Regrettably, I have to assume that this will be the last annual report card I'll compose. I didn't order any roses for the current season because I knew I frankly wouldn't have the strength and energy to plant them. It would be ludicrous to expect my strength and energy to increase at this point, so I hope someone else who orders roses from numerous nurseries will carry on the tradition of these reports. In the meantime, I'll post these remarks on the nurseries I bought roses from in 2019 for the 2020 season and a somewhat depressing update on the roses I bought from nurseries in the 2018-2019 season.

Palatine: As usual, this nursery gets the highest marks from me. I ordered 14 roses in September 2019. Two were canceled and four others were sent as smaller, second-grade specimens because of crop failures and other problems in the growing fields. All 12 that I received are growing beautifully, and the $10 "second-grade" roses are indistinguishable from the ones I bought at the regular price.

David Austin: This was the first time I had ordered roses from David Austin. I ordered three grafted bare-root roses and all three are growing well.

Regan: I've bought roses from Regan many times in the past with mixed results. Some roses have been tip-top and others have been weak and fragile, but this is the first time I've received half-dead roses from Regan. I ordered five roses. One was not delivered and two others died soon after they were planted. The remaining two are small and feeble. I don't know whether this is a trend or a fluke. I do know that I can't blame myself or my growing conditions and practices in view of my success with the other bare-root nurseries.

Roses Unlimited: This is the very best of the own-root nurseries, in my opinion. They are exceptionally large for 1-gallon roses. I bought 12 roses, all of which arrived in great shape and grew quickly after delivery. The only mislabeled rose I've ever received from Roses Unlimited was not really mislabeled; it was misidentified by the nursery owner and was sold under the wrong name for years.

Rogue Valley Roses: I had stopped buying roses from this nursery years ago because of the mislabeling and the poor quality of the tiny roses they sent, but I decided to order some last fall because I'd heard they had a new manager. I ordered 16 roses and was pleasantly surprised when they arrived. They were almost the same size as the roses from Roses Unlimited and all were branched; no single toothpicks among them. All 16 are still alive and growing well. Even more surprising: Only four were mislabeled. I know that a 25% mislabeling rate is not good, but it's much better than the previous 40% and it's only half as bad as Heirloom, which lost my business forever when its mislabeling rate soared to 50% years ago.

Those were the only nurseries I ordered roses from last season. The next post is an update on some of the roses I ordered from nurseries in the 2018-2019 season.

Some nurseries really let me down in the past couple of years.

Edmunds' Roses: The downward slide continues. I ordered 11 roses in 2018 for the 2019 growing season. Eight of them are dead. Some stumbled along for a few months before dying and some were dead when they arrived. I ordered replacements as soon as I saw the ones that were D.O.A., but Edmunds' sent me a credit memo instead. Obviously, I will never use it because I don't want to waste any more time or care on the plants they send.

Freedom Gardens: This was my first order from this nursery. I ordered six roses and was appalled when they arrived in November 2018. They were the smallest cuttings I had ever received from a nursery, even smaller than Burlington's, but at higher prices and higher shipping costs. Two of them died soon after delivery and the other four are still alive, but only two have put out a bloom or two in the more than two years that I've had them. One of the survivors is still the same size it was when it arrived as a single toothpick 5 inches tall. All six were Jerabek roses, which grow huge within a year when they're bought from Roses Unlimited.

Burlington: I don't know what's going on here, but it's highly distressing. I've had good results with Burling's roses in the past, but last season's order was a mess. I ordered 12 roses in July 2018 and didn't receive them until February 2019. Despite the seemingly longer growing time, all of the plants were tiny. Four of the 12 are dead and only six of the remaining eight have produced blooms so far. Here's the worst part: Judging by those blooms, only one of those six is the correct rose. Five of the six were mislabeled.

Thanks for taking the time to post that. Of the ones you mentioned, the only place I've ordered from is DA.

I mentioned my experences from last year in another post but I'll post them here too, to make it easier for anyone looking for different places to order from. I was just getting started last year so I didn't buy too many.

Jackson & Perkins - I ordered 4 bareroots last year. Everything was good sized and appeared healthy. Of the 4, 2 were mislabeled. I was refunded for the mistake and kept the roses, which after this winter appear all appear to be thriving.

