The Best and Worst of the Catalogs
In the dead of winter, gardeners love to dream over plant catalogs. Here are a few I have had experience with. If you don't want to order online, you can order by phone. Remember: first, order early, and second, you pretty much get what you pay for.
High Country Gardens (www.highcountrygardens.com) A nursery in New Mexico that specializes in plants for the Western garden. The plants I ordered from this nursery cover almost half my yard. The plants are pretty small when shipped, so they take special care and patience. But most of the ones I received survived being planted in awfully hot weather. They also carry a few very hardy roses.
Michigan Bulb Company (www.michiganbulb.com) This nursery’s reputation is so awful that I don’t let them advertise on this web site.
Antique Rose Emporium (www.AntiqueRoseEmporium.com) One of my favorite rose nurseries, since I have always received high quality plants from them. Wide selection, large, own-root roses, and realistic zone ratings for the roses. As the name suggests, they carry lots of old garden roses, as well as hardy modern roses. The one drawback: they stop shipping potted roses in April. Here in zone 5, the roses have to live in my bathtub for a month.
Pickering Nurseries (www.pickeringnurseries.com). Another catalog with a wide selection. Since they grow the budding wood from seed every year, the plants shouldn’t have rose mosaic virus. The Canadian-American exchange rate keeps their prices low.
Hortico (www.hortico.com) I had heard a lot of negative things about this nursery, but ordered three roses from them anyway. One was misnamed, and despite their promise to correct the mistake, they never sent another rose bush.
Edmunds Roses (www.edmundsroses.com) They are well-known for their good customer service and high quality roses. They don’t have a large selection, though; they cater to hybrid tea lovers and exhibitors.
Jackson and Perkins (www.jacksonandperkins.com) Good quality bare root roses. They stock the latest and greatest, along with a few golden oldies. Some of the catalog descriptions are overwrought: some floribundas from them, rated zone 5, died back to the ground the first winter I had them.
Heirloom Roses (www.heirloomroses.com) Wide selection of guaranteed virus-free, own-root roses. Lots of old garden roses, shrub roses, and hard-to-find Buck roses and fragrant hybrid teas. The drawback: the roses are really small; they look like year-old cuttings. They take awhile to catch up to the larger, #1 grade bare root plants.
Wayside Gardens (www.waysidegardens.com) A mixed bag: I have heard good and bad about this nursery; my own limited experience with them
High Country Gardens (www.highcountrygardens.com) A nursery in New Mexico that specializes in plants for the Western garden. The plants I ordered from this nursery cover almost half my yard. The plants are pretty small when shipped, so they take special care and patience. But most of the ones I received survived being planted in awfully hot weather. They also carry a few very hardy roses.
Michigan Bulb Company (www.michiganbulb.com) This nursery’s reputation is so awful that I don’t let them advertise on this web site.
Antique Rose Emporium (www.AntiqueRoseEmporium.com) One of my favorite rose nurseries, since I have always received high quality plants from them. Wide selection, large, own-root roses, and realistic zone ratings for the roses. As the name suggests, they carry lots of old garden roses, as well as hardy modern roses. The one drawback: they stop shipping potted roses in April. Here in zone 5, the roses have to live in my bathtub for a month.
Pickering Nurseries (www.pickeringnurseries.com). Another catalog with a wide selection. Since they grow the budding wood from seed every year, the plants shouldn’t have rose mosaic virus. The Canadian-American exchange rate keeps their prices low.
Hortico (www.hortico.com) I had heard a lot of negative things about this nursery, but ordered three roses from them anyway. One was misnamed, and despite their promise to correct the mistake, they never sent another rose bush.
Edmunds Roses (www.edmundsroses.com) They are well-known for their good customer service and high quality roses. They don’t have a large selection, though; they cater to hybrid tea lovers and exhibitors.
Jackson and Perkins (www.jacksonandperkins.com) Good quality bare root roses. They stock the latest and greatest, along with a few golden oldies. Some of the catalog descriptions are overwrought: some floribundas from them, rated zone 5, died back to the ground the first winter I had them.
Heirloom Roses (www.heirloomroses.com) Wide selection of guaranteed virus-free, own-root roses. Lots of old garden roses, shrub roses, and hard-to-find Buck roses and fragrant hybrid teas. The drawback: the roses are really small; they look like year-old cuttings. They take awhile to catch up to the larger, #1 grade bare root plants.
Wayside Gardens (www.waysidegardens.com) A mixed bag: I have heard good and bad about this nursery; my own limited experience with them
posted by Lori Miller at 9:18 PM
1 Comments:
Another great source for roses in Colorado that are grown at altitude and are all own root, bareroot. I have 5 of them and they are thriving in my Silt, Co. garden in clay. www.highcountryroses.com
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