I'm in Texas and I would think it would be safe to transplant now if your going to do it now. I'm not sure what to tell you about the roses because I have never moved that large of a rose but I'm pretty sure you would need to cut them back to move them. And as far as the jasmine goes you can whack it back and it will grow back in no time, if not now for sure next spring. Good luck with the move and hopefully with someone with more experience will offer some advice.

i forgot to add that your roses are beautiful as well as the jasmine and gardenia! I love my gardenias too.

My impression is that a younger rose might be easier to move because less of a root system -- and three years is pretty young IMO. On the other hand, if the rose is readily available it might be even less of a hassle, what with moving and all, to buy new ones and start afresh, because, old or young, with a transplanted rose you will have a bit of shock and a setback in growth that might take a year or more to catch up. So in the end you won't lose as much time as you might think by starting afresh.
In the mean time, you might try taking cuttings and see how that works out. This is probably a good time for it. I am not personally familiar with them but google says that Old Blush and D. de B. both root easily from cuttings. Of course if the landlady is planning to destroy the roses that's a different story. Its a question of a rescue operation. Beautiful roses, BTW. Congratulations!

boncrow66, thank you for your help about my jasmine!

monarda_gw, good to learn about the cuttings for the future, thank you. No, the landlord is a great guy and he’s fine if I hold off on these roses or any other of my plantings until this fall or even later. I also don’t want to part from them because my dog, my little buddy, was my gardening "helper" when I planted and cared for them, and he died earlier this year. This makes these roses even more special to me and I don’t want to leave them behind.

When I moved I took 40 or 50 roses with me, some of them were huge and hanging out the back of my suv. I agree with what Frances says about soaking them. Get as much of the root ball as possible.

As for size, this rose I dug up, tied the canes together, and transplanted. I didn't need to cut anything back and it bloomed that year.

Now this rose below, I had to cut canes off before I even dug it up because it's a monster with lots of thorns. I cut enough canes off to make it possible to dig up, cut a few more so I could tie them together. It's a vigorous rambler and bloomed that spring.

(These pictures are of the spring before I moved.)

So I guess I pruned off just enough to get the job done.

One important factor though-we are in different zones so what works here doesn't work everywhere, or maybe it does, I don't know.

After I transplanted them I left the hoses (2) on drip and left them at each rose for at least an hour for a few days. It took several days to get all that done.

Pay attention to how the canes and foliage look, it is normal for some of the foliage to wilt but if it is excessive then prune it back.

I took all of mine for sentimental reasons too, best of luck to you!

JBP so sorry to hear about your gardening buddy, I lost my dog a few months ago and she hung out me in the garden too, she pretty much went everywhere I went so I understand the special mean of your roses. Sounds like you have received some great advice and I'm sure your going to be successful in transplanting your roses. Where in Louisiana are you located?

Roses are very gracious about being moved, and three years old is not really all that mature,so I'd say it's worth a try. However I would STRONGLY recommend that you put off doing it until autumn. You're in a warm climate, as am I,and IME trying to do it now is just not a good idea; the heat of summer is just too stressful for a newly moved rose. I tried it with I think about 4 or 5 roses one spring since it seemed like we were getting decent rain (pre-soaking as Frances describes) and lost at least half of them,in spite of all the effort I put into it. I'd never do it again unless I had literally no alternative. If you absolutely must do it now, you'll have to keep watering them copiously all summer on a regular basis,several times a week, and keep them shaded. Also, cut them back hard. It may even be necessary to keep the canes wrapped in damp cloth to prevent them from drying out. (let me add however that in Italy the climate is very hot and DRY; I don't know what Louisiana is like).It's still risky. Instead, if you can wait until fall,even early autumn,your task will be so much easier ,and your chance of success SO much higher. In the fall just cut them back about 1/3 and dig up as much of the root system as is practical (don't need to save all the long anchor roots,just make sure you get a nice healthy root system dug out),stick in water for even just an hour or so (depending upon how dry things are),re-plant and water. But with the shorter, cooler days you won't have to worry about constantly watering them and fussing over them to keep them cool and hydrated. I've moved far more roses than I can count with perfect succes rate in autumn/winter; digging them up in the spring-even if I pot them up -is always very risky here.

I moved 5 years ago and dug up about 30 of the roses to bring with me. I moved in late autumn and would have brought the roses over then but I had large spruce trees that had to be removed before I could start my gardens. Luckily, the new occupants of my old house were family and let me come for the roses in spring. I only pruned back what I needed to in order to fit them into the vehicle and I dug as large a root ball as I could possibly carry. I didn't lose a single rose - or any of the perennials for that matter either. Cool weather and water are the keys to success, IMO, so while up here in the north it's still a fine time to be digging and transplanting, if it's hot down where you are already and you can wait until fall, I'd say that's the way to go. Gives you time to prep the areas where you will be planting your roses, too.

