OK, I didn't upload the pics I took to my photobucket account yet, so I'm being lazy and offering any of you on Facebook the opportunity to see them in my "NJ Garden" album. My Heirloom Roses order came two weeks ago, and that pic is the 37th in the album, followed by a shot of 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau' as it's leafing out this year (I got it as a band in April 2012), some up-close shots of the "Reine des Violettes" a-la Heirloom Roses, and a snapshot of the whole order potted up and individual shots of each. Then there's an "after" pic of one of the future Gallica beds, after I removed dead and "in the way" growth of the arborvitae, and finally the Vintage Gardens and Rogue Valley Roses order I received on Thursday. I'm overly meticulous with potting them up, so I got through half in four hours on Thursday, working until it got too dark to see. Then this morning (Friday) I finished the other half in another four hours, just in time to get cleaned up and ready for work. If I posted them all on here, I think I'd end up freezing someone's computer. One thing I have to say -- I notice that the medium Vintage uses for their bands is very "rocky" and seems both overly heavy for shipping weight, and prone to drying out en route. Some of their bands were wilting when I took them out, but perked back up after getting a long, slow drink. Rogue uses more of a peat-based medium, which seemed both lighter in weight and able to retain more moisture. Of all of the RVR bands, only 'Golden Buddha' seemed a bit wilty, but it also perked back up soon after being repotted and watered. My potting mix this time was equal parts peat moss, Bovung composted cow manure, and shredded hardwood mulch. I like how this mix felt, a nice mix of light and fluffy with enough water-holding ability and a good mix of slow-release organic nutrients for growth. I lined the bottom of each pot with newspaper to keep the mix from coming out of the holes but still allow water to drain out. I sprinkled Jobe's Organic Knock Out Rose food in layers as I added potting mix, using 1 cup for the 2-gallon pots and 1/2 cup for the 1-gallons. I think I prefer the 2-gallon pots, but did use the 1-gallons for the bands that were either much smaller, or for roses which themselves don't grow that big, and will be planted in the ground after I place the larger roses. I'll pot up the 1-gallons into 2-gallons later in the season. I'll keep updating that album as I go along. :-) ~Christopher Here is a link that might be useful: NJ Garden Pics

Hi folks Thanks for your collective problem solving so far! Paul, I appreciate the definitive word about RWR, and I'm looking forward to starting a thread of "I love Barden Roses" as soon as my plants get big enough to show the impressive blooms and hardiness they clearly have the potential to do. Your roses have at least 90% healthy survival in my yard, which tops even my favorite Delbard, Kordes, and Buck roses. Keep up the good work! As for the RV mystery, we're still not sure, but as KSGreenman and I have the same rose and I have 4 more of them, I'm inclined to think it's something they are marketing. I don't think they'd produce that many bands to distribute of something they're testing. Catsrose, the color in my photo is pretty true to what it looks like in my yard, that "red" i.e. hot pink edge with a high contrast center, so it's closest to how you describe your Robin Hood (thanks for the contrasting info on all 3). On HMF, there are variations of all these candidate roses so the RV site photo may not look exactly like our plants, but I'm still leaning toward Robin Hood unless I am convinced otherwise. Other opinions are welcome! Cynthia

AVOID ROGUE VALLEY ROSES, NEW MANAGEMENT DISHONEST. I've had excellent experiences with Rogue Valley Roses in the past. However, they are under new management and they just stole $32 of my money. To be precise, I ordered two roses this spring, they were healthy and grew well, but when they bloomed, it became obvious that one of them had been mislabelled - they accidentally sent the wrong rose. No big deal, just send me the right rose or refund my money. I sent three emails, got no response whatsoever, so I went to phone calls. Got a man who never gave me his name and wasn't particularly polite, made it clear he didn't really want to be bothered. He told me the company was under new management, they'd been backlogged and were struggling to catch up and would get to my issues as soon as they could. I waited a week, nothing, so I called back. Same again. Last week, after three emails and three phone calls, I told the guy I wanted my money and I wanted it within three days, no more postponements. He said, "Okay, I'll use PayPal and send you an instantaneous transfer so you can have it right this minute." I said fine. But, it's been three days and the money isn't in my account. So I called back and he said, very self righteous, "I refunded your money last week." But he didn't. I don't have the money. I even logged into PayPal to see if anything was being held in PayPal rather than put in my bank account. Looks like Rogue Valley Roses has stolen $32 of my money.

It begins, "I'm writing this with tears in my eyes," right? It is indeed a well known scam. I had received the same message a couple of years ago, not ostensibly from Rogue, but from a dear friend in her 80s. I was sent it again last year. Obviously, it must work on some people--and of course if the message goes out to thousands of people at a time, it doesn't take a very good batting average to be successful. Who would be the most likely to respond to an urgent plea from someone in need? In general, mature women. We can be gullible (who else would believe the plant label that says "never needs staking?!). But gullible isn't so far a stretch beyond empathetic. What makes people decent human beings also makes them targets for these scams. There is a very good web site where you can check out all sorts of hooey that gets circulated on the web--the Urban Legends Reference Pages, aka Snopes. If the scam/rumor/fish story is one they haven't heard of, you can also submit it to them for investigation. Kay Here is a link that might be useful: Urban Legends Reference Pages