Comments regarding Chamblee's Rose Nursery

As of this date, if your google Chamblee's, you will see a notice stating they are PERMANENTLY CLOSED!

Do NOT under any circumstances order from this nursery. This is the THIRD ownership of the Chamblee nursery, and these folks are nothing short of criminals. I was defrauded of $168 for an order of five roses this past June 2023 that were never sent, and it took me two months to get my charges reinstated with the help of my bank, but only after an exhaustive initiative. I filed a claim with the BBB (to which the company did not respond). I left a negative review on the BBB. I filed a report with the Texas Attorney General's Office. I filed a report on the US Federal Trade Commission 'Report Fraud' page. I left a negative review on the consumer site Yelp. Yelp currently has a dozen reviews (all from 2023) that report being defrauded by Chamblee's. Basically, if you order from them, you will THINK you will get roses, but you will not. The website looks legit. The order process seems legit. But it is NOT, your money will disappear into thin air, and then you will have endless hours of strife and stress trying to get it back. In addition, this Chamblee's ownership also owns an operation called One Love Farms. I'm pretty confident this is ALSO a fraudulent company, why would one be criminal, and the other honest and trustworthy? This whole thing is a darned shame, because the founding Chamblee's was a wonderful nursery that set the standard for rose mail ordering. The second ownership was quite good, although more expensive than the original. It is this third ownership that has sullied and disgraced the name of a formerly honorable nursery, and ran it into the ground. Once they are shut down for good (and they WILL be shut down, this current state of affairs cannot endure indefinitely), it will close the door on the Chamblee's saga in a most unfortunate way. In the meantime, I repeat: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ORDER FROM THIS NURSERY. (and do not do business with One Love Farms, either!)

This used to be one of my favorite places to order roses. This year all of that has changed. I was charged twice for my roses that were to ship in May. Attempts to call get a recording that says messages are full so that you can't leave a message. Multiple emails are ignored. They charged my Discover card for the roses even though they claim not to take Discover. The one time they did answer the phone (back in May, after repeated calls) they said they would send an invoice which I paid the same day by PayPal. Since paying the second time I have been unable to reach them despite multiple attempts. I have ordered roses and plants online for almost 20 years and I have never had such terrible service and I am out over 100 dollars with no roses. Luckily Discover refunded my money, but they still have the PayPal cash. Yelp has multiple complaints from people that have had the same problem so it's not just me. I feel that it is misleading to keep them on the top 20 as the business is not what it used to be.

Ordered a rose and it shipped without delays and the plant arrived healthy, overall a good experience. The one thing keeping me from giving it a positive review is that the rose is way smaller than I expected. Even if its only a 1 gallon pot I believe the plant should be bigger before being sold.

Overall a good experience but be prepared to get a smaller rose than you expected.

Posted on December 6, 2012, updated March 20, 2021
Posted on May 16, 2012, updated December 6, 2012
This was my first order with Chamblees, and after a bit of confusion Kathy (I hope I have the name right) stepped in and took care of my order. It was only for a single rose, Glamis Castle, but she handled it as though it was an order for 20. Today the one gallon came, with a huge flower bud on top. It was a one gallon trade, and could really go into the garden now.

I am pleased to know that I have another source for wonderful roses, and I will be ordering again.

I had loved, and purchased from , this company for years. However, since it changed hands, the selection has diminished enormously, and the prices have tripled. The new prices are competitive with other online companies, but the bargains are gone. Worse, IMO, the selection is now too limited for me.

Posted on May 16, 2017, updated May 16, 2017
Posted on February 8, 2017, updated May 16, 2017
Ordered four roses on 12-30-16.

They arrived promptly by two day shipping in good condition. The roses are one year old own-root roses and, thus, canes are a good bit smaller than two year old bare root dormant grafted roses which one typically receives from a larger company. However, these roses were not dormant, were in full foliage and two of the four already had buds. They adapted quickly to their new home in South Louisiana and all four are doing well.

Ordered 4 roses from them - read the instructions and noted that they said "some of your leaves will be yellow this is normal because the plants get stressed when shipped," so I didn't think much of it.

