Moving Three Roses...

whowants2brich

My two pence regarding this.... Rather than moving the plants now, what about convincing your MIL to cut back everything in the garden, except the roses. To guarantee success, one way or another, take several cuttings off the existing roses, leaving them in situ til next spring. If you take good cuttings, and bury them before it gets too cold/frosty, you should find that the cuttings will take root over winter and grow shoots for next spring which will have more success.

If the shoots don't take, at least you know that the original "mother plant" is still accessible.

Or, if your MIL can't/won't leave the rose bushes where they are, when you transplant the main rose bush as described above, there is nothing to stop you from taking a few cuttings before you transplant. Then, you have the best of both world, and if the main plant struggles, hopefully the cuttings will take... and you'll have several lovely rose plants!

Either way, good luck, and yes, it is hard to kill roses so hopefully they'll be fine!

Mojisola

I used to work on a rose nursery and we started selling bare-root roses in the autumn. They establish well in the ground in the autumn because the soil is still warm. In the spring, the soil will be cold from the winter and the roses will start growing leaves straight away so the roots don't get such a good start.

Wait at least until the leaves are changing colour and dropping. If you can wait until most of the leaves have dropped, even better.

Added: I would prune back about halfway now and prune hard towards the end of winter - follow the directions for "Hybrid Tea (Large-flowered) - http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=176

When you're done, the roses should like the picture at the top of the page mentioned above.

These general tips - http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=186 - are also worth reading.

Enjoy the flowers next year!

gardenroute

I would ignore a set month/time to do anything.
Planting a rose can be done at any time of year. Moving a rose should be done when the plant is dormant i.e. when its leaves fall of. Heavy pruning or root damage done when the plant is growing may not kill the plant but it would weaken it and leave it open to diseases.
Normally when you move a plant you should take a much of the roots and soil as possible, but roses are the one exception to this.
Roses are suffer from a little understood problem called rose replant sickness - this is usually caused by planting new roses where there were roses before. I think RRS can also happen when roses are moved and roots that are moved with them are damaged and then die or get diseased; affecting the rose plant.
I would leave as little soil as possible on the roots and cut off any weak, damaged roots and then replant quickly. Some mycorrhizal fungus e.g. rootgrow would not hurt the roses, and IME has helped in some of gardens I've worked in.

loucroft

Lots of mixed info, in the end maybe just move them now, take a cutting if this is intended to work and feed with a mulch and manure on top.

If you struggle then come back again, don't let us confuse you!!!