ordered a don juan climbing rose. The poor thing got here wilted and stressed. Acclimated it for a day and planted it the following day. Gave it plenty of water, compost, soil. Had to dig the hole with a chisel and hammer but goes with the territory. Has plenty of room, has been in the ground for 10 days and seems to be barely hanging on. Can not get a good green color in the leaves and the buds that were there when it arrived have not opened. I understand that but wonder if any one has some tips on high altitude roses. This rose fits the zone but could be pushing it on altitude. Roses are my fav and want to grow them up here. Any help will be appreciated.

Welcome to the forum! I have suggested they move your question to the rose forum where it will get more attention.

I would try the Canadian Explorer Series, grown in raised beds if necessary.

http://www.hortico.com/roses/s...

Thank you. I looked at them and may give it a try.

Maybe you didn't give it enough time to acclimate. 1 day from wherever it was before is not really a lot of time for plants. They are slow adjusters. Hardening off, takes at least a week.

I would find a way to give it some shade. I put a chair in front of or on top of some of my plants to give them shade. I let them wilt, then give them shade. They perk back up after about 30 min to an hour, then I expose them to the sun again. Fast way to harden them off, but takes a lot observation time.

Good luck and happy gardening!

Remove the buds; that's the last thing you need on a newly planted stressed rose. They consume energy, and you need to direct energy to roots and leaves right now, not flowers.

What is this rose? Is it grafted or own root. Regardless, the above advice is good. For future roses, I might give Matt a call at https://www.highcountryroses.c... and see what he suggests. You might also visit any local or regional gardens if possible and see what doing well. On another forum some Co and Wy folks have good luck with a few. I'll try to remember to check what those are and report back. Good luck.

Also, your mention of the soil being so hard makes me wonder if it is draining.

If you do this again, with another rose, try digging the hole, and filling it up with water. If there's still standing water in that hole an hour later, there is going to be a drainage problem.