On Sat, 12 Mar 2005 11:20:27 -0800, "JimS." wrote:

Just remember to buy the grade 1 roses, not the grade 1.5. They're not
worth spending the time to plant.

Another thing I'm convinced of-- pick off all that wax they spray them with,
as much as possible. It's allegedly harmless, but I ALWAYS find that the
canes that die on me, are the ones where there's still wax on them. They
suffocate under that crap and it doesn't just wear off. Not in my climate,
anyway.

I always buy few "cheapie" roses from Lowes and Home Depot. If you choose
wisely, you can score a good one.

Thanks for the tips, I bought some at Wal-Mart today (though I was disappointed that they didn't
have any of the "novelty" kinds, such as various speckled and striped ones, like they had last
year). Like I said, all of the roses I bought at Wal-Mart last year were cheepies and they
survived, bloomed, and are alive today. But all of the more expensive roses I bought at a
supposedly good Rose retailer-- Veseys-- arrived dying and died quickly after I put them in the
ground. So I feel uncomfortable ordering mail-order again. I want to be able to pick up and
examine the exact plant I intend to buy. Although I did this week buy off of Ebay one of those
freakish Green roses that are all sepals, just because I didn't expect to ever find one of those
anywhere locally-- I doubt many businesses would think they could get their money back on something
that ugly. :-)