Make More Roses - Lets Trade Roses

Lets trade roses... This page contains all the information needed to set up a rose trade. Please check out the varieties we currently have available. If there is anything you are interested in, please drop us an e-mail at boydtestsite@comcast.net. Please allow a week for your response as we have many projects underway.

Please take a look at what we currently have to trade and let us know what you would like. Please also include a list of rose varieties that you have available for trading. We much prefer to trade cuttings instead of rooted roses as the postage is much less expensive.

To ensure a fair trade, we believe that the number of varieties that we trade should be roughly equal - give or take a couple roses. In the event that rooted cuttings are traded for, we consider a rooted cutting to be worth either another rooted cutting in trade or three unrooted varieties. This is because of the extra time and effort it takes to root a rose as well as the extra postage that must be paid to ship it.

We will do the occasional trade for postage-only in October after all other trades have been completed to help share the joy of roses. We must limit these non-reciprocal trades to a couple of dozen per year due to the time and effort it takes to gather plant material.

NOTE: WE ARE NOT CURRENTLY TRADING AS WE ARE CURRENTLY MOVING ROSE BEDS. TRADES SHOULD BEGIN AGAIN IN THE FALL

Step 1: FIND AGED FLOWERS: Each cutting is taken from a stem where the bloom has dropped its petals within the past two weeks. Taking cuttings before petal-fall results in cuttings with immature wood which will rot instead of rooting. Cuttings from once blooming roses may be taken any time after petal-fall as long as it is from the current year's growth.

Step 2: TAKE CUTTINGS: Cuttings are taken long enough to include five leaves whenever possible.

Step 3: REMOVE LEAVES AND HIPS: We remove the bottom two leaves and the spent flower and rose hip to reduce weight in shipping. If the size of the bush allows, we ship 3-5 cuttings of each variety to give you a better chance of success. If the bush is young or depleted from trades, we may only include a cutting or two so that the health of the bush does not suffer.

Step 4. WRAP CUTTING BASE IN TOWELS: We take a wet paper towel and wrap it around the base of the cuttings. This will provide moisture so that the cutting does not dry out during shipping.

Step 5. BAG THE CUTTING: Cuttings are placed in a ZipLoc bag and sealed.

Step 5. LABEL THE CUTTING: The bag is then rolled up and a piece of tape placed around the rolled bag so that it does not unroll during shipping Once the bag is rolled up and taped, the variety name is written using an indelible marker—a Sanford Sharpie brand marker does a good job. At this point, the cuttings are ready to box up and ship.

Step 6: SHIPPING THE CUTTINGS:

We have found that the best way to ship cuttings is to use Priority Mail from the US Post Office. Two pounds of cuttings can be shipped for only $3.90 and typically arrive in 2-3 days. The best day to ship is Monday to give the Post Office the chance to deliver before the weekend. Shipping late in the week can result in cuttings sitting in a hot truck over the week end— this can kill cuttings during the hottest summer months. So please don't take the risk, ship early in the week to be safe. Also, using the LARGE Priority Mail box will force the postal carrier to bring the box up to the house instead of leaving it in the curbside mail box where it can cook.

DO NOT ship express mail. Though the cuttings arrive overnight, the $12.00 shipping fee is excessive and defeats the money saving goal of trading cuttings.

Sorry, we do not ship out of the country.