And I'm about 2000 miles away. This sucks. :(


This Weekend's Open Garden Sale:
Focus on Potted Roses
Yes, the forecast is somewhat ugly, but we've increased the number of roses in pots displayed in our covered cold frames to well over 300 varieties. So come rain, snow or whatever, we'll be here both Saturday and Sunday this weekend from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, ready for you to take a stroll inside our four structures, where you can take your time viewing the plants and information sheets on each plant and stay dry doing so.

Many of the roses available in pots ranging in size from one gallon to 15 gallons are not listed on our garden list and to help you to prepare for your visit, you can look through the entire list of roses in pots by clicking on the link at the end of this message.

We're located in Morongo Valley, at the corner of Sundown Trail and Oregon Trail, about a half hour's drive from Palm Springs and just 15 minutes off of the I-10 freeway. We look forward to seeing many of you this weekend!

Sincerely,
Cliff Orent
EuroDesert Roses
List of Roses Available in Pots
In addition to our "dig your own" program where you can come and dig up roses from the garden, you can view the complete list of over 300 varieties available in pots ranging in size from one gallon to 15 gallons, with prices for the one gallon pots starting at just $6.00 by clicking on this link:

http://library.constantcontact...

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lucky people in CA

I'm beginning to wonder whether I shouldn't drop by. Sure, it's probably four or five hour's drive from here. Maybe I could overnight in Palm Springs. It's an embarrassment of riches, all those roses. Maybe the roses would feel right at home here - I live right off Oregon trail, too.

On second thought, I can only fit a handful of roses in my Honda Civic. And how would I choose from among all those roses? Finally, I've run out of space in my garden. Well, just about.

It's just not an easy decision.

They are now offering their garden roses (freshly dug) or in 5 or 15 gal containers for bare root shipping.
$14 for 5 gal pots (bare root)
$24 for 15 gal pots (bare root)
Roses to be dug up from the garden and shipped bare root are $29

I've been on the HMF site trying to view photos and getting infos for some roses. My list is getting longer and longer.

I just ordered 36 of them. His entire collection is now available to be shipped. I hope no one else already grabbed the ones I want.

http://campaign.r20.constantco...

I ended up ordering 53 in all. Then I never heard from him, so I was starting to worry. Today, however, I received two huge packing boxes in the mail. The roses are so big that one box contained only two roses:

Dolly's Forever
Rokoko

And the second box contained three:

Ruffle's Dream
Ruffle's Passion
Mystique Ruffles

These roses were cut way down for shipping, so what filled the boxes was roots and roots and roots. These are great big roses. They must have been growing in the ground for a long, long time.

There was no letter attached to the boxes, so I don't know whether I'm getting the other 48 or not. Even if I don't, I'm over the moon about having the ruffles roses. I fell in love with them a couple of years ago when I was browsing the Russian rose site and they're not available anywhere on this continent.

wow, that Ruffle's Dream is kinda funky looking. Did you pay for all 53? I can't imagine how much that would have been...

No, I just sent him a list of names. I haven't paid anything yet.

I think it is pretty exciting to find such a different rose - and a great color too.

wow !! well we have had rain then sleet then HUGE snow flakes about 2-3 inches of that then it sleeted some more than it was snowing with thunder and lightning now its warming up and calm !!! ssoo I think I better just look at all of every one elses roses for a while
Gloria

Zuzu - I was going to c-mail you if you've heard anything from Cliff or if you received your order yet as we ordered I think about at the same time. I didn't want to bother them with an inquiry email as per their request. Been waiting patiently.

So now I'm wondering if mine is on the way. I only ordered around 10-12 roses with an alternate/substitute list.

Yours, or at least the first part of yours, must be coming soon, Tex. I'm fairly certain he'd have let us know if he wasn't going to send us anything at all. I hope I get the rest of my 53, but they might have been popular choices. If I do get them all, I expect to be getting packages every week for a long time. I don't know how much help he has to dig roses out of the ground, prune them down, and pack them for shipping.

