Deliveries from Roses Unlimited arouse mixed feelings of joy and trepidation in me. They're something of an ordeal to unpack and always require a hand tool or two. They arrive in pots, encased in a plastic bag, which is tied tightly to keep the plants and potting medium secure during shipping. The bagged pot is then set into a cardboard box, the edges are folded in and down, and the edges and bag are then taped together, so that nothing can fall out.
These small boxes are then packed tightly in a larger box, tall enough to provide lots of head room for the plants in case the box is turned upside down. The small boxes are stapled to the larger box with big brass staples, so they're virtually immobilized.
It's quite a chore to remove the rose pots from their packing, especially because I don't have a giant staple remover and I have to use a giant screwdriver to pry the staples off, but all the effort is worth it when the plants are released from bondage without any damage to a single cane or even a single leaf.
Here are the three roses in this delivery, left to right: 'Sophisticated Lady,' 'Allamand Ho!,' and 'Apricot Sky.'
I know the one in the middle looks quite small, but I bought an 'Allamand Ho!' three years ago from Chamblee, which many people regard as the number-one source for Buck roses, and it actually is still smaller than this one from Roses Unlimited. It's notoriously hard to grow, so I thought I'd better have two. After all these years in commerce, there's still only one photo of it on helpmefind.com.
The roses from RU don't cost much in comparison with own-root roses from some other nurseries. These three were, left to right, $18, $16, and $20. The extraordinarily (for RU) high-priced 'Apricot Sky' is a Barni climber and it's not being offered for sale anywhere else on this continent. Actually, I think the other two are also currently unavailable from other sources.
The only drawback and only reason I don't buy more roses from RU is the high shipping cost. It costs $8 per rose to deliver them to California, and RU also charges a $5 handling fee for each order. On the other hand, this cost hasn't risen in several years, whereas Chamblee used to charge $2 per rose and now charges much, much more.
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