My shipment arrived today from Pickering and they are huge. Love this nursery.
Arlene

How exciting. I hope mine come tomorrow.

My Pickering roses arrived yesterday. It was raining too much to plant them, so I didn't even open the packing box. Today I opened it up to find beautiful rose bushes, with nice long roots. I was especially excited to get Ralph Moore's Hope and Joy. It's a mini and for some reason it's quite fragile. I've already killed two of the own-root ones, one from Sequoia and one from Nor'East, but now that I have one grafted onto multiflora it should do just fine.

Congrats, Zu, and hope it thrives in its new home with so many brothers and sisters!! Happy Thanksgiving to you.

Angie

Angie! I just got your card. Thanks so much. It's adorable.

You're most welcome, Zu. Wasn't somebody on one of these threads looking for rosa Dolly Parton? Might have been while we were still over on DG. Anyhow, Heirloom Roses is offering it in their latest catalog and while I don't buy from them anymore, if it's that hard to come by, I thought I'd pass this along for whatever it's worth.

I now have physical custody of my 3YO great-granddaughter, so my time on the computer is very limited these days! I'll get back on as things settle into more of a routine, though. Miss y'all, love y'all and all these gorgeous roses.

My Molineux is still blooming, as is Eglantyne, Gertrude Jekyll and The Dark Lady, several others coming to life again in these balmy temps we've had this fall.

I do remember something about Dolly Parton, but I wasn't the one wondering about it. Rogue Valley has it right now too.

Great-granddaughter???? Oh, my gosh. You and I are the same age, aren't we? In fact, I think you're a little younger than I, and I never even made it to grandmother status.

You're right, Zu. I'm 67, will be 68 in Feb., and I think your BD is also in Feb. I'm much too young to be a g-grandmother, I agree, but what can you do? Love 'em and keep 'em safe!

My roses have been lovely this year, although they suffered a lot during the summer's heat and drought. I couldn't have asked for better bloom during the fall, though. It has been spectacular to see them all regain their vitality. We had some cold temps over the weekend though that may have finished them off for the season. We'll see.

I received my first ever order from Pickering last week. I'm not sure I agree with the packing methods used. They were double bagged in heavy black plastic bags with the tops tightly sealed. No air holes. The tops of the plants were moldy, and the roots were bare and bone dry. The root systems were about 6" long, which is smaller than I'm accustomed to receiving. They may well prove to be great roses, but ???

I planted them all the day of receipt so only time will tell. I'm hoping for the best. (A few have some signs of impending growth, a few do not, at least not yet.)

Did they give you a discount for smaller roses? That's usually all they have left at this time of year.

I hope they surprise you by growing into big and beautiful bushes quickly.

Two of them I did expect to be smaller, and they were discounted.

I received some small ones late in the season from Pickering last year, about this time of year, I think. I was also worried about them, but this year they're huge and gorgeous. I hope yours will be too.

Thanks, Zuzu.

I'm still waiting for some kind growth on a couple of them. I hope they do well. One is The City of London which looks like such a gorgeous rose from the pix I've seen of it.

Chelle - I had gotten City of London from Pickering last year. I killed it. I'm hoping to get it again next year... I'll see if yours survives and, if so, I'll order it. Mine came in as little twigs.

Pickering sent me an invoice saying my order was shipped may 3. how long does it normally take from canada? They sent it by Fed Ex ground. I'm getting a little worried about tiny plants in plastic bags for a week in this heat. Hope I didn't waste my money!
Wish they had at least sent some sort of tracking info.

They didn't send you a tracking on the invoice? Have you called them (Pickering)? If it was shipped 5/3, you should have gotten it by now (usually ground is 3 day with FedEx).

They can take a week. You should expect them any time now. I'm sure they'll be okay. The bag and box will insulate them against the heat.

Everyone, please remember not to soak your new bare-root roses from Pickering in water for a long time. That's the best way to kill a rose grafted onto multiflora stock. If you can't plant them right away, dig a small trench, lay the roses down horizontally (or diagonally, I guess) with their roots in the trench, and cover the roots with soil. Keep that soil moist until you can plant the roses in their permanent spots.

You can soak the roses temporarily if you wish, but preferably only in a bucket when you move them from the trench to the new planting holes on planting day. Even then, you should pour a lot of soil into the water in the bucket and create a muddy fluid before you put the roses in there.

That's how I did mine. I put them in a *muddy bucket* while preparing the planting holes, then removed them one by one for planting. Perhaps an hour's worth of soaking.

I have signs of life on my new Pickering roses now. All are beginning to put out some leaves. They still have a long way to go, but at least they've begun!

Yay! it's so exciting when they are just starting to put out leaves.. such promise for such purdiness later on!