Sorry to hear of your troubles with J&P, at this point all you can do is refuse the order or take a chance and see if they survive. If they don't your entitled to a full refund including shipping without having to send dead plants back, that's just a tactic they use to discourage lost sales.
I ordered 3 Falstaff's on May 8th, called a few days ago to inquire about order and was told that J&P was sold to a company in Florida and that shipping would resume at the end of the month, was told 3 more different dates until finally admitting that they would't arrive until JULY!! Didn't cancel the order right then because of course this is an emotional purchase. I will call in the next few days and cancel the order, don't see anyway bare roots can survive in July heat.
I will not be purchasing from J&P again, not a good way to intruduce yourself as a new owner.

The roses will probably be fine. Last year I ordered from JP, watched my roses get sent from IL, then nothing on the tracking. I emailed JP and they offered to replace the roses that had gone missing. A few days later the first order showed up in Texas. Then back from Texas to me. This was at the end of May. The roses arrived over a week after being sent, the roots were completely dry, but the canes were green. I went ahead and planted them and they were fine. They all grew and bloomed just as well as the replacements which were shipped at the beginning of June and took a much shorter trip. So I recommend you take a chance and hopefully you'll have as much luck as I did. Although, I wouldn't try planting bareroots in July. There has to be a cutoff date somewhere.

I ordered from J&P for the very first time this year. I ordered Janet and Windermere. When the package arrived the roses were thick green and healthy. I plopped them in a bucket of water. They sat there for maybe two weeks. When I finally got ready to plant I noticed the tag on Windermere, it was not Windermere but Wildfire. I emailed the company with a copy of the order. Within 24 hours I got a response saying they were sorry about the mix up and would send a replacement. This took another 3 weeks. When the next package arrived it was indeed Windermere but the rose was dark dark brown, skinny and smelled horrible. I again emailed them and told the story, and again they offered to send another one out. I waited another 3 weeks, and when the package arrived inside was a green, fat Windermere. It's soaking now and I guess I will just have to pot it up for now until fall arrives. They never told me I had to send back the other roses or pay anything else to get my order the way I expected it should be.
If your roses arrive in good condition and they are ones you really want I would keep them, soak them really well and pot them up out of direct sun for now. If they don't arrive in good enough condition, ask for replacements, a credit or a total refund.

Tammy

I ordered roses from J&P last month on 29th april. They promised me I would get them by MAy 15th. Couldnt track them online. Heard they r not good with providing that service. There is link called VIEW ORDER HISTORY in the CUSTOMER SERVICE link on their website. It will tell you if your package will arrive on the scheduled date or there will be a delay.
My order showed that it will arrive one day delayed ie 16th May instead of 15th. I too had lost patience by then but the box did arrive on the 16th .
Their customer service and tracking is not upto expectations like the big box stored but it does arrive on the promised day.

Look up the website and try to follow that link. It should help calm you down a bit.
Try to plant the roses at sundown and kep them watered .. they shd do fine.

I ordered a lot of roses last year from J & P, and they have a 60 day guarantee. At the end of 60 days, 2 of them were not thriving, but not dead, so I called and they send out 2 replacements without charge, and no further shipping charges, either. Well, I kept the old ones in the ground, as well as planting the new ones, so now I have 4 thriving roses. They were Melody Parfumee and Sheer Magic, both hybrid teas. So, my advise is to plant them, make sure you know when your 60 days are up, and call them if they're not looking good. My experience is that if you keep them well watered and a little shaded until they take off, they'll grow no matter when you plant them.

This year, I ordered 12 Baby Blanket ground cover roses. They took 4 weeks to come, and my order history says they still haven't shipped (despite the fact that they're now in the ground). It isn't a very smooth buyout for sure.

