Food-Gardening Lessons From A Wartime Victory Garden

Best Time to Transplant Roses in Georgia

“What is the best time to transplant roses in Georgia?” Question from Jacqueline of Statham, Georgia

Answer: The best transplant window in your USDA Hardiness Zones 7-8 location is from November to February, when your roses are largely dormant. Choose a mild winter day when the soil is warm enough to dig. Here are the steps needed to transplant your roses:

Steps for Transplanting Roses

  1. For easier transplant, prune rose bushes back before moving them (see our rose pruning how-to video below).
  2. When digging up a rose for transplant, remove as much of the rootball as possible, while retaining as much soil around the ball as possible.
  3. Dig a new hole that’s just a little larger than rootball, and amend the backfill with quality compost, like Black Gold Garden Compost Blend, before planting.
  4. Plant the rootball so the top of the ball meets the top of the soil line, and fill in around it with the backfill, being sure to remove any air pockets. All roots should be covered.
  5. Feed your roses with natural alfalfa meal fertilizer (great for roses!), and water your rose well.
  6. Add a topdressing of 2-3 inches of compost or bark mulch to protect your newly planted rose.
  7. If weather remains dry, continue to keep newly transplanted roses watered until they break bud and their roots have become well established.

Happy rose growing!

Jessie

About JESSIE KEITH

Plants are the lens Jessie views the world through because they’re all-sustaining. (“They feed, clothe, house and heal us. They produce the air we breathe and even make us smell pretty.”) She’s a garden writer and photographer with degrees in both horticulture and plant biology from Purdue and Michigan State Universities. Her degrees were bolstered by internships at Longwood Gardens and the American Horticultural Society. She has since worked for many horticultural institutions and companies and now manages communications for Sun Gro Horticulture, the parent company of Black Gold. Her joy is sharing all things green and lovely with her two daughters.

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