Comments regarding High Country Roses

This was my first time ordering from High Country. I received my antique roses well packed and the roots were still damp. They took off as soon as they were put in the ground. Will order from them again!

First of all...a correction: High Country Roses is not in Utah. Maybe it was at one point, but their address is P.O. Box 22901 Denver, CO. 80222 and their phone is: (1800-552-2802. The owner is Matthew Douglas.

I have ordered twice in 2013 from HCR. They are Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. I have been ordering plants thru the Internet now for many years. This is one of THE BEST places to buy roses from.

Number 1: Selection. They have a great selection of species, old garden roses in every class, and moderns to choose from. Yes, they have a smaller selection than some of the old school retailers out there, but they are tops in the roses they do grow....which leads me to....

Number 2: Plant quality is #1. I bought a Persian Yellow Foetida, and Bicolor Austrian Copper Foetida, Darlow's Enigma musk and a Gloire de Dijon very very early this year....and they arrived in perfect shape and have since bloomed many times (the Gloire & Darlow's) and grown tremendously. In the middle of this summer, just recently, I bought a Roserie de l'Hay and a Madame Alfred Carriere. They are bigger, healthier, and more professionally, read: translation: >>>>>gently! ------>>>>"I actually care about the roses I grow and therefore pack them well!"<<<<< these were packed better than Almost any of the other Internet places I have bought from. Some places use so much tape that the plant might as well be mummified in the box. not at High Country Roses. They are awesome!

Number 3: Ordering is easy and pleasant. The guy that runs the place is NICE, accommodating and CHEERFUL. I don't expect a jolly bombastic overload of positivity when I place orders or whatever, but the last thing I want to hear when I call to follow up, correct my own mistake, or add to an order is a sour, moody, sighhhhhh-ing, curt voice. Like I am one of the many problems of their day. I get that a lot of that in both my local and Internet nursery-people. What is up with that?

Number 4: I don't expect a super bargain when I go looking for a rarer type or class of rose. But I am your average, bourgeois, semi-suburban gardener....not your six figure trophy wife who "gardens" with her assistants who do all the work. I do all my own work on my half acre garden, as well as work full time. I cannot afford a $45 custom root & I don't care about exhibiting. I just grow, because I like doing research on unusual plants, for my own well being and to make things beautiful. I will look for affordable plants from many sources. HCR's plants are affordable, so is their shipping. It's not one of those places that charges a weird handling fee, a materials fee, (USPS Shipping should be an option, and their boxes are FREE, folks), a gas fee, etc etc, with an attitude in bold red typeface on the order page, like they are MAD at you for giving them business. At High Country Roses, there is no mickey mouse. It's easy, it is fair, and that is why I am a loyal HCR customer.

Cheers to High Country Roses!!! Thank you!!!!!

After reading about the Musk Rose Ballerina, this company was one of the very few sources I could find. After waiting a year on backorder, the 3 arrived in Seacoast New Hampshire, small, in perfect condition with superb packaging. The first tiny blooms in the fabulous weather we are having are a tease about what I can look forward to in the coming years.

I ordered 6 roses in April with a ship date after 5-28. They shipped on time and arrived in beautiful condition! Matt was very helpful in recommending a rose for a particular site (drought and shade tolerant). Two of the roses arrived with buds and flowers. Well worth the price to get "own root" roses and I will buy from them again.

Posted on May 7, 2012, updated September 17, 2012
Company: High Country Roses
Denver, CO

My first thought was to send a negative comment. I later decided to post a neutral comment...................I ordered a "Quadra" Canadian rose in early April. It was shipped April 16, 2012. The rose was alive when it arrived, but verrrry small. (two 8" sticks) I was expecting it to be at least as big as the ones I could buy locally. I watered it immediately. It perked up over the next day or so, so I started exposing it to the great outdoors a little at a time. To my amazement, a new bud starting growing on the tiny sticks. I hardened it off properly, and planted it in early May. It's still alive, but I still have my doubts. I didn't contact the company, because I figured it's still alive, and it's my mistake for ordering from them. I ordered roses several years ago from another company and was surprised at how large and robust they were. I guess I'll return to the other company in the future. Wish me luck with this one!

