I went to one of my favorite nurseries today, the one where I have purchased most of the roses in my garden. I was excited to find that they have a new rose house and were planting roses for this season. Here are some pictures. I will go back regularly and add pictures as the season progresses. The house is 30 by 100...it will hold a lot of roses. They were pruning the stems and the roots. The roots that were left fit nicely into the containers. I have bought roses in containers before that did not have the roots pruned but rather shoved into the bottom of the pot...not a good thing





the crew planting roses


plants before they have been pruned...top and roots


keeping the roots moist...look at that root system





the soil mix


just planted

Please do keep us up to date on this thread. This will be a fascinating record of the growth process.

A nice photo story!
Do go back and keep us posted on the growth of these roses.

I am happy for an "excuse" to go back. I always wonder about the success of the small business man and am happy to see this business expanding. The staff is very welcoming and friendly. They are happy to answer my occasional questions. Here are some other things I saw yesterday.....

I love delivery day at the nursery!
Maybe rose culture varies in other parts of the country. When I worked for a nursery, we cut very little off the roots. We used deep pots that accommodated most of the root without bending it.
We didn't cut anything off the top, either. I noticed that the California nursery I shop at left as much root and top as possible. My daughter sent me a few more from California today, and she shipped them in a rubbermaid tub! Their roots were as long as the ones from Palatine roses.
Maybe I'm worried about nothing, but if I saw roses laying out with the roots exposed even for 5 minutes, I would not buy those plants. I think they need to be kept moist in plastic or peat moss up until the moment of transfer into a pot.
Have you succeeded with their roses? Like Zuzu, I'm looking forward to seeing more photos as these roses grow.

These are roses I have bought at this nursery over the last several years.......

I'd call that success!

I would too! Wow!
So you can start with short canes in the spring on planting, and end up with blooming plants that first year?
Are you fertilizing the first year?
How much die back do you have over winter, generally? How tall do your roses get by the end of summer?
I'm afraid I'm going to be cutting roses back to 4" this year, by looking at all the dark canes. The only part that looks alive is what is under the mulch. The drift roses that I grow in containers seem to be doing just fine, though, and they stayed out through all that sub-zero weather with no protection at all.
It's the hybrid teas that are suffering the most. It looks like you have a lot of HT's, and the nursery you go to was carrying the same roses they sell here. I would really like to know how you do it!

When I have bought their roses in containers in the past......usually in May or later so they have been planted in the container about 3 months......they are around 3 feet high and in bloom. I pick out what I think are pretty ones. They put on some growth the first summer. The next spring I try to prune lightly so the plant can really become established. The next spring I prune a little heavier. I get the most winter kill if it turns cold suddenly in late fall, before the roses are completely dormant. It did that this year. Mine look black now and I think I will have to do some heavy pruning. My main concern with roses in containers is if the root system isn't established and the soil falls away when I am planting.

Paul2032 said: My main concern with roses in containers is if the root system isn't established and the soil falls away when I am planting.

That's what I worry about, and that's why I was concerned when I saw the pictures of all the roses with big roots exposed to the air. We always take care to keep soil around the roots while transplanting from nursery pots to the ground, so how is that different from roses taken from grower beds to the nursery potting area? Books and instructions warn against letting those feeder roots dry out, yet it appears that the roses at that nursery grow and thrive.
Thank you for answering my many questions. I've always been amazed at how well your roses grow.

I will go back for more information. I know dry roots would be a concern but the 2nd picture shows bundles of bare root roses with no apparent packing material in a large box with plastic wrap which would maintain some moisture during shipping. I suspect they may have been in cold storage. I know they were putting some of the roses into a container of water just prior to planting. Pictures 3 and 4 show that to some extent. They do grow some very nice roses.....

Great pictorial! Thanks for sharing

When I transplant roses from a nursery pot, I like the soil mix to be on the dry side (not parched) so it will slip out of the pot with ease and hold together. Once transplanted, I deep water.

Picture 2 shows the pots they are using. Does anyone ever plant in those pots? I have not but if I did I would break off the rim and make certain it was below soil level so it wouldn't wick out moisture. I have bought them at times where some roots were growing out of the bottom of the pot.

I always remove the plant from the pots and then transplant

Joannabanana said:I always remove the plant from the pots and then transplant

Good advice for our area, where soil moisture is too low to decompose peat pots with any rapidity. (Even very small peat pots can be found in the soil, intact, after many years.) Tearing down the rim is the minimum one should do, to prevent the exposed peat wicking moisture away from the pot contents.

I think you are forgetting how tough roses can really be when you worry about those feeder roots.

When roses are harvested from the rose fields, generally in October in the Wasco area, they are yanked out of the ground by machines and thrown onto trucks or trailers to be hauled to the processing area. Roots are cleaned and a lot of the top growth chopped off and then they are put into cold storage to encourage dormancy.

We think the feeder roots are important, but actually, at this time of year, when all cellular activity has slowed down, they are not as vital in the colder zones because the conditions are not right for the roses to put on top growth, so once in the container, the rose has time to grow new feeder roots. In my experience, roses grow their roots first before they put on new top growth.

Putting the dry roses in water, rehydrates the canes where these roses are storing their nutrients ... I am talking about modern roses ... and the rose will use those nutrients to grow roots as soon as it is in the container.

@Paul2032 ..... those roses do look really good and I think that nursery is handling them very well. You are lucky to have such a good place near by to purchase plants. I just wish most of the nurseries would handle their plants as well.

Smiles,
Lyn

Very informative comment Lyn. I agree

Excellent idea for a thread, Paul. Very informative and most interesting !