I ordered from Edmund's back in October (got Royal Amethyst Hybrid Tea, Koko Loko Floribunda, & Purple Splash Climber) and just received in yesterday's mail their catalog. Wow! What a wonderful day to brighten up a dreary butt-kicking cold day!

It is a beautiful catalogue, isn't it? The rose on the cover (Dark Night) is absolutely stunning! Apparently, though, it's been around for a few years under other names, so Edmund's has a lot of nerve calling it an "exclusive" and charging $25 for the bare-root variety.

Koko-Loko's on my "wait-and-see" list. It almost seems too good to be true. I want to see the rose blooming before I buy it.

well, I'm trying it 'cuz I'm not smart. LOL!

Well, thank goodness for that. Somebody has to test it out for me.

I was looking at that Dark Night & it stated that it was a 2011 rose, so how could it have a different name if it's so new?

Edmund's actually calls it a 2012 rose in the fine print, but according to one of the comments on the HMF page, it was available from Meilland in 2008.

http://www.helpmefind.com/gard...

Ahhh... I didn't have access to HMF when I looked at the catalog. Huh. Wonder how/why they would "lie" like that. But Edmunds is a good company, right? I think I'm ordering from them for the first time.. kind of nervous now.

I frankly feel ambivalent about Edmunds' Roses. I have some really wonderful Edmunds' roses in my garden, but they date back to before the change of ownership, when the company was still in Oregon and they grew all of the roses they sold. The ones I've bought since Jung Seed bought the name (the company's now based in Wisconsin and doesn't grow any roses, just buys them from wholesalers and resells them) have not been as nice. They're better than the roses from a lot of other places, but not as good as the roses from Garden Valley Ranch or Regan's. I think they're on a par with S&W Greenhouse: good, but not great.

hmm.. great. Well, I'll take a chance and see. What's the worst? I kill them? I was super happy w/GVR roses last year and Palatine's. Not one of Pickering's made it for me, but that's my fault. I guess I'll just have to take a chance. I'm just so excited by Koko Loko.. now I need to know where exactly I'm going to plant it!

I once bought a few roses from Jung's a few years ago (John Davis and similar rock hardy ones), and they were fine (unlike their puny perennials). Weeks was the supplier. Their purchase of Edmond's has worried me, but nonetheless I went on line and bought two roses-- as a Christmas present for my 93 year old mother-in-law. But I have never received an on-line receipt or any other acknowledgment. #$@%!!! They really don't seem to have their at together yet.

I ordered a bunch of roses in November. The site sent me an e-mail notification immediately.

The roses arrived a day before a foot of snow third week in February. So I packed them in snow until I could plant them five days later. They looked well developed, and well kept (In contrast to those I received last June.) I pushed back the snow, dug the holes, stuck them in the ground, and watered. It all seemed a little surreal to be planting in the snow. But then daytime temperatures are frequently in the mid sixties. So maybe it was a good time to plant - certainly better than mid June! Will see how they do.

Hey Steve - how are your Edmunds roses doing? You planted them over a month ago.. they starting to leaf out yet? Also, how big were the plants? On par with GVR/Palatine? Or teeny like Heirloom?

I haven't received my order yet.. they didn't give me an exact date of shipping so I just emailed 'em again asking exactly when are they being shipped out so I can be ready.

The plants were put in the ground in early March. There they waited. They waited some more. And they waited more yet. While waiting, one almost completely dehydrated and one partly did - Adolf Horstmann and Double Delight. I'm expecting these two to be write-offs.

But overall, things went pretty well. Elina is the furthest along, and is in full-speed-ahead growing mode. Gruss an Aachen and Sunsprite are not very far behind, with Firefighter, and Leann Rimes just a little further back. Two or three are a little further behind this. Grande Dame, a little less developed still, has three leaves the size of rice grains. Two or three plants are still very green but have no little leaf sprouts - mostly Oympiad.

I think the failures are probably about 80% my fault. I'm not 100% sure I followed their instructions to mist the canes the canes often enough to keep them perpetually moist until they sprouted leaves (if you can forgive my hyperbolic take on the official instructions). But I think the success rate will be pretty high. And I'm convinced that they sent me extremely well developed stock. Some of the canes on Olympiad were nearly 3/4 inch in diameter.

I think on a weight basis the roses from Edmunds were heavier, on average than the roses from Palatine. Only time will tell whether the roses themselves do better. But we are definitely not talking about just barely rooted cuttings of the sort that come from Heirloom.

Well, Edmunds has lost my business, and I haven't even gotten my roses yet! They charged me $14.95 for shipping, and shipped it parcel post via USPS?

Screw that. I just hope I don't get dissecated dead roses.

I am NOT a happy camper.

Better than misting the canes, stick the largest clear plastic bag you can find over the rose canes, and put soil around the bottom so the bag doesn't blow off. Put a couple of slits in the top of the bag, so there is some ventilation to let heat out. this is called sweating out the buds. I have had great success with this. It holds the moisture in around the canes, and will let some of the heat escape.

Alan

Alan - that's a great idea! Thanks!

I used the one or two gallon ziplock bags on mine, something similar, even a large clear trash bag should work.

alan

Got my roses in. Not too worse for the wear considering they were shipped USPS... a little dried out but not as bad as GVR's roses were. I'm not sure if I can put 'em in quickly.. I'm going to shoot for Friday afternoon so I'll start soaking them tomorrow afternoon when I get home from work. All the leaf buds were dried out, but that's OK I guess.

Are these bareroots? I start soaking them the minute they arrive. They've been known to sit in the water for a week. It doesn't hurt them. I always pour a tablespoon of superthrive into the container of water they are soaking in, in my case a huge steel tub. Really seems to give them a nice boost. But, I swear by Superthrive for everything...!!

Alan

Where do you get SuperThrive? And the instructions state to soak for 12-24 hours... I didn't want them to start rotting.