Yes, I know Jackson & Perkins has almost hit bottom and I know I said I would never buy anything from them again, but they keep putting out roses with delicious names and I couldn't resist. Besides, they're half-price now:

http://www.jacksonandperkins.c...

They now sell container roses, which are smaller than the bare-root roses they used to sell, but even their container roses are much larger than the bands that cost twice as much at Vintage, Rogue Valley, etc.

I ordered Shazam!, Caribbean Breeze, Raspberry Swirl, Tropical Sun, and Sangria.

I wish I could order, but can't as of right now. Oh well.

Having another go at that Shazam aye? or should I say Shazam!

I really want that rose.

I'm tempted by a few, too. But I promised myself "no more autumn sales" If I plant after late August the roses don't seem to make it through the winter for some reason.

Steve - I admire your self-discipline! I was sorely tempted, but then I remembered how poor my mom's roses were that I bought for her 1 mother's day a few years ago came in late, didn't survive, EXTREMELY poor customer service, etc etc etc. So I just sighed & told myself NO!!

Thanks, Toni, for the support. It's not easy being a rose-buying addict. Too often these forums push me in the wrong direction.

Here's right back at you for NO!!

I haven't bought any mail order roses from J&P for years now. Used to years ago before they sold out. I also used to buy lots and lots of the J&P roses locally. Especially in the very early spring when the nurseries have those boxes roses out. Can't tell you how many of the boxed roses are growing here but it sure is a lot of them.

Zuzu, did you get your order? How do they look?

I didn't get it yet, Cindi, and I'm beginning to suspect I might not. They're such failures at record-keeping and customer service. I was supposed to get an e-mail confirmation of my order within 24 hours. It never came. After three or four days, I called to see why I didn't get one, and the consumer service rep was totally unconcerned, as though computer glitches are so common that they don't deserve mention. When he looked up my order, some of the things I had ordered had never been recorded. He added them to my order, but couldn't give me an approximate shipping date. He said: "Wait until the end of the month. If they haven't come by then, call back."

It's hard to believe this company has any connection whatsoever to the previously wonderful Jackson & Perkins.

That's awful service!
I used to order from Wayside's end of season sales and had some of the same issues. They sold out quickly, but didn't update the order page. I would get a box with just one plant, call them, and they would put me on hold while they called out to the garden to find out that those roses had sold out weeks ago. Poor communication both inside and outside the company. Nevertheless, I kept ordering, because the bare root plants I did receive were just tremendous. Long beautiful roots.

Pathetic. I'm sorry to hear that.. and I'd just gotten a J&P catalog in the mail, too. Mostly amaryllis' and "pre-decorated" Christmas trees.

A decade ago or more J&P shipped great plants, had great service, and hired exceptional photographers. But they seem to be falling off a cliff just as Wayside Gardens did.

I stopped ordering from Wayside about ten years ago because everything I bought from them died. My guess is that they got shipments from suppliers, held them badly, and reshipped. And that all the time in transit weakened plants. Or else they had suppliers drop-ship and the suppliers bet that problems would never get traced back to them. My guess it that J&P's problem arises from steep cuts to their customer service department. A lot of companies treat operational departments as if they work regardless of how deeply operational budgets are cut. (See also BP and J&J.)

With rose nurseries failing at the current rate, I'm betting that it won't be long before survivors increase prices. Then maybe both the service level and the health of the roses we get will improve.

After all the factors are considered, my rating (today) for rose suppliers is Palatine, Antique Rose Emporium, and Rogue Valley Roses, in that order. That represents the top three in terms of success in my garden. Edmunds and Pickering are on the cusp. I have not tried Roses Unlimited. Will never order from Hortico or Wayside.

I'd love to order from J&P again if it ever makes sense to do so. I'm waiting eagerly for your evaluation Zuzu.

Steve - Roses Unlimited have AWESOME roses. They really really do. I drool over their list, know that what I order is what I will be getting, and have an assortment that can't be matched locally. That said... I will probably put in 1 more order from them for Star of the Nile & English Perfume as they're the only ones who have those roses. They will be on the absolute bottom of my list to order from because they send out teeny little gallon bands that just do NOT make it here. My area is too hot/arrid/intense for those poor babies. Their "2 year old roses" that were on sale last year were honestly about half-to-3/4 the thickness of a pencil. I don't think I lost the 4 I ordered... but I'm quite sure that they probably just will not survive the winter due to their teensiness. Pat's a very nice lady and the young lady who answers the phone is always very polite. But I hate not being able to order online, I hate having to pay via mail, and they are not very quick to respond. All this said & done, that's why they're on the the bottom of my list. I've only got .. 2? roses that have survived 2 years from them.. and I've ordered probably 30. Only one that did marvelously is Orange Velvet. Even my Rhapsody in Blue from them is still a very spindly rose. I ordered another RiB from GVR last year and that rose is about 10x the thickness in canes as the one I got from RU.

