Comments regarding Roses Unlimited

Posted on January 20, 2023, updated May 19, 2023
Posted on May 22, 2021, updated January 20, 2023
Posted on May 17, 2019, updated May 22, 2021
Posted on May 22, 2015, updated May 17, 2019
Posted on May 1, 2014, updated May 22, 2015
Posted on September 18, 2013, updated May 1, 2014
Posted on June 1, 2013, updated September 18, 2013
Posted on May 2, 2013, updated June 1, 2013
In the midst of replacing roses from my previous home, I took the recommendation of a rose author I admire, and placed an order with Roses Unlimited. I am very happy that I did. My four roses came yesterday, and their health, vigor, size and beauty were wonderful. Tess of the D'Urbervilles had a bloom! The customer service was excellent, and Pat Henry was very responsive when I needed to add to my order. I ordered from four very good and well recommended companies this season, and Roses Unlimited was the best of them all. I will certainly be back.

Roses Unlimited has a very wide selection of some very hard-to-find roses. I ordered 7 rose bushes last year, and all arrived in excellent health and carefully packaged. I planted them after a week or two to harden them off (probably unnecessary, but shipping and transplanting are huge shocks to a plant and I wanted to give them a good start!). They all put on rapid growth and bloomed beautifully, and all of them seem to have survived their first winter with me. I’ve ordered more of their roses for this year, and can’t wait to get them.

I ordered from Roses Unlimited for the first time this year and was extremely pleased with the quality of the plants that I received. First of all, I have a definite preference for own root roses because I don’t want to deal with a rootstock and I want longevity. I don’t live in a cold climate but of course the added hardiness is nice too.

The six roses I ordered were carefully packaged, and a great size for own root roses, with good root systems. People ordering from Roses Unlimited should understand that these are slightly younger roses than a bare root rose would be, by about a year, and you should not expect the age equivalent of a bare root rose. That said, the roses will catch up quite quickly if you care for them properly.

I let a few of mine languish in the shipping pots a bit too long instead of repotting but they did just fine - a testament to how good the plants are. They are continuing to do well in my garden and I will not hesitate to order from Roses Unlimited again. Plus, the selection is outstanding. Some fun old garden roses, hard to find French bred roses and a great English rose selection. Highly recommended.

Like many others, I have had wonderful experiences with Roses Unlimited's Own Root Roses. I have been a customer since the 1990's. I have a large garden in the mountains of North Carolina––not an ideal place for growing roses––with some of my roses reaching up to 20 feet on my buildings and rambling into trees. They are a terrific resource for true own root roses, which may take (as their catalog tells you) two years to become happily established, but which can then reward you for many, many years with hardier and healthier roses. Owners Pat and Bill are a wonderful source of information about growing roses in the South, and a visit to their greenhouses is always a teaching in itself. They have an incredible selection, not limited to tender varieties: Old, species, modern, English, rambling roses, all grown on their own roots.

If you have had disappointments with grafted California-grown roses, take the long view, and buy own-root roses from Roses Unlimited and have the patience to allow them to be established in pots first, then move to the spot you want them to live for a long time. It is always better to know your nursery. First-rate roses!

Posted on May 10, 2009, updated October 10, 2017
First time ordering roses from this company - I ordered from several others during the past three years. The six roses I ordered came in timely and in excellent shape - very lush foliage and stems. The price is much better than other companies for 1-gallon roses. I highly recommend this company. I will definitely order again, particularly if these roses make it without the spraying regimen the company recommends.

After I unpacked the roses and set them on a table on the porch, my husband asked what came in the box. When I pointed to the roses, he thought I was teasing him. After convincing him all those roses really did come in that box, he stood there scratching his head looking at the box, then the roses, then the box….. This is to say how beautifully the roses all bounced back so nicely after their trip across the country. They were standing tall and looked so full with blooms and buds, it really was hard to believe they arrived in that little box. RU does a fabulous job of packing. This was my first order and I have already made a second order. There will be more in the future.

Posted on July 1, 2013, updated May 13, 2017
I got 6 roses from Roses Unlimited summer sale this year. Pat was prompt to respond to my e-mails. The roses arrived on time, well-packed, and very healthy. I told them what I want & sent them a check, and received my roses within a few days. I highly recommend this nursery for their professionalism and the quality of their plants.

My experience with rose growing is limited and I couldn't be happier with their service. The owner Ms. Pat Henry was very helpful when I asked some questions and it's clear that they care for both their customers and roses. Having only a few roses, I'm starting to expand my rose garden and look forward to order from Roses Unlimited again.

I was able to order through email and pay over the phone. The ordering process was pleasant, and they are friendly. My order shipped and arrived quickly. These are actually the biggest roses that I have received, none have ever been bigger. I ordered during their $10 sale, and wish I could have ordered more!! It is a bit hard to unpack, as they are packaged super sturdy, and appear to be packaged to survive an atomic bomb. They have a HUGE selection, so I have a huge wishlist. I enjoyed ordering with them and would love to order again.

