Today I picked up a mature Rose De Recht from a local gardener who was redoing her flower beds.

But the poor thing was out of the ground for almost 2 hours. I went as fast as I could, but it was a bit of an ordeal to transport it and get it in the ground.

It's about 4-5 feet tall and has not been pruned this winter/spring.

I got it planted in really good, fertile soil in full sun with some BioTone which contains mycorrhizal fungi. I watered it really well, and then watered it deeply again a couple of hours later. But it's still wilted! There were very few hair roots when we dug it out of the ground, and now I'm concerned it's going to die of thirst.

Questions!

-Should I prune it? How much? I was told this shrub rose did not like to be pruned. With this strange spring we've been having it's got a couple of blooms already! Should I at least cut off the blooms?

-I was told this rose was not grafted. How deep does it need to be planted? Does the entire thick, knobby part need to be covered? I didn't bury it and it seemed a little wobbly in the wind.

-What should I do if it doesn't perk up by tomorrow?

-What kind of a watering schedule should I follow while it's recovering from transplant shock?

I really love this rose and hope to save it!

If much of the soil fell away from the roots when you transplanted it, then I recommend that you remove at least the top third of the bush's height. Whenever a rose that is fully leafed out is transplanted in such a way that its roots are disturbed, the roots cannot absorb or deliver sufficient moisture to all of the leaves on the plant. By removing the top third of the canes and their leaves, it will put less demand on the roots. (It's better to have sufficient moisture going into the remaining leaves and canes, than insufficient moisture going to any leaves or canes.) Then deeply water the rose every other day for at least 10 days.

I've had this rose for a long time and the only reason I can think of for not pruning it is losing the spring flush of blooms this year. It won't hurt the health of the plant to prune it. I'd remove at least a third, maybe more to help it the way Mike describes.
You can bury it pretty deeply and the part of the canes that are below ground will root.

I should have added that I've had Rose de Rescht in my garden for many years, and it routinely gets pruned in the spring along with all my other roses. It's a Damask variety, by the way, and even though Damask roses don't like to be hard pruned, removing the top third won't hurt it, as Tabby mentioned.

A little temporary shade might help as well. Sometimes just a lawn chair or other tallish item set on the south to southwest side of the plant will help to slow transpiration until the plant can recover from transplant shock.

Excellent suggestion!

I have an Adirondack chair tipped over a tiny frost injured Magnolia sapling right now. I'm sure it will be fine if it has a chance to take it easy for a while.

Thank you so much for your help! I pruned about a fourth of it today and gave it some more water. Unfortunately, it's still looking wilted.

I will prune some more and bury it more deeply. I'm also going to try to find some shade for it. I really hope it survives. Thank you all for your help!

I wanna put in my $0.02USD in and recommend mulch, too. Mulch around it. That way, when you water, the mulch will help keep the soil moist (but not soggy) and keeps the ground cooler.

I've transplanted many roses wrongly and, if they're meant to live, they bounce right back. Give it a week at least. One thing *I* like to use when transplanting mature bushes is Age Old Kelp (http://www.ageoldorganic.com/2...). I can get it locally at a LGS. You can also use SuperThrive (http://www.homedepot.com/webap...) which you can get at Home Depot. I transplanted a few weeks ago 9 roses from the west side of my yard to the east side & all survived no problem.

As far as burying it, I'm of a firm believer of burying the bud union a minimum of 2" below the ground surface, then mounding dirt UP over it so that just about 4" of the canes are sticking out.

Sigh...

When do I officially declare this rose dead?

It never recovered from the transplant. The leaves never perked up at all, even with good soil, watering, and mulch.

When mine have shown no signs of life for a year or so I pull them up. Most people figure it out sooner.

I don't give up until all the canes are brown & brittle. I've seen miracles happen, seriously. Don't give up!

I think Porkpal's suggestion is pretty good. I've had several roses disappear underground for the better part of a year, then come back fighting. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Ones that come back, tend to be well established when they do. If you love the rose, it can be worth waiting for a whole year. I frequently lose patience first, and clear a rose out to make room for something else when it looks like it might possibly be dead.

Of course sometimes it comes back as rootstock. I have quite a collection of Dr Hueys.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I'm going to prune a bit more, keep watering it and see what happens.

Porkpal, I suspect some of the nicer looking canes that are just full of buds are probably Hueys. I just can't bear to dig them out right before they bloom. Then I hate to dig them out right after they give me such pretty blossoms, Then I get busy with other gardening chores and forget which ones looked like huey when they bloomed, and I wait for the next flush, which of course doesn't come, and the hueys get to stay yet another year.
Now if I have 2 colors on one shrub, I know and it's easy to cut out the Huey canes. that may be why I stopped buying grafted red roses.

Cindi you and I seem to be kindred spirits. I always rather liked the way the bi-colored bushes look and treat my Dr Hueys much as you do. I too have given up on grafted roses here as they seem to have a rather short life span while the old roses on their own roots are virtually immortal!

Porkpal, We've both learned to deal with challenging climates. Sometimes you take what you can get! I've had good luck with own root roses, and was happy when J & P started that New Generation line. We had a rose supplier from a big competing company come and talk to our rose society and he had nothing good to say about own root roses, and really trashed the New Generation line. I spoke up and said they grew just fine for me in a mostly no-spray, almost-organic garden. i think I grow enough roses (360 at last count) that I can make some fair comparisons.
I have a beautiful Westerland blooming right now with a branch in the middle with small red buds. Westerland is such a vigorous rose, a monster really, why on earth does it have to be grafted? It's so hardy it didn't even drop its leaves this winter.

SSGardener - Any word on leaves/leafbuds yet?

I pruned it back pretty drastically, but a couple of days later, all the remaining leaves were yellow/brown and dead-looking. I didn't want the dying leaves to invite disease and critters, so I cut out most of the leaves. Now it's just a few sticks poking out of the ground.

I'm going to keep watering it and see what happens. I don't think its root system is able to drink up much water, if any at all. It's in really good soil right now, so I'll see if it recovers.