"On May 8, 2012 6:16 AM, High Country Roses responded with:

I am sorry to hear that your Quadra is struggling a bit. Inevitability some of our plants are a little slow breaking dormancy and putting on growth. I examined our stock yesterday and I would put Quadra in that category. I would be happy to replace the plant for you. I want you to be completely satisfied with your purchase. (I definitely don't want you to feel stuck or that it was a mistake) I also want you to feel free to contact us with any issues. Customer satisfaction is much more important to me than any plant we sell.

Thank you,

Matt Douglas
matt@highcountryroses.com
1 800 552 2082"

Hi, ordered darlow's enigma, rosa glauca, rosa ,mundi and apothecary's rose this spring and all of them are doing wonderful . Lots of new growth and all have bloomed except rosa glauca. The only problem I had was in july we had a bad heat wave for three days with tempertures in excess of 105 degrees and rosa glauca got burnt by the afternoon sun some, one stem died but is now recovering and putting out new growth. I think high country roses sales excellent rose cuttings and if your having trouble it's your own inexperience and not their fault.Also all the roses have had new basel shoots.

I ordered about 10 roses for the first time from this company. The owner was very courteous and communicative on the phone even advised me to delay shipping because of Abraham Darby being slow in growth.I appreciated his frankness and did so, the shipment arrived well, the roses were a tad bit smaller than what other companies send in comparision, but they have all taken off in vigor and are already flowering this very season in my garden.I will definitely order again from this company, Matt knows his roses and advises honestly!Thanks a bunch.

I bought 7 rose plants from high country rose. The communication is good, but the plants are so small and not worth the price they charged for. The gold busch was tiny!

"On Jun 20, 2012 9:52 PM, High Country Roses responded with:

I'm also sorry to hear you were disappointed with the size of your roses. Own root roses do start small, but typically really take off once in the ground. (Own root roses usually catch up to the size of grafted roses within two or three years, and then are healthier.) If your roses do not take off or you find that they aren't thriving, please let me know and I'll be glad to offer replacements. Our goal is to ensure that you are satisfied with your purchase and will have healthy roses to enjoy for years to come.

Sincerely,
Matt Douglas
High Country Roses
1-800-552-2082"

I ordered "new dawn" and "white dawn" roses from high country because i was unable to find them locally. The plants were shipped in good time and are healthy, but are also quite small for the money.

"On Jun 20, 2012 9:50 PM, High Country Roses responded with:

I'm so sorry to hear you were disappointed with the size of your roses. Own root roses do start small, but typically really take off once in the ground. (Own root roses usually catch up to the size of grafted roses within two or three years, and then are healthier.) If your roses do not take off or you find that they aren't thriving, please let me know and I'll be glad to offer replacements. Our goal is to ensure that you are satisfied with your purchase and will have healthy roses to enjoy for years to come.

Sincerely,
Matt Douglas
High Country Roses
1-800-552-2082"

My small own rooted roses arrived and I planted them in a zone four garden. That was last year. They stayed basically small plants setting roots. This year these roses are over four feet tall, fully branched and loaded with blooms. My Victorian Memory roses are the star of this years garden! I do not use chemicals and fertilize with composted manure. I cant say enough about how pleased I am with these roses.

Just received my order for Rose de Rescht and Sweet Chariot. Both were very healthy band-size plants. The 'Sweet Chariot' had two opened flowers and were so fragrant they knocked my socks off as soon I as lifted open the tabs of the box.

Shipping was very reasonably priced. Packaging was good.

I would definitely order from High Country Roses again.

Posted on November 29, 2011, updated March 31, 2012
I received excellent quality roses from this company earlier this fall. Plants were well packed and much larger than I expected given the size of the pots. I appreciate High Country Roses' thoughtful selection of varieties, as well as their candid remarks about hardiness and garden performance. I can't wait to see how my new roses will survive the winter and watch them grow up to be beautiful, hardy flowering shrubs. I would definitely order from them again.

