You will occasionally want to move a rose bush from one
location to another, but fear shocking the bush too much and
having it die. However, here are two effective ways to
minimize the shock to the bush so you can successfully move
it to another, more suitable place in your flower garden.
The first, and simpler way, is by driving a spade down
vertically to its full length of blade about twelve or
fifteen inches from the bush and repeating the process in a
circular form until all lateral roots have been cut. This
should be done in June or early July and the bush should be
moved two or three weeks later.
Dig a sloping hole leading to the vertical spade-cuts on one
side, remove some of the surface soil round the bush to
reduce weight, drive the spade under the plant, and gently
lift it in a ball of earth. The ball can be made more
adherent by wetting and dabbing the outside of it. Slide it
into its new hole by way of another sloping cut, fill the
spaces round the ball with friable soil and water it
heavily. The bush must be pruned and all leaves carefully
clipped off to reduce loss of moisture and consequent
shrivelling.
You see, by cutting any strong root at a reasonable distance
from a plant, it forces the growth of many smaller ones of
the feeding type. Roots feed only through their terminal
points, and so the greater the number of small fibrous roots
the better a bush can feed from the soil.
The second, and less simple way, is to prepare the rose for
the move by digging a trench in early spring in a semicircle
round the bush at a radius of a foot, or slightly more, from
the stem, depending on the size of the plant. This will cut
the roots in that part. Fill the trench with loam that is of
good quality but does not contain fermenting manure of any
type. A network of fibrous secondary roots will form and
permeate the rich new soil. After three months, about
Christmas time, complete the circle in a similar manner. In
the autumn, about four months later, the bush can be lifted
with a good ball of earth held together by a mass of fibrous
roots.
The rose bush has been safely root-pruned in either method
of transplanting, and will reduce shock ensuring the plants
survival. You may be wondering why you would need to use
that second, more involved method, when the first method is
so simple. Well, the only time it is necessary is when
moving a very large old rose plant.
So now you have 2 great methods for successfully
transplanting rose bushes. Although you don’t want to do it
very often, feel free to get your flower garden just the way
you want it! Happy planting.