Roses, fruit trees and citrus Orders

It’s time…again!

Every year we are faced with ordering roses, fruit trees and citrus, far in advance of their arrival. Those orders are placed in June. Why so early? Several reasons go into the advanced notice that our growers need.

1. Most roses, fruit trees and citrus are grafted. This slows the growing prosess. Each plant or tree needs individual grafting and this takes time. Sure, the professionals can do 3000 grafts in 1 day (1 guy did 5400 in 9 hours!!!) but when you talking about millions of plants…it still takes time.
2. On roses, after the plants are grafted, they go into the ground and are harvested about 14 to 15 months later.
3. Fruit trees and citrus can take years after they are grafted, to come up to specifications. We buy larger fruit trees and they take longer to grow than the spindly things you will find at the box stores.
4. Lots of orders, means lots of organizing on the part of the growers. Imagine thousands of large, often complicated orders flooding into a business within a short period. Then digging, sorting, tagging, boxing and shipping millions of plants within a  few months.
5. Since, we live in the glory of the South, our rose season starts in January. By placing our orders early, we go to the front of the line. By requesting the earliest ship dates, we usually get every rose we order. Nurseries with later ship dates, may be out of luck.

So, there you have it. We must place orders in advance to make sure we have what you want, when you want it. If there is something special you are looking for, let us know now, so we can put you at the front of the line!