Do I hate Knock-outs with their ugly thorns in the winter! I regret buying Knock-outs - so does my neighbor (she tried to give me her Knock-out, while I'm trying to get rid of Knock-outs!). Thornless roses look a lot less scary when bare in the winter, and here in zone 5a it means scary until late May.

If you have any low-thorn roses that you are happy with, please inform. Thanks.

Tammy

I ordered Lynnie since it's hardier for my zone 5a. It's very disease resistant, and drought resistant. Lynnie's parents are: a hardy mini rose Torch of Liberty (I'm counting on non-stop bloom), and thornless Basye's Legacy (whose parent is Commander Gillette, hardy to zone 3b).

What I like about Burlington Rose Nursery is I can find rare roses which are fragrant, thornless, or low-thorn at a much lower cost than buying Knock-outs at local stores. The shipping cost of band-size roses is low. I paid $133 (shipping included) for 12 roses (5 large ones and 7 minis) from Burlington in CA to my Chicagoland.

As spring approaches, the band-size roses I planted this July are still green to the tip in my zone 5a. I'm hoping for another mild winter next year.

Posted by elgin_janet z8-9sc (My Page) on Sun, Mar 25, 07 at 11:20 "I'm a nurse and treated a lady last year that had to have surgery to debride an innocent thorn prick. She had a cast and was to have 6 weeks of IV antibiotics. So beware and keep those scratches and pricks clean. Also keep your tetanus shots up to date. I've been trying to buy only thornless or roses with few thorns ever since."

If you're ordering tender types, whether they are hardened off and sufficiently developed or not, and they are received at your time of worst frost, you may experience problems, But, if you ordered from Roses Unlimited and received leafed out plants straight from the greenhouses, then tried to keep them unprotected outside in your coldest weather, you'd have the same issues.

Vintage and Burlington are our two, final mail order rose sources here. Both are owned and operated by honorable, reputable, intelligent people with decades of rose experience and more than passing knowledge of what to expect from their products in harsher climates then they've been grown it. From experience, when presented with questions they are unsure of, they seek the best advice available from their networks as to the best information to give. Certainly they all have enough experience to answer the vast majority of them on their own.

If your climate, time of year, special conditions and situations cause you hesitation, I would hope all considering ordering would feel comfortable enough to ask them their advice. My experience with both is they will graciously let you know whether the specific stock is mature enough, hardened off enough to handle any special circumstances which concern you. Of course, some varieties sell out more quickly than others, and some produce much less material suitable for propagation each season, plus their weather and climates don't always cooperate, either. Hence, their available plants may sometimes be less mature or developed than is their norm. But, they also may have older stock of some varieties which may be more suitable for your harsher conditions. I know they will happily make every effort to send the most appropriate plant for your needs whenever possible. All anyone has to do is ask. Your satisfaction, even pleasure with their plants and service is their life blood, and both of them know it. They wouldn't have been in this business as successfully nor as long as they have unless they took as great a pleasure in taking as good care of you as possible. Kim

It's sad that honest nursery like Vintage may close in 2013, while questionable Growquest with 245 negative complaints is still in business. From my interaction with Burlington Roses Nursery, every question I ask is answered promptly with honesty, without any false claims. Burling is straight-forward and precise with both plants and customers - and that's integrity.

I used to order from Spring Hill Nursery with all the false promise of "Lifetime Guaranteed" & hypes & jazz-up advertising to attract buyers. The customer service is grumpy, and none of their tiny plants made it through the 1st winter. That nursery has 32 negative complaints per year versus none for Burlington when you google "the scoop of (name of nursery)".

Spring Hill Nursery is still in business, and continues to send me catalogs. It seems like the more hype and advertising a company spends to pursue customers - the more lousy is the service. While reading the customers' feedbacks from gooling, "the scoop on David Austin Roses", I saw someone made this comment about DA roses: "you spend all the time & money on glossy catalogs, but none on customer service."