I also prefer to plant bare-root roses in November, Sunnyvalley,, but Palatine's the only place that still offers that option. My local nurseries don't start carrying roses until January or February, and some mail-order nurseries hold their roses even longer before shipping.
Cindy, in most cases I would prune the canes and the roots before planting. They almost always have some breaks in the canes and roots that have to be trimmed off. In this case, however, I didn't have to do anything because Rosemania had pruned them nicely just before shipping. The cuts were still fresh and there were no damaged canes or roots.
My gopher-proof cages for roses are the 5-gallon size. I use smaller cages for bulbs, and my neighbors have used 15-gallon cages for fig trees and other large plants that appeal to gophers. I don't grow figs, and I take chances with my other shrubs and trees. Most have been safe, although I have lost a few large camellias and lavateras to gophers over the years.
I'm not sure whether they use the same growers, but they use similar growers, mostly in California. There's a difference in the quality of the rose bushes, however. I suspect Edmunds' Roses pays less to the growers and gets a slightly inferior grade. Edmunds' roses never look as good to me as the roses from Regan and Rosemania. I haven't bought anything from Breck's in years, so I don't know about their roses. I think Palatine might be the only retail rose vendor left that still sells rose bushes from its own growing fields.
