Comments regarding David Austin Roses (US)

I ordered two roses this year--they arrived at a reasonable time, sizable and healthy, and both are growing well. As long as they turn out to be the right roses (they ARE labelled) I have no complaints.

I ordered 26 David Austin roses last year and was astonished at how healthy and vibrant they were when they arrived; I had an actual bloom within two weeks !!. I planted most of them in large pots and planted eight in the ground. The pots actually did the best and continue to do so. I only had one rose that didn't grow well, but it's putting out much better this year. I have already had a huge bloom from my Abraham Darby this spring. The plants look fabulous. I ordered twelve more a couple of weeks ago and put all of them in pots. I'm spending a fortune on pots, but I love being able to move them and they're doing great in them. I ordered 12 more last night and am going to "color co-ordinate" my yard by putting red, yellow and white in the front and pink, white and fushia in the back. I have underplanted the front pots with red and white Gerber daisies and white petunias and the back pots with pink and white petunias; it's looking great.
On another note, I ordered 5 roses last year from another company and was totally dismayed when they arrived. They were little twigs about 10" long and not much wider than a matchstick ..... and they were EXPENSIVE !! They are all still alive and growing, but still not much over a foot tall. One branch from a David Austin beats them big time.

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted a review for this company yet. I have ordered for the past two years and just love them. I am so sad to see all of the neutral/negative reviews. I hope I didn't just get lucky with my experiences. Love these roses! I have to find room for more!

I have grown David Austin roses in the past but moved to a different climate and had no roses. After visiting the gardens at Alnwick rose garden this summer, I knew I had to try them here even though we get very hot summers.

I recently ordered 34 directly from David Austin and they arrived in perfect condition. I can't say the same for the packaging but the roses are absolutely the best barerooted roses I have ever seen! My only complaint will be listening to my helper as we dig the holes deeper to accomodate the very healthy roots.

I had asked for a confirmation as I travel and didn't want to miss the shipment. They graciously accomodated my request and they arrived exactly at the right time.

Thank you David Austin for such good service.

My initial order was for 3 bareroot standards in mid-May. I received a phone call from DA asking whether I really wanted to get bareroot as it was late in the season(?) and they couldn't guarantee them. I wasn't worried about getting them to grow so I continued with the order. I received 3 great looking standards that were huge. However, I only noticed two days ago that 2 of the standards were substitutes and I only had authorized one substitute. Oh well, partially my fault for not checking the order. But all 3 standards are doing great and looks like will be blooming this week (7/6/09). Near the end of May, DA sent an email for a sale on bareroot roses (so much for late in the season rules) and I ordered 4 roses. This order was totally correct and are now doing great as well. It helped that MA had a lot of unseasonably cool weather so that the bareroots weren't shocked. My only criticism is that I would like to see real time inventory or notification before the order is finally submitted that my selection is or is not in stock and that the order is placed correctly. Packaging and condition of the roses were wonderful. Definitely would order from them again. Would like them to expand their container rose selections.

Over time I have ordered by mail and planted well over 500 bare root rose bushes. I have replacement knees to show for it! But I must say that upon opening my three David Austin roses all I could do was gaze at them and exclaim, "Wow!" These had to be some of the largest bare root roses I'd ever handled. Their names are William Shakespeare and Louise Odier (2). Like a previous customer, I had to revise my hole depth when I saw them.
They ended up soaking in buckets of water for a week before I could get them in the ground, but seem to be doing well. It has been two weeks and they are breaking dormancy with shoots coming out of their big green canes. I am really pleased, to say the least, with Bill and both Louises.
I was concerned about the shipping situation until I read here that something is put on the roots so they maintain moisture. These roses sat at the UPS center in Syracuse two and a half hours away from me all weekend before being delivered. Yet they were properly moist and almost frighteningly vigorous when I got their box opened and the wrappings off.
I never doubted that David Austin roses would be good, I just didn't know how good!

I have had many orders with DA roses over the past couple of years. I ordered five more again this spring. One came completely black. I emailed a note attached to my order form, and was answered back straight away. Another plant was mailed out the next day. I have never had anything but good service. I shall order from them again next year.