A excellent company for roses ! I messed up however year before last by placing all of their Knock out roses on hold and forgetting the card I had placed them on reserve with was not yet activated . I was mortified with embarrassment . I plan to order from them again and hope I am not blacklisted . However the roses I do have from them are all huge and thriving !

nice mail order nursery, prompt, well-packaged, healthy roses, and great customer service - what more could you ask for?

I ordered ‘Tess Of The D’Urbervilles’ and it arrived ready to thrive. I was delighted to even get blooms the first year!

Received a very nice New Dawn Climbing rose and expect that it will do very well. I did pay attention to the hardening-off instructions and think that will help the rose get established nicely.
Rosemary was lovely to speak with on the phone and the packing and shipping was excellent.
I am really looking forward to the 'Quadra' rose in the fall to add to my garden.
Thanks for a pleasant shopping experience and the high-quality stock.
C. Paris

GREAT, Well grown roses looking very healthy, well wrapped and packaged, Terrific . Will order again.

This was my first time ordering from HCR and would definitely order from again.

Very pleased with the size and the health of my plants on arrival.

I ordered the following:
Polareis (Polar Ice),
Martin Frobisher
Moje Hammarberg
Rosa rugosa rubra

This was my first order from High Country Roses. The lady who I spoke with on the phone was very nice. They had notified me that Tuscany Superb rose was in ( that I had been on a special waiting list for )and ready to be shipped to me. It was sent out quickly and arrived in just a couple days priority mail. The rose plant is very healthy, well packed, they had sent me a tracking number and ship notice too. I am thrilled that it has several buds on it. Very healthy plant. Very pleased with this company. Thanks for a great ordering experience would recommend them.

I just received my first rose order from this company. The order was shipped on the date promised, was well packed and packaged using recyled newspapers and shredded paper. The plants are well grown in "nursery quarts" and of nice size (approx. ~6" X ~8"). The planting medium is light and fluffy which is good for shipping weight, but I am having them repotted into a heavier planting mix to grow on just a bit before they go into the gardens.

This has been overall a good experience for me.

My roses arrived promptly and were carefully packed and in good condition. The prices were very reasonable.

This was my first time ordering from HCR and I will order again. I ordered three Lilian Austins from the sale list and I ordered late in the year. The roses shipped right away and arrived in very good order! Good value for the price and own root, too! They confirmed my order immediately and sent a ship notice via e-mail. For being so late in the year the roses look very healthy and the stems are good and green with good root support and no breakage. Can't ask for more!

They have a very nice rose collection. My order of roses arrived big and healthy, and the shipping charge is very reasonable. Very fast, too. I will order again next spring.

Wow fast shipping. I recieved my rose the same week I bought it!!! The rose was in great condition. I would highly recommend going through this company for fast shipping and good quality roses!!

I give High Country roses my highest recommendation and I will definitely be ordering from them again. I ordered three roses Darwin's enigma, Charles de Mills and Frances Lester. When I called HCR, the staff was able to tell me approximately when they would arrive. The plants were at my house precisely on Wednesday just as HCR said they would be.
The plants were in very good shape, soil in the containers was moist and leaves and buds were well hydrated. They went in ground within two days.
The plants are now thriving in my backyard-I am very pleased with the new addition to my Garden ...Thank you Very Much High Country Roses. Fred Andres, Northern California

I only ordered one rose, but it was healthy and well-rooted. Packing was good, and shipment took place on the promised date. Add them to your list for rose sources.

Every rose I have received from High Country Roses has been large, well rooted and very healthy. I would recommend them to anyone and everyone.

Just received my first order from High Country Roses and it won't be my last. Largest bands ever. So impress with this company. Great roses and the packing of the roses was top notch. Highly recommend this company.
Arlene

I received 11 large & healthy roses from High Country Roses. They were packaged well, arrived in a timely manner & the company has been very helpful to deal with. I look forward to buying more roses from them next year!