Heirloom - Everything was a good size and healthy when it arrived. Ordered 10, but 8 were late in the fall and haven't bloomed yet. So far, I know 2 are correct. Most of them still look really healthy, except 1 that looks like it may be dead or dying. It is still under the 1 year guarantee, so I'm sure they will resolve any issues.

Lowe's - I bought 1 bush and 1 miniature. It had a bad case of black spot when I bought it but i took a chance anyway, it didn't clear up until I put a good layer of cedar mulch around it in the fall. The bush was mislabeled, but it wasn't just that particular bush, I checked 2 stores and it looked like their entire stock of Heirloom rose was Darcey Bussell. Both the bush and the mini appear to be doing fine.

Home Depot/Mea Nursery - I ordered Peace for my mom through Home Depot but was sold by Mea Nursery. It arrived in good shape and was healthy. It was slow to grow, but did grow some and had a handful of blooms.Still appears to be healthy and growing.

So far this year I've ordered from Jackson & Perkins (2 of the 5 roses have been cancelled due to stock), David Austin, High Country Roses, Northland Rosarium and Chamblees. So hopefully all of those will go well.

Great reports, Zuzu and Michelle! I didn't order anything last season but I have several coming this spring so we shall see what happens. I ordered from Palatine, Regan and Edmunds, a total of 8 roses coming. I've had pretty good luck with those three in the past but it's been several years since I ordered any roses. I'll be interested to see if and how things have changed.

I ordered a lot of roses(maybe 32 roses, lots of rose trees, maybe 10-12) from Regan nursery last year, none died, they all grown very nicely, particularly the tree roses. But I won't order from them anymore, I will only buy directly from DA site.

J&P was a night mare, I gave away half of my roses from this place, some were dead, some didn't grow at all.

I had good luck with Rogue Valley roses, they were in tiny pot when they sent to me, I had my doubt about them, but surprisingly they did grow very well.

I also had good results with the Antique Emporium from Texas.

I only ordered one rose from Burlington. No flowers yet, but it's alive.

Rose Unlimited was ok, nothing died on me, but ZD and Alchemist didn't bear a single bloom. I gave ZD away.

David Austin - I ordered 6-7, they did well, but no difference from Regan Nursery.

Let's see if I can remember...

First ordered 3 from J & P with with fall plant sale 2019. One died soon after arriving, and they gave me a refund when I contacted them. Other two alive and well.

Bought four rose plants in the fall of 2019 from various No. CA nurseries, and they have done well. One was a David Austin, two were OGR, one own-root HT, and one Star shrub..

Ordered 6 bareroot from Regan Nursery. When they arrived I immediately immersed them in water for 24 hrs., and then as I potted them all up, I noticed a few canes on three of the roses looked suspect for crown gall and canker. This alarmed me because the rose I had ordered from them the year before I had discovered a sizable crown gall in late summer. I know they have a 3 mo. money-back guarantee if the rose dies for some reason, but I wanted to know if a rose develops crown gall, whether or not they give a refund if you don't see a problem until later in the season (they don't), and my suspicions about the ones I had just planted. She said to e-mail her some pics, and if they looked like they weren't healthy, they would give me a refund. So I sent the pics, and she said that they were refunding the entire order, and cancelling another order of three bareroot roses that I had made that hadn't been sent out yet. Instead, they wanted me to come to the nursery in person and pick out potted roses I approved of that they would give me a 25% discount on. I told her she didn't need to give me a full refund since it was only three out of six, but she insisted on it, minus shipping (if I remember right). She also asked me to send her all the suspicious canes (I had removed them before I took pics, put them in baggies, and refrigerated them) which I did, which was needed for Regan to be refunded by their suppliers (two were Weeks Roses, and one was Certified Roses). After removing the suspect canes, all six have done fine since and look healthy. I never made it down there to get the other three (100 mi. away). You have to give them an A plus for customer service!

Instead I got two more DA's at Eisley Nursery in Auburn which is now a Green Acres Nursery, last spring, and two HT's (Weeks) from a local Ace Hardware, and in the fall two more Weeks, a HT and FT that have done well. Two potted that I bought in the spring from Home Depot had canker issues, but are fine now after keeping a sharp eye on them to remove diseased growth promptly and keep pruners disinfected.

