Thanks for the help!
Karolina

Q: There's a variety I want but I'm concerned about Rose Mosaic Virus? I've heard that Canadian roses are virus-free, can I be sure?

A: We are absolutely sure that we have no virused plants in our fields. The budwood we receive from our sources is Virus-indexed and therefore virus free. Aside from that, we cover many miles walking our field inspecting the plants for issues such as mislabeled/ stray plants and disease/ pest infestations. New varieties are heavily scrutinized. We want to make sure that the variety is a good one and to be sure that it is healthy and lives up to its description.

The poster asked what the preference would be between the two sources for the same rose. I have qualified my response by stating particularly for older varieties, which have long been available as infected, I would definitely choose the one from Pickering as it has been tested and either found not to be infected, or it has been "cleaned" from RMV. For newer types which possibly stand less of a chance of having been infected, you're possibly safe obtaining a clean specimen from many sources. But, particularly with older types, my statements are valid. And, concerning any older rose (OGRs included) which have passed through many commercial US rose producers for many years, ANY plant which has not been tested remains suspect until it is.

It is each nursery's choice how to address the issue, or whether to address it at all. If it is one which is important to you, Pickering has gone that distance. Kim

I've purchased from Pickering for many years and have never received a rose that exhibits signs of RMV. In the fewer years I've dealt with Palatine, they have shipped two virused plants to me -- both were ordered in the same year, and both were the HT 'Louise Estes'. The virus was apparent immediately upon leaf-out the first spring, and became progressively more severe as temps rose in early summer.

I promptly sent a cordial "heads-up" to Palatine to let them know that their LE was definitely infected with RMV. In reply, there was nothing from Palatine but a deafening SILENCE. I've continued to order from them from time to time, but I now have reason to wonder if they place much of a premium on customer service. (They did, however, quickly yank 'Louise Estes' from their list of available roses, and she's never appeared there again.)

Pickering, in my experience, has never failed to be responsive and accommodating when I've reported minor glitches with orders. I feel confident in saying that they would not have totally ignored a customer's report of a diseased rose.

After Palatine arrived on the scene sometime during the past 10 yrs or so, I was intrigued by references to the super-large plants they were sending. Several seasons passed before I finally placed my first Palatine order for five or six roses that I couldn't find elsewhere. When that Palatine order arrived, I was surprised first by the small size of the box, then by the modest size of the plants. They were quite comparable in size to plants I was accustomed to receiving from Pickering.

After my initial disappointment, the obvious occurred to me: Pickering and Palatine use the same rootstock, are located in the same general area with basically the same conditions and the same short growing season. Their attention to care and cultivation appear to be comparable, so, given all those similarities, ofcourse their plants are going to be comparable.

As for plants that "never even woke from dormancy", that describes one of the plants I received from Palatine -- 'Special Occasion', to be exact. Probably Palatine would have replaced it had I ever got around to notifying them. At the point in springtime when it becomes obvious that a non-starter is occupying space, there's always far too much else going on around here to stop and tend to tedious business. I've yet to re-order 'Special Occasion'. I really want to try growing that rose.

Karolina