! They have a gorgeous display garden . It’s a bit over 2 hours for me, so I’ve only been once and I that was pre covid . They have expanded the gardens and on instagram they look even more stunning . I do plan on going this year , by myself ( or with friends but one thing is for sure I’m not bringing my family bc they do not enjoy these places like I do ! 🤣)

Armstrong’s can order it in if you live by one too .

The more I look at Martha the more tempted I am to just get it . I usually don’t go for hybrid teas tho .

However .. Armstrong’s also got this in and I am very tempted bc I adore roses of this coloring. Anyone else see it ?!

SD- I Thought I’d suggest something for your return issue . Can you just go choose another bare root pot , purchase it , bring it home and return that one with the galled rose ? It would essentially be the long way around getting a good rose and not paying again for it . Sorry you couldn’t return it . Our store seems very forgiving I’ve seen dead as can be plants returned that I’d be so ashamed to even walk back in lol

Whopps my pic dodnt load

The company that is producing these' Coffin Roses' that are being sold in Lowes and other places, is Panam Nurseries, which has facilities in the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. I was curious as to the rootstock that they were using, as I know that many Canadian rose propagators (Palatine and Hortico) use Rosa multiflora as the rootstock rather than the Dr. Huey rootstock that is more typical in the US. I called them today and found out that they are using a virus-indexed Dr. Huey rootstock rather than the R. multiflora as they believe that the Dr. Huey rootstock does a better job in providing more water to the plant. He also thought that there were issues in that R. multiflora in now considered a 'noxious weed' in PA, MO, VA, WV and other states, as it is displacing native species, which entered into their decision to choose Dr. Huey. A few roses, such as 'Bolero', 'Bliss', and 'Earth Angel' are being propagated on their own roots.

John, coffin roses ⚰️💀. I can see it now.

I forgot which one is better for California. Multiflora or DR. Hey?

Jen, I would be happy to tag along if you decide to go and want some company. I can chip in for gas too. I went last year to the Huntington garden and spent too much time in their tea house, that I really did not get to see much, and I would love to go back there as well.

SD,

I just returned to this thread & see way up Lowes changed, I guess. Home Depot tracked a receipt for me. Lowes used to trace receipts here in NY. Guess dont know if they still do. Sorry. I know I took store credit once. I always need something at Lowes. LOL! I hope you got sonething for that damaged rose.

Wowza!

You Californians are really shopping for roses in box stores NOW! Looks soooooo much fun! Very Exciting! Have fun!!!

I am sitting on my bed, online with the sun now shining in my window glistening over the snow covering everything outside! 18F & I am staying inside! I bought a rose bouquet, White O’Hara,” from A&A. Cozy online shopping & Hot Chocolate is the only type of shopping I will do today! LOL!

The majority of my roses are grafted on Dr Huey, but I do have a lot of roses grafted on multiflora. These roses are all from Canada originally. Both rootstocks do equally well in the alkaline soil, dry air and our high summer heat. Many of these roses are from 18-20 years old and going strong. The two own root roses I grow are not on par with my grafted roses. Diane

How interesting that Otto's and Armstrong's are going to have Martha, since it's touted as being an Edmund's exclusive this year :-D

Susan, yeah that is very interesting! Haha so much for exclusive.

z10Socal: BenT gets credit for coining term 'Coffin Rose' for these products.

I generally prefer own root, provided they grow reasonably well on their own roots, which most (95%+?) varieties do. I have never received a rose grafted to Rosa mulitiflora that was virused; I think that most of the R. multiflora rootstocks may be grown from seed. The roses grafted to this rootstock have always done well in my garden. My last choice is Dr. Huey, as some companies are carelessly using virused Dr. Huey rootstock, which eventually infects the scion on the rosebush. However, roses grafted to this rootstock have always grown well in my garden. Over the years, the layer of cells between the rootstock and scion seem to degrade and the plants grew weaker after 10 to 15 years. On the other hand, in visiting some of the California Spanish Missions, you can find roses growing vigorously on their own roots that are over a century old!

Growing weaker. Haha.

Jude the Obscure 20 years old.

Julia Child, two of them, 19 years old.

Hi Diane,

I wish I had photos to post to document my experience in Gilroy, CA, but I don't. I guess it's one of those YMMV issues. Based on my experience, I now produce own root plants from grafted varieties that I really like and want to have for a long time, then discard the grafted plant, so the longevity of grafted rose plants is no longer an issue.

I have to compliment you on growing such exceptional specimens of those 2 roses for 19 years! You are obviously doing a lot of things right.