And can't forget the local Sac Old Cem. plant sales, mid- June, seven 6-7 mo. cuttings all still alive, doing fine, all own root OGR, no blooms yet except for one bloom each on two of them.

Last season I ordered from 3 different nurseries.
Wisconsin Roses---These are newly budded on multiflora root stock. I ordered 3 Robert Bruce. All 3 came with good looking bud eyes and started growing as soon as I cut the top off the Multiflora. They grew rapidly all season and produced a good amount of blooms. I have several roses from this nursery scattered through my garden. This has always been a great nursery for me.
Witherspoon Roses----This was my first time ordering from them. They were the only nursery that carried the rose I was hunting for (Sunstruck). I ordered 4 of them. The roses arrived in great shape. Big bush's with a great root system. They all grew and bloomed all season. I'm glad I got them when I did. Sunstruck isn't available this year.
K&M Roses----This is my main "go to" nursery. Always good plants that took off and bloomed all season. Out of the dozens of plants I've received from them over the past several years, I have had only 1 dud. I can live with that.

I'm defining the 2019-2020 season as fall of 2019-summer 2020.

Roses Unlimited: received 6 roses in 10/2019, all typical great RU quality. Only complaint is that the Abracadabra has only bloomed solid red. I already have 3 Black Beauties, and I was really looking forward to the "really stable" sport of Hocus Pocus. I did not complain to RU.

Chamblees: received one Marie Pavie in 5/2019, fine quality. Pricey, but my fault for ordering only one rose. Always had great results when I ordered from them in the past.

Edmunds: received 5 roses in 2/2020. I really only wanted 2, but got swept up in the free shipping for over $100. The really unfortunate thing is that 1 of the 2 roses I really wanted (Maria Shriver) was mislabeled and turned out to be New Dawn. Called in May, they said they'd credit my credit card, they didn't, but in the fall I suddenly got a check for the refund in the mail. I was a long time customer back when the family owned it, and this was my first time with the new owners. I don't think that Edmunds sends #1 bare roots any longer, and my gut feeling is that they sit around in storage too long. Not a big fan, but having said that, I went nuts in January 2021 and ordered 8 more from them b/c they had a bunch of roses I really wanted. Also trying again for Maria Shriver, even though I rooted one from my elderly plant in the meantime.

Heirloom: received 4 in 9/2019. Received 3 in 4/2020. All typical great Heirloom quality. Been a customer for a long time, and I've never had anything but perfect service and perfect roses from Heirloom.

Local nursery: My local nursery specializes in roses, and always has bins of bare roots in wood shavings right after New Year's Day. Got 3 in 1/2020, all great. For Michelle with the mis-labeled J&P roses, I will say that the year before, the only mis-labeled rose I've gotten at this nursery was a J&P rose in 1/2019.

Palatine: received 3 roses 11/2019, all wonderful. If they had more I need, I'd order from them regularly.

Regan: didn't order in 2019-20, but ordered a lot in 2018-19 and 2020-2021. Always great. And the ones I received earlier this month were all in great condition and are leafing out nicely.

I'm only going to discuss Northland Rosarium since all the other sellers I used have already been discussed at length (and I agree with what has been said).

I ordered 2 own roots from NR: Purple Heart & Tropical Lightening. I was told that Purple Heart was on the small side but Andrew thought it would perk up in the ground. I was promised a refund if it failed to thrive but it did just fine and bloomed not long after.

Tropical Lightning was a large, healthy plant and did very well, not going dormant until January (it's planted againt the house)!

They arrived well packaged, very snug. No complaints and I intend to order from them again this spring.

Ok, so we're talking last season's orders...

Palatine is pretty much the best, mainly because of their selection and plant size. I got quite a few in the fall of their regular stock, then I think it was 5 of their older DAs. This season, I placed a second regular stock order which just arrived yesterday along with the 4 of the 5 DAs I had ordered. One they said was an error in their stock count. Was disappointed, but I now have a source for that rose elsewhere. I have to say, I have mostly ordered from them for Fall delivery, but I kinda like the spring deliveries better. They have traditionally had massive plants, but the spring plants are smaller and better than the fall ones. The fall ones are growing nicely, but have had some death and were slow to start. These that just arrived are budding out like crazy and looking very good! I'd rather have plants budding out, or even actively growing, than dormant budeyes. Sometimes they never break dormancy.