I have a large garden. I wanted english roses and finally ordered 5 david austin english rose deal for 5 of the most fragrant. They arrived 1 week later in a beautiful rose toile brown and black box and inside the roses were in plastic and moist. They included a beautiful rose catalog and planting instructions. I am keeping the box to use for storage, its so pretty. They are bare root, so there is no foilage or flowers/buds., and they are extremely healthy, completely green with no dead wood and the roots are healthy and established. I Planted them in their own rose garden area in rows with other new roses and used generous amounts of gramulch soil, I know they will do well, will post later if for some reason they spoil.

We bought 19 roses and got free design assistance which was great. Then we ordered 6 more to fill in some spaces. Shipping error and we ended up getting 6 more delievered which David Austin let us keep for free. Those went to post office who didnt tell us and let them sit there for a week. Planted them a day or so ago and hoping for the best.

I highly recommend David Austin Roses. Excellent plants. Of the first 19, all are doing well. I cannot wait to see the garden in full bloom.

Way better plants than roses we've bought elsewhere. Very healthy

This was my first time ordering from this company. No problems ordering over the internet, received a confirmation, and received an e-mail telling me roses had been shipped.

Got two large roses with great roots (nice and wet). Appreciated the detailed planting/culture instructions. Roses received Tues., planted Friday, new growth showing today, Monday. Whoopee, can't wait to see the blooms!

Hi! I just received my first purchase from the company and am happy with the results. They roots look healthy, were well packed and not dry in the least.

I wanted a David Austin rose for a very long time. This year, my husband ordered two of them for Valentine's Day. Yesterday, I received the beautiful rose-printed box at my door. I opened the box to find two plants (Christopher Marlow and Port Sunlight) that were broken and dry...ugh. I always heard DA roses were supposed to be top of the line, so I was very surprised to see them arrive in this condition. I tried calling DA several times today, but all you get is a recording. I left my name and number regarding the damage for Jo VonBargen, but hadn't heard from him/her yet. Kind of a bad first impression...:(

"On May 6, 2009 1:51 PM, David Austin Roses (US) responded with:

We do apologize for the situation, although I understand from my staff that it has all been handled. Shellie said she has taken care of reshipping a rose and Amanda said she had called you back several times about the email and you all had been playing phone tag. Sorry about that, but the phones are extremely heavy right now. I understand Shellie also took care of that for you and that everything is settled. Not the kind of first impression we'd like to leave, but happy that now it's sorted out. Many thanks for your patience.

Best Wishes,
Jo VonBargen
General Manager
800 328 8893"

The roses from this company perform very well here in Arkansas. We do however get a lot of rain from time to time and have problems with blackspot but the roses smell so good and are so beautiful they are worth it! The customer service is very friendly, a little slow, but friendly. I would recommend them to any rose lover I know. A+

I ordered 10 David Austin Roses that arrived yesterday. They were large healthy bare roots with several shoots on each one. I have ordered from David Austin before and have never been disappointed. My roses from last year are shooting new growth and all survived a nasty Chicago winter. I also have several, 8 year old Teasing Georgia Austin roses that are going strong. A great company with fabulous roses.

I ordered 13 Crocus roses in February and Jo couldn't have been nicer. I was notified Monday that my roses were on the way via UPS and I was able to track the shipment. The roses arrived a day early which was wonderful. I opened the box and I am just amazed at how beautiful these bare root roses are. I think I expected 'twigs', but I am delighted to report these are definitely full grown bushes! I hope I can do right by these roses in my planting. I have had a very positive experience with this company.

I ordered over 20 roses from them earlier this year and a few were slower coming up than others so i was worried but they all are up and running now and about 5 to 7 of them are already blooming. They were shipped bareroot and were quite large when i got them. i don't think it will take long for them to make a nice display.
Jo was also helpful in making the decision of which roses would tolerate the heat and humidity in Alabama.

I ordered three climbing roses from David Austin.

They have been in the ground for a month now and are all showing good signs of growth. Although the ground around them has been thoroughly amended with compost and composted manure, the natural soil is a very heavy clay. As we have had about four weeks of rain I expected the poor things to rot off. Instead they are looking healthy with many shoots developing. I am looking forward to seeing the flowers in Summer.

