Steve, now I'm not sure if Vintage or Ashdown. I always confuse them to the point that I once called Vintage asking about why my order hadn't arrived and it was an Ashdown order!

I honestly don't remember the coop vendor but you and Melva were not the hostesses. I would have remembered that.

I miss Noreast and I miss Uncommon Rose big time.

The disease, cerclospora....whatever, was discussed by Evie some time ago. I hadn't heard of it before. I dont' think it's an end of the world type disease but a disease notheless.

I miss Uncommon Rose too..they had such a selection of good roses....

Vintage Order in: Looks pretty good.

Last fall when Vintage was having one sale after another, I broke down and bought a few roses: Lili Marlene, Parfait, Rose Parade, Cardinal Hume, Courvoisier, Centenaire de Lourdes, Marie Pavie, Old Timer, Amatsu Otome, Looping, Mary Guthrie, Primavere, City of York, Crepuscule, Angel Face CL., Chatillon Rose, Henry Nevard, Morgengruss, Geisha, Nouveau Monde, Ole CL.

Some of these are ones I fell in love with long ago at Roseraie de L'Hay - Courvoisier, Looping, and Primavere. Others I bought as dependable roses - Marie Pavie, Chatillon Rose, City of York, Cardinal Hume. Still others I bought simply because they sounded interesting, were rare, and were on sale - Nouveau Monde, Geisha, Old Timer (HT), Amatsu Otone(HT).

Most of the roses arrived as big, healthy plants just about to bloom. Many of the bands are knee-high and well branched. The gallons are easily 18 inches across. One Lili Marlene must have at least 21 buds. Mostly the foliage is lush and healthy, but there is a touch of some fungal disease on a few of the leaves, and a token yellow leaf here or there. The two hybrid tea roses, though, are a mere eight inches tall and not yet branched.

Overall, I am wowed by the quality of this shipment. Not sure I'll ever again get so many unusual roses so well developed for such a good price ( $13.50 for most of the bands.)

Big FREEZE coming 4AM Friday morning (22F). Here's hoping that this order will augment the roses now leafing out in my garden, not replace them!

What an exciting order! You have such good taste.

(Blushing) Thank you.

I believe you are the only person to photograph Parfait for HMF. Do you think it will look better in full sun or with a bit of PM shade; I'm interested in keeping it from fading too quickly.

It does well in full sun here without fading, even when we go into triple digits.

Great.

Did everyone get this good news in an e-mail from Vintage Gardens:

One Free Custom Root Rose!
Order 9 Roses from our currently available stock-Add one Custom Variety FREE

During the month of May, place an order for 9 currently available band roses, and you may add one variety that is not in stock, listed as available by Custom Root only.

We will delete the $45 dollar cost of the Custom Root rose, and grow that to your special request for FREE!

These orders are also eligible for our quantity discount; so if you provide 4 alternate choices from our currently available stock, your 9th rose will also be free!

TWO FREE CUSTOM ROOT ROSES may be selected if you place your order by Mothers' Day, May 9th 2010!

Sale ends May 31st, 2010.

Membership discounts of 10% do not apply to this special. If we have sold out of varieties, and you have not provided alternates, we will request second choices to complete your 9 plant order, to make it eligible for the free custom root rose.

I immediately placed an order for nine roses (actually 10, because they had a gallon rose I wanted) and two custom-root roses (instead of just one, because I placed the order before Mother's Day).

This is a fabulous value. Those two free roses would cost $90 otherwise. I chose Kathleen Joyce and Caprice because I've never seen them offered for sale in all the years I've been buying roses from VG.

The total price came to just under $235, but once they delete the $90 for the custom roses and the $13.50 for the ninth band, not to mention the whopping sales tax on those amounts that's included in my price because I'm a California resident, I'll be getting nine bands, one gallon, and two custom roses for a veritable song.

I'm not even going to think about the mortality rate because this is worth it.

i just saw that! incredible deal

I've been buying roses from Vintage for years, even choosing my own when they had their retail outlet near my home, but I can honestly say I have never seen bands as nice as the ten I received in the mail today. I suppose it helps that they're mailed locally and only have to spend one night in a shipping box, but every one of these is incredibly healthy and most already have buds or blooms. The Kordes' Brillant band rose, for example, is at least a foot and a half tall and has one bloom and six buds. I'm utterly amazed and incredibly pleased.

I ordered some roses from vintage at the end of the season last year and they arrived in terrible condition, near dead. Tiny, wilted, droopy (the tiny main cane wilted, not the leaves, they all fell off), looking like things taken out of the compost pile. One, Dorcas, had broken off at the base of the plant. I called them right away, they gave me instructions on trying to revive them. Amazing, two lived, including Dorcas, and both survived the winter. The rest didn't last a month of intensive care. By that time Vintage was no longer shipping and told me to call back in Spring. My last frost date is May 30. I called mid May and left a message. Then I also sent an email. I sent a followup email the end of May. Nothing. To be fair, a storm on May 28 literally blew out my modem and phones, I am still recovering. I could have missed an email or call, but I doubt it. (I double checked and searched my email in the program and online). I am keeping after it and giving them the benefit of the doubt, for now, but running out of patience.

The two that survived the winter have still barely sent out any new growth. I am very disappointed.

Surprised that a company would want to lose a future rose addict customer over what I suspect is a problem with the post office and/or overheated end of season plants.

What a shame. I'm surprised they left you hanging too. Which roses did you lose?

Hey Zuzu - Can you post a picture of the Kordes Brilliant? That's one I ordered from Palatine and it hasn't blossomed yet.. it's growing nicely though, so I'm not complaining (yet).

I just happen to have a recent photo of it. It's difficult to photograph because the orange is so intense that it shocks my camera. Once in a while, though, the right light comes along.

OMG, now I am reminded as to why I bought this and placed it along with a row of Blue Girls. WOW.

Thank you. I just hope mine is as gorgeous as yours (doubt).

Gorgeous! Does it hold its color in the heat?

Yes, it does hold its color. It never fades and it's just incredibly vibrant. Vintage used to have one growing where it had its retail site. It was a huge rose bush and it would catch people's eye from the highway because it was so striking.

Ouch, my eyes! Bright red spots before my eyes, no wonder it was a people magnet!

I received 4 more bands from Vintage today and they're even bigger than the 10 that surprised me so much at the end of May. Three of these were sale roses (Sweet Sixteen, Sunny South, and French Lace) and they're remarkably large. A fourth was not on sale (Comtesse Vandal) but was needed as a replacement for a rose that gave up the ghost. I have eight more on order, which probably will arrive next Tuesday.