The roses arrived today (21st) After inspecting them, they do look fine. except the Crown Princess Margerta. It only has two canes and one is very dark, but there is a bud coming out....so they are all soaking in the spare tub until tomorrow. I have to say I may have paniced for no reason, but time will tell. I am still not satisfied with the tracking part of this adventure, but they did get here before the date promised and they do look quite large and healthy. My Mr. Lincoln is huge....

So since I was quick to panic I will also be quick to say I think I may have been wrong to worry....sorry J&P.

(Maybe I will keep the catalog) =)

I would suggest that if you decide to accept the bareroots that you put them in pots rather than the garden to break dormancy. That way you can move them around if you need to. If it is too hot and sunny you can move the pot to the shade of a nice big tree where they will just get indirect sun and not burn up. Leave them in the pot until they have gotten established with a good growth of foliage then transplant them to the garden bed where they should be okay.
This is what I do and it seems to really work well for me.
John

Sorry to hear about your troubles with J&P, but that's about the way it goes with them nowadays. Actually, it's the way it was with them 20 years ago too. I quit ordering from them. There are other places that do way better then the big box outfits. If I can get what I want from RU, I order from them, and either have them shipped to me or go and pick them up since they are like three hours from here. They sell own roots, which to me are a much better buy then bare roots. They may be slower to get going, but they will be here, going strong long after the J&P's are played out, dead and SPed. Oh, and one other thing, just because your temps are in the 80's doesn't mean you can't plant, because you can. You just use more water, but they will do just fine, even though a bit late getting in the ground.

Roseman,

I live literally 5 minutes from RU. They are absolutely wonderful people and I truely enjoy going over there and just wander thru the garden.

J&P had Jubilee Celebration, and that is the one rose that I really wanted this year, so I had to deal with them. Luckily, the roses came yesterday and they looked ok. I soaked them overnight and put them in the ground today and will watch the water, just like you said.

Mary

I ordered a bunch of bare roots from J&P last summer and it took at least a week to 10 days to get them and this is Texas, it was hot. All of them were HUGE and did very very well. I thought it would be too hot for them to survive, wrong! I soaked them each for a good week and this year they are all thriving.

Mary--

Provide some shade for the roses. Even if you only put a lawn chair over them for a bit it will benefit your bareroots. I heap pine straw over mine for shade...its light enough the new green can push through but adds shade and a bit of rain and wind protection.

I ordered from Jp on May 17th. I got a comfirmation e-mail. Still don't have my roses.

Mary Rose
Who are the vendors RU? do they have a website??

Ronda: I did the pine straw thing....works very well, thank you. Everything is showing growth except Mr. Lincoln. :-( But I am still hopeful, the stems are still green so we shall see. I will give it until about the 20th of June. If nothing, them I will call them and have them either resend or refund.

jljohnson740: Have you called them? I would insist on a delivery date..soon. Or my money back.

Crystalgeorgia: RU is Roses Unlimited. Their website is rosesunlimitedownroot.com They are absolutely wonderful and are having a buy one get one sale on certain roses, you should check them out.

Mary

Sorry Mary...I didn't see your post.No I haven't called them yet...need to do it now..I still don't have my roses...It's hot and humind here and most likely too late to plant!! Thanks

I think I may have just gotten my in the nick of time. I took some advice about covering them with pine needles to help keep them from getting burned up and it worked. All of mine are now sprouting leaves and new stems so I am quite satisfied. I was a little worried about Mr. Lincoln, he was the slowest, but I noticed yesterday morning that there is some new growth peeking out under the needles. So, I would say all is good.

I am sorry you didn't get your order. I don't quite understand what their problem was/is. I hope that they do not give you any grief about giving you a refund. Good luck...

Forget what you've known about J&P from past years. It's a whole new ball/rose game with their sale to folks who also own a share of Park/Wayside as well as a cellular propagation facility in Hodges SC. The final turnover was to be end of May, beginning of June 2008.
This is a situation that means what happened last year is inapplicable to what might happen next year.

