Well I finally got mine. They came last week--the 26th?
I am not real sure how to handle these. . They are totally dormant. It's hot and windy here, 90 degrees with 25mph winds. Can these handle being planted out? Do I need to cover them at all? If it were spring, I would have no problems putting them out but I don't see how I can keep them from drying out.
Help?

I would mound them over with soil (completely covering them), to keep them from drying out, and to help keep them cool until new shoots emerge.

23 days shipping time???????? you stated that they told you that they were shipped out May 3rd, and you received them May 26th? I think I'd be calling them up asking for a refund!!! Try soaking them in a muddy bucket (1/2 dirt, 1/2 water) for a day or two... maybe Zuzu can help. If they're that dry, what I do is leave them in a bucket in my garage so that they don't get too hot in the water (hot water kills stuff much faster).. are they big? can you pot them at first, then transplant them later?

Try not to soak them for more than an hour, even if it's a muddy solution. Half an hour would be better. Soaking the Multiflora rootstock for too long will kill it. Plant them in the ground and water them daily, twice daily if the wind dries the soil out too much. Misting the canes will help too. If you could rig up some sort of shade, perhaps like a cardboard lean-to, to put over them in the heat of the day when the first leaves appear, that should help them a lot. I'm sure they'll be fine.

I just saw this great suggestion on GW, a picture was included.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/f...

Toni, Pickering had sent an email saying they would be shipped May 3rd. They didn't actually ship until much later. I think they spent a week in transit.
I'm concerned more about our hot wind than shading them. I can set a chair or a picnic table over them if I plant in the ground. (Cardboard would end up in the next county!)
If I potted them, I could put the pot where it is protected from the wind, and leave them there until they leaf out. We are well into summer temps here now--90s all this week.
Do I need to sweat them in a bag indoors at all?
I got Laguna, Lea Renaissance, and Coral Dawn. All climbers. The canes are wrinkly but green. Roots are dry but not crispy. Laguna is a decent size but the other 2 are young.
I would not have ordered if I had known they wouldn't get here until the end of May. I used to buy clearance bare roots from Wayside and Parks on their end of season sales, and sometimes those didn't come until June. I was able to grow them, but they were much bigger with huge huge roots. And...those only cost me $2-$5 apiece. The Pickering order with shipping was much more. I really don't want to lose them. I'll see if I can keep them misted.
Thanks for the encouragement!

Sue,
Thanks! I have just the thing! I can fill tomato cages with bark mulch and i think that will hold up to the wind. Maybe put cardboard in the cage also.
cindi

Cindi - I was also going to suggest if you didn't have anything like that would be a Wall of Water.. they work great with tomatos & you can get the "leaky" ones too that slowly slowly drip water out of them like a slow leak. A "tree gator".

*fingers / toes / eyeballs crossed!*

ooh, good idea! I have a couple of those that I've never used. Now if I can just find them. My garage is such a mess and I *never* seem to get around to cleaning it out.
Who knows what all I would find if I really got busy cleaning it out. It's near the bottom of my to-do list. Ahead of that I have rooms to paint, a floor to tile, daylilies to divide, a mountain of compost to spread and another mountain of bark mulch to move and weeds to pull. And lots of plants to plant. oh and my job...whew. Never bored, though.

Cindi - LOL, I know what you mean! I spent Sunday cleaning the garage & Monday cleaning house.. what a way to spend the holiday! Plus I went to a LGS & bought MORE plants ('cuz, you know, I don't have enough plants...)

Looks like the Pickering roses aren't going to make it. I planted them in places that get afternoon shade, amended the soil, put a cage around them, lined it with cardboard and filled it with loose bark. I've been sprinkling them a couple times a day but i think it's just been too hot. If I knew it would take them this long to send them, I would have canceled the order. Or not ordered to begin with. There's a huge difference out here between getting roses May 3 and may 26.
I'll leave the plants in the ground in their shelters but doubt they'll do anything at this point. We're supposed to have cooler weather this weekend, maybe back down into the low 90s. Local nurseries are already putting everything on clearance.
cindi

Update! As of July 4th, all of the plants I received are looking very vigorous and healthy (though still small), .....most have plenty of buds as well - just waiting to open! Lavaglut is a beautiful, stunning and dark really red, red!

Hooray! I'm glad they all made it. Can't wait to see the photos.

Happy for you, Chelle. Mine are still brown, dessicated, leafless, most likely dead.
I'm still watering them, though.

Cindi - What I do is bend the cane if I can. If they're dead, the cane will just snap. My growing season here is too short to baby for long. I just had to pull my original Stainless Steel last night.. only the bottom 3" of one cane was green but there wasn't a single leaf anywhere. So I put HoneySweet in that spot.

Snap, crackle, pop!
Another clue for me is when the rabbits won't eat them. No bunny poop anywhere near these plants.
Climbing Coral Dawn was the rose I really wanted in this order and I tacked the rest on just to make the shipping seem reasonable. coral Dawn was beautiful at my last house, but it was too big to dig and bring here, and my cuttings didn't make it. I would sure like to come across another one some time.

Sorry to hear it, Cindi. Have you notified Pickering?

I really didn't have high expectations for these plants, but they've proven themselves so far.

Photos will have to wait; I'm having difficulties loading them on the new computer. Or, it could be that I changed a setting on my camera that is processing my pictures improperly for this application. Who knows....I'm definitely no electronics wizard.

I'd better get it figured out soon though, I'd hate to miss photographing and sharing the blooms to come. Hopefully, they'll open before we do the vacation thing!