I was hesitate to place an order because of the bad review, but thought I would give it a try and I am glad that I did. The plant was in good condition. (In the picture, it may not look that good, but if you consider now is already end of November, it is in a pretty good condition.) I used to purchase roses from Jackson & Perkins and the roses I got from J&P were smaller in size. (The price was lower too probably because J&P shipped in bare root condition and here I got a 2 gallon pot.) I would say the size of the plant is about roughly 1 year older than the plant I got from J&P.About the packing, it was great, too. There was a plastic bag outside the pot to keep most of the dirt in. Plus, there was a carton divider between the pot and the plant to prevent the pot moving during shipping. When I opened the shipping box, there was some loss soil as expected but much less than one would expect w/o proper packing.