I got Paul's email today and was stunned/saddened. Let's all hope that the Ashdown collection will remain intact and other vendors will be able to acquire some of the varieties that are available nowhere else.

This development is particularly distressing in light of the fact that it comes only days after we all received word of Mike Lowe's death. So there are now two premier collections whose futures may be in question.

Oh, no! I am so sorry to hear this. This is terrible news. I am too new to roses, just started growing them in Spring 2009 and both Mike's and Paul's roses I was thinking of adding once I got my hybrid teas established and running. This is very distressing. Hugs to Paul! so many losses to the Rose World. They are irreplaceable.

Oh No...this darn economy. There is a small chain of jewelery stores here in Seattle..International Jewelers. I got my diamond there and upgraded once. They have about 5 stores and have been around about 20 years. They are going under too. I feel so bad.

Sorry to hear about this, but, sometimes when 1 door closes, a bigger & better door opens!

I want to wish Ashdown roses all the luck in the world with any future plans they may have.
And i've learned alot from watching Pauls videos on rose care!

JIM

I got the email too. What a bummer! Sorry to see them go. I ordered my very first order from them this summer, and was really happy with the rose William Baffin. He hasn't missed a beat, just like Paul said he wouldn't.

Good Luck and we'll miss you guys,

p.s. Does that mean no more of your awesome videos????
Those are a godsend to us newbies. :)

Jim, I don't know about this...I too lost my dream job because of the economy. - I worked for a fantastic architectural firm- great people, fun and challenging projects, nothing in my mind can replace it, we worked on so many exciting things, even internationally. Our animation dept got completely cleaned out. It's so hard to find a job as a 3D animator in Kansas City. Nothing in my mind can replace this job. Worse yet, one of our competitors recently got another one of our possible projects... Yeah, I can return back to graphics and web design. But I am howling, I miss 3D! I think the loss of Ashdown Roses is absolutely horrible. Sorry to say, but just saying "good luck" sort of makes me cringe. When people said good luck I just wince.

But aside from this, I hope Paul and his family will be able to find joy, hope and good things come their way. He has been an absolute blessing to us newbies.

They aren't shutting down. They aren't going to be selling plants to retail customers for a while but they are going to continue with workshops, filming demonstrations about rose growing, and other aspects of the business. They will resume selling plants to the public in the future but for now they will be selling plants to other nurseries, licensing the sale of Delbard roses in the U.S., importing rare and hard to find roses and distributing them to other nurseries and they are keeping the hard to find roses that they have. You can help them to preserve the roses they are trying to save by buying some of the roses on the sale list. That helps pay for potting soil for all the roses that will be dug up and moved to greenhouses! It isn't as dire as it seems. :-) All of the roses already ordered for spring and fall will still be shipped as scheduled.
They have some great roses on sale right now for an unbelievable price so any thing you purchase will be a steal for you and will help them tremendously!

Carol

Thanks to everyone for the kind thoughts and the great emails we are getting. You guys are great.

Many have asked about our rose collection and Mike Lowe's roses. Our collection will stay intact. We are moving it and will for now store it in pots in cold frames. We are aiming for the world's largest pot ghetto! All of us who knew and loved Mike Lowe are working together to make sure his collection isn't lost as well.

We are also already working with other independent rose nurseries to make sure they get cuttings of our plants or actual plants so they stay in commerce. More later as to which nurseries they are.

If you have questions please feel free to post them or email me. I'll be in touch via our normal email list over the month with new plans and how you can help.

Cyber Hugs to All!
Paul

serenasyh, sorry, I shouldn't have said the gl word lol! I don't mean to cause any cringing here. :)

No probs and BTW the videos will continue. Two in the can and more to shoot. Maybe now I'll have time! LOL

Well, Paul I am so relieved to hear this...

Carol, I am so glad too you are bringing up this issue of support. You see continued, long-range support is very important. To be honest it takes another! 4 years to even begin! to undo the damage of the economy that was set back 8 years ago. Healing in the economy takes lots of time and patience. In order to have a company survive everyone has to pitch in their own efforts too. In other words, time to buy more roses, LOL!

To make room for more roses I think I'm going to shovel prune my Queen Elizabeth (I hate it because it has no scent and poor rose has been very badly defoliated already and may not survive the winter) and will try to get at least one Mike Lowe or Ashdown rose either for this year or the next (will try to find where he is selling his roses to in terms of retailers).

Kentstar, hee-hee. Hey, it's the thought and well wishes that count! I just was freaking because when I saw this orignal thread title I thought they were completely going out of business. But as Paul let us all know with his big Cyber Hugs that friendships here are so wonderful and we just have to take life step by step...