Thanks, John. My only two laggards are own root, so you'll pardon my negativity about own root roses. Since I'm 79, I don't worry too much about my roses growing another 20 years. I'm certain that who ends up with this place is not going to want to grow all the things I stuff into my garden. As the saying goes, sort of, when the gardener goes, so goes the garden. I've lived in both the South Bay and Redondo Beach at various times. I can't count the times I've driven by Gilroy on my way to Monterey. How goes the Garlic Festival? Sorry. But I've grown a little garlic, too, though my big specialty is hot peppers. At my previous home, about 25 miles from here, the roses grew just as well. It's dry and hot in summer and we have no rose fungal diseases, and few insect pests, especially in the dry hills where I now live. I think that helps a lot, though the big downer is we have to irrigate regularly--precip at 10 inches per year here. Diane

John, I remember Lisa would always prefer own grown root. Roses must be vigorous here. However, like Diane my Jude is puny too, it's only three years but its growing so slow.

Has anyone seen roses @ Costco yet? I'm not a member but if there's something tempting I can ask someone who is to get it for me.

Soozie

I saw someone else post Sam's Club has them

Yes I had seen that & wondered why not Costco too. But Costco is usually late right? Just like Aldi. My local Walmart cleaned out their outdoor section right after Xmas & it remains bare. I was hoping to get a Pretty Polly Lavender this year from them as I missed the chance last year. But perhaps Walmart is phasing out their outdoor plant section?

Soozie

Yeah Walmart used to have beautiful plants-- dwindled down to horrible plants last year. I wouldn't be surprised if they did just get rid of it.

I hate this new world. I also saw Costcos  are planning on getting rid of their book section.

:(

Carla

Soozie , I’m sorry I can’t remember where you are exactly but my Walmarts haven’t had bare roots in a couple years. And the plants thy do get die not long after delivery. One yer they put all the bagged bulbs in a parking lot with mulch to sit in the sun .. the next they were inside by the pool chemicals. I’ve been so disappointed in them . Luckily our Home Depot and Lowes got a really nice selection

Lilyfinch I agree Walmart has horrible bare roots & I stopped buying them after one too many wrongly labeled roses. But I want to get a Pretty Polly Rose plant. They had a few but it was the end of summer when I saw them so they weren't looking so good by then. That's why I hope they'll still have a garden section.

To clarify, Pretty Polly wasn't a bare root. BTW I wonder why Walmart's bare roots are still in those body bags & not the black coffins. Lower grades? Different supplier?

I had my daughter send me pics from our local Costco (I'm not a member) and while the price is great $16.99 for 2 bare roots, I didn't see anything I wanted. Granted, she didn't reach back to see if there were more varieties, so I saw only Iceberg, Peace, Camelot & Tiffany. They all looked pretty healthy. Other locations might have different ones.

I just went to H Depot n Lowes. H Depot had every rose and then some EXCEPT Lav Crush!! Argggg

Lowes

These were on the clearance rack because ya know, FL got snow so maybe they think the roses are dead? The stems and roots look fine..top leaves a little burnt

These were normal price..frankly I couldnt see much difference lol.

more clearance..half price but when i went to the register (I bought blueberry bushes, blackberries, figs etc that were also on clearance) The 12.99 berries amd figs were only $2.33 each! I bought a nice Ti plant normally 16.99 that was marked half price but at register was only $3. Smokin deals.

They also had all kinds of pots and fertilizers marked down Had I known, I would have bought more.

I went to Lowes and Home Depot yesterday. No roses yet. L has some nice trees. HD has good selection of spring bulbs. I was extremely happy to find Rain Lily bulbs

Sultry, my Walmart had Lavender crush!

Wow Sultry such deals! My local Lowe's used to have such great clearance prices, plants as low as a quarter, but usually in the $1-$2 range. Then they changed to half off only, which isn't such a good deal when the plants are now almost double the prices. And everything is half dead.

forever a newbie, I saw a ton of Caladium bulbs at H Depot but no Rain Lilies. Maybe we will get some in a few weeks. Tractor Supply has bulbs and stuff like strawberry roots & asparagus crowns. I saw both green and purple asparagus crowns. I used to have Rain Lilies and Naked Ladies/Hurricane Lilies(Lycoris radiata) pop up in my lawn at our old farm. I need to find some more. I did get a Blue Girl rose from Tractor Supply. Its actually in a little pot but packaged like a bare root/body bag.

Echo, Thanks! I will have to check our Walmarts. This is actually early for roses here. Usually we dont see any until mid to late Feb. This year its January!

