Last year, I had ordered them for November delivery, and if you remember, the whole NE was snowed in for weeks. Palatine had to reschedule for spring delivery. Spring is tough here because we get early super warm days, then late freezes. Spring winds are worse than fall winds, too. Normally we have a long fall season, and roots can get settled in. If temps are still in the 70s when I get the roses on the 19th, then I'll hold off planting for a week or so, until it's cool enough that they won't be tempted to come out of dormancy. My own roses are still pushing buds. I'm guessing that Palatine harvested these roses a month ago and put them into coolers to force sleep, or do northern places really have that short a season?
I thought a long time about which was better, spring or winter planting of bare roots, and the experienced people in the local rose society said definitely better chances of success with fall planting of bare roots. Rachel at Palatine confirmed this too, after I described our continental climate.
Palatine gets credit card into when you order, and then charges about half as a deposit. The rest is charged when they ship. They reserve your plants even until spring. (Which is what Neal was saying, just explaining to people who may not have ordered from Palatine) I have changed my order twice so far, adding a few for friends. I placed my first order within an hour of the website opening this year to make sure they weren't sold out of what I wanted. It was crazy...I was at a hospital in Kansas City, waiting for my mom to come out of surgery, looking for a floor with better wifi. My list to buy was at home, and all I had was my phone, so I had to scroll through all their roses to try to remember what I was buying. My aunt was sitting with me and she was looking at the photos, thinking she wanted some too. I was trying to explain I had to hurry, hurry, hurry! before they sell out! and they've already been open for an hour!!! She just laughed at me, because our whole family has plant addiction.