Then was reading a thread about roses on a different message board where the user there was asking about bugs in her soil. THAT poster was assured the bugs she was talking about were harmless, but that she had an active spider mite infestation!

A second user chimed in that they had also ordered from Chamblee's and that they too had a spider mite infestation, so I went out and checked my roses - yep, spider mites.

I'm so angry I could spit. Spider mites are difficult to get rid of. There is ZERO excuse for shipping plants with spider mites. I'm sure the company will chime in and say "nope, no problems here, probably this user has them on her plants and is blaming innocent us."

Do not order from them, they will infect your garden and deny responsibility. There are hundreds of better rose nurseries to order from. I only ordered from them because they were cheap and I wanted to try them out. Lesson learned, stick to the guys who don't ship you diseased plants.

"On Apr 26, 2017 7:35 AM, Chamblee's Rose Nursery responded with:

We apologize for the mite problems you are having with your roses. Due to a very mild winter in the south, insects of all kinds are more active due to the lack of winter kill. We thought we had the mite outburst controlled, but have since discovered some areas in our greenhouses where there was not adequate control. We strive to manage pest issues in the most environmentally responsible way possible, by not using harsh pesticides that potentially can harm beneficial organisms. Sometimes the use of these eco-friendly products does not give us immediate results to control the problem. We appreciate your concerns and will continue to address our pest issues in the most environmentally responsible way possible."

POSITIVE: I’ve ordered from them 2 or 3 times in the past and absolutely LOVED the roses. The were always healthy and thrived.

NEGATIVE: This year I talked a co-worker into ordering some with me. She placed the order on April 1st . It was suppose to ship May 16th. She never got a conformation so she called them on May 19th or 20th. They told her that they were having trouble with out of state credit cards. Ok, stuff happens, but they should have contacted her to let her know there was trouble with our order. They did apologize profusely. So she gave them all the information again –including her credit card information. We were promised that our rose would ship out May 31st. Again, no confirmation of shipment. Again my co-worker called (June 1st) only to be told they have found our order in their system but it wasn’t sent out because they didn’t have her credit card information. Now she is wondering where is her credit card number?? Very disappointed. She no longer even wants to order from them and actually canceled the order yesterday. I’d like to give them one more try, but my planting window is gone and I won’t be able to get them in the ground and care for them for the next two weeks so I can’t place an order. I was happily pouring over their catalogue and website all winter deciding what roses to order and now this. I am so disappointed because I really wanted these roses!

This is my first year ordering roses online and I want to pay it forward because of those of you who wrote reviews that helped me. I bought about 20 roses here. Like "mnemier" mentioned, most of the roses are small in size and not mature. Expect to receive roses with thinner canes. To give you an idea, cane height was anywhere from 7" (Grus an Aachen, Earth Angel, and Aloha were the smallest) to about 12". I expected many to be damaged through the mail (new to this), however almost all of them came through great. They were packaged nice and neat I thought. All lined up and against each other. They were also wrapped in brown paper. Prices were right here so that is why I bought so many. You get what you pay for. I will report as they mature.

I recently ordered 4 roses from Chamblee's. I am so pleased with my order! Nice, big, potted roses, even a blossom or two coming up already.
Note to others: I paused ordering, worried how shipping would turn out, b/c the cart says something like "we will notify you of shipping cost after you order," but that is not the case. It tells you the shipping cost before the final screen, so you DO see the shipping total before you pay.