I ordered from J&P for the first time this year, and had a really bad experience, will never order from them again! Two of the roses died, and the last one is really sickly looking. Don't think it's me, I have almost 100 roses and took good care of these. Was told by J&P sorry, since they died after the 60 day refund time limit, they won't do anything!

Mine finally came. They have large roots and green canes. I'm soaking them now. Will plant and use mulch...hopefully they will do as well as my Austins...look like good plants!

I'm glad you finally got your roses. Try the trick of covering the roses with pine needles until they start leafing out. It worked for me, and I live in South Carolina and the temps are in the upper 90's already. I think someone also suggested to maybe use a lawn chair to shade them too. Good luck!

Hope everyone is having good luck with their J&P's....I have been a J&P customer for over 20 years and have never had a problem with their roses or service--until this year...I even used to grow Test Roses every year (back when it was free in the 1980's)for these folks....

Having moved to a new residence in a rural area, I am starting over with a blank canvas....I decided to plant a few of my old tried, but true favorites like Our Lady Of Quadalupe, Black Magic, Outrageous, and ordered a few of the new roses...I have mixed reviews on all of it....

I ordered my roses way back in February and due to poor planning, management or whatever they are doing at the "new" J&P, I just plopped my final rose into the ground about 2 weeks ago (early June)...Like many of you, they could never tell me when I was going to get my roses or provide Tracking info...and, the roses always came later rather than sooner...In the old days, most, if not all, of my roses would have arrived together in one or two boxes...now, they come sporadically, not when you expect them, and some are less than expected compared to what J&P used to ship out....not liking the new J&P too much...I was sent 2 roses (New Generation roses) that were only 4 inches tall....a couple others had canes that had cuts, gashes, peeling on them....another was a tree form instead of the shrub form I had ordered...a couple had cane dieback already which, after pruning, resulted in only 2 healthy canes.....some of the roots were covered in mold when they arrived....some canes were completely broken but still attached to the bush...one had a gaping hole at the graft site....the list goes on......*sigh*.....Living in the country, my options for roses and variety are severely limited unless I want to plant Lowe's offerings (which were not being taken care of properly and were already exhibiting Blackspot, Mildew and some Rust)...I opted for mail order from J&P since I've had good luck in the past...

When I called about all the problems I was having, I was told by the "new" people that I should go ahead and plant what I had and to report any problems within 30 days....apparently, the guarantee has shrunk...lol...in all fairness, though, they did send me out a replacement for the rose tree that was supposed to have been a bush and they replaced one of the 4 inch bushes with another bush...I have to laugh though....the replacement was not much better...it was about 6 or 7 inches tall leafed out...and, by the way, my "free due to error" tree rose is puny, puny, puny...60 days after planting, still hasn't set buds and is barely larger than a softball...With 3 more roses still out on the table and waiting, I decided to call and cancel those last 3 because they still were not showing as shipped early June....too hot, humid and brutal to try to plant any later than Memorial Day here...I had to fight with the Rep to get the order cancelled even though their transition of ownership and computer system had already occurred the week before...I just flat out refused to pay if the roses arrived anyway and warned the Rep that I would Refuse Shipment if she doesn't cancel the order....after a few back and forth comments, she finally found a way to cancel the 3 roses...

Anyway, report any problems ASAP or I suspect you will have a battle on your hands....As of this writing, I have one rose that is questionable on thriving...it's just sitting there, green but not growing in height, yet the rose of the same variety and next to it is gaining height and blooming just fine....two others are still so small in statue that I wonder if they will make it through the winter....one seems to be finally awakening and leafing out after 2 months of just sitting there naked....90 degree heat helps I guess....All roses have been fed and watered as I have done for the last 20 years, but it just seems that everything I received this time from J&P was much, much smaller, less hardy, and maybe even a little sickly....it appears the folks who harvest the bushes are not careful at all...Very disappointed and will be looking for a more reliable mail order supplier for my purchases next year.....It's a shame because J&P really used to have great roses, variety, and customer service.....Not now! Good luck!