Moving Roses - established and planted this spring

[RAREBREDCHICK]

Hi there, hope there is a rose expert there who can help me? I planted what I thought was a compact bush, packet said it would grow to a maximum of about 2'6" in old money, it has done very well producing loads of beautiful flowers but, it is in the wrong place now because: It has grown to over 3' in its first year and appears to be a climber from the way it is growing, so I want to move it. I also have aquired with my garden a beautiful pure white rose that also appears to be a climber or rambler but it is in very poor condition, leggy and only produced 2 flowers, I think because it is overshadowed totally by a huge shrub (name unknown) and a budlia, so I plan to move both roses at a suitable time to another location. So, expert out there, when is the best time to move them, obviously not yet for the one that is flowering, I dont envisage being able to dig them up once the ground is hard due to frost, (see I am thinking ahead) and worry that the established plant may be difficult to dig up both due to roots from the shrubs and I think it has been there a number of years. Your advice please

[Wellie]

Hi Rarebredchick !

Given that the 'packet' said it would grow to 2'6", I can't believe they weren't kind enough to give you a name for the poor little darling, eh?!

Naturally, the roses are probably still producing some rather decent flowers, and I would wait until at least November. Anytime between then and next March is when bare-rooted stock transplants best as it's more dormant during that period, but when you lift them out of the soil, try and keep as much soil around their roots as possible, and as big a root ball of soil as you can feasibly manage to avoid total disruption.
Oh, and one other thing. With bare-rooted stuff, ALWAYS keep the rootball covered (either with soil or hessian sacking or the like) as once the 'feeder roots' dry out, the plant will indeed go into shock, and there's a chance you may lose it.
Sorry.... just thought of something else.
Dig the new hole for your roses in advance of moving the roses from their old site. That way, they can be re-homed with the minimum of upheaval, particularly if you've enriched their new home with well rotted manure, and bonemeal beforehand, eh?!

Also, it's quite important that their NEW site has not grown Roses before, or your newly transplanted roses will suffer from Rose Soil Sickness. If Roses HAVE been grown there before, you'll need to change the soil.

It all SOUNDS complicated, I know, but if you'd like to know anything else, I'm sure there's lots of other people on the forum wot know too to help out.

Sorry - I've just thought of another one....
Make sure you plant your Roses in their new home at the SAME DEPTH/ SOIL LEVEL as they were planted before.

I apologise that my reply is 'all over the place'...... I'm house and dog-sitting for clients of mine, and with all the extra duties, it's turned my brain to jelly !

I hope I've been of SOME use for the minute...

[richard p]

when we rebuilt the house i shifted some well established,30+ years, roses. during the winter i cut them down to about a foot stump. then put a 3 foot bucket on the jcb took out one bucket full of dirt the far side of the garden , then did the same with the rose root , dumped it in the prepared hole and carefully pressed the soil down with a front wheel,then chucked on a bucket of water. I did 4 alltogether , now 15 years on they are still going strong, one has climbed through a plum tree and spread into the roadside hedge must nearly 50 foot from root to the tips. i never put any fertiliser in the holes when transplanting shubs or trees, i feel that adding fertilisers encourages excessive top growth before the roots have recovered enough to support it on our thin dry soil.
in short take the biggest root ball possible and prune hard.

[Johnboy]

Hi Richard,
I think that what you are trying to convey to us all is that if you can dig out a rosebush with a very large root ball and replant it intact they they will be fine and not really notice that they have a new home. I just wonder if that now your garden is 15 years on would you bring in a JCB to do the job now?
I have a Filbert Tree which had several dozen root suckers and I needed some new Hazel hedging plants after the accident at my place the other year and I used a Kubota Mini Digger but it certainly is not the normal method.
JB.

[RAREBREDCHICK]

Hi guys, Thankyou for your advice. Wellie, The rose is suppposed to be Golden Jubilee and grow to a max of 60cm, which is only about 2 foot, ive measured mine it is just over 4ft! Also to prolific flowers are quite open, small pettled, quite a pale single coloured pink. The picture on the packet is a similar colour, but a closed more buddy type of flower. Fortunatly I like what I have got and at least it is the right colour, the other one I bought the same time is mean't to be yellow, but it is red!! I guess the JCB is a macho thing? Dont think Ill need one, I know I want to landscape the garden, but it is'ent very big and a JCB would make some interesting features trying to turn around!! Thanks again, I am listing another question, so maybe you cab help me again?

[jane E]

Strange coincidence - our roses got taken out with a JCB when we redid the drive this summer and are doing fine!
Take the advice on feeding - don't! We've been getting relatively mild winters and the last thing you want to do is to encourage any regrowth. Topdress it with feed in the spring. I also half prune just before the winter sets in so that the winds don't whip and snap the top growth and cause a split that disease could enter in by.I then prune properly in the spring.

[RAREBREDCHICK]

Thanks Jane, great advice.