Fruitnut, generally I don't think balancing top to root is necessary if you are talking about vegetative wood, but with peaches I want to keep energy in the interior, so I would prune them back to make sure I wasn't encouraging die back in the interior just for the sake of starting with a wider spread. No fruit on moving year! Pick off the flowers. If the apples are starting to spur up by the time they are moved I would prune for vigor and remove all pendulous growth and most of the spur wood, cutting back to small uprights where possible. Japanese plums laugh at root damage from transplant so I would simply prune them as I would anyway. My second statement went out before yours appeared- I hadn't even considered BandBing but that is especially useful for pears, from what I've seen, and if someone wants to go to that trouble they could put pears directly in the ground instead of pots. I never ball and burlap anything, and I don't even have experience doing it. If I was anywhere near the craftsman you are I'd probably do it more. It is too tedious for my disposition.

I have the same situation. I have a planter hanging from my porch. The nest is not in the open because when the plant died, I just left in there. I know some birds nests you can move, but what about a doves nest? It still has 2 babies in it and the mother is always close by or sitting in it. They have gotten so use to us that I can work in the flowerbeds, open and close the front door hundreds of times, my husband can cut the grass, and we can even stand on a chair and look at them and they won't budge. BUT, let one of my neighbors walk by walking their dog and she goes crazy. Oh yeah, she dosen't like it when my husband starts his harley... lol If I wait until the babies fly away, can I relocate the planter to another location on my porch for her to use the next time? I'd even leave the dead plant in it for protection.

Roses move pretty much like any other perennial, just fine. So it shouldn't be any problem for you. It depends on how long you think you're going to have them out of the bed for revamping whether you want to pot them or plant them. If you feel it will only be a short time and before the high heat of summer sets in then you can go ahead and pot them up short term. If it's going to take a good part of the summer then I'd plant them in the holding bed until next spring. I've grown roses in pots as permanent places and I've moved roses in July when it was very hot and they've survived fine but those aren't the best of conditions. Prepare the new holes before you dig them out. If the rose is very large or very tall you can prune it back some before moving it so it will be easier to handle. Try to dig as much root ball as you can and disturb it as little as possible. You can put it in a wheel barrow or on a tarp to drag it if it's very large and heavy. Get it planted into it's new place quickly and keep it well watered but not soggy and don't fertilize it for the first week or so until you begin to see new growth. Then you can go to a regular feeding and watering schedule. When you replant them into the finished bed you do the same thing. If you decide to pot them get big pots, make sure there are lots of drainage holes in them and take off any trays that are on the bottom of the pots. Only use good quality potting soil, not garden soil, in the pots. Regular dirt is too heavy and will not drain properly in a pot. Which means you'll have to pretty much bare root the roses. Do this by digging out the root ball and then very gently rinsing them with a hose until most of the soil is gone and then potting them up. Then do the same thing as with the ground planted ones, keep watered and wait to see new growth before fertilizing. If you are going to use anykind of herbicide on those weeds and grasses I'd plant them and wait until next year to put them back so that the herbicide is completely gone from that new bed. Herbicides do nasty things to roses. Good luck and I look forward to seeing pictures of your new beds and beautiful roses!

Thank you for the replys. I'm moving the shrubs this weekend as the weather is ok and the ground still easy to dig. We have only has a few light frosts here but colder weather is expected this week. I'm not sure how long they will be in their temporary home, 10-12 days I'd guess. I hadn't thought about waiting till spring to replant them. That sounds like a good idea. I think I'll move them in March-April before they break domancy. Thank you for helping me think this out!