Christen,

I'm sorry to hear about your father. I can appreciate your wanting to have his roses in your own garden. You may want to mention your growing zone/location for some more experienced gardeners to give you some advice. In general you can either transplant them, or take cuttings. I about killed one of my own roses transplanting it last spring and this summer will be the first I'll be trying to propagate via cuttings, so I'm definitely not the voice of experience you need. Other than to suggest checking w/your local Univ Extension office or seeing if the American Rose Society has a branch near you to get some help in your geographical area. You'll want to get information on soil preparation as well. If you find the "ideal" transplanting time would be after your mother sells the house, she should be able to include in the house listing/contract the roses as not being part of the sale and outline the time period you would be removing them. Hope this helped, a little : ) Good luck!

I'm so sorry for your loss and I think saving your Dad's roses would be a wonderful tribute to him. I tending all of the roses my Mom grew when she passed and they are very dear to me.

Yes, knowing where you are located would be very helpful but many people have moved roses from home to home successfully. I know of people who have moved a few of them across country and some that moved around 5000 (yep, that's thousands) to a new location.

Please give us some idea where you are so we can give you accurate information about the when and how of it.

Well, I am in the Saint Louis MO area... so... I guess zone 5? Thank you for all of the nice comments about my dad. They are too special to leave there. My mom is selling her home as an AS IS only... so basically there is no negotiating. I can take what I want.

OK, so zone 5 is probably still quite cold and that's a good thing. Now is a very good time to make the move. In your yard as soon as you can dig your soil prepare the spot you want to put them in. Holes for planting should be at least 2 feet deep and wide. Don't add chemical fertilizer to the holes but any kind of organic materials are fine. You will need some kind of pots to put them in when you dig them out. Any kind of container or old pots you have that are big enough will work for long enough to move them. I have used ordinary wash buckets from the dollar store to keep plants in for moving. Since you will be cutting some of the roots, there really is no way to avoid that, and if the roses are quite tall you may want to prune the roses back by about half before the move. It will make them easier to handle and put less stress on the root system starting out. Dig up the roses trying to keep the root ball intact as much as possible and put them in your pots. Get them home as quick as possible and get them back in the ground. You don't want the roots to dry out. Place them in your holes and water them some. Then start back filling them and gently tamping the soil in to get out any air pockets. When done water them again. Keep them well watered but not soggy wet until you begin to see some new growth on them. Then you can go to a regular watering schedule and give them some half strength fertilizer.

Hope that helps and please ask if you have any other questions.

THANK YOU!! You are all so helpful. As soon as I make the moves, I will post pictures for you all to see.. and hopefully throughout their life this summer, if all goes well. :)