In the Antelope Valley, I noticed the same thing. In particular the foliage was very red for the first two months and then was a beautiful, lush green on all. Also, my bud count seemed much higher. Not complaining, though!

Husband neither bought nor planted? A suitable replacement might be a solution even if it involves a lot of digging? If you like the fragrance, Hansa is a good option, and doesn't sucker like the species at all. Neither does Mrs Anthony Waterer, and she has very good fragrance too. If it is the simple flowers you like, Fru Dagmar Hastrup, Carmen and others can provide this. You can check out if the rugosa hybrids that happen to be available near you might meet your requirements. There are lots of well behaved shrub varieties, but very few other than rugosas can offer fragrance, rebloom and hips all in one plant. If it is the thorns you like the least, go for something else than rugosa, they all have them. Best of luck with your decision :-)

You made a mistake by cutting them back last fall. In your zone you should not prune your roses in the fall. Wait until spring. The roses store nutrients in the canes and you cut that supply off when you pruned them. That being said, last year was a particularly bad winter and you probably would have lost most of the cane anyway. Nothing you can do about that. We all started out with shorter than normal roses this spring. They'll need time to recuperate and rebuild their structures. Knowing what roses you have will also help us to determine how large and bushy you can expect them to get. Roses can take from 3 to 5 years to fully mature so be patient. As for the puckered leaves we really would need to see a photo of them to be able to diagnose what's going on. Why are you using the Bioneem oil? Do you have a bug infestation? If not then you don't need it. If you do not have a specific insect that you have correctly identified and are using the correct product for that bug, you could be killing off beneficial insects instead. That could set you up for an even worse problem later on. Only use insecticide when you have a bug, know exactly what bug it is and determine the correct insecticide to use for that bug. Not all insecticides work on all bugs. For now I would keep them well watered and fertilize them following the instructions on the fertilizer carefully and be patient.

As an arborist I can confirm that the quoted info is applicable to trees and shrubs. Mature camellias, forsythias, azaleas and many other shrubs can be successfully moved following these instructions. Perfectly true for fruit trees and ornamental trees as well. However, roses are unique in their structure and growth pattern and in roses, heading cuts are the rule. Typically when we cut back and shape our roses-- from floribundas to shrubs to antiques-- we use heading cuts. With twiggy, dense structures and many thorns thinning is just not a practical way to reduce the top growth. Here's the biggie: the root structure of woody landscape plants (trees and shrubs) is much sturdier, so it is much easier to get a good mass of roots when the plant is removed from the nursery row. So Extension agents are now pointing out that if you have irrigation and intend to keep the transplanted shrub/tree well-hydrated there's no need to remove top growth. When we move a camellia/azalea/forsythia/holly or whatever at the arboretum where I work we don't cut it back at all. Never had a problem. My practical experience over 5 decades in public gardens is that roses are different than other woody shrubs. They're harder to transplant, more likely to suffer a setback, and have much better survival rates when they are pruned back. Mostly we try like heck to put them in the right place with enough room to thrive. Hope this helps clarify the referenced quote. It is excellent information. Not everything commercial nurseries do is correct or even very smart; they can be slow to change traditional practices in production and harvesting. The quote seemed to be directed at them as well as landscape maintainers.