Transplanting a climbing Rose

Whew, finally on the other side of Christmas and looking forward to gardening again.  My first thought is to move my favorite climbing rose called Cecil Brunner that have clusters of sweetheart pink baby roses with the most wonderful fragrance. Where I have it now does not get enough sun to get the most blooms.  It's a very vigorous rose and I'm going to move it to a sunnier spot on an arbor that already has Constance Spry pictured here on one side, a gorgeous large cupped rose and also vigorous.  I moved another climber , Lady Banks one summer because it was taking over my deck railing as an experiment thinking I didn't care if I lost it. It was not a good idea to move it in the middle of summer, I lost most of the length of the canes and it's struggled to come back.  The best time to move a rose or climbing rose is when it's dormant or late winter to early spring, for us in the Pacific Northwest that is January or February.  I look for when it loses it's leaves. 

Sometimes I will take cuttings in case I lose the plant I'm moving.  You can take cuttings in fall or early spring before new leaves start to break out.  Cut a 9" pencil size new stem not using the flimsy tip of that cane with buds that are close together and about 6 buds so you can put 3 buds below the soil level and 3 above.  Dig a hole about 6" deep in good well drained soil and in a morning sun area only. Put the stem in so that 3 buds are below and 3 above and take off any leaves except for a couple top leaves. Water well and don't let them dry out.  Take several cuttings so you are sure to have some that take and some may not.

Now back to moving the climber.  Prepare the hole first and dig a 2' deep  and 1 1/2' wide hole , prepare compost and processed manure mixture for the hole and mound the center for the roots of the rose to spread over.  Now cut back the canes of the climber by 1/3 to healthy outside buds at a 45 degree angle and cut out any unhealthy, old canes or crossing canes.  Now dig the rose up and dig deep to get as much of the roots as possible.   Try not to disturb the roots as much a possible, roses can be temperamental to move. Spread the roots over the cone of soil and fill in the hole with the good soil you have prepared.  The soil level should be at the bud union at the base of the rose. Make a water catching well around the outside of the soil and water well and keep well watered. 

I can't wait to get out there and move my rose, I still have leaves on my roses right now.  I think maybe mid January I may get to move it.  Here is a photo of my Constance Spry rose on the other side of the arbor, I don't have a photo of Cecil Brunner because it's just never bloomed much.  I hope to get a great photo this summer to post providing all goes well with transplanting.   Good luck! and Happy New Year! Happy Gardening! Time to start planning the garden, oh I'm getting excited now.  I took a break from posting but I will be posting much more now that the holidays are over.  I hope everyone had a great holiday.