Toni, I don't have any photos of the Pickering roses on arrival, but one big difference is that Pickering doesn't prune the roots for shipping. The roses are shipped in a long box, similar to a florist's box for long-stemmed roses.
The roots look quite different from Dr. Huey roots -- longer and skinnier because Pickering grafts roses onto Multiflora. It might work better in your garden than other rootstock because all of the Canadian nurseries use it, and these roses will have been growing outside in Ontario for a couple of years before you get them. Maybe not the same climate as Colorado, but certainly closer to it than the usual rose growing fields in California or Texas. Cottage_Rose swears by Pickering, and she practically lives in permafrost.
In my garden, Multiflora has the added advantage of not appealing to gophers. I've never lost a Pickering rose to a gopher unless it was own-root. To my horror, Pickering did send me a few own-root roses one year long ago and the gophers got all of them.
Because of Pickering's low prices and shipping rates, I'd strongly advise you to start replacing your winter-killed lovelies with some of their roses.
