All excellent advice you have received, a couple of things I would add:
Roses sometimes take their own sweet time adjusting to a new location and it will get better with some tlc from you. The fact that the roots are not big maybe means it has suffered through lack of deep watering (roses need a LOT of water!) and the correct feeding regime in the past. As it is in a pot, and it needs to be a big one, it will dry out quicker and is totally dependent on you for water and nutrients. It’s like a helpless babe, but one that will grow up to be a healthy, bouncing child with the right nurture.
Roses are a game of two halves - there is your rose variety, the bit that grows canes and those lovely bi-colour flowers, which is grafted onto a root stock from another rose variety chosen for it’s vigour and hardiness. The graft is the knobbly bit you see at soil level that joins the two halves together. If you plant the rose deeper, burying the graft a couple of inches below the soil, this helps to stabilise the rose and prevent it rocking in the wind, which can inhibit the development of the strong root system necessary to support new growth and flowering above ground. It can also encourage the rose to produce new canes from below the soil, so your rose will become bushier. Now you don’t want to be doing that at the moment, but when it is dormant in winter, you might consider repotting it again and burying the graft.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Thanks for the help. I will keep on top of feeding and bury the graft in winter. Is it best to put some bonemeal in the soil when repotting to encourage root growth?
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If it has been this weak I'd wonder if you can move the pot to a better location to improve its health as we are getting into warmer weather as well.
Roses sometimes take their own sweet time adjusting to a new location and it will get better with some tlc from you. The fact that the roots are not big maybe means it has suffered through lack of deep watering (roses need a LOT of water!) and the correct feeding regime in the past. As it is in a pot, and it needs to be a big one, it will dry out quicker and is totally dependent on you for water and nutrients. It’s like a helpless babe, but one that will grow up to be a healthy, bouncing child with the right nurture.
Roses are a game of two halves - there is your rose variety, the bit that grows canes and those lovely bi-colour flowers, which is grafted onto a root stock from another rose variety chosen for it’s vigour and hardiness. The graft is the knobbly bit you see at soil level that joins the two halves together. If you plant the rose deeper, burying the graft a couple of inches below the soil, this helps to stabilise the rose and prevent it rocking in the wind, which can inhibit the development of the strong root system necessary to support new growth and flowering above ground. It can also encourage the rose to produce new canes from below the soil, so your rose will become bushier. Now you don’t want to be doing that at the moment, but when it is dormant in winter, you might consider repotting it again and burying the graft.