Order #1 arrived at the appropriate planting time and in good condition - very nice plants.

"On Apr 7, 2009 9:34 PM, David Austin Roses (US) responded with:

Yes, I believe that was me to whom you spoke and those plants are indeed on the way.

I do thank you and all the others here who have posted such lovely comments. We sometimes do accidentally get it right! We're very appreciative of all our customer comments, both good and bad, because the feedback is very helpful in finding ways to improve our service which at the moment is not up to par by any means. We certainly thank all of you for your faithful support and your incredible patience. We love our David Austin customers....you're all the BEST! Many thanks, Jo VonBargen (Gen Mgr)"

I am hoping that I will be able to change this to a positive rating. Yesterday, I ordered 4 roses on the website, which got totally messed up. (I thought everything was ok until I got the confirmation e-mail) I immediately sent an e-mail back, and tried to call the number in the confirmation e-mail, but it was a Sunday, so no luck. They only have hours M-F. The problem is the website. It would not let me change the amount of roses I was ordering, and kept insisting that I was in Alaska for shipping. Well, Minnesota is northern, but not quite that far north! Today, I received an e-mail with the cryptic note "All is done!" All WHAT is done? Order fixed? Order cancelled? Knowing that sometimes even the best companies can have mix-ups, especially at this busy time of year, I called to confirm what "was done". I must say, the young lady that I talked to was very dismissive of my concern, and got very short with me when I had to interrupt her to tell her why I was calling. To top it off, she told me that their computers were not set up to send confirmation e-mails for "fixed" orders. I will get one through the post office in 2-3 weeks. Well, I hope that it won't be too late to fix before my credit card is charged, and the roses are shipped. The attitude with which I was treated is really the reason I am disgusted with the company. There are so many places that sell beautiful plants, I don't feel that I need to give my business to one that thinks customers with questions or concerns are someone to be rude to. I hope that this is the exception, and not the rule, for David Austin Roses.

"On Apr 7, 2009 9:20 PM, David Austin Roses (US) responded with:

I am extremely sorry for your experience with one of my new people and believe me, we will be working on more useful techniques in dealing with frustrated customers. I did see she was having trouble with your call and plugged in to hear it. You were upset with the website and subsequent email and she was extremely harried and overworked; neither of these being your fault, of course, but you were asking questions and then interrupting and not letting her answer. It all made for a very volatile situation. They are indeed working on our website which is in England, and for some time the email confirmation feature was disabled and it took them some time to figure out why.

Our company is growing by leaps and bounds, and training new staff in the middle of a deluge of orders is total chaos. Again, not your problem. I would hope, however, that you would try us again to see if we've improved. We're not happy with our dinosaur order system either, and with impatience on all sides, it makes for a bad experience all around. The harried IT staff in England is trying to get it all sorted, but it's a slow process as they've added Japan as well, which is tied to our website, so they're dealing with a language problem as well. They have promised we will have a brand new order system by December. None of this has anything to do with you, and is certainly no excuse for poor service...I'm simply trying to show the circumstances in which we all find ourselves. Personally, I would like to see DA's stop growing for a moment so staff can catch up! Unfortunately, DA roses are in big demand now and these are the growing pains.

The young lady of which you speak is dealing with 250-300 emails per day and with that volume, all responses have to be abbreviated to get them all done. We will work on wordage that is more informative and less dismissive and again, we do apologize for your negative experience. If you wish to speak to me, you may phone 800 328 8893, or email me at us@davidaustinroses.com. We certainly would like to mend the rift if we can. All the best, Jo VonBargen (Gen Mgr)

Finally broke down and actually ordered roses as opposed to buying them locally. Beautiful,large roots. Moist upon arrival, well packaged. Loved the "rose" box they are shipped in! If there is one small glitch it would be the lack of an immediate confirmation upon ordering. I never knew if they received my order....I emailed them asking for confirmation but never received a reply. I could have called, but just assumed my order had been lost in cyber space. So, when I saw Jackson and Perkins had some DA at Costco I bought quite a few. Well, not 3 days later, I received an email from David Austin with shipping details of my order! They arrived exactly when they said they would and the difference between the 2 (Costco's J&P and my actual DA) were very noticeable. DA being far superior in all regards.