Ordered two Grus an Acchen floribundas roses from Chamblees Roses in Tyler, Texas. Packaging was fair. One rose lost about 3 inches of top growth due to packaging. Both roses were really small, compared to their eventual height and width of 3x3. The rose that lost it top growth included at least, didn't check by pulling soil out of pot for more, two millipedes or centipedes. I hate killing anything, especially beneficial insects, but I refuse to be the person who started a new insect in my neighborhood or state. I had to step on these guys so they wouldn't become a new pest in my neighborhood. This was pretty disconcerting for me since I'm into organic gardening and I really try not to kill anything on this planet that isn't a threat to me and mine. On the up side, shipping was expedient and at least one of the plants arrived pretty green and healthy.. I called Chamblees and they will be shipping me a new Grus an Aachen, as I would expect given their literature enclosed with the roses. I didn't see any root growth in the bottom of the pots they were shipped in, which to me means , I've got to baby these guys for awhile, and they are probably a little premature. I was hoping for something a little more mature with more root growth, Watered them, put them in the shade, as directed, and we will see how it goes. I do love this rose, since it is quartered and many pedaled, and has beautiful peachy pink tones for a white rose as well as a lovely fragrance. I believe it's one of the original floribundas, that started the floribunda trend. It takes some shade and the one I started with from wayside gardens along time ago is just an amazing and beautiful rose, everyone just loves it. I love it too. A hedge of it would just be so amazing compared to all the neighbors iceberg roses that are so boring with no fragrance, but is floriferous and easy care, This rose can be at it's best floriforious, colorful, fragrant, and have beautiful form. It's an old rose and has stood the test of time as a rose worth planting. I've gone a little anal on my roses. I appreciate form, fragrance, and ease of cultivation. I'm not into babying my roses. They have to preform and live up to their attributes in my climate. I do love roses, but not rose hassles, It's do or die in my yard, I'm too old to be a caretaker for everything. I want tried and true proven plants, that aren't invasive or overly needy. At it's best this rose should live up to my expectations.The original Grus an Aachen I have has been potted for way too many years and still performs reliably, which to me says that this rose given an optimal environment can flourish and grace my yard for many years to come.

Posted on May 28, 2015, updated June 1, 2015
Posted on May 26, 2015, updated May 28, 2015
Posted on May 13, 2015, updated May 26, 2015
Overall I am pleased. The ordering system worked fine, they sent tracking information and shipped on the date the order stated. One of the roses was so tall that a branch broke off by about 3 inches, no big deal. Upon careful inspection it appeared 2 branches were cut from one of the roses, that did bug me just a bit. The roses appeared healthy, in nice gallon size pots, tall, only one was shorter than the rest. The price was very good, their prices can't be beat really for the size roses they send. Where they get you though is shipping, shipping is a lot, but even so it is still a good deal when you consider the price of their roses.

Prompt service, excellent prices, well-cared shipping. My 3 rose pants arrived on time and undamaged.
The first, Scepter'd Isle, is robust, healthy and about 2 feet long. It even had a fragrant, perfect rose on it!
The second and third rose plants, Julia Child and Carding Mill, are very small (around 8-9'' tall). Both of them had some yellow leaves with black spots on them (which I removed immediately). In regards to the last two, I expected somewhat larger plants to be honest. I hope they will do well in Colorado's zone 5.

Ordered 6 roses at an excellent price and they all arrived blooming large, potted plants and appear to be very healthy. Very pleased.

Posted on February 20, 2014, updated February 20, 2014
Posted on April 25, 2012, updated February 20, 2014
Ordered David Austin's Tradescent rose. Healhy and good size plant in gallon pot, even I saw new white roots pop up from root ball during shipping. Means well rooted and easy to transfer to larger pot. Packaging was awesome, some canes folded (not broken) during shipping but I stalked them, and now in better condition. NO PROBLEM! Shipping time accurately as requested. I like their plant form compared to roses from other suppliers. Even I regrets that I ordered band size roses from other supplier with same price+ higher shipping. Only issue for Chamblee is that rose selection not very clear to identify what exactly I'm looking for. Should be Hybrid Tea/Floribunda rather than Garden Roses/Earth Kind Roses.

I have bought about a dozen roses from Chamblee's. Fortunately for me, it's a two-hour drive. Their prices are about a third of the local ones; and the quality is great. I went on a tour there showing us how they grow their thousands of roses. I use their website to see what they have, educate myself about the roses on the internet, and about twice a year, I drive there to buy some new ones during the Tyler Azalea Trail in March/April and the Rose Festival in October. I am impressed with their service, their quality growing program, their roses, and their variety. I have about 50 rose bushes, which bloom about 8 months out of the year. I am particularly fond of the drift roses, about 35 of them. I found a rose bud in January after some cold weather in the 20's. Order in the off season before they get real busy and before it gets too hot. Fall and spring are best shipping times. They are my favorite nursery.

