Comments regarding Pickering Nurseries

Ordered three floribundas from them. They arrived precisely on time but they were very dry. I allowed them to soak in water for five days and then planted them. I will update my review as they grow and bloom.

Received 3 bare root roses not available from other online sellers. VERY small thin canes and roots and all three appeared somewhat dry upon arrival. Since planting, two have broken dormacy and appear to be leafing out although somewhat slowly.

One rose is "iffy" if it will make it. Has a tiny green leaf bud, but I will revise my rating depending on if it survives. Canes are dark brown, but I'm hoping not dead. Of course, it was the rose I really wanted the most!

Received my order which was well packed. I opened the package within minutes of getting them from FedEx. I was disappointed at the cane size. None were larger than a pencil in diameter. The root systems seemed very healthy. Upon examination I found very dark coloration on Westerland and reddish/blackish on Aloha. Also, the Westerland had a hole in one cane near the root stock. I emailed them immediately. The response was - the roses will be fine, they looked at their other Westerland and that blackish color was fine (not in my experience) and the darkness on Aloha was also normal (not on my other Aloha or my sister's) but they forgot to mention the hole which I am concerned will cause disease. They made note of my concerns and said a refund would be issued if they did not survive. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as I made a special bed for Lemon Meringue and Westerland against a white privacy fence. I will stick with Palatine Roses in the future. I have never received a rose from them where the canes were so tiny.

Posted on June 7, 2009, updated April 19, 2010
Healthy looking bareroots! I bought three John Cabots, one for myself (of course lol), two for some people at work. My fellow workers say they are doing great! Thankyou. I'm sure I'll be back.

I hate to give out a negative but I have to say my experience was not great. I ordered two climbing roses which were absolutely tiny upon delivery. They did let me know ahead of time they would be shipping one year old plants however these were extremely small and seemingly weak climbing roses with almost no root system to speak of. After babying them all summer they look just pathetic still. When I called to ask for any tips on helping them along I felt the service rep was more interested in proving it was MY fault as opposed to helping me with a remedy for the problem. I wasn't even looking for a refund, just a way to help these two roses live since I had put SO MUCH time and energy plus a whole growing season into their success. She was definitely not friendly. I have 50+ other roses in my yard and have planted them all in the same way, but these are the only ones that have totally failed to even get started. This vendor was a disapointment.

I am sorry to say I am disappointed with my experience ordering from Pickering. I have heard so many great things about this company I eagerly awaited my first delivery this spring. When it did arrive all of the plants were on the small but still acceptable size. Unfortunately one of them had 1 - 2 inches of black on the ends of the canes. I called Customer Service and was told to reprune the rose (disinfecting the pruners after each cut, which I did) and it would be fine. A week or so later the black had returned and again was over an inch down the canes. I recut each cane, again disinfecting after each cut just to watch the canes turn black again. I spoke to Dave and he explained that the particular rose I ordered did not come out of storage well and he would replace or refund if it didn't make it. The rose is now completely dead and I called Customer Service to ask if a replacement rose could be sent. They were sold out of the variety (just as well since I didn't want another of the same that didn't come out of storage well) so I gave the CS person a list of 6 possible replacement roses I would be happy with as a replacement. She offered a credit towards my order for next year and I said I would rather have a replacement or refund. She then told me that Dave would call me back that afternoon to discuss a solution. A week passed and I called again and got Dave on the phone. He said he had seem my messages and he would look into it and call me back. That was a week ago and I still have not heard from him.

I am really disappointed and sorry that this has been such a difficult experience.