I've bought Costco roses and, like trospero said, the results were a mixed bag. Some of them were fine and grew quite well others were mislabeled and others never broke dormancy. They're fairly inexpensive so if you're willing to take your chances go for it. I will, however, tell you that the sooner you get them out of Costco the better your chances for survival because they get no watering while in the store so they dry out fast. I try to go every week in the early spring to catch them when they first appear so I can get them home and keep them moist. Be sure to soak them over night before you plant them too.

Thanks Trospero & Seil for the response.

Yes they are inexpensive compare to mail order roses. I have already planted all except for two. The direction in the box did not say anything about soaking the roots overnight, so I planted them just removing the plastic bag.

I see sprouts in all most all of them, not sure whether I can do anything.

Please share your thoughts on this.

Thanks

I bought 3 bare root roses at Costco in the spring of 2011.

One was my tree rose, Rio Samba. The other two came packed together in one box, Black Magic and Memorial Day.

I remember at the time I couldn't figure out their origin. The box had a generic name on it and website, something like growourprettyrosesnow dot com, or something generic like that. If I went to the site there ware a few generic pages of growing tips, but you could't purchase roses form there. Obviously rebranded stuff, and I never could figure out where thay came from. I think the website disappeared after the season was over.

Last year my Costco never got any bare root roses at all. I wanted to get them fresh, as suggested above, but they never came. They did have potted roses later in the season, but I didn't get any. I think they were Weeks roses, but don't hold me to that. My memory could be faulty.

The tree rose is in a pot and did so-so its first year. It survived the winter and last year did give me many wonderful blooms and put on some nice growth. It seems like it has two grafts on the top, one which came out 10 times stronger from the winter than the other. I am hoping that the weaker side, if I prune it properly this spring, may pop back. I was a little afraid to cut back too far, but now think being a bit more aggressive this spring may encourage more growth on that side.

The other two I put right in the ground. Neither get the best sun, but Black Magic is doing well for where it is placed. It is doing okay though and I have high hopes for it.

Memorial day has put out some beautiful blooms, too, but never put on much growth. Not enough sun where she is, and there was some die back from cane borers. I thought I lost her last year but am amazed to see that she has new growth from the bottom (not rootstock though) so maybe this will be her year. I want to move her but had more trees come down (yet again) in the fall, so she may actually get more sun now.

Compared to the bodybags I have gotten form HD and Lowes (which were branded sexton and Mea) I'd say the Costco roses were in better condition from jump and seemed to have done better for me.

These could easily have been Sexton or Mea roses, too, ( I never could figure where they really came from) but I suspect if they were, they were a 1/2 grade or grade better than what HD and Lowes carried. I am not as pleased with some of the ones I got at the other big boxes that I know were sexton and mea, but still have to go thru them and see which was which and how they are really doing.

I would purchase at Costco again if they show up this year.

I think this year will be the deciding factor for the ones I have. I like to think they are all settled in with nice root systems now and will grace me with lots of new growth and many blooms this year! I am forever the optimist, I guess.

If you get hot, dry weather in the next few weeks, shade them with something (such as a large trash can on the southwest side of each plant, or a cylinder of wire fencing with a piece of shade cloth on top) to relieve stress until they grow enough roots to support top growth. Keep them watered, but do not drown them. If they are starting to grow that is good! :) Hopefully no frosts or snow.

Hi Merlcat,

Thanks for the detailed response. I have been a member of Costco for the past 12 years and I'm sure they sell reasonably quality product if not the best and Costco has a good return policy.

I'm worried about mislabeling of roses beacsue i have limited space and planning to plant different colors of roses.

Hope the roses turned out to be same as on the label.

Hi Hoovb,

Thanks for the advise, it didn't occur to me, sure will watch for the weather and make sure to protect these roses until they establish themselves.

yaso, my Costco roses were definitely true to name. So far, all of my body bags (even from HD and Lowes) have been. I must have had extra good luck in that sense.

One thing to watch for at Costco is this: Always check the tag on the rose and not the label on the box.

When I bought mine I made two trips close together, one to check them out and the second time to bought.

The twofer boxes were labeled on the outside, and the plants were also tagged round the graft.

I had wanted two that were not boxed together and didn't want four so i hedged on my decision on the first trip. I realized when I went back and started sorting thru the giant rack that lots of the boxes had been opened and some had been switched around! The one I actually wanted had been removed from several of the pairs and replaced with roses from other twin sets.

It would have never occurred to me to do that, but I guess some people have more guts than me and thought nothing of repackaging the pairs to their liking! If I had not looked close and read all the tags on the roses themselves, I may never have noticed that I was bringing home something different than the label on the box.

Didn't matter anyway, as I just turned to my dad and said "which do you like?" He picked a pair (Black Magic and Memorial day) that I hadn't even considered, and I went with them. I'm happy with his choice.

Merlcat, glad to hear you've had good luck with your Costco "bargain" roses. Know that here in southern California, at least, Memorial Day can be a slow starter. Once it gets going, however, stand back! I almost SPed mine after the first disappointing year. And likewise after the second. So glad I didn't. It is now one of the best in the bunch.

Kay

Here is my latest update on the Sexton roses I got from Costco.

Roses are started to bloom. So for two of them have full flower, first one is Irish Gold and it has flower as labeled but other one is supposed to be Mr. Lincoln but the flower looks like Kordes Perfecta.

Kordes Perfecta was also available in Costco when I got the roses, either it was mislabeled as Mr. Lincoln or may be a Costco customer switched (2 packs of same roses were sold together) the roses.

I don't have regrets because I got one more variety but hope the other supposed Mr. Lincoln turns out to be a Mr. Lincoln :-)

This post was edited by yaso on Wed, Apr 10, 13 at 18:46

You must have rose switchers at your Costco, too! Lol!
I've been doing lots of Internet searching about wax on bare roots and found an interesting article but my Internet is down and am on my phone. I'll post later. I'm wondering, were yours waxed? Mine were not, but the hd and lowes all were, making me again question their origin. All the ones branded sexton and mea were waxed.

As an aside, I bought kordes perfecta last year and it had the most stunning blooms. Bodybag. She was the only one who straight up and died. I was so sad, she was my fave of the bodybag lot. I envy you. Bummer that she was a mistake , but a pretty mistake if there had to be one. At least, I thought she was a beauty and hope to get another.

Costco buys their roses from different vendors in different years. So the info that applies to one year at Costco may very well not apply in the next. I bought from them a couple years ago because they were selling roses directly from Weeks for the usual Costco prices (2 bareroot for around $18), which was a good deal, unlike 2 for the same price from an off-brand like Sexton.

The roses I have bought from Costco had no flaws. They were all great! I would not buy them if they were dried out though. Try to get them fresh!

Stopped in to my Costco today. They had all kinds for plants but not a single rose. As I recall they never got any in last year either. I guess they didn't sell well here.

Body bags are hit or miss. I used to buy them and I still have a few in my yard. But many of them were virused and even if they did well the first year or two and bloomed, they would succumb to disease or winterkill (which is hard to do in my zone). I admit, I'm always tempted when I see them, but unless it's something very rare, I'd pass.

It's not that Costco sells bad stuff, but most people don't understand that the roses that are sold in bags are an inferior product than other ways to buy roses and are most likely what can't be sold to more discerning rose buyers. Hence the very low price.

And if you do buy bagged roses, soak them for a while before you plant. They've been in those bags for a long time with no water.