This is just a "heads up". Kim Rupert, my rose mentor, talked with Berling, owner of Burlington Nursery in Visalia, a couple of days ago and she told him she may have to close the nursery because the drought impact is forcing her to cut back on inventory and she may not be able to carry plants forward to next year.

If you want any of the roses she carries, she maintains a fairly accurate inventory on her HelpMeFind nursery listing. (She does not maintain her web site because she simply has too much on her plate.)

or

You can mail a request for a more current listing to:

24865 Road 164
Visalia, California 93292
United States

or call her at:

(559) 747-3624

Since she carries a lot of roses that are not in commerce anywhere now, when she closes the nursery, those roses will be lost.

Lyn

I always got such great rooted cuttings from her. I should see if there is anything that I have been meaning to get from her.

She truly wants to send out good plants.

I know, if I had room, I'd be placing a large order because I trust her.

btw, she does carry more than miniture roses. A lot of roses from many classes. I hope it's worth a look for you, Sue.

I am just sick in that I know no one else carries a lot of these roses and they will be gone.

Lyn

As far as I know, she was the only one selling the real Smoky. I grew one in the 1970s that was spectacular, with an unparalleled color spectrum -- brick red, with orange in the center and smoky-mauve outer petals. I bought many replacements in subsequent years, but all of them were misnamed. Vintage Gardens and several other nurseries were selling a solid orange rose and calling it "Smoky." Burling grafted one for me, and it turned out to be the real Smoky. If you're a fan of russet roses, I urge you to buy Smoky from Burling if she has any left.

Rose (Rosa 'Smoky')

Fortunately, some other own-root nurseries (Rogue Valley, Angel Gardens, and others) have bought plants from Burling and are now offering them. Shadow Dancer, a wonderful Ralph Moore climber, was virtually unavailable for many years. Then Burling started selling it, and now several nurseries carry it.

Rose (Rosa 'Shadow Dancer')

I'd also recommend Flamingo Dancer, Burling's own climber.

Rose (Rosa 'Flamingo Dancer')

Thanks, Zuzu. We need to get the word out.

Burling is pretty careful about what she sells as own root plants, too. She is a true expert at budding, so if a rose was in demand and needed to be budded, it would be a no brainer for her. She as backed off from budding plants because she didn't want to give nursery space to growing root stocks.

If you are in doubt, call her. She really doesn't mind that kind of question.

Burling was the primary propagator for Ralph Moore for more than a decade when he could no longer spend as much time out in the nursery as he used to when he was younger. He closed Sequoia when he was 100 years old. In his latter years, he needed someone with Burling's skills and, of course, he mentored her, too.

Smiles,
Lyn

I love all these rose background stories. Thank you Zuzu and Lyn.

Zuzu ...

The reason 'Shadow Dancer' was unavailable for many years is that Ralph sold the patent rights to SD to Weeks Roses. It was such a good rose, he wanted wider distribution than it would get if it were sold just by his nursery.

Large distributors, like Weeks, were always looking for the next new rose and Weeks stopped distributing SD after a few years.

When the patent ran out, Berling and other nurseries were able to sell the rose.

btw ... porkpal, Berling has a lot of the ogrs you love in her inventory. You might want to check them out.

Smiles,
Lyn

I sent her an email last night asking for the list and she sent it within 2 hours! I'm trying to whittle the list down to reasonable.

She sends out very nice little roses, but the last 3 shipments from her didn't make it for me. I think it's because of the altitude.. and I've been trying to get Smoky from her for years & each time I request it she's always out. But she's a sweetheart!

What is the best way to handle small roses? Leave them in bigger pots, or plant in the ground?

In my opinion, the best way is to pot them up and allow them to build a larger root mass before planting them in the ground.

Smiles,
Lyn

I lose them if I plant them out quite small. The weeds grow up around them and they disappear! Then I forget to water them. So I have a potted rose kindergarten next to a water trough where I will not forget them. I suspect not everyone has my problem, however...

Porkpal, that's exactly what happens here!

Cindi ... you also said you get hail. Sounds to me that a tiny plant in the ground could become a gonner, if you got a serious storm. At least you could protect them from that kind of weather, if you put them in a pot ghetto.

Smiles,
Lyn

My pot ghetto with supermarket minis.
I planted a few yeaterday. Wish I knew the name. Well shoot. My phone says unable to upload image, low memory.