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Can I, How Should I, and When May I Move an Established Rose?

comments (0) September 22nd, 2011 in blogs

Paul Zimmerman, contributor

8 users recommend

Video Length: 6:27
Produced by: Paul Zimmerman Roses

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I’ve gotten a flurry of emails and questions on our discussion forum lately about moving established roses? Essentially the questions are; can I, when should I and how should I?

The first one is easy. Yes you can move established roses.

As with so many things, however, timing is everything. So let’s do the when next. For the first example we will assume you live in a part of the country that gets a true winter dormant season.

The temptation might be to move it at the beginning to middle of winter thinking that is when it is the most dormant and therefore safest. You would be correct on the most dormant part, but maybe not so correct in thinking it’s the safest time.

Here’s why.

Roses survive the winter much like bears. They “hibernate”. And while they are hibernating they live off nutrients they have stored in their canes and root systems. By the end of winter when they begin to emerge from dormancy these nutrients can be pretty close to depleted, but there is almost always enough for them to “break” dormancy and start anew in the spring.

This is one of the reasons why if you have a late cycle of freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw roses sometimes die. Besides the stress, they simply “run of gas” and no longer have the nutrients to emerge from dormancy yet one more time.

When you move a rose you have to cut back both the plant and the root system meaning you are taking away some of those stored nutrients. Because of this you likely only have one shot at having a transplanted rose breaking dormancy.

With this in mind, I like to move my roses close to the end of winter right before the actively start growing. When is this? Like our pruning schedule of starting when the forsythia are in bloom, I start moving roses when nature tells me it’s okay. I look to the daffodils for a clue. When they come up and start blooming you know the ground is warming up and active growth is starting again. This is a great time to move roses. This way the rose is moved when nature has begun to awaken it. Yet it’s early enough for it to spend time re-growing roots in the warming soil before putting out new top growth later on.

But what if you live where there is no dormant season? This is trickier but when I lived in Los Angles I always felt a good time was right before the winter solstice. As we get closer to the shortest daylight of the year the plants get a little sleepy anyway so take advantage of that.

That’s the when.

Now for the how.

I could tell you how but instead how about a video! Sometimes showing is so much easier than telling and this is one of them!

Happy Roseing

Paul

posted in: transplanting

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Beyond Knockout – The Next Generation of Garden Roses

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Testing and Trialing Garden Roses

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About this blog

Everyone loves roses. If you always wanted to add roses to your garden but were too intimidated by their diva reputation, Roses Are Plants, Too is the blog for you.

Paul Zimmerman has grown thousands of roses for over 15 years and for ten of those years in a sustainable manner. His common-sense approach shows you how to integrate garden roses into your landscape by looking at them as nothing more than flowering shrubs, all the while encouraging you to trust your own "Gardener's Instincts" in the care of these beautiful plants.

You will learn how to prune and train climbing roses, and how to get the most "ka-bloom" out of your shrub, David Austin and Knockout rose bushes. You'll get tips on growing roses organically and trimming them all season to keep their shape. You'll discover the difference between own-root and grafted roses, and more. Much of the instruction will be via videos that Paul produces himself!

Paul Zimmerman ran a rose care company in Los Angeles before moving to South Carolina to start Ashdown Roses. Now he focuses on rose education and teaching via Paul Zimmerman Roses. He lectures, gives workshops, and judges rose trials around the world, and it is this experience he brings to this blog.

Whether you are new to roses or an experienced grower, Paul will open your garden to the vast diversity our national flower offers.

If you have questions about roses and rose care or would like to share your own experiences please visit our Roses Are Plants, Too discussion forum.

To inquire about Paul's workshops and lectures, email him at paul@paulzimmermanroses.com.