cherrykist,

I've only ordered mail order, in the sprintime. I've ordered through J&P's, Ashdown & Chamblee's in Tyler, TX., & Pickering.

I like Ashdown for rarer roses, I like Chamblee's. Everything from them came fast, healthy & the customer service was good too.

I make my holes in the spring, sometimes in nice weather, sometimes in rain. I don't care, I'm like a woman possessed in spring. I get my roses, do my Happy Happy Rose Dance, soak them overnight then plant them the very next day come hell or high water. I never forget to add the bonemeal & good composted soil to the hole. I've had good luck doing it this way.

I have planted roses later in the summertime, but they definitely need more TLC & you really have to make sure you water, water, water.

If you want a really nice catalog, I think David Austin's has a good one. You have to pay for it but, it is gorgeous.

Betty

Most of the bareroot vendors open in the fall (September, October) for ordering. I order to have bareroots delivered in mid-March. The bareroots are pretty fresh. If you wait for "sales" the bareroots have been out of the ground and in storage for 9 - 10 months, not so good.

Own-root vendors vary, many of them have new availability in the fall as well, but add stock throughout the season.

You may want to look at how you are handling the plants. I always pot up everything, own root and bareroot, until I see substantial new growth. Then I decide on putting them out into the yard or into a larger container.

Many vendors have catalogs, just look around their web sites for a "Catalog Request" link. Some just have a list of available roses.

BTW, I have never paid for the US version of the David Austin catalog. Just make the request at their US web page.

Hi Tammy,
I am in a different zone than you are but I would review some of the great books out there on growing roses. The magazines are simply Wonderful and I share your desire for them.
But the books will get you to where you want to be. I still refer to my rose books when ever I get a rose I have never had before.

Like cooking, its easy to forget how import a little baking powder is until you forget it. Over time we all skip steps over time.
I used to water the hole and plant the rose and watch the rose slowly die. I would water every day about a teaspoon of water for each of my roses! I was a frequent, but not deep, waterer.
Now I water deeply for a few days in a row and then I back off and skip a day or two but always watering very deep when I do water.
I also used to think all sunlight was the same, but now I know morning sun and afternoon sun are two different things and the amount of sun matters.
You might be doing everything by the book now but I had to throw in my two cents,with the hope that this information helps,
Maggie

You can order roses later in the year, on sale, but you are taking a chance. Potted roses should be easier to grow than bare roots, but they still take care.

What you have to remember is that when a rose is planted, it's going through shock. It needs a lot of care the first few weeks. You must check it every day, perhaps twice a day. If it is very hot, you must give it shade and mist it to keep it from drying out. You need to plant them in good soil and cover with mulch to help keep the soil moist.

I've lost roses planted in April and had roses do well transplanted in July. Sometimes it's the rose not you.

David Austin has the best catalog. Heirloom and Jackson and Perkins also have good paper catalogs. I've heard about Vintage's catalog but you have to pay for that one.

It's worthwhile to pay more instead of waiting for the sales if you can get the rose at a better time for you to plant. Order early so it will arrive when your weather is cool and wet. That way you won't have to water as much and the rose will have more time to grow before it gets hot. If you decide to add another rose a lot of places will let you add it to your order, but some places will make you start a second order. It's best to figure out what you want before you start ordering, and wait on the last minute purchases to find locally.

I like to plant my roses out as soon as I get them or at most a week or two later. I'm not very good at keeping up with the watering in pots. A lot of people like to pot up their roses so they can keep track of them easier, but that doesn't work for me. I don't do anything to them except to water.

I usually spend the late fall/early winter browsing catalogs, online nursery sites, and threads here on GW--then check the roses out at place like helpmefind.com. This stage of the process can take months. Usually after Xmas, sometimes right after the new year, I order online. If I'm ordering bareroots, the nursery (or sometimes myself) states the appropriate delivery date for my gardening zone--usually late March or very early April in my Zone 6. If the rose I'm ordering will be potted, then the nursery (or myself) gives an appropriate post-freeze date for my zone--late April/early May in my case.

I order late Dec/early Jan so that I get my rose before it gets out of stock. A few times when I waited until February to order, they no longer had some of my choices available.