Witherspoon Rose Culture I have ordered from several times over the yrs. Have always been good. I love their Black Friday or is it Cyber Monday Sale, where the roses are $16 and free shipping. This last time they required a minimum of 11 plants for that discount which I of course utilized. The batch from last season did very well, except they had an issue with some of the Weeks roses. Two were mislabeled and they immediately refunded me. I think a bunch of people had the same issue. I ordered EASY DOES IT and got CINCO DE MAYO, and the other was supposed to be SUNSET CELEBRATION but thankfully ended up being SUNSTRUCK! I was going to order it this season, but now I'm glad it was the wrong rose since, as Ken says, it's not available many places anymore. This season's plants were humongous!

Jackson & Perkins has a lousy reputation, but they did ok. I lost a couple of their roses, but it was no fault of theirs. I had kept them in a shady area early in the season, then decided to move them out into more sun. The next day we got that 114º day and I lost about a dozen roses because they went into shock and fried! This yr's plants were in two orders, and the second one was rather late arriving. Apparently they had some issues with running out of some varieties. Thankfully, I got my whole order. And the plants were massive!!

Edmunds Roses were ok last season. Haven't received this season's order yet. Got a voicemail last Friday saying they sold out of DISTANT DRUMS, so they were going to replace it with MOONLIGHT IN PARIS. I ended up having to message them from the website to change that to MEREDITH because I already have MIP. I assume the order is coming next week, as some people have gotten theirs this week from what I've heard. I love their free shipping on $100 order! This yr it only took 4 roses to make that! Yikes!

Regans has always been a good supplier, and reliable. Their plants come from several suppliers, so of course, some will do better than others. But in general, they all do well. And they have a lot of varieties that others don't. They often sell out fast. And I like the 10% off 3+ roses.

Roses Unlimited has always been a great source for hard-to-find varieties and good healthy own root plants. The shipping is expensive to the West end of the country, but it's worth it to get them! This season has been disappointing tho. I waited and waited til opening day to order, and at least 3 of the roses I wanted, which they still had on their list, were not available. I only hope they return to stock next season.

Heirloom is sooo expensive. I never order at regular price, unless it's one I really wanted that sells out fast. Their plants have all been nice and big and do well. I only had one mismarked one from the 2019 season, and they gave me a credit. I only order ones I can't find elsewhere mostly due to the cost. But they are good plants!

Hortico has always been hit and miss. Last season, I got two out of nine that were mismarked. They did not do anything for me, altho they usually give a credit. They rarely answer emails. The roses are doing wonderfully well tho. No problem there. I was hoping to replace a bunch of the ones I lost in the fire, but they have pared down their inventory so much and many are no longer offered. That is very disappointing. And now, they have an issue with the security on their website, and they have been notified and still have not fixed that. I have an order due this month, but we shall see... One of the ladies on the FB Rose Chat group placed and order last yr and it got put on hold til this yr. I think the Covid issue has taken a toll on them. As much as they are often a problem, I hate to lose them because they do have some rare roses as well.

Freedom Gardens.... OMG, just like you Zuzu, I was in absolute disbelief at the size of Peter's plants. This was my first time ordering, and I was so surprised and shocked, especially when he is such a renowned Rosarian. I have cuttings that I rooted 3 months ago that have more roots than what he sent me. Many of the plants were barely 2" tall. Thankfully, I only lost one of the plants out of 9. And it may actually come back. I'm letting it sit. The others are doing very well, except for one, which our winds here have caused some dieback, but I mulched it and it is still with me! I am loathe to slam him, because he has such a remarkable collection of extremely rare roses. And I also have a second order for the coming Fall (he only ships once a yr). They are some "extreeemely" rare varieties, and I want them to make it sooo badly!! Nobody else has them. And they are already paid for. His prices are ridiculous for the size of the plants tho. But it's the shipping charges that bother me. He charges I think it's $20 for every 3 plants ordered. His website says they are in one gal pots, however, he removes them and puts them in baggies with a small amount of soil, which is fine with me, but I paid $60 shipping for 9 plants that I was expecting to be in 3 boxes. They were all in one box, which was not much bigger than the standard Priority Mail medium box that ships for $15.50. In as much as I am disappointed in these plants, I know with proper care, they will be fine. Some have already doubled in size since I got them in November. But I think it's good to let people be aware if they plan to order from Peter. Just know that you are paying a premium price for a tiny, RARE plant. If you are not a seasoned rose grower, you may lose the plants. They require a lot of special handling until they get established!

