When I was researching the roses that I’ll buy, I came across an information about bareroot grades. Basically they are as follows (but take note that the stem length doesn’t seem to :

Grade 1: The best and most costly, Grade 1 bareroots must have three or more healthy canes that are very healthy looking and at least 1/8 inch in diameter (what is usually imagined when pruning instructions say to leave pencil-thick stems).

Grade 1 1/2: The most common as it’s almost the same requirement as Grade 1 except it can have a minimum of two canes (as opposed the three of a grade 1).

Grade 2: The cheapest as the can have one cane and sometimes it is very small and scrawny looking.

Grade 1 and 1 1/2 are normally sold in specialist rose nurseries like Swanes whereas Grade 2 are normally found in cheaper outlets. I use the word ‘normally’ as I’ve seen a couple of single-cane bareroots in Swanes (though thick and healthy looking) at their normal price. I’ve also seen anywhere from scrawny grade 2 looking bareroots up to healthy grade 1 1/2 looking bareroots in Bunnings as they seem to have bareroots coming from different suppliers.

So for me, it’s preferable that I physically go and see how they look like in person as you can never really know what you’ll get via mail.

Now, does this mean Grade 2 will never be as good as Grade 1 bareroots and that it’s always better to pay premium for the better ones. From most of what I read, as long as you take care of them, there’s really not much difference later on. Hmmmm, well it might make a difference in areas with harsh winters but in mild Sydney, it probably won’t matter in the long run.

For me personally, I would (and did pay) the higher prices for better looking bareroots but on a couple of occasions I’ve bought scrawny looking roses since I had to no choice. In fact the potted roses I bought this year – Valencia and Honey Bouquet – are both scrawny looking – see for yourself below.

Bareroot Stems vs Potted Rose Stems

The stems of the bareroot roses I bought from Swanes is at least twice the size of the potted roses I bought from GreenERoses. The main problem in having thin stems is that they definitely won’t be able to branch out thick new stems. The good news is that they won’t stay that long.

Look at the picture of my William Shakespeare 2000 below.

Williams Shakespeare 2000 (encircled is the original stems)

Last year, I bought these as potted rose from GreenERoses. They were grade 2 looking roses with very thin-stems and worst of all, it was also a one-stem wonder. There was only one main stem coming from the bud union and from these, came out about three thin stems – in fact I had to encircle them in yellow as you might not see them immediately in the picture.

But as the William Shakespeare 2000 grew, it sent out new basal breaks that grew beautifully (albeit skewed to one side).

Hopefully the Valencia and Honey Bouquet would also grow beautifully with new basal breaks in the coming months.

I’ll be keeping an eye on them and reporting any growth progress.