So long as the canes are live the plant is alive, and will grow new leaves.

If it's very sunny and warm you might try putting up shade cloth to shade the newly moved roses. Water, but don't let them get soggy - wilting is a symptom of root rot as well. And there's no need to water any deeper than you dug, the roots won't have grown past where you just put them. Very common for newly transplanted plants to dry out at the surface and near the crown where all the roots are, if they get watered as if they still had a huge deep spreading root ball.

Yes...
Shade, water, water, and possibly a root stimulator without fertilizer in it, like "HI-YEILD Vitamin B1". I use that every time I transplant anything. It reduces the amount of shock and stimulates new root growth.

Of course the best way to transplant is to get as much of the rootball as possible. Although with a 6 year old plant that may need a back-hoe to accomplish. :)

Rob

They may rebound. The rule of thumb is that the root ball has to be as large as what is on top of the ground, otherwise the plant may not make it. I transplanted two small teas a few years ago, and the same thing happened. They both dropped all their leaves and I thought they were dead. They did rebound. They were own root, so that may have helped. All you can do now is wait and see.

Do you think because they are Austins they are slower to rebound? I was surprised when I cut a tea back drastically that it bounced back so well because some can sulk. I hope they live and do well.

Carla

If you haven't already cut them back, I would cut the canes back by half.

Deanna

Yes I did prune the canes back to about half. We did get as much root as possible, they both had these fat sort of tap roots with some feeder roots, but probably had to do a little yanking to get them out of the ground.

I hope they recover! I have moved Austins before in the early spring but the difference this year is there was more live cane to support, plus it's been warm and dryish, vs. the usual cool/cold and rainy weather we have most springs. Also a lot of wind this spring.

I once moved an own-root Tausendschoen with a big taproot (at the end of June). I drastically cut back the canes before I moved it (maybe 12-18" high when they had been 5' high), and it was a month before it sprouted new foliage, but once it did it recovered okay. It's now in a much sunnier spot and covered in buds. It'll be blooming shortly.

I lost nearly all of the feeder roots and tried to keep as much of the taproot as I could, but after I got down about 20" and it kept going I just had to slice through it and get on with it. Once I transplanted it I checked it for water as if it was a houseplant that needed daily checking to make sure the soil around it was moist. Every time it felt like it was drying out 1" below the surface I got out the watering can and gave it another soaking.