I think we're all newbies for at least ten years, so don't feel bad. And I'm also the duchesse of dumb questions and don't feel bad about that either, so neither should you.

My newbie thought is to stick your finger down into the soil and see if it's wet or not. Roses love water, but they need good drainage. On the other hand, if your soil is real sandy, it may need to be watered more because all the water is draining out too fast.

I wouldn't fertilize for a good while yet. Others will give you more advice, I'm sure.

Walkin' -- I'm assuming you are in a fairly mild climate.
Those are both VERY BIG roses. (Capital letters used deliberately.)
There's an old saying about really big roses like these:
"First they SLEEP. Then, they CREEP. Then they LEAP!"

It means these eventually massive roses take some time to grow roots before producing canes that can leap small buildings in a single bound.

Be patient with them. Water when they seem to be dry.
Don't feed for a while.
You really do want them to have good, established roots, before you push them for top growth.

Cl. Cecile Brunner will eat your fence, and more.

Jeri

The advice from duchesse nalabama is spot on for the water.

I believe you would get unanimous agreement that it is not a good idea to fertilize a rose that's showing any signs of shock.

I do wonder, being in SW New Mexico, I imagine the sunlight is pretty hard and unfiltered. Is the rose fully exposed? While roses do like sun, I'd want to know if your newly planted rose might be getting too much of a good thing?

If it is full blast you might consider "creating" a little shade for your rose until it bounces back a little.

It's a great rose. In 5 years I bet it's so big your jaw drops.

Bill (whose 2 Cecile Brunners are in full flush)

from one newbie to another:..what duchesse said, what jeri said and what william said......and again, ain't no dumb questions, just kinda dumb not to ask what you don't know when you have such good folks like here to ask and that are so helpful.....

Paul from Alabama

Oh, you all, thanks so much! That's very reassuring (both the sleep-leap-creep wisdom and the "newbies for ten years" idea)!

All right, then. I will let Cecile sleep, and in the meantime, ponder the trellis I'm probably going to have to make so that she doesn't grow onto/into the rock-wall fence and destroy it. Really, Jeri, she'll get *that* big? Cool. I hope she's nice and thorny, too. There's a 35-foot drop on the other side of that wall, and I want to intimidate my rowdy little boys from investigating it. And perhaps I should build something for the Banksiae to climb once she's done with the porch...

Oh mercy yes! She's a big girl!
In the course of restoring the gardens of a historic home here, the folks in charge found that a Cl. Cecile Brunner had once grown there.
This was no suprise. It once grew EVERYWHERE here.
I went out there, and they had planted Cl. Cecile Brunners, one about every 5 ft. along a humongous wrought-iron fence.
I went home, and called them, and advised them to remove 2 of every three plants.
They did not.
Three years later, they contacted me, wanting to know if anyone wanted a great many Cl. Cecile Brunners.
They had been forced to remove (yes, you guessed it) 2 out of every 3 plants.

It is disease-resistant here, and remarkably vigorous, but with somewhat limited repeat bloom.

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful:

Just a quick report back: as you all predicted, my Cecile is indeed settling in nicely. Vibrant green leaves near the base of the plant, new growth all over. Now I'm getting scared. (: My Banksiae took a year to look so contented!

Having entered the world of antique roses, I can see there's no going back, by the way. A friend has a gorgeous Joseph's Coat and gave me a cutting; she also has a rose I couldn't possibly describe but it's an energetic spring bloomer around here, deep magenta color, flowers are almost daisylike (not that oval-shaped "typical rose" look at all) and despite my friend's total neglect of that plant, that rose is super-happy and gorgeous, and she gave me a cutting of that one too. Any advice for starting antiques from cuttings, or should I just do what the folks on the cuttings/propagation forum suggest? (I have them all in my fridge right now...)