It is very expensive, and there are laws prohibiting the propagation of imported roses as well as a mandatory 3 year quarantine period.

Josh

Your County Ag Agent will schedule an appointment to verify you have the officially required room for the roses to be held in quarantine. Depending upon what your state has imposed for fees, this can vary greatly in cost. I'm in California. Due to the distance the agent has to travel from her office to my residence, each inspection would cost me $80. There could be two a year, for two years, unless something causes the agent to feel they require longer with more inspections. If the agent feels all is sufficiently well, he/she may release them earlier.

Once you have the permit and labels, you arrange with the shipping nursery for the roses. Each point of origin counts as one importation. If you are bringing in plants from multiple countries, each one requires its own quarantine area. Each area must be a minimum of ten feet from ANYTHING in the Genus Rosa, including the other batches of imports from other sources. The room adds up.

Once upon a time, the system worked that you ordered the roses, they were shipped and the carrier delivered them to the USDA at the most local import entry station. They inspected, treated and forwarded them to you quickly and efficiently. All of that has changed. IF you are fortunate to live near a low security entry point with lower traffic, you may be permitted to walk your own order through customs. In that case, be prepared to pay several hundred dollars (no joke) in inspection and customs fees PER ORDER. If, like I do, you live near a very congested, high traffic and high security entry point, you will not be permitted to walk them through, but must, instead, hire a USDA agent at over time rates to walk your order through the system or it will not be processed. My entry point is LAX. There is no way they will permit anyone to walk through their system. The total fees can easily amount to about $1,000 PER ORDER, plus the cost of the plants, plus the shipping, plus the cost of inspections once delivered...

Now, don't expect to receive the standard budded plant you are used to from any imports. The new rules, due to the fear of spreading the Chinese Long Snout Beetle, restrict any material being imported to 10 mm or thinner, INCLUDING the bud union. Less than one-third of an inch thick bud union? I have never encountered a budded rose from any source that thin. Imagine trying to successfully bring in such as thin, fragile plant and get it to break dormancy. You're pretty much restricted to bud wood to be propagated once delivered, unless you can find an overseas nursery willing to try cooperating with these restrictions.

I've attached scans of my import restrictions below from my Flickr account. They will tell you all you will need to submit to and cooperate with. Click on them to enlarge them for easier reading. IMO, it has become far too expensive a proposition for my "hobby" to import roses (or any other material). Notice also, the fines for smuggling can be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Not that they WILL be, but CAN be. Still interested? Kim

Ditto what Kitty said regarding all the work that Vintage did to make those roses available to us.

When I was in grad school, one of my faculty advisers was married to a Danish woman who always returned from visits to her family with rose cuttings, many of which she successfully rooted and planted in a community garden. I've no idea if her "imports" were on the "up & up", but I've since wondered (a) if it's possible to import unrooted cuttings, and (b) if such an option would be less onerous and less of an expense than importing rooted plants.