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In the rose business, Burlington still sells roses around $25 each (or less) and they are packed with a maximum number of plants for minimum shipping. Most of the band rose merchants (Northland, High Country Roses, Rogue Valley) are still under $30 and that can't be a large profit margin these days. I remember Paul Zimmerman from Ashdown roses being upfront with customers that he'd tried all the possible shipping methods and laying out the prices clearly with what it cost him to ship them.
Kitty, I think I got away with planting the bare roots in pots outside in a kiddie pool and mulching with leaves in late February because the roses were dormant. The roses already in my yard are also dormant and handling those frigid temperatures so that's not much difference I guess to the rose. I also received leafed out and recently unpotted roses shipped from Agave Roses (they were pulled from their pots to ship) many years ago and they arrived in February too. I just hacked a hole in the soil and planted them with lots of leaf protection around them and they all weathered the spring OK.
I wouldn't do that for anything but very rare plants if they're leafed out, but the bare roots are just joining the rest of my bare canes in the yard. Maybe our fluctuating warm spells even in the worst of winters helps them not entirely freeze their canes off.
Cynthia
For anyone who hasn't seen it yet, the website has a map of retailers under a drop down menu "Find Francis Roses".
I'm out of step here. While you're all getting excited about next year's offerings, I'm patrolling my garden for caterpillars. Boy, do I have a lot this year. A rose new to me this year called Hans Heysen has opened its first bloom this morning. It looks rather like that Prom Night, kentucky. Yes, that dahlia sure is healthy, but I still haven't come up with anywhere to put it. And the pea straw is still in the boot. Oh for some of kitty's energy.
Carol, all my roses are grafted on Dr Huey. I don't have a problem with mildew or fungus on most of them. I think kitty's right - the rose that's grafted onto the rootstock is the source of those. I don't have a problem with suckers either, though the good doctor does often make an appearance after digging out a rose. But that wouldn't be a problem for you.
Hansestadt Rostock this morning, a Tantau. A little munched.
Very nice blooms titian1 10!
Kitty, I am playing around making my lists, notes, etc…nothing final yet. Pacific Blue, have you heard anything? Be Good is off my list for now. Is this the first year Prom Night has been available in US? Tough decisions. Several from your list are also floating around in my head, Royal Diva, Tresor du Jardin. Earlier this season someone posted a beautiful picture of Amnesia and Notre Dame. I would love an end-of-the-season follow-up on them. My P&W draft list is Pink Ashley & Caramel Antike then a couple of Princesses, maybe. I need to limit it to must-haves.
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