Now I garden by the Darwin theory, survival of the fittest. But so far, I have yet to loose a transplant. The rule of thumb that I learned from my Dad is reduce the top growth by the same amount you are reducing the roots. This rule has never ever failed me. I moved some azaleas about 1 1/2 yrs ago and barely got any roots. I trimmed the tops way way way back, its been 1 1/2 yrs now and they still look poodled but they're alive and survived my neglect. Same story with a rose that I only got about 4" of one root, it was about 3 feet tall and I pruned that one to about 6". Now it is its original size and again surviving on my neglect. If you have time, you could always root prune first. I never plan that far in advance, though.

I think you should do well with the rose, it is the right time of year to transplant and also to prune heavily. Of course you'll water it in well, and continue to water more frequently the first few weeks. Since your moving it from one property to another, I'd probably reduce the top by half, then when I get it into the hole, I'd go over it again, shaping and such. Yea, and wear thick gloves, lol

Good luck and see you at the swap.

I recently moved and had to leave a lot of my roses behind. I was serioulsy gonna miss my monster New Dawn. But when I found out the new owners were planning on ripping her out( they don't like flowers). I decided to take the rose with me. I cut her down to about knee level. She had some really thick canes too. I transplanted at the new house and hoped for the best. Well I have to say she has bounced back tremendously(sp). I would say go ahead and cut the rose back and do all that the above poster said. You won't be disappointed,unless the blooms on this mystery rose are really ugly.

Tammy

Thanks Tammy and Tietie, that was just what I needed to know. Appreciate the glove reminder too! I am really hoping that this will turn out to be a nice one.

Gloves, long sleeves and long pants too.... Some of those old roses can be lethal! That aside, I concur with the above. Good watering and mulching should help the rose pull through.

I had 4 straggly, ratty looking roses planted on the bern on the side of my driveway. They were the only flowering plants, I had on my entire property, well except for a few lariope but that's besides the point. When my mother came to visit she convinced me to move my roses to the side of my house. For some reason my visiting sister got stuck with the job, but she dug for hours on end and finally succeeded in transplanting the roses. Aside from the occasional watering, (I had an infant and a 2 yr old at the time, so the garden got completely ignored) they were transplanted and then forgotten about.

I had to cut them back last year in the middle of the summer because they were just growing like crazy. Already they are about 5 1/5 feet tall and about 3 1/2 feet wide. Oh and I have 4 more roses on the bern because my sister didn't get all of the roots, (I don't blame her because she was digging in compact cemented clay in the middle of the smoking hot September sun) and I now have 4 fairly cute bushes on the bern too. They're a bit skinny and sprawling, but they flowered last summer and if this weekend's frost doesn't kill them, I expect they'll flower this year as well.

in my ent looking roses on the bare hill

We got it! The base is about the size of a softball or better. The main stems anywhere from an inch to 3 inches across. Looks like it's already been bitten by a freeze as it had some buds that were black. A few weeks ago when I saw it there weren't any buds yet. Still, over all a very healthy looking plant. Have it in a bucket of water tonight (too late to plant) and I hope it transplants well and thrives! Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

I took pics of some other things which I wasn't sure if they were plants or just weeds (got to do some ID'ing). I got a really nice big celandine, there were violets all over the place. Lots of blues, purples and some whites with purple. There were so many they were gorgeous. There was a hydrangea which we couldn't get a shovel into so I just took cuttings of it. I thought for sure I'd find some baby red buds but I think someone was there before me. Still, a lovely day!

My neighbor dug up a very old rose,she didn't want anymore.I took it and put it in a trash can full of water till I could plant it. It has now taken over the corner of my yard.Good luck with your rose.