But as far as J&P, I will NEVER order from them again. They did me wrong in a bad way with almost destroyed my mom's mother's day.. here's what I put in DG's Watchdog:

On Jul 2, 2008, skiekitty Parker, CO
(Zone 5b) wrote:

OMG, I cannot begin to describe my nightmare with J&P. I figured that this was a completely top-notch company until I tried to order something! For Mother's Day 08, I decided to order for my mom a Simplicity Hedge Roses - 6 roses (yellow). I ordered on April 21 08 with delivery around May 6th (my mom lives in Zone 3 in NNY) as Mother's Day was May 11th. By May 7th, I don't have a confirmation number and my order # was not accessable on their website. I had to call them up to figure out what was going on! First operator on 5/7 told me that it was shipped out via USPS. I explained I had ordered this to be shipped UPS as the USPS doesn't deliver well to where my mom lives (Amish country). She said, sorry, that's how it went. I asked for a confirmation # to track it, no such thing. Frustrated, I called on 5/8 to get a tracking # and I was told that this was shipped out on 5/3 via UPS! I explained that I was just told the day before that it was shipped out USPS and THIS operator didn't understand why I was told that. I told her that I didn't care, as long as it got to my mom before Mother's Day (in 3 days) and that I had ordered this 3 weeks previously & my CC had been charged back on April 23. In frustration, I called AGAIN (still, my order was not accessable on their website) on 5/9 and was told this time that it was shipped out on 5/3.. FEDEX! WHAT??? What on heck is going on? What's, next, Pony Express? So I *do* get a tracking #.. and it has a delivery status for 5/12, the day AFTER Mother's Day! I call immediately back and raise 9million different kinds of **** and they did refund 20% and refund the shipping.

Long story short, my mom ended up getting them on the 10th (?), but they were all dead. Being shipped from California to NNY in a plain cardboard box w/the humidity just killed every little leaf on all 6 roses. I called them back AGAIN, but they couldn't find my order due to the fact that they'd just been bought up, had new software, blahblahblah. They *did* promise to ship out new roses (they only have a 60 day guarantee? Walmart has a 1 year!), but since this was on June 30, 08, there's no guarantee my mom would get them THIS YEAR. Both she'd & I gotten better service & plants from BigBoxes! Never Again!!!!

I hear you. Sometimes suppliers mess up so thoroughly that there can be no hope of considering them ever again.

That's what happened to me with Hortico. Too many mistakes and too little rectification.

Things can change, however. I avoided Heirloom Roses for years because of a lousy first order, but now I order a few plants from them each year and I'm quite happy with them.

Long ago they so frequently shipped thimble-sized unrooted cuttings that I studiously avoided so much as thinking about them. I almost forgot about their existence. Have they started shipping rooted cuttings?

Steve - Can't help you there (gee, I'm NO help to anyone today!!). I ordered from them twice back in '09, both times they sent microscopic teensy little bitty things that barely survived shipping let alone living in my yard (which they didn't.. I followed their instructions to be potted into a bigger pot and then into the ground, but I used MiracleGro gardening soil & that "burned" the roots and I lost everyone. Which sucks because one of them I can't find locally and am leery about ordering from Pickering again (Fisherman's Friend).

Well, it's the end of the month and the J&P roses never arrived. I called customer service again and the guy said the plants weren't big enough, so they had to be returned to the hothouse for a few weeks. They might be shipped sometime in the next couple of months and they might not be shipped until January or February.

On the bright side, he did give me an order number at long last. Presumably, I will now be able to check the status on line instead of calling during their business hours, which just don't work with my being in a different time zone and working at night. They seem to be answering the phone only when I should be sleeping.

I'm glad I ordered these at the sale price. I'd hate to pay full price for this kind of hassle.

I read somewhere that J&P is now going to sell only own-root roses because they want to hire cheap Mexican labor and not pay professional grafters. Maybe once they get the hang of growing own-root roses it won't take so long for them to get out of the hothouse.

Speaking of own-root, I was transplanting some roses & when I was digging the rose up, I found a dead rose inside the hole that actually had a live rose growing out of it.

Huh?

There in the hole where I had put that particular rose was another dead rose bush (few canes, bud union, and the roots). But, stemming from the roots was a hole new rose bush. It was about 8" away from the dead bush and was a very healthy 18" tall. I honestly thought that this particular cane was just from the original bush that I was digging up. Bets are that it's a Dr. Huey. I'm not sure about putting it into the ground. I put it in a very large container and reburied it. Thinking about bringing it in and letting it grow inside the house. if the cats eat it, no biggie.