Northland Rosarium is a decent source for own roots. I have gotten many good plants from them over the yrs. But, last season, or actually in 2019, I got a mismarked rose... ALL AMERICAN MAGIC. I emailed them and found out there was a new owner. He apologized and said he would get one from the previous owner. He did. And the second one was another mismarked rose. I contacted him again, and he apologized again, and said he would try to root one for me. I did not ask for a refund. I'm quite sure he would have given me one. This was last yr. At this point I don't think he did root me another rose, and that's ok. I will order from them if there is anything I want that I can't find elsewhere.

High Country Roses is a really great place to order own root roses from. Excellent selection, which seems to be growing on occasion, and good quality plants. They are smaller, quart-sized, which is great. They take off like weeds. Some of last yr's plants are bigger than some of my grafted ones from last yr!! I highly recommend them! They have a nice selection of OGRs as well as almost 600 modern roses.

Wisconsin Roses is a great place for nice exhibition roses. They are newly budded maidens which for some people can be scary at first. You have to cut off the rootstock upper growth once they start leafing out. But the plants are healthy and grow really fast. Steve Singer will do custom budding onto Multiflora rootstock also. Several of us from the FB Rose Chat group have sent him budwood to share with each other and others. His prices are really good and shipping is cheap because they are small bareroots.

K&M Nursery in Mississippi is a popular place these days. Many people are beginning to want their roses on Fortuniana rootstock. Jim grafts his roses, as opposed to budding them. They grow for a few months and then he ships them out. They are really big and beautiful plants, mostly in one gal pots. The shipping is astronomical tho. Four plants shipped to CA runs around $55. But he has some wonderful roses, many rare, many exhibition HTs. He also does custom grafting. But what has made his business become even more popular is the fact that he is now growing Dave Bang's gorgeous (mostly striped) roses. Most are minis and minifloras. But they are just amazing. He grows those own root as well as grafted onto Fortuniana. And he ships pretty much yr round. Unfortunately they've had a lot of tragedies of late tho. They had almost all their employees and family members get Covid, the hurricane a couple months ago affected them, and Jim's wife I just heard had a pretty bad fall and injured herself pretty badly. I hope the coming spring will bring them better times!! The only issue I have with Jim's plants is that he doesn't always kill the budeyes between the roots and the graft. I have several roses from last yr that sucker constantly!

Burlington Roses... yes Zuzu, I notice things aren't as they used to be. But she is still an excellent source for own root and some hard-to-find roses. Burling is so generous too. She replaces roses that fail, and gives freebies often with big orders. She's probably just been overwhelmed these days. Some of her plants can be small. But they eventually do just fine. What is also wonderful about her plants is the fact that many have more than one stem potted up. I got replacements for my STRANGER and JB Williams' TWILIGHT ZONE (the mauve with yellow reverse grandiflora) and both had two plants in the band! So cool!! Definitely try her for the unusual, and the older Ralph Moore minis.

Antique Rose Emporium is a great source for older moderns, OGRs and some interesting shrub roses. The plants are humongous. If I remember correctly they are two gal potted own roots. I only order on Black Friday because they usually have free shipping that day. There again, being potted roses, the shipping can be cost prohibitive. But wonderful plants!

I did order from DA USA last season. Plants are always good and their customer service is good as well. And don't forget, they guarantee their roses for like 5 yrs I believe? I did have to replace one a few yrs ago, and you do have to jump thru some hoops to get the replacement, but it was worth it. I almost had to do it last yr. My PRINCESS ANNE rose died back to the bud union, but she eventually came back with one cane. At first I thought it was rootstock, as it never did bloom, but it was in the Fall, and I've since looked and it's coming from the lower part of the bud union, so it's still alive. And that was likely due to that 114º day in June.

