Hi there! When is the best time to plant new roses? We are only about 4-6 weeks from our first frost - should I wait until spring?
When are the best deals to buy a significant number of roses? Is it better to buy now and put in a pot in unheated basement until spring or are there similar deals in late winter/early spring?
Is it better to go with potted quarts, gallons or bare root?
New member of ARS and relatively new to roses beyond the knockouts and 2 climbers here when I moved in. South Central Michigan zone 6a (formerly 5b). Redoing all of our flower beds and would like to incorporate many more roses of all different types, including hybrid teas. Of course I’m getting all the ads now to buy and it’s tempting to go ahead and get them all right away!
Wait… be patient. The big sellers, you should get catalogs or emails from letting you know when they open for spring orders, generally they ship at the “right” time for your zone.
There really aren’t much in the way of “deals” for large purchases.
I would request catalogs or sign up for emails from: Jackson & Perkins, Edmunds, David Austin, Palatine (this will be their last year selling roses), Regan Nursery, Witherspoon. Heirloom, which sells only own-root, I find can be hit or miss whether or not what I’ve bought actually turns into anything worth having. Just because a rose will root, does not mean it will grow up nice. OGR’s I find do well on own root, but HT’s, GF’s, and most FB’s, not so much.
Take this time to get your beds redone, compost added, let winter do it’s thing and then plant.
I agree with Earthworm…be patient. Think of fall/winter as time to plan your garden design on paper, research what grows well in your area (check out the local county Extension office and any local rose societies), build out any foundation work like raised beds, irrigation, etc. clean/sharpen tools, that is get all research and foundation work done so when your last frost happens in the spring you are ready to go. Most suppliers will hold and ship to you based on your zone for spring planting. You will be glad all the prep work is done. BTW, one additional source that I have used a lot is the Antique Rose Emporium in central Texas. Just moved from there and no issues with their product: https://www.antiqueroseemporium.com/
Welcome to the Rose Forum!
Although the ads are tempting now, I believe I would wait til next spring. That’s a long time to keep plants in an unheated basement. When you do buy, get the ones in the largest pots you can. 2-3 gallon ones would be ideal since that means they were grown in the field longer and have bigger root systems.
There are pros and cons to both grafted roses and own root. In your zone you will have to plant with the bud union (graft) below surface level and mulch heavily around it in the winter to prevent the graft from being damaged in the winter but grafted plants are on a fast growing rootstock that allows it to get fully established about 3 years faster than own root. Many growers in cold climates use only own root so they don’t have to worry about winter damage to the graft. If the plant dies down to the ground many times it will come back nicely. If the graft died on a grafted rose this will not be the case. Hope this helps,
The big decision on own root vs. grafted for me is: How long am I willing to wait to have a full-sized rose bush? For own root, it can take 2-3 years to have a mature rose bush. For grafted, many (but not all) will be fully mature by the end of the first year. I am in Zone 5b around Chicago, so I too have winter to worry about. I have NOT found that own root roses fare better coming through winter than grafted roses (nor are they worse). It’s true that own root roses will never sucker but that doesn’t mean they will survive winter. For me in the past 3 years, RIP Liv Tyler and De-Lish, both of which were own root, grew well in their first year, and were well protected over winter. The only grafted rose to die on me has been Neptune.
You can cross Regan Nursery off the list - they recently announced they are out of the mail order/shipping bare root roses business effective immediately.
You can add Roses Unlimited to the list - they provide own root roses only and I have had good success with them (located in South Carolina). Some of their roses (e.g., Love) grew like gangbusters in their first year for me. Not all of them have done that, however. Good Luck.