This winter has been unusually cold. I'd be happy to receive a band in February that I could pot up. I'd keep it in the garage at night and set it out on the driveway (next to a south facing brick wall) during the day. Said band would go into the garden in June and I'd feel pretty smart. You may not have a place to overnight baby roses or you may not have the inclination to shlep them back and forth. Hooray for nurseries that allow us to specify a ship date.

I'm in Maryland and I like to get bare roots in the ground in March, assuming the ground isn't frozen, and potted roses in April. Most places won't ship sooner than that or else they would have to deal with replacing dead plants.

These are one gallon pots, not bands. They were leafed out, very healthy looking, growing shrubs. It is a cold winter, but I have lived in Virginia for 35 years. Never could I have planted a potted rose in January. Even in a warm January, the ground would be frozen.

I think the grower must be referring to those who do pots for new plants. I'm in North/Western VA and I put my first roses in the ground last year in early April.

I'm in a little micro climate that runs a bit cold, I think, up in the foothills. My daffs didn't bloom until early April, either, which is a little bit late, even for my neighbors. So I wait, just to be on the safe side.

But the Arbor Day people talked my grandfather into a donation because they would send ten tree saplings, which he had sent to us. Nearly a year later they showed up, tiny little twigs, in the last week of November, ground frozen solid for weeks. I said no more donations!

I don't get it, either. Big maybe for planting a potted dormant rose this time of year if the ground was workable. Don't see what could be gained & imagine what could be lost. With this year's unusually extended cold, not a chance I'd try.

With a rose in active growth, consider it murderous. Maybe those thrilled in VA have heated greenhouses?

Everyone is having trouble believing what I am saying. I can't believe it myself. I received two lovely leafed out Belinda's Dream roses as a Christmas gift ordered from a nursery in Florida. They were in one gallon pots. When I called in a panic to explain I couldn't possibly plant the middle of January, I had to listen to a long angry lecture firmly placing the blame in my camp. She hotly claimed that she sent roses to Virginia all the time in January and everyone was delighted to receive them. The person who gifted me the roses thought a rose grower would know that roses are planted in the spring, not the winter, unless you live in a tropical climate.
She asked me to FedEx them back to her and she would refund the postage, which I did, but no refund has been received yet. Then she emailed the person who gifted me the roses and got them upset that their gift had caused a problem, another embarrassment. I received a huge apology from the person who sent me the gift, but never from the nursery.
The nurseries in Roanoke do not receive their stock until Mother's Day weekend, the second week in May, which is the optimal time for planting in our area.
I've been ordering roses by mail for thirty years from many different states, and I have never experienced such poor service, such hostility, and such ignorance of basic rose horticulture. Our temperatures are in the single digits tonight. I'm waiting to see how this plays out. I'm afraid this organization may not be in business for long.

WOW. If you feel comfortable, I'd like to know the name of the grower. There's a small nursery in Floriday that has some roses I am looking at and can't find anywhere else, but I'd like to avoid the snotty owner you are dealing with if I can!

Avia Star, I sent you an email. I don't want to publicize the nursery until I see if they make good on their promise to refund postage and mail the roses in May for planting. If they don't, I'll report them to the BBB and post their name on this forum. They obviously have no costumer service training.

Got it thank you!

And I got 4 roses in January....bare root.....can u imagine? This is zone 5 and I specified CORRECT TIME. For planting in zone 5.. And I emailed them and have yet to get a response!
Really not happy, but if the company embarrassed a gift giver , I really would flip out.

And one of mine is an expensive tree rose! I would need a pick ax to break up my soil if I could find it underneath the two feet of permafrost. Disgusted.

I'm appalled, Susan. The web site of my nursery has all sorts of angels, prayers, good will, sweetness and light. But the person who answered the phone, who was also the one who did the mailing, was outraged and hateful that I would complain about receiving a potted rose, fully leafed out, when temperatures were in the single digits.