I think planting, then digging up and transplanting only 2 weeks later, then the break was probably just a lot of stress in a short period of time. I wouldn't begin to judge it until next year, let it rest over winter and start fresh in spring. My best advice would be just leave it alone. Don't move it and it shouldn't need any additional fertilizer, even this coming spring.

Ok, thanks! I’m in zone 5b. I assume I shouldn’t cut anything back this winter?

And yes, I really did not want to dig it back up but I was really concerned for my expensive, long awaited and prized possession! 😁
Maybe I will get the soil tested too. It’s not very expensive at a local agronomists business.

Dianela, sorry, I was trying to respond while working on a big grass-seeding projectand somehow missed your picture. Your rose is gorgeous!!! 🤩 I hope mine will be that amazing in the next few years!!

Don't cut it back this Fall. Only cut off dead bits in Spring until well established. You can stake a tall cane if you worry about wind breakage in Winter.

Thanks, Sheila! That’s what I figured!

My Earth Angel established very slowly. Now about 6 years later she is very robust. The flowers ball up in wet weather. They last a very long time on the bush if the weather cooperates. The fragrance is heady strong. Even late in the season when many resistant roses in my garde start to show some negligible BS damage, Earth Angel is pristine, down to the ground. She's slow to repeat, but so are so many Kordes roses for me, go figure? She occasionally shows pale foliage in isolated spots which green up quickly if liquid fed with an acid lovers formulation, two feedings two weeks or so apart does the trick. She has done this every year. My particular bush sends out a myriad of basal and low emerging lateral canes. At spring pruning it looks almost like a pin cushion. They are robust, not spindly. If I prune the bush out to just 6 robust canes, I just reduce blooming, so I oblige her idiosyncracy.

That's about all I can report on my Earth Angel. I like her. Under ideal weather conditions she excels.

I would give your EA time to settle in. Be patient and maybe yours will bloom like Dianela's magnificent specimen. If mine bloomed at half the size of hers I would rejoice, but I am pleased at 1/5 of Dianela's, just the same.

Moses

Thank you Ariel and thank you Moses. I think this one is a great variety tho I also experienced a slow establishment phase with my own root plants.

I also find many of my healthier Kordes do not repeat as fast as my blackspotters (Austin’s) so a big shame. I still love their green foliage.

Moses I bet your plants is glorious, my picture angle shows the front of my clump, but I have 3 plants planted in a triangle configuration there so not a single plant.

Thank you for all the information about Earth Angel, Moses! That will be nice to refer back to as she matures!
Dianela, that was a still a whole bunch of blooms—three plants or one! 😊
That’s interesting that you both said that your Kordes roses are slow to repeat. I was just talking to a friend who has a Kiss Me Kate and she acted like it basically only bloomed once. I thought that was strange because I figured it was a repeat bloomer and sure enough, it is. That explains it, then. I’ll have to tell her what I learned.

where are you in z5... its about half the US and very divergent ....does your ground freeze??

in my z5 MI.. i would have to cut it to about 6 to 8 inches.. bury it in mulch and cover with a rose cone ....

watch for very warm zone suggestions.. if you dont cut it back.. winter winds will most likely kill it back to snow cover.. or lower... hence the rose cones and mulch ...

your plant looks like its planted very deep... cant really see properly in the pix... if so.. it might not thrive properly... why it MIGHt be struggling...

the usual suspect for winter problems in colder zones .... is prevailing winter winds.. and sun.. the canes thawing during warmish winter sunny days.. and refreezing ... even freeze drying during the night... i used to say.. a plant has a sense of humor about it the first time it happens.. is rather upset the second time it happens showing significant damage.. and will just about outright die the third time...

and it seems you do not have some little winter wind free micro climate.. in that first pic.. looks sorta prairie like... i bet the winds whip thru there when the corns gone.. if in fact that is corn over there...

fertilizer is never really a remedy for anything.... applied properly.. it rarely hurts.. as long as you stop by 9/1 in z5.. but it seldom ever fixes a problem ...

ken

I live in northern Indiana—maybe about 20 miles or so from the Michigan border. We get lake effect weather since we are about an hour from Lake Michigan but I wouldn’t say we get just a lot of wind—as compared to central Iowa where I grew up!
Thanks for your info too! Would you put the rose cone on before after the first frost but before the first freeze (if possible)?

Remember the adage: first they sleep, then they creep, then they leap! That’s been my experience. Earth Angel sends out giant canes.

on another forum someone mentioned that own-root roses are slower to establish than grafted ones as the roostock gives those a kind of jumpstart, and even then (with grafted ones) you would need at least 2 seasons