Let's get some threads going in this forum. I'll start off with the best and worst on my list. Garden Valley Ranch is the best and Hortico is the worst.
Although Garden Valley Ranch is only about 10 miles from my house, I didn't shop there very often until Vintage Gardens closed their retail site and started selling exclusively through the mail. They moved their one-gallon plants to Garden Valley Ranch, however, and they did provide the service of delivering the Vintage Gardens bands I ordered on line to GVR for free, eliminating the shipping charges on my orders.
As I began to frequent GVR regularly, I started buying their grafted roses in big containers, especially during the fairly frequent sales at large discounts, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they grew better than the grafted roses I was buying from other nurseries.
For the last few years I've been ordering bare-root grafted roses from GVR and they're always big and healthy when I buy them and highly viable after I plant them.
The other advantages of shopping at GVR include the fabulous setting and well-kept display gardens. The ranch once belonged to Ray Reddell and the present owners have done a splendid job of maintaining the beauty of the property. It's a genuine thrill to walk through the gardens there and to do business with the friendly and knowledgeable owners and staff.
Here's a link to their Website. They'll be taking orders for bare-root roses until the end of February. Order some. You won't be disappointed.
http://www.gardenvalley.com/
