Exciting Ken! I was just outside doing some last minute pruning, and cursing my HTs. Every year I say I won't buy anymore, and I end up adding more of them. They're just too needy, and too much die back. So its good to hear you had a positive experience today with your roses :)

I have Zephirine Drouhin ordered from Brushwood, but I bet being ownroot, it will actually take her the three years to bloom. On the flip side, I bought Blue Angel for about $3 late last season from Gurneys(I think?), it never bloomed because it blooms on old wood, but I looked today and it is also COVERED in buds! I'll have to post pics also...sometimes a good deal is actually a good deal...imagine that!

Tammy

How exciting!! I council against buying body bag roses, but we have all given in at a weak moment, and the results may be fantabulous ... like what you are seeing. My Charles de Mills was a body bag rose from Home Depot ... shhh, don't tell anyone.

In your year with ZD, you have a good example of what she tends to do for me ... make lots and LOTS of new basal canes. You can keep her under control and attractive by removing bloomed out canes to keep the plant young. (and fungicide is practically mandatory ... but you knew this already, I'll bet)

You WILL be posting photos when the buds open, won't you? Pretty please.

Connie

I'm guessing, Ken, that your Body Bag Zeffy is blooming her brains out in gratitude. You rescued her, and she's paying you back.

Kay

I dont really like buying body bag roses just because I don't trust them... I do feel bad for them poor things.. I might buy one and see how it goes....

I can"t wait for pictures. I have two body bags roses who had more tiny roots than yours but they have done the same type of growth.. I can't wait for blooms..

It sounds like you got a good rose, but until it blooms, you don't really know what it is you have. Don't be surprised if it's not ZD. I'm sure it's not multiflora, but could be another climber.

Re: "I had heard it takes 3 years for it to bloom"
I believe this is what people say about ZD rebloom, not spring bloom. ZD reliably blooms in spring even when it is very young.
Olga

Oooo, Ken, it sounds gorgeous! I can't wait to see those pictures!

I was thrilled today too! I was out finishing up the pruning and I came across two buds already formed on Double Delight! In MARCH!! I'm going to have blooms in April this year!!!

I'm a person who loves surprises, but I have yet to be surprised by a body bag. Have bought / planted about 30 of them from good'ole Lowes & HD, and have never yet had one mismarked. And have had the best luck with them. Go figure. They are what gave me the confidence to order some quality bareroots this year, the thought had previously really intimidated me. But figured - those body bags are just bareroots in some dirty/dusty stuff, so I can do this. And vwalah - the bareroots are also coming on like gangbusters. Big breakthrough - a few HTs from S&W, 4 DA's from DA, and now a entire brave new world before me.

Something to consider: by buying these cheaply produced "bargain" roses, you are voting with your wallet for a part of the industry that cares the least about issues like quality of the product and care in making sure the plant is correctly identified/labeled. These plants are also in the very highest risk category for virus contamination; some believe that close to 100% of these cheapo plants are grafted onto virus infected roots. Just because you don't see the classic watermark patterns on the foliage doesn't mean virus isn't there.

The rose industry is in such sad shape now (You have read Joel Schraven's statement on the Pickering Nurseries web site about economic pressures and other factors that have forced him to delete some 244 varieties from their catalog this year?) that it is more important than ever to vote for quality and diversity, not for the discount junk that floods the box stores every year. If, in ten or twenty years, all there is left to choose from is "body bag" junk plants, don't pretend to be surprised how things got that way.

Here is a link that might be useful: Joel Schraven's remarks about deletion of 244 roses from the catalog

I got two of the bareroots from Home Depot for $2/ea, they were distressed, I planted them and oh well, I see buds coming out hard. I will post pictures when it grows this season

I used to be embarrassed on this forum to admit to buying roses from Lowes and Home Depot because of all of the disparaging remarks. At this point, I say - tough. My hobby, my choices. My roses are gorgeous, expensive and cheap alike. Sorry that it's hard for me not to instigate because, I've had nothing but positive luck with them. No one here came to rescue my horse business because people stopped buying horses. Not my job to rescue the rose business. Signing off.

In GardenWeb, wish we had access to edit or delete our own prior posts.

Hopefully, I'm not stepping on anybody toes as I say this but some of us just don't have the income to be able to buy at some of the prices that nurseries charge. Trust me when I say I would rather buy from them but as an unemployed rose lover sometimes you have no choice if you want to grow roses. Even when I waited for sales the shipping and handling puts it out of reach, financially that is.

Moril, this is a thread topic that has repeated itself many times in the Rose Forum. There are the people who faithfully believe that we should only buy from quality sources so we financially support the "good guys" and help keep them in business. Then there are those of us who are financially challenged who want to participate in this expensive addiction, but don't have the funds to solely support the "good guys", thus our priority is just to enjoy our roses any way we can. The two sides never seem to be able to meet in the middle.

My only request is - for those of us who do enjoy our big box store roses - please don't make us feel bad for doing so. We're not stupid. We understand the issues. And we deserve to be in here too and not harrassed.

Can we please go back to sharing ken-n.ga.mts excitement?

I agree, financial condition puts pepople thru the ringer leaving not much of a choice other than work within their means. One good thing I liked about Home Depot vs say a nurcery or online order, my friend and I got mailorder of tropical fruit trees from Plantogram, all plants made it but one went into shock and died. Now, that plant cost him $100. If I have a choice between a nurcery and Home Depot if it has the same thing, why would I not buy from Home Depot? In trying to support the good guy I lost $100 while Home Depot would have simply replaced it with 12 month no question warranty.