I wanted to try High Country Roses, because I needed very cold hardy plants and because of all the positive feedback. I ordered Ramblin' Red and Iceberg. Both were received ok but they looked wilty and drooping. Iceberg I gave to my neighbor. Maybe she can get it to do better. Ramblin' Red I went ahead and planted as soon as I got it and it never has gotten better. It is going downhill, yellow leaves (the ones that haven't fallen off) and still very small no growth at all. I am not very pleased. I had contacted them through email and haven't heard anything yet. I hope this post reaches them then. I have hopes that somehow RR will pick back up but I have my doubts. I don't know if I will be back. I'll have to wait and see if they contact me about RR rose or if the rose picks back up. More later...

"On May 31, 2009 8:20 AM, High Country Roses responded with:

We try very hard to ensure our customers' satisfaction and want your experience with our company to be a positive one. We also hope that the rose will thrive after it is better established in the ground.
Since you are having trouble with it, we will issue a refund for the rose to your credit card on Monday, but hope that you will still give the rose a few weeks to take off and grow.
From what you described on the phone, you received the rose and planted it right away, while our planting instructions recommend that you wait a couple of days to allow the rose to acclimatize. Coming out of our greenhouse and being in a shipping box for 3 days, the leaves are tender and can be damaged by sun and wind if the plant is not gradually hardened off.
That is why we felt that the rose suffered some transplant shock and encouraged you to give it some time to adjust. We hope that it will soon begin to grow vigorously for you and become a valuable addition to your garden.
Sincerely,
Heather Campbell

Great products. This is the third order I've had with them.

I ordered Europeana and Graham Stuart Thomas. Great out of the box. I'm looking forward to planting them.

I still have Queen Elizabeth that I ordered 5 years ago. It is one of my strongest growers.

I'd buy again.

I ordered 3 zone 2 roses on April 30 and receive them on May 7. They were well packed and still moist, truely great specimens. I received prompt email corresondence and payment was credited on email receipt of shipment. I couldn't ask for better service. I will definitly order from them again

Excellent mail order nursery. Customer service was very competent and polite and I was able to complete the order by phone in about 2 minutes. The rose was shipped in a matter of a couple of days and it arrived within 5 days of placing the order. The rose was an excellent specimen in ideal condition. Not a bruised leaf anywhere. Five stars out of five. Highly recommended.

I've ordered from this nursery more than once, buying roses for myself in northern California and my mom in southern Oregon. All of our roses are doing extremely well. The bands arrived securely packed and still moist with no damage to the plants. My Mutabilis has bloomed nonstop, every month, for the last two years...but the one that blows me away is Great Western (a Bourbon). It arrived as a band-sized sprig around the first of May. By September, it had grown into a fountain of eight-foot tall canes. I've never seen anything like it. The plant is massive. It boggles my mind to think of the little twig I planted in May growing eight feet in three months. I can't wait to see it in bloom!

Every rose I've purchased from High Country Roses has succeeded. I've been very pleased with their quality, prices, prompt replies to questions, and the number of old garden varieties they carry.

Since High Country Roses had such good feedback, I decided to give them a try during a fall sale. I ordered 3 roses, and wished I had ordered more! They were beautiful little plants--larger than the typical bands I've received from other mail order own-root rose companies, and very healthy. Their regular prices look like they run a little more than some others charge for band-sized plants, but the larger plants are worth that slightly higher price. They also have some of the better shipping rates around, which can make up for the difference in the price of the plants, and you get a bigger plant, too. I wish their selection of OGRs was larger, but with all the other roses they offer, they should have something for everyone. A nice selection of species roses, too.

I am unexpectedly disappointed in the service I have received from this company. I recently placed a large order, and I chose High Country Roses specifically because of the positive feedback and comments about them on this forum. This high level of service is not what I have experienced with them, however. I have two complaints, and they have not responded to either issue.