My first-ever order from Roses Unlimited arrived last week, after several pleasant email exchanges with Pat Henry that helped me decide which varieties to order. The three roses (Madame Plantier, Golden Celebration and Jude the Obscure) were impressively large, healthy, well leafed out and packed snugly for safe arrival. I have already compiled a "wish list" for my next order.

Posted on June 23, 2014, updated May 26, 2015
Posted on June 13, 2014, updated June 23, 2014
Posted on September 25, 2012, updated June 13, 2014
Inadvertently forgot to write this review to give RU a 5 star rating!!! I had looked for the Amelia Earhart rose for about a year and was unable to find any. Finally someone told me to check with RU. This rose was not listed as available but RU was able to find not one, but 2 Amelias for me!!

They thrived all summer and I couldn't be more delighted!!
Thanks so much to all at RU-I WILL be back in the spring!!

I have been buying roses from Pat Henry and Bill Patterson since 2005 and now have a 30-plus rose garden in Asheville NC, all but two roses being from them. From the beginning I explained to Pat that I don't spray or amend with chemicals, and she has been wonderful in advising me on which roses I can grow to good result in those conditions. Happily for me, the list of disease-resistant roses with strong fragrance is growing, and I am currently replacing roses that have done well here, but who's habit and lack-of-fragrance I want to improve on with others Pat can now recommend. Though I usually go down to Laurens to pick up my plants at RU, I have also had some shipped to me with good result. I I have had great advice and great roses from RU, without fail.

I would like to share my very positive experience with Roses Unlimited. While they don't have web ordering, Pat is very quick to respond with any questions and orders. I ordered six roses this year. They all arrived in perfect shape and are currently doing great. This is a great source and very easy to work with - I highly recommend it.

Ordered over 60 roses from their summer sale. Prices were great, shipping was wonderful, and the roses were amazing! Even my fiancé, who is not a gardener, remarked upon the size of the plants compared to others I have ordered in the past. They also got packaging down to a science! 60 roses and not one broken or out of their pots! I cannot wait to order from them again. Thank you!

Posted on June 21, 2010, updated June 2, 2013
I will continue to do business with this company. Pat is great and always happy to help. Own root plants are the best and their selection is outstanding.

Were there a rating for "very positive," I would choose it for Roses Unlimited. In past two years, I ordered twice. First, in 2011 through Pat Henry, included Lyda Rose, Mystic Beauty, and Elina. In fall of 2012, with lots of analysis and advice from Bill Patterson, ordered Eugene de Beauharnais, Paul Neyron, and Marchessa Boccella. All plants arrived in good shape, on schedule, and are still alive. Got great advice each time. Both Mrs Henry and Mr. Patterson realized they were dealing with a novice, and the selection and planting guidance were quite appropriate and kind, especially on the OGRs. The Lyda Rose grew to 4x4 the first year and bloomed prolifically. These people are knowledgeable, trustworthy, helpful, and reliable. Highly recommend. Very positive.

We had a warm early spring in Cincinnati (6a), and I ordered 6 bareroot roses in March for an early April delivery. I had ordered bareroots from the West Coast before with mixed results, and I was worried. Fortunately, that worry was in vain. The roses were large, had many leaves, looked very healthy, and two of them already had buds. The packaging was intense but effective. I got them in the ground, and they flourished. Five months later, they are all excelling, and they have grown more bigger and more robust than some bareroot roses from out West that I planted two years ago! I am impressed, and I'll definitely order from Roses Unlimited again (as in next spring! . . . I'm already trying to decide the list).

Excellent assistance to a novice, Stephanie was patient and very helpful. Beautiful healthy rose was sent.

I recently received an order of 17 roses from Roses Unlimited. As other customers have mentioned here, all of the roses I received were very large, well-branched plants that are ready to be planted in the ground immediately. Many of the roses were budded or blooming upon arrival. I live on the West Coast and was amazed by the marvelous packing job. Even though the three shipping boxes took seven days to reach me by UPS, every rose arrived in perfect condition and was still very well hydrated.

Customer service is excellent either over the phone or by email and the huge selection of roses available is unmatched. I will be ordering again from this wonderful nursery in the future.