If you ordered some to be dug out of the ground, wait until you see the roots. They're amazing. I guess when you grow roses in a desert, the roots can just keep spreading out like crazy.

Which ones did you order?

I ordered Acropolis, Brass Band, Ammonit, Colorific, Duke of Wellington, Enfant de France, English Miss, Lady of the Dawn, Marchesa Bocella, Marchioness of Londonderry, Royal Ascot, Souvenir D L M Rouge.

I don't know much about his selections other than look it up in HMF site. Some of those are commonly available from other sites, but like what you mentioned, the root size will make a big difference.
For some reason there's something about Acropolis that I MUST have that rose. Your beloved Brass Band is on my must have list too. Been trying to get than one since last year but can't find it anywhere. So hoping I'll get those 2.

53 roses - gosh! I just can't imagine. I could have ordered a little more but I really don't have the room for them. I don't know if you can recall I started with 4 DA roses that I asked you guys to ID? Now I got 30 with 9 more on the way directly from DA that includes Lady of Shallot and I think one of your faves too - Sir John Betjeman. Tough luck on Summer Song. Another one on my must have list By the time I placed my order with Palatine, it was sold out. But I got a few coming from them in the next few days.

Good news: We're not in competition for any of the roses on your list. I already have most of them. You're going to love Acropolis. If you can't get it from Cliff, try Hortico. I know Hortico is horrible in a hundred ways, but they sent me a fabulous Acropolis a few years ago and it's always on their availability list, so it's not one of the roses they have trouble supplying.

I can't wait to see photos of your Lady of Shallott. It isn't available yet from any of my sources. It looks gorgeous, though. Be sure to order Summer Song early next fall. I think Palatine starts taking orders in September. I actually bought mine from Hortico and it's very, very nice.

Tex - I'm in the same boat as you.. by the time I saw Summer Song on Palatine, it was already sold out! I swear it sells out in like 10 minutes of being available!

Thanks Zuzu! Yes, I've heard horror stories about Hortico. If I can't get it from Cliff, then I'll try my luck with them.

Me and Toni will be dashing through the keyboards when Palatine opens their next ordering season this fall.

Yesterday I received three more boxes from Eurodesert with a total of six roses. That's 11 so far, and today I just received two more boxes. I haven't opened them yet, but I'll get back to you on those.

The two testimonials at the top of Cliff's latest e-mail are mine:

"Hi, Cliff --

Today I received five wonderful roses in two huge boxes from you. They exceeded even my wildest expectations. Thank you, thank you, thank you."


"Received six more roses of overwhelming dimensions from you today. That makes 11 so far. They are stupendous!"

I was reading that too, and no doubt in my mind, that must be Zuzu's comment. LOL!

Yep - I went back to his list of shrubs and made an additional order of 15 about 3 days ago with an alternate list too.
Have not received a single one from my first order yet. But it's reassuring to know that he's working diligently to take care of all orders across the country. Just can't imagine all the work they have to go through dismantling their gardens.

The two big boxes I received today contained just one rose each. That's how big these puppies are.

Today's are Double Perfection and Pinocchio. Both of these are new to my garden. Yesterday's were Barbara, Beaute, Butterscotch, Duquesa de Penaranda, Elmhurst, and Eminence. I already have all six of these, but I bought them as bands from Vintage and Sequoia. I've been babying them along for years, as many as four years in a couple of cases, and they just don't look like anything yet, so I decided to replace these little one-cane wonders with great big monsters instead.

2 huge boxes from EuroDesert Roses greeted me at the front porch when I came home last night.
1 box contains Marchioness of Londonderry. a monster of a size, though I did not fully unpacked it yet. Cliff or his staff really did a nice job of packing.

The other box contains (as written on top of the box) Royal Ascot, Ammonit, Bonita Renaissance, and Madame Cordier.
The last 4 were my secondary choices but still I'm delighted to get them. I wonder how many more I'm going to receive.

Wow,wow!