Trey, first, nice site over at the Golden Gecko - it is fantastic to get a nursery man’s perspective, as your insight adds much for gardeners and those, like myself, that tend to wax poetically (and sometimes unrealistically - although I do try to keep it real).

Your Jaguar (pronounced Jag-u-ar) post is hysterical, and thanks for commenting.

Barrie

HAHAHA!! Yea, Jackson and Perkins can go suck an egg….I have had the misfortune of purchasing roses and perennials from their flashy catalogs-NONE of which are still alive! Nice high prices and small specimens, too…oh well, garden and learn…I’m glad you are alerting others to steer clear of these jackals!

Kudos on this article. I made a mistake once with J & P and shall never purchase from them again. I purchased “Double Delight” Rose Standards from J & P, and within 2 years they were dead. The stock was infected with “root gall”. So it infected the soil which I had to dig out and dispose of safely… I’ve used Antique Rose Emp. out of Texas since then and have been most satisfied.

Any other individuals have product problems with J & P… put them out there. Their feet need to be held to the fire. Glitzy Mags and promotions don’t make for good product or sound horticultural practice.

Gayle,

Thanks for posting.

I disagree with your assessment that we should not criticize (blast, in your words) an organization that makes recommendations.  Indeed, we should be aware that criticism is necessary to bring about change if it is good for a community.  Accountability matters…I won’t rehash the points already made in my original post, as they are illustrative of my position.
You may think a well-placed Hybrid Tea is a great addition to a garden, and perhaps it is. There are two issues that concern me as a fellow gardener.

The first is that most Hybrid Teas require spraying, and this runs counter to my own personal philosophy of gardening. While admittedly this is a personal choice, I do believe this choice is representative of a very specific land ethic, built upon a foundation of environmental responsibility.

The second issue is that I believe, wholeheartely so, that Jackson and Perkins, the American Rose Society and All American Rose Selections have done a great disservice to potential rose gardeners by (for decades) marketing, yes marketing, plants that are largely ill-suited for most home gardeners.

I hope you found my comments even-handed and respectful, and thanks again for posting.

Barrie

Buford,

Thanks for writing. Nothing says more (unless perhaps how they treat their family) about a person’s values (note: not character, but values which we are all free to establish) to me than the plants they choose for their garden.

What qualities does one seek in the plants they place in their garden? I do not know about you, as I have not seen your garden, but I can say that the vast majority of those who grow Hybrid Tea roses value the flowers (’values’ comment above). The flowers are indeed lovely, although in my mind cannot hold a candle to old rose forms, including the David Austin English roses.

But, it is a rare (or maybe not) gardener that would think a Hybrid Tea as a shrub is attractive. Those gardeners who do (believe Hybrid Teas make attractive shrubs) simply are from a garden aesthetic from which I personally cannot identify.

Jackson Perkins sells quality plants no doubt. But the fact is (and it is a fact) that many of the plants they offered to the public for years were in dire need of spraying and coddling due to susceptibility to blackspot and mildew.

So, my issue with Jackson and Perkins is not the ‘quality’ of their plants, but indeed their own value system that did not recognize that we needed less disease-prone plants.

You wrote: “You don’t like HTs, fine. There are plenty of us that do.” No problem unless you’re out there spraying insecticides on those roses. Regarding the aesthetics of a Hybrid Tea in the garden, to each his own as individuality in garden expression is every gardener’s right.

However…when it comes to Hybrid Tea roses, I’m firmly with one of the great garden writers of our time, Henry Mitchell. Read what he has to say about Hybrid Tea roses in the garden.

Barrie

[…] I do indeed give the All-America Rose Selection committee, as well as the American Rose Society and Jackson Perkins, a hard time, but for pure aesthetics, the beauty of the roses they select are hard to argue with. Strike It Rich is a Grandiflora rose, tall and upright and do note the red stems, which are longish. This has always been the thing with long-stemmed roses as garden plants…what makes them so desirable as cut-flowers does not recommend them to the garden, a bit stiff and uptight. So, as always, grow Strike It Rich and Grandifloras in their own bed out back somewhere. The flowers are undeniably seductive. […]

[…] Are we do to be overrun by landscapes of Knockout roses? If so, what does it say, what is the significance?  Certainly there is confirmation that the public still has interest in roses as garden plants, even after years of being offered truly abhorrent garden specimens.  What breeders (finally) seem to understand is that roses in the landscape are more than just flowers.  A more graceful form and ability to withstand various climates and pests and diseases are crucial. […]

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I am from INdia and had been having AARS and J&P roses for past 40 years.As a matter of fact AAAW and J& P roses are always very poplular with Indian rose growers despite the fact that they are grown in all climatic zones in INdia.Floribunda and other roses are used less for landscaping and other drama effects.I personally feel roses are very difficult to kill and in general you need specialised skill to kill them.We have coined a term Plant and Forget and I think most of the roses are P&F.