Posted on April 29, 2012, updated April 29, 2012
I ordered 3 roses from Roses Unlimited and after seeing their website, decided to visit their "rose farm". They have 9 greenhouses from which we were able to view and select roses from. It was an interesting experience. The "own root" roses are smaller than hybrid traditional roses. They look very healthy in one gallon pots. I selected 6 additional roses and the gentleman "dug up" my order and I was able to avoid the shipping charge by taking the three original ones I ordered with me. The selection of roses is amazing. I took cuttings of a rose that I am having problems with and the gentleman immediately knew what rose variety it was and diagnosed spider mites (I should have known, except I read spider mites show up late in the summer and it is only April . He asked if they were next to brick (they are). Apparently brick makes the roses more susceptible as it holds the heat. The grounds of the greenhouses are amazing. There are hundreds of old climbing roses and other roses. While the gardens have not been maintained, it is well worth the trip esp at this time of year as all the roses are blooming beautifully.

At my request, he folks at Roses Unlimited delayed sending roses to me twice after their last shipping date for the year. Those to whom I spoke were unfailingly courteous and patient.

Now,y bushes arrived without blemish; one had a bud. They are thriving in our cool, sunny fall weather.

I believe that Roses Unlimited deserves the highest rating possible..

Marie Sheley

Very happy with roses from Roses Unlimited. Nice size, healthy plants. They know how to pack them and all roses bloomed this year. Would definitely order from them again.

Received all 4 roses in beautiful super healthy condition ready for planting. Best packing of all rose companies I have purchased from online. No damage at all to any rose.

I will be buying again from this company with complete confidence in quality and shipping procedure.

Awesome roses! This is my first experience with this company. I have heard many great things about them from other gardeners.
Huge plants in large pots, and blooming too! One of them had 4 rose buds on them already!
I had ordered Livin Easy and the Flight 93 rose.
It took me a while to get them unwrapped because they were packaged so well but I won out in the end lol.
They were very moist too and came exactly when I expected them too.
Great job RU!

Posted on May 21, 2010, updated September 7, 2010
First time ordering from Roses Unlimited. The roses were great ! Packing of the roses was excellent! Quick shipping!
Thumbs up!

Their plants are the best sized I have received online. I am across country however and the plants do get stressed on the way to me but they recover quickly. Shipping is also more expensive for me, of course. But if I want a bigger plant I will definitely go back to Pat to get them there. She wonderful to do business with.

I ordered 10 roses during their sale late last summer. The roses arrived in good condition. Some had spots but I planted and treated like I do all roses and hoped for the best overwinter. I treated again this spring when I uncovered and was so happy that all 10 roses emerged in perfect condition. They are all doing great and look great. Ordering process during the sale was time consuming but the woman on the phone was very patient with my questions and suggested varieties in place of what was out of stock.

Absolutely fantastic experience last year ordering from Pat. I ordered 3 Mme. Alfred Carriere for around my garage and she suggested 2 shrub Cecile Brunner to be potted by my front door. Pat was incredibly patient working with me since I am not an experienced rose owner.

My roses arrived very well packaged - it took me quite some time to dismantle the boxes but it was well worth it. They looked amazing! The MAC were much larger than I expected and already had blooms. They were planted per the instructions on the site and by the end of the season they were already 8 feet tall - not a typo - eight feet. As I write, just about one year after they were planted they are all covered in buds. The Cecile were smaller but looked very healthy. I potted them up and they grew like crazy all summer - despite my random watering practices. They bloomed from May through November straight through and the smell was amazing.

I was so pleased with my experience I bought another 4 MAC to go around the other side of my garage and 12 more Cecile - with the 2 from last year will be planted all around my front porch. (Don't want to risk killing the Cecile with another year in pots!) I'm picking them up this weekend and could not be more excited not only for my new roses but to see the nursery.

I agree with the almost universal consensus that the website is not great, it needs to have a picture of each rose. Beyond that though I'm okay with their choice to keep it simple - to me that says they are more interested in their roses than marketing which is really what I want as a buyer.

I received 10 or so roses this spring and all are going gangbusters and very healthy. Great prices for what you get, especially when you include shipping. One rose was mislabed and was promptly replaced by the company, and the boxes are extremely well packed - the most secure of any mail order company I've used to date. The only down side of my experiece is that the billing end of the company seems to be quite disorganized - it is frustrating to receive invoices asking for payment 6 months after the order was paid in full (especially since they had already assured me their mistake was taken care of). But I would still recommend based on the size and quality of plants shipped.

What a pleasure!! I ordered from RU twice this year and I was happy both times. The roses are a good healthy size, one even had a bloom when it arrived, packed very well for shipping, and the customer service was great. I have had blooms all summer and I cant wait to order more. Highly reccomend!!!

I ordered this year for the first time. I was very impressed with the large healthy roses. I really wish I could order online with them. I know I would order more if they had this available.

Wonderful source for roses you don't find everyday. I took advantage of their Freedom sale and got 4 very healthy, very well packed, own root roses. Highly recommend. This mailorder nursery has been added to my listed of ones to ck frequently.

