Hi,
Please can you tell me how to select rose plant and how to differentiate between the quality of plants supplied by various nursuries.
Thanx
Tania
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grandpasrose
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When you are looking to buy a rose, the first thing you should look for is if the roots are moist. In a container rose, this is easy to tell by feeling the soil, but in a packaged rose it can be more difficult. If the package is very light, or you can see that the soil or planting mix inside is dry, then the roots are probably dry, and you don't want that one.
If possible take a look at the roots. Bareroot roses should have a mass of long fibrous roots. Don't buy a rose that has short spindly roots, or has had its roots pruned. In container roses, the roots should have white tips, and ensure that the roots are not encircling the inside of the container or growing out the bottom. Also avoid roses that have blackened or girdled roots. If you don't start with strong healthy roots, your rose already has a strike against it.
The canes of bareroot and packaged roses should be supple and green, with small buds and the canes should be at least as thick as a pencil. Don't buy roses with dry, shriveled canes. If you can check the pith on the cane (the layer immediately under the bark) it should be white or green. If it is beige or brown, that cane is probably not live.
If you are looking at a grafted rose, the rootstock neck just below the bud union should be at least as big around as your thumb, and have no visible damage. This neck section should not be any longer than 3" or it becomes awkward to manage when planting.
Avoid buying bareroot and packaged roses that have long pale shoots growing up from them.
At the grower's, roses are sorted into three grades according to the size and number of main canes. If you are purchasing from a reputable nursery or garden centre, or a recognized rose grower, than you are more than likely getting a Grade 1 or 1.5 rose, which means it was of excellent quality when it left the grower.
If you are purshasing from the box stores, or the bargain shelves, you are not guaranteed quality, and you may not even get what you thought you purchased. Often these stores carry the end of sale lots etc. so that they can be cheaper, and often these roses are the ones a little weaker, have not been identified, or misidentified, etc. So in short, you get what you pay for.
I hope this has helped you. Feel free to come back with questions anytime!
Val
If possible take a look at the roots. Bareroot roses should have a mass of long fibrous roots. Don't buy a rose that has short spindly roots, or has had its roots pruned. In container roses, the roots should have white tips, and ensure that the roots are not encircling the inside of the container or growing out the bottom. Also avoid roses that have blackened or girdled roots. If you don't start with strong healthy roots, your rose already has a strike against it.
The canes of bareroot and packaged roses should be supple and green, with small buds and the canes should be at least as thick as a pencil. Don't buy roses with dry, shriveled canes. If you can check the pith on the cane (the layer immediately under the bark) it should be white or green. If it is beige or brown, that cane is probably not live.
If you are looking at a grafted rose, the rootstock neck just below the bud union should be at least as big around as your thumb, and have no visible damage. This neck section should not be any longer than 3" or it becomes awkward to manage when planting.
Avoid buying bareroot and packaged roses that have long pale shoots growing up from them.
At the grower's, roses are sorted into three grades according to the size and number of main canes. If you are purchasing from a reputable nursery or garden centre, or a recognized rose grower, than you are more than likely getting a Grade 1 or 1.5 rose, which means it was of excellent quality when it left the grower.
If you are purshasing from the box stores, or the bargain shelves, you are not guaranteed quality, and you may not even get what you thought you purchased. Often these stores carry the end of sale lots etc. so that they can be cheaper, and often these roses are the ones a little weaker, have not been identified, or misidentified, etc. So in short, you get what you pay for.
I hope this has helped you. Feel free to come back with questions anytime!
Val
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grandpasrose
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There is nothing wrong with purchasing your rose through mail order (though I wouldn't go as far as E-Bay) as long as you can confirm that it is a reputable company. Roses are often much cheaper this way, than garden centres.
The downside is that you can't see what you are purchasing until it arrives on your doorstep. That's why you pay so much more in a garden centre.
Certainly try mailorder, just check out the company first.
Val
The downside is that you can't see what you are purchasing until it arrives on your doorstep. That's why you pay so much more in a garden centre.
Certainly try mailorder, just check out the company first.
Val
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The Helpful Gardener
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As a nurseryman I feel bound to defend the cost of a garden center rose Yea I knowit a good piece of change, but if you can't make your own, somebody else has to produce it. Think of it as you'd grown a crop and it took five years to build it, house it, feed it, give it haircuts, pull it, load it and ship it, just to be abused by the untrained salesperson right before he sells it for a bottom dollar. Would you give that guy your best stuff, or would you give it to the trained guy, who cares for it, polishes it, and then gets a fair market value for your five years of hard work? 
A nursery grown pot is the best way to start roses for your garden, and the best place to get those is your local garden center. That's where you get #1's, box stores sell #2's and culls (I occasionally see better but it is rare). Home Depot is selling it's own brand this year, guess we'll see, but the best roses will generally be found at good garden centers...
Scott
A nursery grown pot is the best way to start roses for your garden, and the best place to get those is your local garden center. That's where you get #1's, box stores sell #2's and culls (I occasionally see better but it is rare). Home Depot is selling it's own brand this year, guess we'll see, but the best roses will generally be found at good garden centers...
Scott
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grandpasrose
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grandpasrose
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grandpasrose
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grandpasrose
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