Ordered 6 roses, 2 came heavily infested with aphids which then killed a 3rd rose. Company agreed to replace one dead rose and that one was shipped so infested with aphids that there were actual webs clumping the leaves together. I will never order from Chamblee's again.

"On Apr 15, 2013 9:37 AM, Chamblee's Rose Nursery responded with:

We have had no complaints of apids on any of the roses we have shipped out. Our roses are routinely inspected by the Texas Department of Agriculture and our staff. We maintain an integrated pest management plan to keep our roses free of diseases and pests.
Aphids do not kill roses and are easily removed from plants by high pressure water sprayed on the foilage. Aphids do not form webs on plants. We are sorry this customer is unhappy with our plants and service and apologize for any inconvenience."

I purchased five roses from Chamblee's Rose Nursery and am very pleased with them. The roses came in three days from TX to Ky . They were in excellent condition and in containers, nicely wrapped. The roses look very healthy. One had a rosebud, and was true to tag name. I am very pleased with the value and quality of their roses, and plan to order more roses from them in the future.

I ordered 2 roses from this nursery. They were recommended by several online forums on roses. The shipping was very fast, packaged well. The plants looked healthy. I was delighted to discover a bud on the mini yesterday! Thank you.

I have been buying roses from Chamblee's for about 20 yrs. Since I live nearby, I go each year in early spring to make my choices. I have found the quality of the roses is very good and it is a real treat to go though their greenhouses and see/smell the many roses. I'll be there again in mid-March.

Posted on September 26, 2012, updated October 4, 2012
I had placed my first order with this company after reading all of the positive reviews. My order shipped exactly when they said it would. When the order arrived, the roses were in very good condition. The problem that arose was the I received the wrong rose. The order was for a Jude the Obscure, Golden Celebration, and Sharifa Asma. I received a Pat Austin instead of Golden Celebration. I immediately contacted the company and Katherine responded. She apologized and said they would ship the correct rose Monday of last week. Unfortunately, the correct rose never arrived. I contacted Chamblee and asked if it was shipped and explained that I didn't receive a shipping confirmation code. No response. I waited several more days and e-mailed them again. Still no response.

Great roses.
Not so great customer service. :(

Looks like I will not be receiving the Golden Celebration that I was expecting. I'll keep you posted if the correct rose arrives.
Order #: 6751

Posted on May 18, 2012, updated May 30, 2012
I hate to leave a negative feedback, especially for such a reputable company. Unfortunately, my first and only experience with them was not positive at all.

I ordered two roses on April 9th. I requested the earliest available shipping date - April 16th because we are having a very early spring. On April 23rd, I called and asked whether my order was shipped. The person I spoke with said that they will ship it next week IF I WANT. What is the point of asking a preferable shipping date at the time of ordering??

I received the order on May 9th finally. The roses are good size, but stressed after being packed in the box. I order a lot online and I've seen a better packing, but overall I was satisfied with the size and the quality of plants.

Both of them had buds already. Two days later, one of the buds on 'Dick Clark' rose opened and another one was about to open too. Well, it turned out to be something else, not 'Dick Clark'. To double check, I asked people on the Rose forum to take a look at pictures. Everyone who has Dick Clark says that rose is mislabeled.

I tried to call the nursery several times - did not reach anyone. I send an email with pictures to them. I got a short response asking whether all pictures are of the same rose. I said 'Yes' and sent more pictures with better light. It was seven days ago. No response to that original conversation. Neither to the following email.

Very disappointed.

I can't praise Chamblee's strongly enough! I think they are ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!

I ordered four roses from them last month, and I am now looking at one of them (Caldwell Pink) with 7 beautiful blooms. I was so impressed with the size of the plants in my first order, that I placed a second order for nine more roses a couple weeks later. Again, when my second order arrived, I was very pleased with the size of the plants, and four of the bushes were in bloom.
That order arrived last Thursday. A day or two ago, I was
watering, and I started looking carefully at the Chamblee
roses because Seminole Wind seemed to have two canes that were crossed. Imagine my delight when I realized that there were two separate plants! The other pots are the same.
Some have two plants, some have three. So not only does
Chamblee undersell everyone else, they give you two or three times the number of roses. One of their gallon bushes is equal to two or three bands from some of the other mail order nurserys. I just don't think it gets any better than this!!!!!

