I've only used Heirloom Roses in the past but I've just had a pretty bad customer service experience with them and I don't think I'll be returning--I buy a lot of plants online and have really only had good experiences, so I'm not up for putting up with any negative feelings about people I do business with. Can I get some recommendations for suppliers you love? (It wasn't about the quality of the plants; one died, they seem to think it's my fault, or are trying to figure out a way that it's my fault. I've bought like six roses from them. And two t-shirts! Like a chump.

EmpressOfIndia said: I've only used Heirloom Roses in the past but I've just had a pretty bad customer service experience with them and I don't think I'll be returning--I buy a lot of plants online and have really only had good experiences, so I'm not up for putting up with any negative feelings about people I do business with. Can I get some recommendations for suppliers you love? (It wasn't about the quality of the plants; one died, they seem to think it's my fault, or are trying to figure out a way that it's my fault. I've bought like six roses from them. And two t-shirts! Like a chump.

Hello Empress. My favorites are Northland Rosarian, Antique Rose Emporium, High Country Roses, Angel Gardens and I had a great experience with Heirloom Roses. A rose they sent had some sort of disease on the stems and I was given a full refund with no trouble. I've had very good experiences with all the names above. Happy searching.

Empress, Heirloom has a one year guarantee on their roses, provided that they are grown the way they recommend in their planting and cultivation instructions, ie no granular fertilizer, only liquid, the first year, etc. I'm surprised they did not honor the guarantee for you. I do like High Country Roses for their selection, and although they only offer band-sized (quarts), those roses have always developed super quickly for me and thrived. Antique Rose Emporium is a wonderful company, and still reasonably priced for the size of the plants. Do NOT buy from Chamblee's, the new ownership is defrauding customers by taking money and not shipping orders nor providing customer service. I have not tried Angel Gardens, but I hope to one day! As far as bare root roses go, the old standbys Jackson and Perkins and Edmunds still offer great varieties, although I believe the quality has gone down in recent years with company takeovers, etc, so it is risky to buy from them. The Jung Seed company has a selection of bare root roses, I have ordered from them with success, but it was a long time ago. Their quality may have gone downhill, like Edmunds, and some of the other corporate takeover nurseries, although the print catalog states they are still family run...

I like David Austin Roses. reasonable prices and a five year guarantee.

Witherspoon Rose Culture in North Carolina has a strong reputation on this forum. I helped my mother start her rose garden by accompanying her there, and they have a wonderful show garden in addition to their mail-order business.

Roses Unlimited in South Carolina also has an excellent reputation on this forum as a mail-order nursery. However, their website is rather simple (some might say primitive) and you'll need to place orders through email. But they are still very well regarded here.

I also love ARE and especially High Country Roses, but will add Long Ago Roses, Freedom Gardens and Burling as particular. The latter two are exceptional for hard to find roses, while LAR has many out of patent Austins.

vaporvac said: I also love ARE and especially High Country Roses, but will add Long Ago Roses, Freedom Gardens and Burling as particular. The latter two are exceptional for hard to find roses, while LAR has many out of patent Austins.

I forgot about Freedom Gardens with Peter Schneider who runs everything. We both have been to his place and I can't believe I forgot about this place. Great roses and he's as honest as the day is long.

Long Ago is going to stop selling their roses on on their website soon, but sell them as auctions on eBay.

Palatine is good as well.

Palatine is the best!

Agree that Witherspoon is excellent, I forgot about them. I have never ordered from Palatine, in Ontario, Canada, they do ship to the USA however, with quite high shipping fees, but their online selection is amazing, and I believe the bare root roses are top of the line.

The shipping fees actually are much lower than the fees charged by most nurseries in the United States. The fee for nine roses shipped to California, for instance, is $51.95. That's about $5.77 per rose. I pay about twice as much for roses from Roses Unlimited in the United States.

Palatine
Witherspoon

Agree you can't go wrong with Palatine!

Palatine is where I got the two Westerland climbers on the right side of the wall in this photo...

Gorgeous photo, Mike. It could almost be a piece of mosaic art.

I agree. The garden and the photo both emphasize your artistic sense.

OMG Mike, your garden is a Work of Art!! Truly breathtaking...

Mike said: Palatine is where I got the two Westerland climbers on the right side of the wall in this photo...

Holy cow that's gorgeous.

Thanks so much everyone. These are great. I only knew Heirloom and I was like, what, my exploration of roses is over?

Here's Veilchenblau - which I got from Heirloom. It's a first year, but it's hidden behind a purple pillar rose of sharon and still climbing and flowering so kudos to the little guy. Not a gorgeous image but I'm impressed by performance in not-optimal space. It will get taller than the ROS and together form a season spanning pretty purple framework up a drainpipe and over the garage door. The ROS blooms starting late summer and I think V will be done by then so I have hopes it will be a good match. Hoping it works out. I guess I'll do a forum search on how to train ramblers. Right now I grow rugosa alba, Lyda Rose (three of them; can't recommend them highly enough)--they bloom forever and pollinators love them, Darwin's enigma, Copper Austria (came with the house-pegged it this year, "hey, that actually works!"), and a native something I have to rescue and bring to a happier spot. I have a yellow rovada (?) that my mother got me for Mother's Day years ago and I am still surprised by how great it is. I think it was just an afterthought purchase in a supermarket. Supposed to be a miniature but the blooms are bigger every year.

Anyway-Veilchenblau.