The scoop on 'Arena Roses (formerly Arena Rose Company)'

I purchased Rosa 'Sombreuil' from Arena roses two years ago, and it has turned out to be virused stock. It shows the typical moasic-like patterning on the leaves and is stunted. Now I will have to dig out the entire area, hope I have removed the now-infected soil, and attempt to replant with a healthy rose. I have been told that stock grown on its own roots from the Antique Rose Emporium is very healthy and virus-free. I believe nurseries have a duty to provide their cusomers with virus-free stock.

I received my roses today and they are gorgeous. They are bareroot and really good sized. One of the plants only has 2 canes but does look very healthy. I know if there is a problem that they will stand behind their product. I am happy with my order. The only thing I had a problem with was the lack of communication. I emailed twice to ask about my order and never did hear back. I had to pick up the phone and call them to get a answer to my question. I know they are busy. But I wish that they would try harder to respond by email. Given that, they are as nice as anyone could be on the phone and very friendly, helpful and polite. They are nice people. I am looking forward to planting and growing these roses. I am sure I will be ordering from them again in the future.

We have been a customer of Syl Arena Roses and previously Arena Rose Company for years. They continue to add the personal touch unparalled in the industry. We feel we get the "small company" personal touch but the stock and quality of the large companies. Our 26 bushes are thriving and look beautiful each and every year. Nice job Syl! Keep up the great work.
Chris - Laguna Niguel

I was involved in bringing two hundred twenty-five roses to plant at the Arizona State Capitol grounds. We chose Syl Arena Roses because of the company's reliability and reputation. Syl had great knowledge and understanding as to the type of plants that would tolerate the extreme desert heat. Syl Arena really stands behind his plants! The finished product looks wonderful and is historically accurate - if you are ever in Arizona take a look at the capitol grounds.

I believe that Syl Arena Roses is the finest mail order rose company in existence today. I also have acquired several garden tools and furniture from this company. I will order again from Syl Arena Roses and I would encourage you to do the same!

I personally had a great experience. I just starting ordering roses this year. I have ordered from several different companies. Arena being the last. I received a huge potted rose bush with at least 5 large canes. A couple were the size of my thumb, and these were own roots! After six others this year, I'm staying with Arena.
The shipping was also great, they were supported with bamboo canes, aand shrink wrapped, very moist. They also took off quickly. Thanks, Casey

Ordered 4 bareroot roses over the phone (website was having some issues). Dealt with the nicest person (Hi Other Julie!) who was able to tell me what was in stock and what wasn't. She also had some great recommendations for companion plantings.

One rose I wanted wasn't available, but Julie was able to tell me when it would be available. I chose to have my entire order ship together and Julie gave me a ship date.

I called back on my ship date to ensure my babies were on their way. They were and Julie told me when I could expect them to arrive. The roses arrived on time and they look great.

I have ordered 25 rosebushes this spring from 5 different sellers and had 5 great experiences.

Thanks to Syl Arena for finishing my season on a high note and thanks to DG for being here to guide me.

I placed my order 12/23/03. On March 23 2004 I emailed them asking for shipping status...

On March 31 I emailed again as I received no reply to first email.

Still no reply to email.

Then I receive a letter in the mail April 9th informing me that they would not be shipping ANY of my roses... I'm sure they knew long before then what the outcome would be...

It was most upsetting. Had I known sooner that the roses weren't coming I could have ordered them from other vendors. As is stood, the other vendors were all sold out and 2 of the 3 roses they were sending were to be part of a new bed.

At least they finally followed up and didn't leave me hanging...

DECOBUG

I ordered several bare root roses back in February.
In April I received a letter from them stating that they could not fill my order due to a cold box malfunction (whatever that is).
There was no offer to subtitute the plants. They will not take any bare root orders after the end of Feb.
I will not order from them again

I would order from this company again if they were the only supplier for the rose I wanted. They have an unusual stock of roses, and their efforts are sincere.
Orders take a long time to arrive, not unusual for this type of rose. I haven't had any from my order die, either. I simply find their packaging and customer service to be inferior to other companies I have used.

The rose I received was less than 10 inches in height, from the ground up. There are no strong canes, in fact, no canes at all. The growth is spindly. I have grown roses for over 25 years and cannot see any hope for this rose. What a pity. Don't risk buying from them.

I was hesitant to order from them after reading a couple of negative reviews here. But I took a chance anyhow. My experience was positive, but I did not order roses. I ordered a large bag of Dr. Earth Organic Fertilizer from them in March 2003 and had no problems.

I am highly upset with this company as of June 28th-2003. I placed a rose order for 3-roses on the 9th of June. And still have not received my roses. I just called and received a voice mail on the toll free line. So I had to call the other line, Only to be told" We will call you back." Look folks, This would not be so bad except, It cost me a fortune for three potted roses. Sixteen dollars to ship each one. So my grand total was 114.00 for three roses. I guess I am the dumb one here. Never again. thanks. Daintybess

I tried this company for the first time this year, since I couldn't find the rugosa rose I wanted locally. They are a little pricey, but the quality of the two bareroot roses I bought was excellent. The canes were small, but the root system was amazing. It looked like someone had actually dug each individual root carefully out of the soil, without breaking even the smallest one. I've never seen such a root system on a bareroot rose. (and I've planted a lot of bareroot roses in my life). Both plants broke dormancy almost immediately, and have been growing and blooming beautifully.

I have ordered from the Arena's for years. Would highly recommend their product and customer service. Have recently received close to 20 bareroots this year and all have broken dormancy and look wonderful.