Hey, if I win the $600 million plus lotto today, I will start supporting the good guys too. Its all about making the ends meet and find that window of happiness.

I know exactly what you are saying, Mori. I buy roses where and when I find them at a price I can afford. I buy body bagged and boxed roses all the time. Sometimes they fail and sometimes they're not the rose you thought they were but I've had very expensive ones that I ordered from nurseries with the highest reputations fail and be mislabeled too. I know going into every rose purchase that these things can happen. When I buy a body bag from Home Depot, Lowes or Walmart and it dies or is mislabeled I chalk it up to experience and move on. But I haven't spent $25 bucks or more on it either. It's getting harder and harder for me on my fixed retirement income to get anything but tiny bands from the mail order nurseries because of the cost of shipping. The prices on the potted ones are higher to begin with and then the shipping is outrageous on top of it. The tiny bands are very iffy here. Most of them will not attain enough size by the end of the season to live through a Michigan winter even protected. It's not the nurseries fault. I can understand their problems too. But I have to go with what works best for me and sometimes that's a bagged bareroot that's big enough to hold it's own all winter. And there are just some varieties that you can not find any where else but in the big box stores. So like I said, I buy what I want from where ever I can get it and no apologies.

Be sure to get pictures! I got a mis-identified rose from HD maybe 8 years ago, turned out to be Eden Rose, and has grown over the roof of my shed. I don't have enough neighbors to give the blooms to!
We just lost our home, had to move. (I took my garden with me). I can't really afford more roses-not the ones I used to get-but if I do happen to go to HD I can afford one of their bare-roots for a couple of dollars, I'll get one and have just as much fun with it.
"We're not stupid. We understand the issues. And we deserve to be in here too and not harassed." Well said harmonyp..and now back to ken-n.ga.mts excitement :)

I dunno about buying roses in the US but let me be absolutely clear, there is no discernible difference in price whether buying from an outlet such as Walmart (Asda, in the UK) or a small nursey such as Trevor Whites (average cost for bare root rose - 8.75 pounds. It is all about impulse and convenience. Moroever, this applies across europe too. I bought roses from Bierkreek for only 9 euros - I think that works out at about 7-8 dollars. What's more, all the plants from places like Homebase, Tesco and most commercial garden centres are actually more expensive than buying from a local nursery. A standard perennial will cost about 8 pounds in a garden centre or box chain.....and around 4-6 from independent nurseries. Not only is the cost an issue, the quality and standard of care means that many of these so-called bargains are anything but. At the very bottom end of the scale, there are poundland outlets which sell utter tripe - truly rubbish which only the most credible fool would admit to their gardens - these are not bargains, they are liabilities. If you really want to garden cheaply, then learn how to grow from seeds and propagate, share with friends, pass plants around - I live on the minimum wage limit but still have a beautiful garden.....and the knowledge and expertise I have gained during this long. long apprenticeship is priceless. I don't know - it is a question of priorities, I guess and not some horticultural snobbery. I like a bargain as much as the next person but I don't like being taken for a fool and being sold junk with all the horrible aspects of supermarket dominance, unfair price fixing and terrible contracts. I suggest a bit more careful and clear-eyed scrutiny of the long-term costs, as well as the short-term thrills, might yield surprising results as to just what you are actually paying.

"I like a bargain as much as the next person but I don't like being taken for a fool and being sold junk with all the horrible aspects of supermarket dominance, unfair price fixing and terrible contracts. I suggest a bit more careful and clear-eyed scrutiny of the long-term costs, as well as the short-term thrills, might yield surprising results as to just what you are actually paying."

Precisely. If that is "harassment", then tough. I call it voting with my wallet, eyes wide open.

Ken - really sorry your post got hijacked. This thread isn't about where people should buy their roses. It's about one of our fellow rose addicts sharing something fun. And boy, have we taken the fun out of it. Want to argue about where to buy roses - why doesn't someone start another post on the topic. Or you can read the many already out there with the same arguments over and over again.

Wow - I would love to have a rose grow like that here. You are so lucky!!! I can't wait to see pictures. I can't imagine a rose having that many blossoms!! :)
Carol

Three of the roses have the sepals down ready to bloom tomorrow :) Now, since the door was opened, I'm a retired drywall man. Back in late 2008 everything went totally dry. No houses being built ANYWHERE. I couldn't officially retire until Nov. 2009. I knew I was going to loose my home in S.E. FL, so it was time to scramble. Summer 2009 I was able to short sale my home to get out from under it. Had visited N.GA. several times and Debbie & I knew this is where we wanted to retire. Got ourselves up here in decent order but things were VERY tight. I was lucky and brought 17 roses in pots with me. Lost 3 the first winter. Couldn't replace them. No money even for a bag rose. We took our time getting everything in decent order. Last spring was the first time I was able to buy roses. Let me promise you, if I find a rose I want from a big box store at a decent price, it's coming home with me. I still buy most of my roses from good nurseries, but I will always watch my $ VERY close. When my garden is finished (next year) nything that goes in will have to replace something that is already here. Anyway, I know what it means to not have two pennies to rub together. Just saying.

Interesting read from Joel, tprospero. Thanks for posting.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Musings Blog