I spoke with him last week about a custom order I'm expecting to ship soon and he responded. He's definitely still around!

Gotcha thanks Chris

I saw he has a Facebook account

@Z10Socal Can you share it?

No I got confused with another garden.

Freedom garden has my money and order for over two yeas now. He is bad with updates and replying to emails.

Has anyone else ordered from him and can tell us how long does it take to receive one's order?

he has a couple of emails, but can't remember which one is best. I've personally had no problems with communicaation and have ordered from him multiple times. I'm probaby gggggoing to be giving him some cuttings so I can pass along your concerns at that time. You're lucky he's trying a custom propogation for youa as Covid was rough and I thought he might only be doing that for prior customers now. His open house this year was wonderful if HOT!

I had/have great plants from Peter. Custom propagation took about 2 years.

Vaporvac,

I don't consider myself lucky if I spent money or worse wasted my time and don't receive the order. I'm not a person that thinks a business is doing me a favor. I don't mind missing out on getting a specific rose if the customer service is not there. If this is his hobby I get it. I was just not informed it was.

I just sent him an email 5 days ago and no response yet. I have a limited of space and will run out of room soon. If he does not have the roses I ordered I would prefer he reached out and offered me another rose or a refund.

I would phone Socal.

Gee, I truly apologize if I offended you in some way. I guess I didn't word my thoughts correctly. and never meant to imply what I guess I inadvertently did. Of course you should expect a response, your rose or a refund. . I would akso try calling. My emails were hacked once and people thought I was ignoring them. Who knows what the story is, but it's never been my impression he considers this a hobby or a favor for anyone.Again, I'm sorry.

He did a custom root for me. It does take time. I placed my order in April 2022, and it shipped in November 2024. It was healthy, though, and doing well.

@Z10Socal I've ordered from him before and the roses I received were healthy. I currently have 3 roses on order with Peter for custom propagation. I emailed him recently and he responded 2 days later. One of my roses was too difficult to root so he offered me a refund. Two years is reasonable - I have other custom orders with vendors such as Greenmantle Nursery. Marissa at Greenmantle let me know it could be about 2 years to get a healthy plant that's ready to ship and it can depend on whether other people were waiting to get the same rose who ordered ahead of you. I hope this helps.

Kathy, well it's been over two years so I would like an update from him. And he does not reply to my emails. One of the roses I ordered I'm not even interested in anymore.

Sheila I have to look for his phone number. Vapor you did not offend me I was just stating that some people are willing to take bad customer service for a rose plant.

His phone # is on his web site.

I haven’t had great luck with his plants. He ships them out in fall as bands, so they seldom have time to put on size before winter when I pot them up. You can try putting them straight in the ground, but I don’t know about that either. You’re in a warmer zone so you may have better luck. None of mine have ever survived long enough to enjoy or justify the cost.

I'm sure it's a really busy time for Peter since it's his shipping time right now. My experience with him has been very positive -- @Z10Socal I would definitely give him a call and inquire.

Our options for buying rare and unique roses are getting fewer, and personally I’m happy to be patient and support the businesses that are still here—so we don’t lose them too.

All my plants from Peter have done well. Fall is ideal planting time here.

i have had luck overwintering bands in a cool basement under a 100w light. a couple bright shoplights very close might even work, to be honest.

Where do you live, @Josg Maggsib?

minneapolis.

Your mileage may vary. I’ve bought at least 6 roses and my MO was to plant the band ASAP and then mound soil in the hope it would overwinter ok. It would, but then it would just flounder rather than flourish. I can’t name a single rose I’ve gotten from him that’s survived. I’m in Milwaukee in zone 5b. Maybe if I get disposable income I’ll try again and try overwintering them instead.

Peter is so unprofessional. I placed an order in May of 2023. He told me it would take a year not two like everyone said. So naturally in October of 2024 I asked about my overdue rose. He then told me it takes two years. This year I reached out more than once in October and he ignored my emails.

I can't stand confrontations but seeing he would not answer my emails I called him just now. I said hello I placed an order over two years ago and have not heard from you and would like a refund. He replied I remember you and you are a non patient person. l have to calculate your refund. And I said not being given an update is not inpatient it's just bad communication on your part. I said when shall I receive my refund and he hung up on me. So I would not recommend him to anyone!

Peter is a very temperamental person. When you catch him on a good day, he can be very pleasant and even conversational. But if you catch him on a bad day (which happens more often than not from my experience,) he can be very rude and disagreeable. I tried to place an order earlier in the spring this year (via email) and caught him on one of his bad days. He told me he is no longer shipping to the entire east coast and was very short and blunt about it. It was very strange. Then a few months later, someone in Virginia shared that they placed an order with him - so I reached back out (via phone instead of email - so he wouldn't know it was me again) and he had no problem taking my order and helped me select some additional roses. Then, five minutes after placing the order, I called back with a question - and he was short and seemed annoyed I had a follow up question.

He reminds me of the soup guy on Seinfeld (not sure if his name would be censored here, but if you know - you know)

The soup guy was scary, I never understood why they would put up with him. I guess he has some roses you really want 😅. No rose is worth that attitude to me. Now, I think he won't even refund me because he did not ask for my last name or email before he hung up on me 😖

If I want a certain rose bad enough, I’ll put up with any amount of rudeness. But that certainly doesn’t excuse rude behavior from any person! He sounds like a miserable, unhappy man.

Judi, I wish we would just share non patent cuttings and not have to deal with these type of people. Not all of the sellers are like this and I'll keep supporting the professional ones. I just met in person Burling and she was quite kind.