I ordered couple of roses from them last year. I loved the catalog and couldn't wait for the roses to arrive, prices also very nice. When the package arrived, all the roses were black and mushy in the plastic and I was very dissapointed. I hard pruned what could be saved and planted them anyway. I lost 2 and 2 survived but their growth was slowed down a lot. After a year they are still stunned, even after I gave them the best care imaginable, like with all my other roses. Also I noticed those two have a strange "mosaic-pattern" on their leaves. It is not a mosaic rose virus but something very simmilar and only those 2 roses have it. I was thinking of pulling them out and throwing them away but I just hate to do that even if it's a lost cause! I'll just watch them closely and if any other rose starts developing it, they are out for sure!

This company deserves an A+ in product quality and professional/kind service. The rose bushes that I received were of exceptional quality, canes the size of my thumb, with very healthy roots. After planting one of the bushes, I realized that I had used 100% cow manure rather than a mixture...I frantically placed a call to their company, not expecting to receive help on a Saturday, but I was happily surprised, the voice of a very pleasant employee answered and gave me advice. Arena Roses offered to send a new plant in the event that this one didn't make it. I explained that I did not deserve a replacement, it was my fault. Two weeks later I received a replacement! I called Arena, explained that the advice that I had received was successful...I did not feel it was right for me to keep this new bush, their response was ENJOY!

I ordered three potted Generosas from Arena Roses. The roses arrived in excellent condition. The plants were huge and healthy. All three had fresh blooms and many buds. The packaging was excellent, with bamboo supports, shrink wrapped pots and holes in the boxes for ventilation. The customer service is superb. I was called within an hour of placing the order on their website by Linda, who wanted to make sure I was ok with the shipping charges. I talked to her twice after that regarding my order and she is always very friendly and personable. She obviously loves the roses and takes time to add a personal touch, which is quite above and beyond for a company that does so much business. I will definitely order from Arena again.

Wow!!! I received my 3-gallon rose today and am very impressed with the size and quality of the plant. I contacted customer service (my original order online wasn't received due to a computer glitch) and they were very helpful and friendly. I will definitely order again from Arena.

I made my first order, 13 roses. When they didn't arrive I checked with customer service who worked very hard with me to find them. Not trusting the delivery or quality of the roses after their little jaunt around the country (they were delivered somewhere in Mass....I live in Mich.) Arena sent me a whole complete order to replace the lost ones. Of course both showed up. Even the travelers with extensive root and sprout growth, hot and drying out by the time they got to me are alive and doing well now. The stock was that healthy.
Their committment to cust. satisfaction, strong stock and wide selection will give them another order next year. Hope Fed Ex gives a better showing.

I ordered 4 roses from Arena this year, a rugosa, 2 rambling, and a Chrysler Imperial. I received three of them as expected with one of the ramblers missing, but I will not hold that against them. They were very apologetic on the phone and it was shipped to me no questions asked. The roses all were in very good shape and with great root systems. They started to grow almost imediately and are doing wonderfully! I even had to move one of the ramblers closer to the structure I want it to ramble over and it barely complained at all. I would definetly recommend Arena Roses to anyone.

ARENA ROSE CO. gets an +AAA rating for the quality of the Towne & Country roses, and the "Knockout" rose I received. They were all grown on their own roots, and they are the nicest looking bareroots I've ever bought anywhere. The root systems are extensive and the many canes are green and healthy. They look so well and are doing great. Also, received shipment of my order quickly, and didn't have to wait around. They ship fedex. The customer service by phone and email was very responsive and friendly. They sent a free Romantica rose with my order of 8 bareroots per their current promotion.

I ordered 12 standard climbing Icebergs from Arena Rose in the spring 2000. I waited and waited for my order. Finally I called them and was told it had shipped UPS I would be receiving it in a few days. When it did not arrive I called again. This time I was told the box was too big for UPS so, they were sending by common carrier. When the shipment still had not been received after a month, I called and asked to speak with someone in charge. I was told that the person I need to talk to was out of the country. Apparently, there was no one in charge! When I finally received the roses, I found that the trucking company had picked them up at Arena Rose a week after UPS had determined that the box was too big to ship by UPS. Apparently, someone forgot and left them sitting there. All 12 rose trees had been shoved in one box with no precautions taken to prevent breakage. One of the trees was split at the crown. They certainly looked like plants that had been boxed for a month. A couple of them never leafed out. One was not labeled correctly. By now they are all in the compost bin. All in all, I had a very bad experience with Arena Rose. I can understand if mistakes are made but this was the worst mail order experience I have ever had or heard of anyone else having. I hope this information helps someone else avoid problems.

Last winter I ordered four bareroot rosebushes to be delivered this spring (2001). I received 3 of the 4. They're really beautiful! They're BIG! They all had at least 3 or 4 fat, strong canes. They were wrapped in moist packaging so they wouldn't dry out. I've had them in the ground now for 3-1/2 months. They have bloomed wonderfully. What they charged for shipping was very reasonable. They give you the choice of receiving your bushes by Priority Mail or UPS Ground. If you would like to use express services they give you that option (at a higher cost of course). I chose Priority Mail and the bushes arrived in excellent condition. They also arrived when I had specified on my order form that I would like to receive them. The reason I was not able to get the 4th plant was because it didn't survive the cold storage. My only disappointment with the company was that they didn't include that information when they sent the other 3 bushes. So I called and the woman I talked to was very kind and pleasant. She offered a replacement of a different bush, or I could back- order that same bush for the following year, or I could get a refund. I chose the refund. After about 4 weeks I e-mailed because I had not received it. They were very apologetic and promptly sent the refund. They said that they usually get the refunds out much quicker. I didn't mind because I can understand how hectic it must be in the spring at a mail-order plant company. All in all, I wouldn't hesitate to order more rosebushes from them.