Hi, I feed all my roses with Gardenville Sea Tea. It's got all the goodies--fish emulsion, seaweed, and compost tea-probably alfalfa in its mix. If I have a very sick or ailing rose I feed it a super-dilute mix (instead of 4 TBS per gallon, I use 1 teaspoon per gallon then gradually increase the dose to the normal. Gardenville sea tea however, often has to be ordered online and the shipping cost is very! expensive but I find it to be worth every penny. However, if you don't have any Gardenville available, you can try the same dilute application but with another brand of fish emulsion liquid feed. I just happen to favor Gardenville because it's got several "goodies" in it besides fish emulsion. Having such a good overall fertilizer works great for those who don't have the time to bury fish heads in the garden or make their own alfalfa tea brew or take on the composting/manure endeavor. Heheh! Roses love those labor intensive smelly things, but instead of trying to do it myself I just grab that Gardenville.

P.S. the rose-timers don't consider Knockouts real because of Knockouts' lack of scent and somewhat uninteresting petal formation, not the fussiness factor. But as you get more and more familiar with roses you will find that there are soooo many wonderful roses out there which are just as healthy and prolific and will do well in your garden. Just be sure to ask the experts for their advice about roses, the kinds they would suggest for your climate, etc.

Have fun with the real roses!

I got a Flower Carpet rose from the death rack at Lowes. All it needed was a trim and a lot of water. If the canes (stems) are green, it will be fine. If they are all brown or black, prospects are not so good.

Since you are in the hot humid southeast, you will indeed probably need to spray it with fungicide if you want to keep some foliage on it. Good luck!

Angel Face is very pretty and has fragrance. I'll put a link to a description below and you can click on the "photos" tab to see more pictures.

I agree with the advice from serenasyh -- I don't know that particular product, but I swear by seaweed/kelp, and alfalfa and fish emulsion are also great for roses.

I also agree with hoovb about the spraying. In your climate many rose varieties develop blackspot fungus on the leaves, which can be prevented with regular fungicide applications.

Here is a link that might be useful: Angel Face

I think it takes a couple more steps to save a stressed rose. One thing to consider is that plant is not only water stressed because it was living at a non-rose nursery, but that the people at places like Lowe's really don't take care of the plants well. When you move the plant to a new pot, take a look at the root system. My guess is that the rose has been "hacked" and has few feeder roots. In that case, the root system is in pretty bad shape. You don't want to give it any fertilizer until it has had a chance to recover from the water stress and to develop some new feeder roots because you are taking the chance of burning these new tender roots.

What your rose needs now is water and protection. You want to water it enough to keep it moist, not wet. So, when you put your rose into a new container, you want to make sure you have excellent drainage.

On very stressed plants, I feel like it's necessary to protect the canes from drying out, too, since the plant doesn't have the ability to bring moisture up to the top portion of the plant. My favorite technique is to set a bucket of water next to the plant and wrap the canes with a wet t-shirt with the tail of the t-shirt in the bucket. (You will be amazed at how much water is transferred out of the bucket in one day!) If the weather is very hot and dry, you will want to wet the t-shirt down a few times a day. (Don't remove the t-shirt as soon as you see new leaves ... they are still tender and can burn easily.)

After you see new growth, then you can feed the plant. The new growth tells you the plant now has the "tools" to move moisture and nutrients from the root system up to the top of the plant.

It doesn't hurt to remove the damaged leaves and to cut the canes down, if they have not already been butchered. Damaged leaves don't work in favor of the plant, and with shorter canes, the root system doesn't have as much plant to support, which helps it come back easier.

These are just general guidelines. Everything always has to be adjusted for your climate conditions.

Good luck with your new rose.

Smiles,
Lyn

katortott, if you do decide to repot it eventually, try to follow karls advice on not disturbing the rootball when taking the rose out of it's pot. Here is something that'll help. It worked great for me

Posted by karl_bapst_rosenut 5a, NW Indiana (rosenut@rosenut.com) on Mon, Jun 29, 09 at 14:37

If the soil was lost, the feeder roots were lost also. The small white roots you saw were anchor roots. Feeder roots are tiny and almost invisible that fall away with the soil.
To plant a potted bush without losing the soil cut the bottom off the pot with a razor knife, but first dig the hole making it half again as wide as the pot. Cut up opposite sides of the pot half way. Secure the cut sides with masking tape wrapped around the pot. Finish cutting the pot the rest of the way to the top, then secure it with masking tape wrapped around the top.
You'll end up with a pot cut into three pieces but held together with masking tape. You can also use rubber bands or string to secure the two pot halves.
Pick up the pot holding the cut bottom in place to make sure the bush and soil don't fall out the bottom.
Place the pot in the hole and slide the bottom out from under the pot. Pull soil in around the pot to just below the lower piece of masking tape. Cut the tape on both sides. Continue pulling soil in until just the top tape is exposed. cut that tape on both sides. Pull the two pot sides straight up. (The soil pulled in around the pot will hold the root ball together.) Finish filling the hole and water to fill in any voids.
If done properly, the bush will not know it's been moved and should continue to grow normally.
Keep it watered well until it shows signs of growth, then water as you normally would.
If done correctly, it'll experience no planting stress. You should water the potted plant well before you transplant to help keep the soil together, not so important if planted as directed above.
I'd get them transplanted as soon as possible to allow plenty of time for the roots to grow into the surrounding soil and get well established before winter.
For plants in thick vinyl pots that won't cut easily with a razor knife, I use a saber saw or Dremel rotary saw to cut away the bottom and up the sides.

The only thing I would add is to set your struggling rose out of direct sun. Filtered sun is best. If not possible put a lawn chair i.e. to protect it from the hottest part of the day. Everyone else gave good advice I practice too. I also figure if it is to be....give yourself a little slack if it doesn't make it. It won't be anything you did. Susan

Thank you all for the advice, I've been just watering it for the past two days (no fertilizer) with some careful pruning of the dead canes and it has already responded well with new leaves and looks a lot better than even two days ago. My plan is to pot it tomorrow or the day after and try the seaweed/kelp fertilizer route when I do so.