Soozie, The Lowes near our old farm on the Atlantic Coast of FL would have smaller plants marked down to 50 cents etc. I got a Black and Blue Salvia one year, half dead but the base was green. 5 yrs later I had those things all over our backyard lol. Good thing I liked it.

Sultry

& Rosie Friends,

It s really a joy seeing Californians and Sultry in Florida shopping for roses and bulbs at big boc stores! Brings in the glorious sunshine to my freezing life style! LOL! Cups of hot chocolate & watching you shop! Hee, hee! I have Lowes, Home Depot and a Tractor Supply shop that likes to sell bare roots & some potted roses. Walmart tries to sell other plants, but no roses-good! Up to a few years ago I bought some bare roots & potted roses from Lowes & Tractor Supply in NY. They didn’t have much selection-notvakways looking healthy either. I think I have removed any I bought now because I am refining my choices to more select roses now. There were a few beauties, Moonlight Magic & others. Not really what I orefer now….They don’t know too much about ordering roses for NY climate.

However, I love all their other plants! I visit Lowes weekly all spring-summer-fall! There will be dahlias, peonies, and a lots of other bulbs and olants available soon around V-Day in a couple weeks for me to shop at Lowes! And so my season begins!

I go bulb crazy! Love buying bulbs! I will buy a few dahlias at my Canandaigua Lowes. Then I visit ny Geneva Lowes & check it out, too! Any bulb lovets here?

Anastasia loves the outtings to box stores, too! Lowes is so much fun! Great for a doggie walk in the store! Do you-all bring your pups to Lowes & Home Depot? Anastasia can also go in Petco and Tractor Supply and the banks love her-she politely sits and looks nice & clean. At Petco she liked the ferrets and caged birds! Just a little sniffing! What a fun store w/ stuffed toys!

A couple dahlias from last year’s Lowes…

Mero Star

Dinnerplate Dahlias

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish), I hope you will find Lavender Crush somewhere. My friend got 2 Blue Girls in Tractor Supply and those are her favorite roses. Much better than the one I got in a garden center for triple price😄

@KittyNYz6, I love dahlias too. I bought 2 bags in Homedepot the other day. Costco usually carries a lot of spring bulbs and hopefully they will do this year too

@forever_a_newbie_VA8

Your dahlias are lovely! I read Thomas Edison is a great dahlia! Love the lavendar & pink assortment you will have this year! You will really enjoy them. in zone 8 they should bloom earlier for you-you should haveca long season of blooms! Fabulous!

Be careful not to olant them to deep. I let top green/red eye stick out of ground a tad to keep an eye on it.-makes sure it was not down too deep & it grows. (Too deeply olanted & the eyes will not grow out of soil. ) I start them in pots to make sure they are not “overwatered & good nutrition.” They like it slightly damp only before roots grow. They are from Mexico and like to not get overly wet soil, but love full sun!

Dahlias grow really well for me. I had over 11 last year and most were dinner plates. i bought some tubers from Lowes, online-Eden & another online nursery. Then I bought at least 10 small live plant dahlias for borders from Lowes. . I grew many 2 months in the house to jump start them & then planted them outside. It was a big project with ongoing blooms all season-beautiful! . This year I olan to do less because I am focusing on florist roses. I will grow a few dinnerplates, small & pom pom dahlias. Can’t wait to see what Lowes has aound V-Day!

A few favorites from 2024 season. All Dinnerplate 6-8” dahlias except pom pom.

Pinelands Princess

Emory Paul

Labyrinth

Cafe au Lait, (Changes many colors: cream coffee, peachy coffee, pink cream & yellow.)

Moore Park Pom Pom

Grand Finale

Ottos Thrill

I loooove big dahlias. On Whidbey Island in Washington State, there are huge dahlia farms.
I don’t think I can grow them here because our summers are too hot, but I have great memories of my dad growing them back in Staten Island.
If there are dahlias that can handle trike digits, I’d love to know about them.

We’ve spent up to a month on Whidbey in the summer. It’s heaven in August.

And oh yes, those would be triple digits. Not tricycles

Kitty your dahlias are really gorgeous! I did see dahlias somewhere last weekend. I can't remember now if it was Tractor Supply or Lowes. Not Home Depot. I used to grow Dahlias at my old place. I didn't dig the tubers up when we moved. I should get some more. I posted pics on the 2025 thread before, I think lol. Pineland Pincess is one of my favorites that I grew. Pacific Ocean is also great because they get bushy (lots of blooms per plant) and stay shorter so go good in a rose bed with 3-4 ft roses. Plus they are bright and cheery. Walmart usually carries them both. I already grow Blue Girl.