Posted on May 21, 2012, updated May 21, 2012
I ordered three roses in February (Abraham Darby, Glamis Castle, and Scepter'd Isle). The email confirmation said that my ship date was 5/7/12 and that I would receive no further notices, just the roses, which is fine.

I dug my holes and prepped my garden, but by mid-May was I was starting to worry. We are having quite an early spring and it's already warm.

I sent an email on May 16, received a short 'we'll look into it', and then nothing. I replied on the 18th, asking for an update, but still nothing. When I'd checked their website it had said that their last shipping date was the 21st, which is today (it doesn't say that now, so I don't know what that means....)

I'm not sure what to think. I ordered very early, and it should have been plenty of time to let me know if there was trouble with the varieties I'd chosen or other similar issues. Growing plants is tricky, and I know things sometimes happen. But I don't understand why I can't get an explanation, an email, something. Very disappointing.

Our local museum ordered several dozen Buck roses from Chamblees in April of 2010. They kindly donated a number of free roses, which were much appreciated. One of the roses, 'Griff's Red', didn't bloom the first year (2010) and when it did bloom in late August of 2011, it was pale yellow. A person had "adopted" this rose expecting it to be red, so I wrote to Chamblee's and asked for a replacement. Kathy said she would replace the rose and send three free roses for our trouble (one of the other roses had died), and the rose would ship on September 12th, 2011.

No rose arrived. A second request, and Kathy promised that the rose would ship on September 26th. Still no rose, and now no mention of the three free replacements.

I contacted the company this spring and Kathy again assured the rose would ship on May 7th. No rose had arrived by the 18th, so I called the company. They have assured me that a 'Griff's Red' will ship on Monday the 21st. No mention of the free replacements.

At this point, I'm not impressed with Chamblee's replacement system. The original rose is dead, and we hoped to replace it last fall so it could get a good start this spring. I'll wait and see what happens.

Posted on April 16, 2011, updated May 6, 2012
Posted on November 11, 2010, updated April 16, 2011
I ordered 4 'Hardy Buck' roses for northern climates. They were healthy well rooted specimens and all grew quickly and bloomed.

Posted on April 6, 2012, updated April 12, 2012
Posted on March 26, 2012, updated April 6, 2012
I am waiting for a response from Chamblee's Nursery. I received a shipment from them, and one of the plants had quite a few white worms in the soil. I was concerned about this, and removed just the outer ones from the plant. I didn't notice any on the other plant, but there could have been some in the soil. I placed another order for two more, just in case something happened to the wormy one. Hope I'll hear from them soon. Willoxt

I placed my order and requested a certain ship date, and they shipped right on time! The roses received (one "The Fairy", two "Lion's Fairy Tale") were all very healthy with healthy foliage and lots of new growth. It has been two weeks and they are doing very very well, one has a bud already! The quality of the roses is outstanding, the communication is great! A fabulous experience in all respects. I look forward to my next purchase.

I ordered 4 David Austin Roses from this company on 2/28/12 and received an immediate email confirmation. My roses were delivered 3/5/12, as requested. These roses arrived in pots and are beautifully healthy and undamaged. All have buds and one, Heritage, has a bloom open and what a scent! I am so impressed with this company and their service and will be ordering more roses ASAP!

Posted on September 22, 2011, updated February 14, 2012
Great experience, start to finish! I ordered 8 David Austins and 1 climbing Cecile Brunner. All arrived exactly on time, very healthy & leafy, bigger than I expected based on other comments, soil still damp, some even had blooms to the delight of my 2-1/2 year old daughter. Will be planting this weekend and mulching well. Will update in the spring when they get going. The shipping cost was reasonable considering they were shipped in one gallon containers and it was still much more reasonable than if I'd have ordered from any other nursery. I will definitely be ordering again soon.

