But, that said, if you can support your local independently owned nurseries, I'm sure they would LOVE to have your biz. They need all the help they can get right about now just to stay open.

Here, you can effectively plant bare roots from about now through February -- but for practical purposes, bare root roses (or what they now call bare root roses) don't show up in most nurseries here until January.

I LOVED the days when bare root time meant rows of shelving, loaded with damp sawdust and wood-shavings, with hundreds of truly-bare-root roses heeled-in. It was damp, cold weather and the smell of fresh wood, and puddles under your boots. You'd pull them up and check the roots, and buy the plant that had the best-developed root system.

Now -- now it's shelves of roses in "Fooled You Body Bags," with roots cut down to as short as 4 inches, and the lack disguised by sawdust stuffing. We finally began taking them out of the bags out in the parking lot, to see if they had roots -- and returning them immediately, if they didn't.

Anyhow, before ordering from Reagans (which does keep a good list of roses) why not go to your local nursery, and ask them for a list of what they have ordered? They DO know what they are getting, so you could save yourself some trouble that way.

Jeri

And, as I said, nurseries here get in their "bare roots" close to the first of January, and stock them into February.

As roses have become less generally popular, sources for them have declined in number. Later in 2013, you can buy "canned" roses in great variety from Otto & Sons Nursery, in Fillmore -- but they will begin selling again in the spring, when roses are in bloom.

Jeri

What Jeri says is 100% true. Even at the peak of consumer interest, I think you could count on one hand the number of US growers who both grew budded roses and retailed them also. Today, there is almost nobody left who works in that business model, since the industry is in such desperate shape.

Ultimately, I think you should regard yourself as lucky to find anyone who will sell you dormant bare-root roses to ship in January/February.

"An alternative is to buy from places that grow their own which probably means small potted own root plants. I've never bought these so I'm not sure if it is a good idea."

If you need to plant right now, then your options will be few, especially if you have a clearly defined wish list of varieties. That said, unless you have soil conditions that requires purchasing plants budded onto specific rootstocks, there is absolutely nothing wrong with own-root roses; they are just a bit different in that they require an extra year to mature (occasionally more) and they give you freedom from the problem of understock suckering, which is a very common issue, especially with plants budded on "Dr. Phooey"; 99% of my roses are all growing on their own roots and make perfectly good plants that way.

It can be a combination of factors, including (but not limited to) which understock was used (Dr. Huey is the worst), your soil type, how deeply you've planted the graft, the severity of freeze damage from year to year, and yes, climate. The joke in the Pacific Northwest is that Dr. Huey is the region's favorite rose, because in June you will see more plants of that than any other rose, and they are all the result of plants that were overtaken by the rootstock! Something about this Mediterranean climate encourages "rootstock mutiny".

While it lasts, it's almost magical.
I don't like to think what it looks like, later.

One other factor in whether you see him or whether you don't seems to be how careful a job was done of de-eying the rootstock. We planted a local municipal rose garden with roses J&P donated. None No. 1 plants, but healthy.

Almost ALL of them suckered like crazy. A couple of plants were so un-controllable that we had to replace them. What else suckered badly here on Huey??? The worst were a Weeks 'Fourth of July' (we tamed that one) and an Arena 'Tradescant', which we gave up and removed.

Jeri

You do find old rootstock plants of 'Gloire des Rosomanes,' (aka, "Ragged Robin") but at least that is a lovey garden rose, both disease-free and a generous bloomer, here. You can sort of feel that it is a gift from gardeners who went before.

I suppose 'Dr. Huey' is a fine rose SOMEWHERE. Just -- not anywhere I am likely to ever go.

Jeri

I have one of the tree roses that REALLY wants to be Dr Huey. Or a grove of odd mushrooms. Really gotta wonder what that one was planted in (and where it originally came from)

I sure appreciate supporting local businesses, but DANG! All anyone stocks anymore is KNOCKOUT. Yeah it's great & has its place in landscaping, but local rose-beds are becoming a Knockout monoculture--it's a CROP here. And I mean the locally-owned small nurseries, not just the big-box stores, stock virtually only Knockout.

But of course, it is NOT the hands-down best rootstock for everywhere. Just the hands-down best rootstock in Shafter.

Jeri