Actually, some posters claim they order their roses in the fall--to be delivered in the spring.

I sometimes have planted locally-bought potted roses during May, maybe even in June, but after that, wait until the following spring. The one time I planted a rose in July, it survived but did not flourish until the following year. I might have just as well waited until the following spring to order/plant it.

Hope that info. helps.

Kate

I order all year long but indicate mid-March for my shipping date. I don't buy reduced price clearance roses except in person when I can see the plant.
If a vendor will not honor my ship date request, I cancel the order. If they confirm an order but ship it when not confirmed, I demand a refund.
My time, as with my money, is too valuable to waste on often poor quality clearance roses shipped in the heat of summer when they have everything against them to survive.
Except for vendors like Ashdown and Roses Unlimited who only ship healthy own roots I stay away from anything other than mid-March delivery.
Many reputible nurserys stop shipping after a certain date to guarantee quality products. Others don't care.

I have to say; this has been the most helpful post I've found as of yet on ordering, where, when, and why!

Thank you all so much!
Susanne

For this year, out of all of the months I have planted, I think the easiest was the first of March. April was already getting too warm by the time the plants were established, May was hot. The plants in May got established but it was too hot to really grow. Aug was weeks of 100's. I transplanted some and planted some the middle of Sept and in Oct and they've taken off beautifully. In Oct I got a foot of growth or more off of every rose.

The roses planted in March still have grown the best by far and had the easiest time.

JMHO, I think it has to do with quality of plants, planting time and where they're put at that particular time. I have never potted roses no matter the size of the plant first and then planted them, unless I'm waiting for something. I have 4 in pots now only because I'm waiting to expand a grass area and they're going there in the spring. I think it has to do with what works best for you.
Leslie

Tammy:

I'm not sure if this is covered above but bear something in mind. Just because a rose can be shipped does not mean it SHOULD be. For example I ordered a little band sized rose from Heirloom this year in October. It came a few days later. What I did not know was that a band is really too fragile to plant at that time of year where I live. Here it can snow anytime in late fall/early winter. And it does. Of course I still have options like overwintering it in a pot or planting it in the garden and hoping for the best. But when I decided to fall plant some roses this year I was just missing that little piece of information.

A learning process I guess you might say. You'll get there, give yourself plenty of credit for asking good questions and trying to get the process down.

Hope this helps.

Kate

I usually decide first (early fall) which barer root roses I want to order and from whom. Most of the roses I order are from Palatine and Pickering. I place the order soon but I usually ask for early to mid February shipping. Palatine never gave me any trouble if I wanted to add additional roses. Pickering policy for a while was that you couldnÂt add additional roses except if you pay a penalty fee - that was still less than to place a second order, but now they seem to be a bit more flexible. Hortico always allows adding to your order; alas that does not mean that they will have those roses available.

Own root nurseries policy varies. Some like Ashdown allows you to add at no charge and there is no minimum to order. RU requires a minimum order of 3 roses to process a shipment. Chamblee's recently charges a fee if you change an order after it is processed but this policy is sensible.

Almost all vendors I dealt with allow you to choose the shipping date; few exception are Regan (they close shipping bare roots early), and S&W Greenhouses - they do not store the bare roots but ship them as soon as they get them.

So try to decide early if you can what you want and whom you want to order from but ask them shipping your roses when it is the best time to plant bare roots or potted roses respectively in your zone. It is better for you and better for them (IMHO) because they know in advance how many orders they should handle any given weeks.

Now, sales are an entirely different matter. I usually not only tempted but cannot resist but order a few despite the promise to myself that 'no more rose orders after November of year X. Well and then in the next year, at sale time, I do order more. This year was an exception because we were out of the country when Ashdown etc. had sales and although I had 8-12 band in my cart during the Vintage sale I didn't place the order because of the drought. To ship plants across the continent to the sure death was able to make even me a bit more sensible.

I usually place my order(s) in the fall to make sure I get something that the nurseries have in low numbers, etc. Arrival is in spring for me.

Carla

I had pretty good luck ordering potted own-root OGRs this summer. The ones I planted by 9/10 took off pretty well. The ones I got around 10/1 haven't done as well.

Dennis