Thank you everybody for your advice!

frances, glad to hear that soaking their rootball helped your roses and I will also do it. Anything that can reduce their stress will hopefully save my roses too.

altorama, your roses look fantastic! I can only hope mine will be half as good as yours. It didn't occur to me to tie up the canes. It's a great idea.

boncrow66, I am in Baton Rouge. I am sorry to hear about your dog. It's not easy, I know it but I feel being in the garden brings me closer to him. I hope you also find solace in the many things you used to do together.

bart, thanks for sharing your experience in the similar warm climate. It's much more humid and wet here, but I didn't plan to move them before this fall and already made the arrangement for it with the current owner of the house. The only drawback is that they will not be looked after during the summer months, because I don't want to burden the new tenants there, but it rains fairly often here and I am less worried about it than on how to go about moving them in the fall. I'll cut them down by 1/3 and, as altorama suggested, also tie up the canes.

AnneCecilia, it sounds like I'm staying in Louisiana in the long run and love it here, but I will always consider myself a Michigander! I do have some beds to prepare in my new house and, besides high temps, this is another reason why I'm waiting to move the roses and gardenia in the fall.

I have moved across the continent twice in the last 20 years. The first time, I struck cuttings a year before the move and transported 50+ bare root plants by air to Ontario from British Columbia with good success.

This past October, I sold the house in Ontario in October, I used a combination of the cutting method and bare rooting mature plants this time. For the mature roses, I waited until two days before the move and then dug up 20 plants that are rare or irreplaceable. I followed the method set out below and drove them 3600 kms across the country to British Columbia in our car in early November. The method I used is virtually the same method that commercial growers use to ship bare root roses to customers. The roses were out of the ground for a period of almost three weeks and I lost two.

I would suggest that you wait until the late fall when the plants are not growing actively or flowering. Not certain when that might be in Louisiana, but the closer to dormant the better if you want to bare root them. Cut each plant back to about 18 to 24 inches to facilitate handling. Dig out as much of the root ball as you can, carefully remove it from the hole and then remove as much soil as you can. Wash the roots with a strong spray of water until they are clean or nearly so. Label them if you have many. If they are going to be bare root for a while, pack them with moist, not soggy, paper or sphagnum in large plastic bags. Move them to your new location. Before replanting, soak the roots for a period of twenty four hours or more and then replant them.

Since you are moving to a new location before moving your roses, I would strongly suggest that you have the new beds prepared and holes dug and ready for when your roses arrive.

Here are some images of some of my transcontinental roses taken this morning.

Another 10 plus year old mature plant of The Squire. This fellow is liable to flower before he is finally relocated if I don't get a move on with the new beds.

As stated by others above, roses are tough and foregiving plants. Follow the instructions above and you should have no problem at all relocating your roses, though it is a heck of a lot of work.

Cheers, rick

I'm happy to see I'm not the only one who takes their roses with them when they move. My family thinks I'm a noodle head. Whatever that is.

JBP, I seriously doubt that those roses will suffer,even if the new tenants neglet them. None of my roses get watered after their first year in the garden-none of them,And here the summers are horribly dry; often NO rain at all, and scorching heat (my garden faces south-west, so it's really intense). They do fine! Yours are three years old, clearly robust, healthy specimens. I bet they'll be fine Of course, it's all to the good that you get summer rain there...

JBP I am in SE Tx on the border of Tx and La so only a few hours from you and we have very similar climates. I typically stop planting anything in the ground around the middle of May due to the extreme heat we experience here but we have had a very mild spring here and if I transplant in the spring it is pretty early so you are right to wait until the fall. Glad you are enjoying Baton Rouge....Geaux Tigers lol.

JBP, the responses to your question are wonderful and informative (and hilarious). Great advice! I have nothing to add except that I am another rose transporting "noodle head" and wish you well with your move. I'm sure all will be fine. I love your photos and was especially moved by the gardenia photo. My mother grew gardnenias. (I'm originally from TX.) Carol

JBP and boncrow66, another heartbroken gardener for her pet over here. Our sweet dog died in January and ever since we lost him I haven’t missed a day reading this forum. Though it’s difficult to see all this new life coming in spring without him, I found gardening to be a good healer.

Good luck with your new house and garden, JBP!

Another vote for waiting for cooler weather to lessen stress on you and the plants. Soaking sounds like a good plan, as does tying up canes. Good luck!

altorama, a noodle head is obviously someone who uses his/her noodle. I'd take it as a compliment, even if that's not how it was meant. ;>)

Virginia

Thank you all again. What an awesome group of gardening fellows!

Vesfl, I have to address you first because I know how it feels. Hang in there, I know exactly what you mean about spring. It's something special about how gardening brings us pleasure but also keeps our wonderful memories alive.

Rick, you are certainly brave moving your roses thousands of kilometers. I'm only moving a few street blocks and it seems like a daunting task. Thanks for your suggestions. Your roses look very happy after their transcontinental trip. No sign of jet leg. :-)

altorama, Carol, and Virginia, I'm joining the club. Count me as a fellow noodle-head :-)

boncrow66, Geaux Tigers and Go Blue!

I am actually an Aggie fan, so Gig em Aggies lol. Yes it's tough to lose our pets because they are like family but all my memories are good ones and working in the garden helps. Have fun gardening in your new home!