What is your favorite mail-order source for roses? Preferably own-root
Aaron Rosarian Zone 5b
3 years ago
last modified: 8 months ago
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What do you do when your mail order starter roses arrive?
Comments (11)Nope, you guys missed a VERY important step. The very first thing you do with new mail order bands after taking them out of the shipping box and taking off any shipping paraphenalia is to fill a garbage can to the point where the water will completely cover the whole plant and to submerge it for 30 minutes to an hour. The point here is to kill any critters that came with your plants, especially of the spider mite variety. It also rehydrates everything that dried out during shipping. Then I keep them in the band pots in the shade for a couple of days and then, when I have time, I pot them up to one gallon pots. No fertilizer in the one gallon pots until you see they are established and growing well....See MoreRoses by mail order - impressions of different antique rose vendors
Comments (25)One thing to keep in mind about 'Edgar Degas' not being available until 2018 is that if its patent began when it was introduced in 1997 -- and it lasts 20 years -- that may be why Linda won't be making it available until then, since she can't begin to propagate it without paying royalties until 2017. I don't have much to add, since all the nurseries I've used have been mentioned. I will say that I do have them ranked in terms of whom I ask first when seeking particular roses: Long Ago Roses and Burlington Roses get asked first, because of high quality and very reasonable prices. If they don't have what I want, then I check Rose Petals Nursery or Angel Gardens. These two are also top-notch, but cost including shipping is a bit higher, though not much. These two also tend to specialize in what grows well for them in Florida, so don't expect much in the way of once-blooming old Europeans, though there are a few tucked in. For those cold-hardy oldies, I check High Country Roses. They also have a few hard-to-find species. If there's still something I can't find, I check Rogue Valley Roses or Roses Unlimited. RVR has an amazing selection, but their bands are at the higher end of the spectrum. Also expect about 10% or so to come mislabeled, but my experience is that 1) it's usually nearby alphabetically, so you sometimes end up with something you didn't know you wanted, and 2) if you do need a replacement, emailing some pics and calling the office will get the mistake corrected. RU also has a great selection, but they lean more toward the moderns than does RVR. But they also send hefty 1gal plants. This also means shipping is a bit more if you're not on the east coast, but it's not that bad since I'm in NJ. If I need something with faster impact, I go with RU. If I don't mind nursing something along, I go with RVR. I haven't mentioned Heirloom because I haven't ordered from them since the company changed hands. I will say that they're going more in the direction of modern roses, and the few remaining oldies I can easily find elsewhere. So it's not that I ever had a problem with their roses -- it's just that there isn't as much that they have which catches my eye. But I wouldn't hesitate to order from them should that change. :-) ~Christopher...See MoreBest own root roses for your type of soil and annual rainfall?
Comments (60)lizzieswellness I have been growing roses for 30 years (I'm 60) and I have been rooting roses for a decade. I grow 150+ varieties of OWN ROOT roses. What you wrote fit GRAFTED roses that are grafted on ONE PARTICULAR ROOTSTOCK, but DOES NOT APPLY to own-root roses which are vastly different from each other. Like Bayes Blueberry is a long rope root, or shallow cluster-root of Baby Fauraux, or thick & woody & chunky root (like a tree) of French Romantica roses. I dug up plenty of dead own-root roses that don't survive my zone 5a winter at -20 F below zero. And their roots are DIFFERENT from each other, just google "StrawChicago and HMF" and you'll see I posted plenty of pics. of roots of roses: Even grafted roses are different from each other (Fortuniana, Multiflora, Dr.Huey). Below is multiflora rootstock (pic. from internet): Below is Dr.Huey rootstock, dug up from my garden of rock hard clay: Below is a pic. of own root rose that a friend sent to me. NO WAY that such a tiny own root can handle rock hard clay. One size DOES NOT fit all when it comes to own-root roses....See MoreOwn root types & your mistakes and successes in growing roses?
Comments (211)Nonetiquette z10b I would poke 3 large holes on the side (nearest to the bottom), or else elevate the pot on bricks for faster drainage. My 1st Bolero bloomed best when it was in a fast-drainage spot pre-fixed with gypsum (for calcium and sulfur). When I bought Stephen Big Purple as own-root end of June .. it refused to grow, until I elevated the pots on bricks for fast drainage. Bolero has glossy foliage thus do well with high potassium fertilizer. There's a Bolero which I rooted and grew in a pot, fertilized weekly with MG-soluble for roses NPK 18-24-16, it was slow in blooming, until I topped with Tomato Tone NPK 3-4-6 and it bloomed lots. Tomato Tone has 8% calcium, 3% nitrogen, 4% bone-meal for phosphorus, 6% sulfate of potash, 2.5% sulfur. But I got acidic rain that broke down solids in Tomato Tone. Tomato Tone has chicken manure (high in boron, copper, and zinc). Is your Bolero own-root or grafted-on-Dr.Huey? It doesn't matter since the own-root can bloom easily with my alkaline tap at pH 9. Roses grafted on Dr.Huey also blooms well with alkaline-tap water. I would use MasterBlend NPK 4-18-38 with high trace elements to force Bolero to bloom in hot & dry weather. Nature's Care NPK 10-3-6 is too high in nitrogen, great for high-rain month, but resulted in too tall during hot & dry. When I tested Nature's Care alone for roses in pots, they are healthy from its low-salt, but stingy in blooms. Since Bolero has zillion of petals, it needs high calcium. Also sulfur for dark-green leaves. Thus gypsum (calcium sulfate with 20% sulfur) is needed. Skip sulfate of potash since you already get 38 in potassium from MasterBlend. Osmocote PLUS NPK 15-9-12 provides slow-released nutrients in between watering once a week with MasterBlend. Osmocote and MasterBlend and Nature's Care NPK 10-3-6 don't have any calcium, so you still need gypsum to provide calcium for its zillion petals. Bolero has glossy foliage so it needs high potassium but ALKALINE pH. Your tap water at pH 7.7 is perfect. 2 TBS of acidic gypsum per 3 gallons of water won't lower the pH much....See MoreMNDutch RoseGuy
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Aaron Rosarian Zone 5bOriginal Author