It might be due to the places you're buying the Star roses. A couple of my local nurseries carry beautiful Star roses, but the Star roses at the big box stores, like Home Depot, aren't as good. In your case, even the Star roses at the local nursery might not be that good because Conard-Pyle grows the Star roses in California and might routinely send the pick of the litter to nearby nurseries for bare-root sales and the second-best to other states for container sales.
