Relocating Roses?

[RedCrownBravo2]

Hello All,

This may seem a bizarre question, but bear with me! I just bought a house a few months ago. The previous owner obviously used to be a dedicated gardener, but when she got older, the tore out whatever foliage/shrubbery was in front of the house and replaced them with knockout roses. While I absolutely love roses, and these are lovely, they are leggy and unmanageable and look bizarre in front of the front windows. I would like to relocate them to another area of the yard where they can do their thing, but where they are currently located is just not going to work. They look like they have been there at least a year or two.
Does anyone have any recommendations or wisdom about relocating these beauties, or will I just have to rip them out and start all over again?

 

[Pat]

Hi, wait until the fall, remove all dead limbs, cut the bushes as low as you can to make them easy to handle. Next spring when the ground has warmed up get the spot you plan to move the bushes to ready by digging the holes for the plans you will be moving. Digg deep enough around the bushes to get the root balls move the plans to the new space you have ready for them. Water the plants very well in their new homes. The plants will thrive in their new home.

 

[marlingardener]

Depending on where you are, fall is a good time to move roses. We are in Central Texas, zone 8, and we plant or relocate roses in October and November. If you are in a colder climate, early spring, just when the roses start to show little red bumps on their stems, is the ideal time.
Knockout roses are notoriously tough, which is why they are so popular with industrial plantings. When you get ready to move them, prepare the holes they will be moving to, take up the root ball and preserve as much of the soil around the roots as possible, plunk them in the new hole and water them in well.
Knockouts are advertised as "easy care" or "low maintenance" roses. They are, but they do need to be pruned occasionally. We don't have any knockout roses, but I've dealt with them on a local college campus while volunteering. Not my favorite rose, but any rose is better than no rose!