This was my first purchase from Roses Unlimited and I was simply delighted with the quality of the rose bush I purchased. It arrived in a timely manner, well packed, though minimally stressed with tons of yellow leaves (understandably dehydrated due to the warm summer climate here in the South) but otherwise SUPER healthy and robust. I gave it a good soak and some rest in a temporary spot with dappled shade as soon as it arrived and it responded quickly with healthy new growth. It continues to be adapting great. What an amazing plant. Bullet-proof to say the least. Very strong and sensational looking. I will definitely be making more purchases from Unlimited in the coming months. Thanks Pat for all of your care and expertise in raising such exceptional young rose bushes. I am very happy.

OMG, talk about some major roses! These beautiful roses (I ordered 7 during their "Freedom sale", but were out of 4, so I got 3 roses) are bigger and healthier than I have gotten at some of our LGSs! Wow! I did preorder some roses for the 2010 year.. I cannot WAIT to see those! I'll be putting them in the ground now after I harden them off (I believe that these are greenhouse roses, so they have to be hardened off for "real world conditions"). One of them was already in bud and they're all gorgeous! Excellent packaging, VERY quick shipping.. only bad thing I can see is they don't have the ability to take cards. But it's WELL worth the risk of a check!!

YAY!!!! VERY happy!!! I *WILL* be back!!

I purchased from RU last year for the first time ('08) , 9 fragrant cloud bushes. I also purchased from the other own root vendors on GW: ARE, Heirloom and Chamblees. Although the other vendors had nice plants, nothing was as good as RU.

Winter 08 I decided to bury my roses to see how much I could keep alive, as opposed to past years cones/mulching. My fragrant clouds from RU have 3/4 to 1" canes of last seasons growth that made it through the winter buried. I have never had any HT rose in zone 5 make it through winter this robustly. Although buried, the credit has to go to the quality of the plants, as the other buried fragrant cloud bands from heirloom and grafted fragrant clouds from JP are alive but barely and all other variables are the same (location, soil, winter wet, etc.).

I was initially hesitant to order as RU availability checking is by email, and payment is in the form of a mailed check. However, they are now my preferred vendor. Their website is a little hokey, but their roses are the best, and they do respond pretty quickly to emailed availability questions. I strongly recommend them.

I just received a wonderful shipment from Roses Unlimited - their own Mystic Beauty, a blooming Lyda Rose, and a large and budded - and IMPOSSIBLE to find - Versigny Generosa rose.

They arrived in 90 degree Texas heat in pristine condition and didn't even need a drink. They were so securely packaged that it took me 20 minutes to get them safely out of the box, but I'm not complaining! I was worried about these roses with our recent heat wave, but they arrived looking like they were just packaged moments ago instead of three or more days ago.

If they would accept debit cards or paypal, the shopping experience would be ideal. Nevertheless, this is an excellent source of lovely roses and I'll definitely be a frequent customer.

Positives
-Sell all plants own root in 1 gallon containers.
-Excellent selection of Hybrid Teas and Floribundas
-Have alot of classic Hybrid teas and older AARS
-Stock roses from Rose Barni and Viru Vinghaven that are very hard to find

Negatives
-Only accept checks. No paypal or credit cards.
-Not all roses have photos on website. So browsing becomes difficult
-Website is typically harder to use than most. As an aside the background music on the website is terrible.
-Shipping costs higher than some due to the 1 gallon pots.
-Limited #s or alot of roses. Have to order preorder well in advance for hard to find roses.

Overall rating
Roses Unlimited has provided me with over 30 roses that have all done extremely well in my garden. I have ordered from dozens of ownroot suppliers from nurserys and ebay and their roses are well above average. They are my go to supplier of own roots. Just order early or you will be waiting till next year. Excellent quality for your money

I have always picked up my roses at nursery So I have no expierence with their packaging. If you visit your nursery wear good shoes and be careful as its a working nursery and not a sales center. The floors are muddy and aisles are hard to get through

Have seen no evidence of RMV on their roses. In touring their green house I did not see any virused plants but I do not consider myself an expert on that subject.

I emailed Pat in mid March about placing an order of roses. She was very knowledgeable and helpful and answered the many emails I sent. I had a negative experience ordering roses online from a different vendor and she was quick to reassure me that I wouldn't receive 'baby' roses.
They arrived today and were extremely well packaged. It took my husband 20 minutes to unwrap all of them. They are in excellent shape and several of them have buds. I'm very happy with my experience with RU and would highly recommend Pat and her staff.

Very positive experience with this lovely lady! She provides a GREAT selection of healthy, self-rooted plants of very good size. Her roses are grown potted rather than being shipped bare-rooted, which results in a much faster start for the plant here in the south. The only drawback to ordering from RU is that they are not set up to take credit card payments which can make the ordering process a bit cumbersome... but it's worth it to receive her wonderful plants. I will definitely order from Roses Unlimited again in the future. Ev =)