Posted on January 20, 2010, updated December 2, 2011
Six years ago I ordered 7 antique roses from Chamblees. They were small but very healthy plants, and I'm happy to report that all are now extremely vigorous shrubs. I've bought roses from other sources, but none have thrived as well as Chamblees'. They have an excellent selection, though their website is not as appealing or user-friendly as other companies' websites. However, the roses have proven outstanding!!

For those who wish to start with antique roses and garden in the south, I would especially recommend "Monsieur Tillier," "Maggie," and "Souvenir de la Malmaison." These are all constant bloomers for me (zone 7B), fragrant, resistant to black-spot, and vigorous. All three, once established, bloomed for me without cease from April to late November!

Posted on October 3, 2011, updated October 10, 2011
After hearing all of the great things about this company, I finally decided to place my first rose order. I ordered six Austin roses – Evelyn, Charles Darwin, L.D. Braithwaite, Molineux, Gertrude Jekyll and Tradescant. The roses were to ship on Monday 26 September and were received late Thursday night. First thing that went wrong was that Chamblee’s sent the order to the incorrect address. They printed the billing address instead of the shipping address (two very different addresses mind you). After anxiously waiting for my first order to show up, imagine how disappointed I was to learn from UPS very late Thursday that they were at the billing address wanting to deliver the plants. After pleading with UPS to try to deliver soon as the order contained live plants, the order was finally delivered late Thursday night.

Upon opening the box on arrival – these were my observations. All six plants were squished together in the box. The only sort of protection for the plants was a brown paper sleeve around each plant. After carefully unpacking each plant, I observed that all had suffered damages. The soil was dry. There were lots of broken limbs. Some of them even had buds that were broken off. Lots of the leaves were yellowed and had fallen off. The ones that had the most damage were Charles Darwin, Evelyn and L.D. Braithwaite. Most of canes on these were either broken off completely or bent.

I sent two emails to Chamblee’s. I got no response so I decided to follow up with a phone call. The person who answered told me that they are not responsible for the damages the plants received during shipping. I told her that it was obvious that they were not packaged properly in the first place, as they were all squashed together with only a paper sleeve for protection. She told me to just cut off all of the broken canes and the plants should be fine. These plants were small to begin with, so when I cut off most of the canes, I would be left with a very sorry looking plant. Maybe they would regain their health, but am I paying for inferior plants that are damaged? How long would I have to wait for these to catch up to the way they were before? I expressed all of my concerns to no avail.

I also informed the person about the incorrect delivery address on the box. She claimed as it was an internet order it is the address that was listed. I have an order confirmation that clearly shows shipping and billing addresses as two completely different addresses.

I am totally disappointed in Chamblee’s. The roses shipped were of mediocre quality at best. The packaging was very poor. Delivery was attempted at the incorrect address. And to top it off their customer service was also poor. Not only did they not reply to my emails, they did little to reassure me.

Received four rose bushes ordered a few months ago. The pot soil was still damp on arrival, and the plants are very healthy.

I ordered 5 roses on Sat, they shipped on Mon and arrived on Wed. The roses are beautiful! The best quality plants I have ever received. They were still damp and were packed securely. Chamblee’s cost a little more then another place I ordered roses from last year, but their quality is so much better the extra cost was a bargain!

I made a 6 hour road trip to Tyler Labor Day weekend to shop here. I came back with 2 dozen 1 gallon roses in the trunk of my car. It really helped to be there rather than try to make a selection from a catalog. The saleswoman was helpful and knowledgeable. I look forward to see all these own root roses get established in my garden for years to come.

First order from Chamblee Roses. Ordered 2 plants (wanted more but they were sold out of others). Jude the Obscure was gorgeous and bloomed this year. Graham Thomas was puny and scrawny (under 6") and although it seems healthy now, and has leafed out, it has not grown much taller. Rating is based on my hope that it will flourish by the end of the summer or early next spring. Stay tuned....

Can't go wrong!!!!! The very best own root roses.

Posted on June 1, 2011, updated June 10, 2011
Posted on May 6, 2011, updated June 1, 2011
I received 4 beautiful roses. All large size and healthy. Very well packed and growing beautifully. Very dependable source for roses on the internet.