I love her fragrance even if she isnt the most blackspot free rose. Smells like old fashioned hand cream with some rose. I just cant resist grabbing another one when I see them available. I also had Lavender Crush at my old house but I need to get a few more for here. I left some 9f my common roses that I could find at H Depot or Walmart easily. Of course, when we moved here Poof! Can't find anything lol.

Sylvia, that is a beautiful photo! Very dreamy~ a whole bed of dahlias!

I think you should go ahead and try just one and maybe put it where it might get some afternoon shade in the hottest part of the summer...or create a little bit of shade somehow?

Hi, Sylvia & Sultry!

Thank you!

I soent all morning researching dahlia prices, coupons & my fave dahlias. Then in 2 weeks I shall visit Lowes-see what’s there. I’ll make some choices this evening. I’m almost ready!

Sultry, Love to see you have dahlias this year! A beautiful selection. I’ll let you know tge best prices/coupons nurseries this evening.

Sylvia,

Let me know the hottest temps youvget? What is your city, state location. Then I can recommend? The dinnerplates & all love sun-from Mexico!

@KittyNYz6, your dahlia collection is amazing. I especially like the Pompom. I will get some pompom types if available. And thanks for the tips of starting the tubers indoors now. In my area Dahlias are perennials and it did not occur to me that I could still give them a start up.

@sylviaww 9a,hot dry Inland SoCal, what a picture. The white and dark red colors gonso well. I have learnt that dahlias with pastel color does not do well by themselves. They need the dark color to help them stand out. And I agree with @sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) that you should try dahlia again. At least in my area, they do better than roses in our hot summer and bloom much more reliably.

this is one bought from Costco a few years ago

@sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish), Blue Girl has outstanding fragrance. And close to blue color of all my roses. She is a bad black spotter, and does not bloom well in my garden though. I might need to move her to a sunnier location

Bare roots are in stock now at my local Lowes and Home Depot. I am quite disappointed that they are mainly older Hybrid Teas. I missed last years’: lots of recent Kordes, Meiland, etc. Maybe they will come later?

Home Depots bate roots are still wrapped in the cart.

Newbie

That was my exact same complaint here-- I was hoping to snag a second Scentuous. But NO

And none of the new ones they are offering instead seem to be fragrant, soooo

:(

Carla

Newbie, this us all I ever see anywhere. Same exact lineup. For the first time ever one of the Lowes I went to had Bliss Parfuma, Bolero and Earth Angel. those are the newest most desirable (in my opinion) ones I have ever seen at a big box store. I went back like 2 weeks later and they were all gone! it was a one time sighting. I hope they end up restocking with the ones you are looking for!!

Kitty, we’ve been rezoned to 10a. We have 90s with low humidity and no rain from July through September— and into October. Triple digits can strike anytime after April and linger from 2-3 days to a week or more..I’m looking at you, 2023! Soil is alkaline clay with lots of small rocks, but of course I can always pot a bulb. Recommendations?

Sultry, I’d love to try just one. That’s what I said when I started with roses…

Sylvia,

I watered roses 2 times a day sometimes when I lived in Los Angelos, CA.

Dahlias are from Central America & Mexico mountains. They love best 60-70sF. They did fine for me except when gets really hot,, 80-95F burnt bottom leaves. I’‘d recommend for you to pot dahlias and grow them in shaded areas in triple digits. I’d start them early soring if they could ship to you now or soon. Dahlias would do well in your 60-75F spring up to 80F. They get burnt leaves above 80F or hotter sonetimes, but just water them twice a day during heat-keep soil damp slways. Shade areas in hot sun will be help keep them cooler. Deborah has simular climate to you abd sge grows dahlias. Maybe she an help you further? …..

@DDinSB (Z10b Coastal CA)

Since you grow dahlias in CA. Could you give Sylvia ideas to help her grow dahlias in triple digits? Hiw well do your dahlias grow?

Echo & Forevernewbie,

I hope HD comes out with more interesting roses! My, My, The oldies HTs! Try Etsy or Menagery, instead? Menagerie has beautiful packaging, anyway Lol! We all love a pretty box! Chuckle! 😊🥀😊

Growing Dahlia update …. above….

Heres some of the Dahlias I grew

Pacific Ocean

Pinelands Princess

Penhill Dark Monarch

These two: I dont know what they are...they arent what they were supoosed to be lol.

So gorgeous. Yes, the mountains of Mexico stay cool because of their altitude. I do have a shady area, so maybe I could grow a tuber or two there. With careful supervision.