#1 Their website clearly states that my account would be billed when the roses shipped, but they billed me four days early--resulting in overdraft charges at my bank. I did not really expect a refund from them, but they did not even respond to my email with an explanation or an apology.

#2 I ordered seven different kinds of roses at three to six roses each (almost 40 roses total.) I know I ordered sale roses, so I was OK with the fact that some of them only had one or two canes. I was not expecting the top of the line quality. Two of the kinds I received were just plain not healthy, though--leaves yellowed and spotted. Even after several days of intensive care, they are not recovering from shipping like the others. I contacted customer service and told them how happy I was with part of my order but that I had a problem with another part. Again, they did not even respond to my complaint.

I am disappointed.

"

We are very sorry that you had an unsatisfactory experience with our company and agree that your concerns are justified. We have received your email messages and so have replied via email as well, but it is possible that you did not receive our messages, as some spam filters do not allow them to go through. We did send a note of apology the day after we received your message, but apparently it did not reach you. We also received a note from you Monday afternoon, September 22nd, and sent a response to you Tuesday morning, September 23rd.

We appreciate your order and do want to address your complaints and do our best to justify and remedy the situation.

Our website and catalog state that a customer’s credit card will not be charged when the order is placed, but rather at the time of shipping when the order is finalized. We have changed the wording on our website so that our customers are informed that they will be charged 1 to 2 business days prior to shipping. We do this so that if there are any problems with the card (address changes, expiration date changes, etc.) then we have time to contact our customers and still ship the roses on their scheduled ship date. This means that if a shipment is scheduled to go out on Monday, we charge the card on the preceding Thursday or Friday. We regret that our previous wording caused you to incur an overdraft charge and will reimburse you for that charge.

Your second concern is also valid, and has to do with our local weather, more than the health of the roses. We had several mornings with frost in early September and our nighttime temperatures have been in the 30’s. Some rose varieties respond more quickly to temperature changes than others, and the roses you are unhappy with are in the process of losing their leaves for winter. We would like for you to plant them as you would other roses and allow them to complete their natural dormant period. It may be spring before they grow new leaves, though in Texas they may re-leaf more quickly. If they do not grow out by spring, please contact us and we will issue you a credit.

We will be happy to call you about the order, especially if our email messages are not reaching you. Please let us know the best way to contact you about your concerns and we will do our best to insure your satisfaction.

Sincerely,
Heather Campbell
"

I ordered several roses at the end of May. They were well packed, well rooted and quite vigorous. I would definitely recommend them and plan on ordering more next year.

I have ordered three roses from High Country. The roses were healthy, large for own-root stock, and established well. Service was excellent, even though I changed my mind.

One thing I should note, although it's not as bad as it sounds. The "Mme Isaac Pereire" I received definitely has rose mosaic virus. That's not a huge deal -- a lot of roses have it, it's not fatal, and it doesn't normally infect your other roses. But it's a detail that could be improved -- virus-free stock is available.

//www.ars.org/About_Roses/disease_mosaic_virus.html

"

Thank you for your nice comments about our roses and service.
I'm concerned, though, about the mention of rose mosaic virus on a rose you received. We have not seen any evidence of the virus on our 'Mme Isaac Pereire' stock plants or in any of the young plants we ship out. We have participated in Dr. Manner's program with some of our varieties and work hard to make sure our plants are virus free. If there is a problem with a rose, please contact us directly and we will try to rectify the situation.
Sincerely, Heather Campbell"

This was my first time ordering from High Country Roses, and I am thoroughly impressed. I had been looking for an antique rose, "Mme. Isaac Pereire" to be exact, and saw that High Country Roses were offering it Once I placed my order, I was quickly notified by email that my order was received and the date the rose would be shipped. Sure enough, 2 days after the shipping date she arrived safe and sound. MUCH bigger than I had anticipated, very healthy, and still moist. The packing was superb as well.

I will definitely order from them again.

---
Wendy