Not sure if I missed any others. Local places have been interesting. I got decent bagged bareroots from the Grocery Outlet and WalMart. The latter had a very unusual rose called BENGALI, which I ended up getting a bunch to send to some people around the country who wanted it. Just hope now it is what it's supposed to be!! LOL Oh and Tractor Supply has a bunch of over-grown bagged roses now that will likely end up dying. They keep them inside and don't water them. Most right now have over a foot of growth! I grabbed a rare one BUTTERCUP. It's a HT from 1930. Also found WHITE MAGIC.

It'll be fun seeing all the new plants bloom for the first time this spring. This will likely be my last yr for ordering plants. I will be concentrating on rooting cuttings again in the Fall. And of course, I'll pick up a few replacements or if there's something new that looks cool!

Wow, Beth, what a great and comprehensive report! I think you covered all the major suppliers. I hope all the roses grow and bloom beautifully for you!

I really want Buttercup! I was planning to order it from DA for next year. I need to space out my orders since I'm very slowly putting in new beds.

I have 3 on order from Freedom Gardens . I don't know why he won't ship in the spring. I hope mine are in good shape.

I did forget about K & M. Their customer service was very friendly. There did seem to be some struggles last year and I never did get my Bang roses. I hadn't paid for them yet and things seemed rough over there so I decided it was a sign that I needed a break from hole digging so I didn't nag them! I did get some own root OGRs and minatures that arrived in good shape and full of buds. Too big for the box honestly! All appear to be deer magnets aside from Ducher 😔

Hiyamakki, the BUTTERCUP that I got is not a DA rose. It is an older hybrid tea from 1930. https://www.helpmefind.com/ros...

Oh, I had that one until last year, Beth. I bought it from Cliff when he moved, and like most of the roses I bought from him at that time, it never adapted completely to my non-desert garden. You'll love it.

Thanks for clarifying Beth! I don't think thing there's anything at my local big box or nurseries yet (nights are still dipping below freezing sometimes) but I was planning to hit Tractor Supply in April to try my luck. I still might!

Lowes over here just had knock outs and a million Queen Elizabeths last year. Very pretty but I wish they weren't pink. My local garden centre didn't open until July (due to Covid) and I had spent all my money at that point.

Oh wow Zuzu! That's beautiful!! Can't wait to see it bloom! Hopefully it will do ok here.

I'm so ready for spring to get here. But it's cold AGAIN and the winds are awful! So sick of the up and down temps! Supposed to rain any time too. I know... we NEED the rain, but I'm ready for warm sunny days!! My roses are budding out and it won't be long, tho. Right now I'm sitting on a fat bloom that I'm dying to see. One of the ladies on the FB Rose Chat group sends cuttings from UC Davis to Jim at K&M every yr. One I got, which isn't on HMF, is GARDEN DIRECTOR TOM LIGGETT. It's a "mauve" floribunda that's supposedly a cross of ANGEL FACE X ANGEL FACE. It's coming in rusty-plum colored! Must be it's LAVENDER PINOCCHIO heritage showing up. Will be interesting!

Hiyamakki, hopefully your Tractor Supply will have some good roses. The ones out here in CA seem to all have pretty close to the same assortments. Some great roses in there!

I ordered from High Country Roses last year. Small, but healthy and some took off and some didn't, but he had to send them so late due to Covid. (They look great this year.) Only 1 mis-id, but it is right next to the correct one and the correct one was sent this year. Very good value for me.

Fresh Garden Living on Etsy (I just discovered she has her own website too). I ordered 2 and they are similar quality to HCR, a little cheaper, but limited selection. The one I got this spring is older than the HCR's. (I have 2 still coming because Etsy does not group orders by customer.) $20 with shipping, no spray.

Northland Rosarium..2 well rooted, we will see how they do...slightly more expensive OR, but more developed too.

Several local nursery grafted Weeks...the nursery is amazing, the roses are okay...HCR own root does better for me. 1 grafted Munstead Wood, from clearance....I tried to get as much potting soil off of it when I planted it in fall and it is at least putting out leaves...

I did get one At Last Rose OR from ebay (I have gotten a number of plants from him, only rose he offered)...it was similar size to HCR, got it in Dec, so it hasn't done much.

Zuzu...I used to garden for my Grandmother when it was too much for her...maybe you could find a youngster and teach them, then just do the supervising and anything that was fun....

That's what I'm doing, Annie. The list of garden chores I was capable of performing kept dwindling, so my garden is now tended by others.