Now I'm out of money, no roses and only received bad energy.

Burling is a wonderful person, SoCal.

I've never met Burling in person, but I've talked to her on the phone a few times. She's always been a sweetheart, and has always given me great customer service with her roses.

@Z10Socal Your comments read like you're expecting the Marriot treatment from just some older guy with a ton of plants.

When you say "business" it appears that you feel that a big ole Fortune magazine company with a customer service division is the same as just a small nursery run by a cranky old man.

Yes, people with put up with attitude and rudeness because precisely as mentioned by Kathy, there's barely any options left.

I'm sure that's what drove you to his catalogue, no one else likely carried what you were hoping to get. I understand the frustration, and I understand you paid. And I of course believe you should have your money back (and I think he will indeed give it back at whatever point his fumes settle or whatever), but this is what we got.

It feels a little disonant to ask for "good customer service" from a labor of love shop that carries stuff that no one else does because demand has died out for, what? possibly a couple decades now?. I doubt he's really turning a profit to be honest.

It's like asking for a bottle of water at a hut in the dead middle of the Sahara and complaining that it is room temperature.

I could not agree more, Rosaceae. Whoever does this for love should be celebrated.

I just received my order from Peter at Freedom Gardens a few weeks ago. I placed the order last year. Both are Kordes rose Sebastian Kneipp. I have had pleasant experiences through both phone call and email. I recommend if you want something special and are willing to wait.

Great to see you posting again Paul!

Paul did you not read what I wrote? I had no problem waiting two years and I waited over two years. The problem was he gave me no updates at all and he has a lot of attitude. So I never knew what to expect from him. He never replied to my emails.

You made some lovely roses. I'm sorry your rose endeavor was cut short

Rosece, I'm not obsessed with roses. I don't have to have the latest and most coveted rose and refuse to just take a bad attitude for a rose bush. I treat everyone the way I want to be treated.

All I asked from Peter was an update because I thought it was a year. When I finally realized it was two years I gave him my new address and he ignored my emails. So after two years and no uptake I asked for my money back but I guess I'm in the wrong here. I was the one that did not communicate and asked more questions when purchasing the roses. It was my fault I emailed him and gave him my updated address and inquired about my rose. I should have just kept my mouth shut and let him send the rose to the wrong address. I should have just accepted that maybe he forgot about my order and not expected anything from him. I'm such a selfish customer for expecting my order after 2 years.

Sunny,

Wow you placed your order last year, lucky you. I placed mine May of 2023. I'm happy you had a positive outcome, however your experience does not discount mine or Elestrial's experience.

I’m sorry, SoCal, for your bad experience. I have never ordered from him, so I don’t know him at all and can’t say what you should/ shouldn’t do. But I do know that it’s possible to receive random rudeness from someone. For instance, several months after we moved here, on a nice misty afternoon, my husband and I decided to take a walk. We had no destination in mind, just a pleasant amble, and took a little side street that ends in a cul de sac. As we passed one house, an elderly man came out all in a huff and wondered why we were walking on HIS street and oh, you’re the one that built that shop that shouldn’t even be there, and do you know what the English did to my Scottish ancestors 300 years ago? I mean, he was on a rant and no, he doesn’t have dementia and I had never met the man before! We did our best to make friends with him and a few days later I brought a loaf of bread to him, warm out of the oven. He seemed embarrassed. I never could figure him out.

What I’m saying is, you may have done nothing wrong at all. I discovered there is another older gentleman in the community who doesn’t like us just because we came from California and he’s convinced that we have big money because of that! I feel sorry for people like that. I try my best to be friendly to everyone and we have so, so many friends in this neighborhood and town! I guess there will always be one or two people that just have a grudge against the world: perhaps they have had some really hard things to face that I know nothing about. I may just be a handy person to take out their pain on.

SoCal, you are not alone. I remember experiencing some unpleasantness when I first ordered from him, and I thought I had done something wrong. I don't remember the details, but I do remember my shock. When I spoke to others, it was confirmed to be 'how he is sometimes'. It doesn't sound like you did anything to provoke him, just caught him at a bad time. Maybe he was stressed that day? Have you tried reaching back out?

I will continue to order from him, but I just go into it carefully. When he told me he's no longer shipping to the entire east coast, I was surprised. And only later realized oh, I must have caught him on a bad day, after someone else on the east coast was able to place an order without any issues. When I reached back out, he was perfectly pleasant again.

Thank you ladies for hearing me out and not faulting me for it. If others get him at his best I'm happy for them, but I do believe they all should be warned that he is temperamental, and you can possibly lose your order or money.

Try reaching out to him again SoCal, and see if he can process a refund for you. He's got a long track record of legitimate business, and I've never heard of anyone not receiving a refund when they do not get a rose

@Z10Socal Apologies if I got that wrong. Nobody deserves to be treated badly just because they want what they paid for. It's a real shame that Peter has a reputation for being rude, because what he does is very valuable.

That aside, I have made custom prop requests several times in my years, and it does sometimes take 2-3 years to produce a good finished plant. I currently have a special request in with one nursery for something I want, and it's been 2.5 years, and I anticipate waiting at least another year before there's any chance the rose will be ready. I'm fine with that — I'm just grateful there's someone out there willing and able to produce such a rare plant for me.

I've had nothing but a good experience with Freedom Gardens. I bought three rare gallicas and have an authentic La Ville de Bruxelles that's supposed to be ready later this year. I would only buy from them when you are wanting something you can't find elsewhere, but it's a good source if you don't mind waiting or if they happen to have something readily available

Well I was scammed since I did not receive my roses or a refund.