I think you could definitely heel in your roses over winter at your new home. I included a link for a few ways to hold on to bare root roses, which is kind of what they will be when you dig them up for transport. I would cut the canes down to 1-2 feet to make them easier to handle and you can lay them in a trench...make sure you cover them with plenty of mulch and plant as soon as the ground is workable in the spring so that new tender roots aren't damaged when they are moved. Watch for heaving during the winter to make sure the roots stay covered with soil or mulch. Another option would be to trim the canes and pot up these roses in nursery containers and overwinter in a sheltered area outside (covered with a pile of leaves/straw mulch), in an unheated garage or basement, or even put the pots in a trench and cover with soil and mulch until spring. If you do pot up and overwinter indoors, I've used a black garbage bag over small potted rose starts to help keep light from triggering weak foliage growth...make sure you cut a generous ventilation hole in the top. If they are healthy, established roses, they should survive the transition fine :) Here is a link that might be useful: heeling in bare root roses

You can prune lower than the leaves and it will put out new leaves. I've done the same as Hamp, for the reasons he stated and because the rose was just too big to handle. Keep it well watered after moving it and it will be fine. I used to cut GT back to about 4 feet after he bloomed but he will put out new growth that is back up to about 8 feet in no time. He rebloomed well with his haircut after every flush. Carol

moccasin - those are some nice lights! i can see why you like them. I bet they're more than 20-30 $s each tho... I loved that the globes come in colors... I'd stay away from the red tho. OTOH that could be good for an emergency signal to a neighbor. I'm too poor to pay much for the lights - even if I find a SWern one i like it's sure to be more than 30.00 and I think I should limit it to that. I need 3 - plus a few (plus) inside need replaced based on they are UGLY. I found these 2 at lowe's. both plain but would do the job - cheaply. it'll probably be the first one unless I find something better for the price in the store. around 25.00 with clean lines. I'd have to see how my chubby little fingers fit for changing the bulb. it's better I don't have to mess with those little screws and chance dropping the globe since things seems to jump out of my hands. I remember changing bulbs in the screw on globe type yrs ago. max wattage is 100w this one is about 21.00. I like it, again clean, simple lines - this one has a frosted globe. has the little screws tho and max wattage is 60w.

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. Potted and waiting for me to finish building their new raised beds. All growing well and anxious to be planted and begin doing what they do best. A ten year plus plant of Cressida in a five gallon plastic pot. Note the long thick woody base. What is showing is the area above the graft that was buried 6 plus inches below grade in zone 4b Ontario. This was the largest mature plant with a huge root ball and she survived and is doing just fine. 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