Help & Frequently Asked Questions
How to Find a Plant on Our Website and How to Order
What Is an Alternate and How Do I Add One?
Searching for and Selecting a Rose
How to Find a Plant on Our Website and How to Order
Two simple links in the green navigation band at the top of the page will take you to a starting point to find the roses and hydrangeas we sell. One is called Hydrangeas; the other is Our Roses. Click on the word Hydrangeas in the green band and our Hydrangeas page will open up. On the left of the page you’ll find a list of the hydrangea varieties that we grow. On the right, an introduction to hydrangeas will appear with a photo of a typical hydrangea.
To find out more about the types of hydrangeas, like Arborescens, Macrophylla, etc., click on these header words in the left hand column. You’ll see a new page of information appear to the right, with more about these groups of hydrangeas. Click on the name of a particular variety, like ‘Annabelle’ in the left column and information on that variety will appear on the right. You’ll see a photo, a description of the variety and below that more details about flower color, bloom season, growth habit, etc. You’ll also note our current Availability of that variety. It will either be available in Bands or Gallons (find out more about these pot sizes on our shipping page) or else it will say Custom Root. Custom Root is an indication that that variety is not currently in stock but can be grown to your request. You can read about this service by clicking the words ‘About Custom Root Orders.’
Once you have selected a pot size from our availability menu, click on the box that says, ‘add to cart.’ This will first open up a page with information on our shipping system. This is to remind you of what our current schedule for shipping is, so that you know when your plants will be sent. If you wish to proceed starting your order up, click the button, ‘I Agree.’
Now an order form will appear and your first plant choice will be listed on the order. You’ll notice at the top that we have a ‘Specials’ menu. We always offer specials to help you save money on your order. You may click on the ‘Select a current special’ to read about our current specials, and on the Specials menu (which will initially read ‘No Special’) to see the menu of choices and select one. Once you select a special, the terms for qualifying your order for the special will appear just below the Specials menu. It will tell you precisely how many plants you need to add to your order, and how many alternate choices you must supply. These can be added to your order form just as you please. Once your order has the requisite number of first choices and alternates to qualify for the special, you will be told that your order ‘has qualified for the special discount.’
What Is an Alternate and How Do I Add One?
Once you have chosen the first item on your order you can return to the precise spot where you left the plant listings by clicking on the button marked ‘Continue Shopping’ just below the specials information. You will notice now that any rose that is available as a band, is also available as an ‘Alternate.’ An ‘Alternate’ is a substitute that you chose, in case we are unable to add one of your first choices to your order. We do not substitute on your order without your requesting us to do so if we are sold out of a first choice. This can happen up to the date of shipping if you provide us with alternates. However we only do so after first having set your plants aside and held them for your order to the day of shipping. On occasion we may have a plant that has died prior to shipping, in which case we would substitute, only if you have directed us to do so.
Continue browsing and adding to your order at your own pace. Each time you add, your order subtotal of plant cost will recalculate. Your shipping costs and any tax or agricultural inspection fee will be calculated when you proceed to check out by clicking the button marked ‘Next’ at the bottom of the order form. The first page you come to will ask for shipping address information, the next page will provide you with a complete total and breakdown for your order. You may always return to this shopping cart page to add or subtract from your order up to the point where you must submit your payment information. You may always return to your cart by clicking the button marked ‘Edit Cart’ at the bottom of the page.
Searching for and Selecting a Rose
When you return to shopping you can select the Our Roses link from the green band at the top of the page. This will first take you to our search page. There are lots of ways that you can search for a rose. If you know the class of roses you are interested in, like Hybrid Tea or Floribunda, you can select that class from the list on the left. This will open up an alphabetical list of all the roses available currently in that class on the left of the screen. If you scroll down that list you will eventually come to another list headed ‘Custom Root.’ The varieties that follow this header are not currently available to order, but can be ordered by your special request to supply when ready in 6 to 18 months. You may also ask us simply to notify you by email the moment that that variety returns to current availability. This is a free service we provide to you.
Another way to search for a rose is to return to ‘Our Roses.’ This is our rose search page where you can find by the name of the rose, the color, the degree of fragrance, the amount of re-bloom, the introducer of the rose, and the year it was introduced. You can combine these factors in your search to narrow the list down, but be careful not to make it so specific that no results are returned. Try a limited search first, let’s say for Purple roses with moderate to good fragrance. You’ll get a nice listing that you can then pore through.
Color is often a very important factor in your choice, and we have spent a good deal of effort to provide you with a valuable way to see and understand color. Our color guide is a good place to begin. In it you will find a general color spectrum broken into twenty colors and five different color quirks; bi-colored, striped, picoteed, spotted, painted and mutable. To find out more about these colors and quirks, just click on one and you will pull up a page with an abundance of example and explanation.
Good luck with your searches and we hope you will have fun with our site and learn a bit more about these wonderful plants we grow. Please email us or call us if you have any problems or difficulties with our site. We continue to work on it daily, to add photos and content and to provide ways to make it easier for you to find what you are looking for.
Our collection of roses numbers well over three thousand varieties, and we regret we cannot propagate all of them in every season. We are happy to custom-root any rose which we do not have in production but which is listed in our Complete Catalogue. Our charge for this service is now $45.00 per plant. This includes the cost of shipping when your plants are ready to send. If you live in California, Sales Tax of 9% is added. If you are in a state which requires an Agricultural Inspection, there is a $9.50 inspection fee as well. Please give us 18 to 24 months normally to provide you with a plant, Custom root plants are provided in 5" to 6" deep pots (bands.)
If at any time you wish to cancel your order we will offer you a full credit on any other rose purchases. If we are unable to provide your rose within 24 months we will offer a credit or a full refund.
Some companies offer custom rooting at no extra cost, and we applaud their bravery. We have been custom growing to our customers' requests for fifteen years now, and we know how difficult it is to attempt to propagate very small quantities of many roses; this is a labor of love for us. We do it because we want to see these roses continue to be grown; we put far more time and attention to these orders than we could ever charge for, but we know we must price this service higher. Some varieties are so little in demand that we may NEVER grow them unless some passionate gardener asks us to.
Before committing to a custom root order, we recommend you ask us about upcoming availability on the variety you are seeking. We have two or three release dates each year for upcoming crops, and can usually tell you a month or two in advance if a particular rose will be available. We also know that many roses in our collection will be in a nearly perpetual state of production, and can guide you toward saving your money and keeping tuned into our production schedule.
