Katya, I would get enough 3 or 5 gallon pots or grow bags (they sell plastic soft grow bags for pennies online) for the majority, and maybe 10 gal for the Palatine roses. Buy rose planting potting mix. This will allow you to soak, then pop the plants in the pots very easily. This will also allow flexibility on when you plant in the ground, and the arrangement you place them. This really may give the roses a boost, even. After this, you just need the roots to grow enough to consolidate the rootball so they will pop out easily and not damage the new roots. In my case, this takes about 6-8 weeks in the pots ideally. If you use the cheap plastic bag pots, you just cut the bag down a side with scissors and place it carefully in it's hole, then pull the plastic pot off the plant. This will all work well.

Hmm, end of April? I usually ask, and receive, mine at the beginning of April. So end of April sounds impossibly late.

Potting them up sounds like the sensible solution. 3 or 5 gallon pots sounds reasonable. And yes, keep the in the pots for 6 to 8 weeks to let them grow roots, and create a rootball

edited to add:

Bareroot roses are not planted in spring. They are planted in late winter. Basically, if they are not snowed on at least once, they are planted too late. The idea, is that they break dormancy in their new home, so they should be planted about the time established roses start growing.

Katya, I think it might actually work out to your advantage. You can soak the bareroots for several weeks, as long as you keep the water clean. Just change it out before it gets stagnant and stinky. Pot up the biggest ones first, since they’ll need a little more time to adjust.

In pots, you can move them around until you get them positioned just right. They’ll be in great shape by the time your trellises are installed, and ready to take off when you get them planted. :-)

Everyone says about pots. I have done this many times with good luck. I do agree end of April is quite late for Bare roots. That is usually when I'm receiving my own root roses. I have 5 gallon buckets that I've used that I have drill holes in the bottom. I line them with plastic manure bags that I've cut holes in for drainage. It works very well and I just lift the plastic bag out and cut it away to plant The Rose. However if I knew in advance I probably would try and get the fabric pots which are quite cheap in that size.

I have left bare root roses soaking in a bucket of water for a month because I forgot all about them. We had a family crises and the roses went right out of my head. When I found the bucket they had already leafed out. I planted them and they all survived and did just fine.

I have had bare roots delivered as early as February (not my choice). I can not plant here until maybe mid April, IF I can sink a shovel by then, but usually not until May. I kept them in their packaging, but watered, and in a dark cool place until I could get them outside and potted in late March. Once potted you can take all the time you want to make your plans.

I have used dollar store buckets as pots for roses. Some have spent an entire summer in those pails before I got them planted. They did fine. If you go to a nursery in the fall when they have rose sales you'll see the roses are still in the small pots they were put in in the spring and they are big and healthy.

A friend gave me a test rose she had received seven months prior to giving it to me...still in the bucket of water (complete with algae and mosquito larvae) she had kept it in because she wasn't sure she was going to like it and she had a ton of other things going on at the time it arrived. As long as much of the budded top remains out in the air and gets sun and the water doesn't have organic material in it (think compost type stuff) to sour, it can grow "hydroponically" for a very long time. I planted that thing and it grew beautifully. But, it was never allowed to go dry and it was kept out of the direct, hot sun where it would surely have par boiled in my climate.

Thank you all.

(1) I am so glad I asked the question and am very relieved :) :) :)

(2)I did not know that bare root roses must be planted so early.

(3)I did not know that I could keep them soaking!

(4) Sheila and Vap I did find cheap plastic grow bags of various sizes!

All these points are so important and such great advice for me. maybe now I can request they be sent earlier!

Thank you so much!

Bart you guys have made it into a win win from me. Not stressing out anymore.

Just wanted to add ... that is ALL good advice. :-)

Katya, I don't know where you are but I'm in zone 6 Michigan. I have planted bare roots as late as July (such a sale, how could I pass them up!) here. If you don't get blistering heat and can keep them partially shaded until they leaf out they will usually be OK. It's not recommended but it can be done. However, once they're potted up and growing you can plant them almost anytime depending on the weather. Like I said, blistering heat is not good!

Depends on how your summer is I guess, for me, even potted Rose's plaplanted too late dont do well. I try to get all my planting, potting up etc done in the fall, but our summers are insane, probably does not apply to you!

Thats good to know Seil, that bare root plants can be planted later in the season but not when its too hot. I know about merciless heat. I am zone 6b/7a. Its still in the fifties and sixties during the day and fourties and even fifties at night. I still see some of my roses putting on growth and buds. (??)

Since I have your attention, I just bought three roses from Rose Petal Nursery. Two Rosa moschata and one Old Town Novato (would not let me get two, rationing roses, imagine that) in one gallon containers. I am going to plant them as soon as they come. Should be OK right? And if not, I dont know.

Your at least one zone warmer than me so I would think they would do OK. I don't plant here in the fall because they come in too late and I have first frost before they have a chance to settle in before winter. I also don't get a lot of snow cover anymore so they don't get any freeze thaw protection like they used to. When we do get snow I try to pile it on the roses! My neighbors think I'm nuts snow blowing the lawn onto the rose beds, lol!

.Thank you for sharing your best with me (everyone) so, so much. I miss all of you guys. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Just have not been able to join the forum.

Well, this must have been the most prescient thing I have ever stated. Those structures we were supposed to build by end of May, I dont know if they will be built by next May. My husband does not want anyone coming over for the foreseeable future until there is more information about infectivity going down.

well here are my roses from Regans and Edmunds soaking

then after a few weeks they all leafed out but did not look like they were dying:

finally got them all potted by mid May after soaking about three weeks

At the time of planting they all *seemed* fine. Leafed out in a big way but healthy. Now I think there may be some issues. :( :( :( I am making a separate post.

I got a few bare root roses from Plalatine which I planted in ground or in grow bags the next day and those are doing great.

I just got my David Austin roses which are now soaking. I will pot them up this weekend.

(Not supposed to say this but I think I did get too many roses. There wont be much room left to walk.)

the main reason I could not plant/pot was because it was raining just about all the time. all those roses were soaking outside in my backyard in an uphill spot. it was just too hard to plant.

Planting in the pots after soaking overnight would have worked Katya. They would have been OK potted in the rain. Live and learn. Planting in pots is easier than in the ground in those wet conditions. Thank you for posting this, as it is very educational for others. Good luck going forward.

We have had the same and into pots they went.... well, actually 5 gallon buckets, so not quite as attractive. However, I wouldn't lose hope for them. Many times they have to reconfigure once planted and that can take a while. You did the best you could so don't beat yourself up. Sorry you won't be able to build your arbor this year.... after multiple year of delay, I don't know when mine will ever get up. I finally planted the climbers on the front wall. Just having them in the ground has really eased tensions and most are doing well. Good luck and keep us informed.

Sheila, Vap thank you.

Vap, your garden structures will get built, they will.Then you will have so many climber to grow up those trellises!

I am linking my other thread here:

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5923369/are-these-bare-root-roses-doomed#25561358

Here its almost June and I am still waiting on my Edmonds order, bareroot. They are so slow getting roses out this year. I am going to have to baby the heck out of Midnight in Paris but it can be done.

Years ago when Harry and David owned Jackson and Perkins the employees were given bags of leftover bareroot roses and it was always mid June or later. After soaking I planted and covered with a brown paper bag that was kept wet. I'm not sure who suggested that but weirdly enough it . I guess that it kept the canes . I have also used umbrellas. That works for one rose but not 30.

I sure miss those give .free roses.