Buying Roses?

I am truely amazed how gardeners buy roses on impulse or from glossy pix in catalogues. If you are out in the country and do not have access to nursery gardens then do a lot of research. Should you have access to a nursery garden then check the roses growing there Spring, Summer and Autumn. Autumn is the best time to guage the health of roses as spraying has been reduced or not happening. If they look good in April or May then they are the roses to record as a potential for package or bareroot purchases in winter. Check the roses again just before winter pruning for dieback. Those that have the greatest amount of dieback are usually the unhealthiest. Amoungst these roses there will be some that have the colour, fragrance, bloom and bush form you are looking for. Since most nurseries are selling HT's then I list some of the best allrounders with exhibition form..
Esmeralda.
Moonstone.
Red Devil.
April Hamer.
Kardinal.
Diamond Jubilee.
St Patrick.
Elina.
Tineke.

That is how they make their $$, impulse and pretty pictures LOL

lol

It's the first time this year I'm buying roses from online in a catalogue because as people know some breeds are hard to get.Some pictures tell a different story to what you buy in all aspects of life so good to do reserch always.I have had alot of joy buying roses from Big W and Mitre 10 all have done well.

big w range this year is not vast dan .. had a look last week .

This post has been edited by Admin, removal of a word that might cause trouble.
Admin. David.

Edited By Admin, see above post

Depends on the store you go to mate they vary varities.I got some great roses in May from Altona Meadows store while Werribee Plaza not as good.

yeah i agree the plaza one was not good.
Watch the language fellas, we could get into trouble.

We have to be more selective here on the coast in NSW than lower down on the continent. Buyers have no knowledge of RMV (Virus) when purchasing because it usually shows up when the plant is stressed. Virused plants can turn up anywhere growers do not have a sound plan to eradicate this problem. Hence you can find it on the bargain tables or from the big nurseries. Just be careful and spend your money wisely.

Bunnings this year hasn't stocked up with alot of variety.Kmart has got in a few .but nothing compared to Speciality nurserys.Going past Poyntons nusery tomm to have a browse only lol great nusery.

lol good luck dan... i went with a friend of mine last week .. not a lot of choices there .. but check it out.. be warned very expensive lol

jordan71 wrote:lol good luck dan... i went with a friend of mine last week .. not a lot of choices there .. but check it out.. be warned very expensive lol

Been to a heap of places ,but find All Green Nursery the best by a mile Jordan for price,quality and choices.

$15 for Firefighter - pretty fine price. I paid double last year

Hope this post doesn't cause trouble, because it's specific. Last year I picked up three Valencias (I can never have too many of these) from Woolies at Morisset , $10 for one and $7 for the other two - they were HUGE, must have been 2 1/2 year old bareroots. And the roots were extremely long and healthy (twice as long and strong as those on my more expensive plants via a very good national supplier ). Not surprisingly, these body-bagged roses have thrived.

I never bag the baggies because you never know what beautiful bargains you might find. Of course, you also never know what you might get, with all those swing tags missing or reattached to various bags. My Woolies Adolf Horstmann is an Apricot Nectar, I think. For $7, I'm amused more than cranky.

betsyw wrote:Hope this post doesn't cause trouble, because it's specific. Last year I picked up three Valencias (I can never have too many of these) from Woolies at Morisset , $10 for one and $7 for the other two - they were HUGE, must have been 2 1/2 year old bareroots. And the roots were extremely long and healthy (twice as long and strong as those on my more expensive plants via a very good national supplier ). Not surprisingly, these body-bagged roses have thrived.

I never bag the baggies because you never know what beautiful bargains you might find. Of course, you also never know what you might get, with all those swing tags missing or reattached to various bags. My Woolies Adolf Horstmann is an Apricot Nectar, I think. For $7, I'm amused more than cranky.

Very true I have had great success from Big W roses to.Youcan find some real bargains out there at the moment from thesekind of places.I seen a Valencia this week at Big W for $8.95 very healthy I was Tempted as alot of great reviews on it.

dannyboy wrote:

betsyw wrote:Hope this post doesn't cause trouble, because it's specific. Last year I picked up three Valencias (I can never have too many of these) from Woolies at Morisset , $10 for one and $7 for the other two - they were HUGE, must have been 2 1/2 year old bareroots. And the roots were extremely long and healthy (twice as long and strong as those on my more expensive plants via a very good national supplier ). Not surprisingly, these body-bagged roses have thrived.

I never bag the baggies because you never know what beautiful bargains you might find. Of course, you also never know what you might get, with all those swing tags missing or reattached to various bags. My Woolies Adolf Horstmann is an Apricot Nectar, I think. For $7, I'm amused more than cranky.

Very true I have had great success from Big W roses to.Youcan find some real bargains out there at the moment from thesekind of places.I seen a Valencia this week at Big W for $8.95 very healthy I was Tempted as alot of great reviews on it.

is that big w at the plaza dan or point cook ?

Betsy,
Your post cant cause any trouble.
We buy plants from Big W etc and have been happy with the size and health of the plants. We have had plants from nurseries that leave a lot to be desired.
I got a lovely Julias Rose from big W the other day and we are more than happy with her.

Hi all,
I find some of the roses I've been getting from nurseries are like the runt of the litters, they grow spindly. I bought First Red from Bunnings yesterday, see how it goes. Not one I've really heard of but looks nice.
Thinking about buying Elina next. It's cheaper too...I paid $35 for my Firefighter at a nursery.

Ozeboy, I mean't to mention that I do try research first, but some are hard to find out much on..First Red for example. If it's cheap enough, sometimes you need to find out by trial and error

Happy roses wrote:Hi all,
I find some of the roses I've been getting from nurseries are like the runt of the litters, they grow spindly. I bought First Red from Bunnings yesterday, see how it goes. Not one I've really heard of but looks nice.
Thinking about buying Elina next. It's cheaper too...I paid $35 for my Firefighter at a nursery.

Yeah, I had a similar experience with multiple orders of one cultivar last season. Ordered five more Paroles, got five twigs. It was late in the season (August), but I was a bit disappointed. Looks like the supplier matched the lot for equal size, with the smallest ones left in their bareroot inventory as the yardstick. Three turned into very good bloomers, one was fair and the fifth one stayed runt-ish.

In short: Good price for five roses became just okay price when divided by four.

Iv'e bought roses from all different growers , usually i preorder so i get the roses i would like . Some times the rose you would like isn't available at one nursery so you need to find another that stocks it . I have to say i have always been happy with the quality of Swanes roses and their packing . Two other nurseries have supplied me with the wrong rose , which was very annoying , i even got a Pierre de Ronstadt instead of a bush rose and a Diana Princess of Wales instead of Aoteroa . Its a more expensive way of buying roses for sure , but my quest for roses with a beautiful perfume , good form and good disease resistance goes on , got to have one vice in life hey !!!

Here is the info on First Red
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David can you get a HMF link for Red Berlin and Grand Prix please

Not David, but may I help?

Red Berlin
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Grand Prix
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thank you..unfortunately there was no photo of Red Berlin...

Can't find a place that sells "First Red"....any takers....