Was pleased with my shipment this week. Some of the roots were so large I had to expand my predug holes. Nice healthy plants. They had quoted me a later ship date, but I am always prepared as my experience over the years with many nurseries is that you might as well expect your order anytime after placing it. My only complaint is that I did not get an automatic return email, but they correpsonded with my quickly when I wrote to follow up. They have a great selection and a beautiful catalog to put under your pillow!

I just received my roses on 2/11/09. They were in wonderful shape and I look forward to growing them!
The packaging kept the roots moist and ready for planting, and all of the plants were in tact without bent braches or severed roots. Very nice job!

I'll update you as the plants come along!

Everytime I order with David Austin it is a great experience. Their roses are gorgeous, healthy, and smell amazing. Any difficulties I have had have been resolved by polite and timely customer service. I wouldn't go anywhere else for roses.

I ordered over 30 roses from this company this year. Every single one of them is beautiful. Taking care of roses is very hard work but it is worth it when those buds open up! They smell soooo good. The customer service is outstanding and all of my bareroot roses arrived in excellent condition. I will continue to do business with David Austin Roses.

The plants are robust and look healthy. Therefor, a positive rating.
But... It took them a week to get here; shipped on Wednesday, arrived the following Tuesday. That I have never heard of before. No other company lets plants sit in a box that long. They are dormant, so it shouldn't have hurt them. ( Or so I hope...)
Some roots are broken and the canes were sticking out of the plastic, out of the box. There was nothing but the plants in the box, no material to prevent the roses from shifting during transport. I was horrified to see the box get to me in such a way.
Christie
I have been happier with other companies so far, but will comment on the progress of the roses and see how they hold up.
Because I ordered the plants in May, late in the season according to their terms, I had to accept them without the one year warranty. My choice. I plan on pampering them because the catalog has such outstanding pictures.

"On Feb 3, 2009 10:50 AM, David Austin Roses (US) responded with:

Dear Mrs_Colla,

I do apologize for the obvious sloppiness in packing this order. We are currently undergoing a training process with an entirely new warehouse staff and have had a few slip through like yours. No excuse, please understand, but that's the reason. I'm hoping these types of errors will not recur and if you will phone or email me, I can mark your order in case you have trouble down the line. Our roses are always guaranteed for a year in any case. We do appreciate all feedback as it helps us to improve. Many thanks!

All the best,
Jo VonBargen
800 328 8893
us@davidaustinroses.com"

Very helpful, polite, and knowledgeable customer service department. The roses were shipped as expected and were huge. Although three are slow to come out of dormancy, they asked that I keep them posted to as to have them replaced if necessary. You can't ask for a better company to do businesss with.

I was so impressed back in 1991 or 92 with Austin roses, I went into business of selling these roses and only them. I had at that time had searched hard to find a local wholesale supplier. I live in Maryland. I ended up buying over 400 from Hortico in Canada. Myself and cousin took on alone getting the rose root stock planted in pots. We took some of those to a well known very old seed supplier and small nursery. They were so impressed they bought from us right away. The Ladew gardens, a well known topiary and mansion, the president saw the roses at the seed company and took my phone number to contact us. She also had a beautiful English style prominent residence and almost a half acre of nothing but roses. She planted the Austin roses closest to her home in her starter garden. She asked what I used for fertilizer. Horse manure. We owned 6 Belgian draft horses plenty of manure of course. Manure tea works great. Heritage, Abraham Darby, as numerous species as we could get along with these. I am not in business now but, remain dedicated to only buying Austin roses. The introduction to the area I was living in made such an impression on buyers there along with a wider area across Maryland. The aroma and hardiness can not be surpassed in my view.

I have ordered from David Austin Roses for a number of years now, and have been consistently delighted with their plants and their customer service. Our rose society placed a large group order a few years ago and our members were also pleased. The roses came with good cane and root size and were packed carefully. I've only had one rose not thrive after planting it, and was immediately credited for another after I contacted their customer service. Because David Austin roses are hardy here in Northern Michigan and have such a beautiful form and fragrance, I'm pleased to have a reliable source with such positive customer service.

