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Ridding myself of a rose

CrazybeeladyCrazybeelady Posts: 778
in Plants
I was wondering how easy it is to dig up a rose? I guess I'd like it to survive and I'll give it to someone else, but I'm sick of it! Are the roots very deep? Would it be too hard for a feeble 5'2" female to dig up? If any root was left, would it grow back?
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  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    It will depend how old it is really and also partly the type but usually they aren’t too onerous to get out. There will probably be a few long sturdy roots which may put up a fight but you could just cut those with loppers
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    A few years ago I removed 2 Gertrude Jekyll from my front garden, they were at least 20yrs old.
    I wasn't planning on keeping them, so just sort of wrenched them out of the ground with little root left on them.
    I dropped them in a bucket and took them down the garden leaving the bucket on top of my trio of compost bins.
    Almost a year later I noticed something orange behind one of the compost bins when I was digging out compost.
    It was the bucket with the roses in it jammed between the fence and compost bins.
    The bucket was about 1/2 full with water and full of mozzie larvae - BUT the roses were showing signs of growth!
    That of course gave me a dilemma! 
    Having gone through such hardships I didn't have the heart to chuck them out as planned so dug 2 holes, dropped them in and told them they had 2 chances!
    Needless to say they are both now thriving and in full bloom now!
    So they're not easily killed.

    They will not re-grow from any bits of missed root when you dig them out.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • CrazybeeladyCrazybeelady Posts: 778
    It's around 6 years old and some kind of shrub rose. I planted it when I first started gardening and didn't have a clue! I'll promise it to someone then @Pete.8 and not have to worry that it may die! I don't really have the heart to get rid really but it is a nuisance. 
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    Crazybeelady said:
    It's around 6 years old and some kind of shrub rose. I planted it when I first started gardening and didn't have a clue! I'll promise it to someone then @Pete.8 and not have to worry that it may die! I don't really have the heart to get rid really but it is a nuisance. 
    If you are not too desperate to have it gone, and want to give it a chance of survival, it would be best to wait until winter, when it is in dormancy before digging it up. Loosen a circle of ground around it, going as deep as you can, cut through any really thick roots, there will be one or two, put it in a plastic bin liner or similar and give it to someone willing to give it a new home. If necessary, leave it outside your gate or on a nearby verge with a stick it poster saying Free to a good home. 
    Some one is sure to take it.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I can tell you how I got rid of a huge rambling rector.
    I cut it down to short sticks and every time a shoot appeared, I rubbed it off. It took a couple of seasons but no real effort was involved. I was able to plant things beside it in the meantime. This worked for a couple of large  goatwillows too. ( large but not large for goat willow!)
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • CrazybeeladyCrazybeelady Posts: 778
    Thanks all, yes @Joyce Goldenlily I will wait until the end of the year, too much stuff growing in the way of it right now - partly why it needs to go!
  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    It would be helpful to the new owner if you include the roses age, colour, height, spread  and type on the stick it when you dig it up. It would help to make sure it goes to an appropriate new home.
    Many years ago I re-homed a bare root rose, with no information, bought at a church bazaar. It was lovely and gave me many years of fragrant, rich apricot flowers. It turned out to be a modern bush rose but I never find out what it was called.
  • OliyaOliya Posts: 228
    I’ve inherited some mature roses with the garden, growing in the most awkward places. I dug three of them in late autumn and replanted one in another part of the garden and two in pots. The roots were deep so I ended up pulling them out of the ground pretty much like carrots until the roots snapped. Two seasons on, two of the roses are looking fantastic and one potted one is not looking great but it was also looking rather weedy when I dug it.
    So yes, wait until it’s dormant and then dig it up without worrying too much about getting all of the roots out:)
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited June 2023
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

    Few people are happy if you give them something that dies.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • CrazybeeladyCrazybeelady Posts: 778
    I think it's going to be my mum that gets it, I doubt she'll listen to anything I tell her 😄
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