Young Climbing roses - can I move them?
Big Blue Sky
Posts: 716
Dear gardeners,
in spring I bought and planted a few climbing roses and they did very well through the summer. However now I feel like I planted them a bit too far from the fence (about half a meter away from the wooden fence). It appears now that if I wanted to support them on the fence I would need to really bend them, while older climbing roses in the garden are growing just next to the fence and are easy to support as they literally spread across the fence.
So I was thinking should I move the young bushes closer to the fence now as long as they are not too mature, or is it too late and I should leave them be and just bend them towards the fence.
The roses are medium size climbers, that apparently don't grow over 3-4 meters...
I wouldn't want to just go ahead and move them if it is too risky as they are all very healthy beautiful plants so I wouldn't want to jinx them. So I thought I'd ask if it is risky at all or not.
Thank you!
Posts
Not a problem. Move them back anytime Nov - Feb. Just dig up and move lock stock and barrel so to speak, and tie the shoots to their support for the winter. Prune in March any growth that might look a bit iffy... but I take the opportunity to summer prune - after the first flush - if they look a bit leggy because of the move, or any dieback that might occur.
Thank you Marlorena, just what I was hoping for. Great advise on how to take care of them later on - I shall definitely follow it (I even saved it on my phone to have it handy when needed
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The soil at the bottom of fences and walls can be rather dry, depending on which way the rain falls. Roses should be planted 12 - 18" from the base of the fence, if it's a solid one, so is it really necessary to move them? As they get bigger they should be easier to bend back along the fence, especially if you tie back new shoots when they are still supple.
But, if you really want to move them then it should be fine, as Marlorena says.