I ordered 5 different varieties, all arrived with moist bare roots and were in good condition. They all appeared to be healthy and of good size. Shipping was timed in accordance with the normal time for planting bareroots in my area. Provided the plants hold up to our heat and humidity I may try more.

I ordered 4 roses for spring 2007. They came packed e in a nice looking box. They are very healthy. One of the roses I ordered Lady Emma Hamilton was out of stock at the last moment before shipping so they sent me Pat instead. I really like Pat so it was a good substitute. I put my order in really early for spring 2008 so I really hope they will have enough in stock for my order. I am very much in love with most of the DA roses and look forward to my 2008 spring order.

I purchased 2 rose bushes from Dave Austin Roses that were delivered today. Since I had read the reviews for this company, I knew they would be arriving in a plastic bag sans packing material. I work for a web-based company and make a large number of purchases on line, but was always leery about purchasing plants. Dave Austin replied within the hour, ackowledging my purchase. Shipping was timely and I was furnished with a tracking number and a link to UPS so I could watch my little guys as they moved across the country. The arrived at my door well packaged in a very sturdy box, are a good size and in great condition. I am a VERY satisfied customer.

My two DA's bareroot roses were excellent specimens, with large canes and extensive root systems--and arrived moist and ready to go.

I am just a beginner with roses, and usually consider all the thorns to be a real bother. I prefer to grow Tree peonies and daylilies, along with magolia as my favorite trees. But my wonderful neighbor recently bought a Heritage DA rose bareroot for me as a present. She loves roses, and thought I should try one. After i planted the bareroot, I did some research and discovered how beautiful the DA roses are. I then went on the phone and ordered three Gertrude J. at half price from the recent sale. They came in a well protected box right on time, and I gave one each to my wonderful neighbor as a return present, and one to my mom, and kept one for myself. Hopefully they will grow and prosper, but I must say, the company is first rate from service to prompt delivery. It's a real winner in my book.

I purchased David Austin Roses in 2001. They flourished. I fell in love with David Austin Roses. I just recieved my three Shropshire Lads today and as before David Austin Roses were lovely. They are the only roses I will buy.
Crystal Berger
Birch Bay, WA

I was completely satisfied with this Company's service, shipping method, and, most importantly, plant quality. Planting bare-root roses, usually when the weather is cool, is frankly a chore.
The plants exceeded my expectations for #1 grade.
I just filled out their "Customer Survey" and thanked them for providing a venue for outreach and feed-back.
The Company offers toll-free phone contact for advice.
They emailed me a week before delivery with the exact date so that I was expecting the roses.
Both their catalog and web site are beautifully designed and informative.
I am very partial to these generally fragrant and graceful, rather than stiff, Austin varieties. They also seem to be over-wintering well in my zone 5 region.

I have ordered a number of roses from David Austin over the past few years. They have always shipped large healthy plants which do wonderfully in my garden. Last year one of the roses I ordered was mismarked and turned out to be the wrong cultivar. Of course I didn't find this out until it bloomed the wrong color and shape, but when I contacted the company in June 2006 they were very helpful and promised to ship me the correct rose during the 2007 shipping season as all of their plants are bare root and it was too late in the 2006 season to ship safely. The replacement has arrived, been planted and looks great. I am always impressed at the size and quality of their plants, and their customer service gets top marks.

Beautiful roses, all in wonderful condition, all grew and bloomed. Not a blackspot in sight. Knock on wood.

Wish I had room for more.

Absolutely first rate! I love David Austin Roses! I have ordered many, many roses from this company and all have just done fabulously! I live in CA (I suspect despite the lack of humidity, the climate here is perhaps similiar to that in Texas) as does most of my family, and we have all planted bareroots from David Austin with great success.

Amongst all my others, I have a Glamis Castle that is the envy of the neighborhood! And my mother grows a St. Swithun that is the most beautiful bush I have ever seen! It blooms without abandon throughout spring, summer and fall here- and the blooms look like lovely, pinky, tissuey-paper things!

I find myself ordering from David Austin year after year- and eagerly await the arrival of the catalog- as well as the announcement of the new roses for each year.

They also have great deals if you order in quantity- check the website and especially their catalog for the particulars.

Very pleased with the three roses that I purchased.
Healthy roses, great packaging, and my order was
processed quickly.

C&NN