We have a beautiful climbing rose which flowers beautifully, we planted it 2 years ago, but not being really good gardeners planted it on too small wall at back of the house. Although on a trellis it has nowhere further to spread, is covering a window and is bowing over at the top.

Is there any way we can move it and transplant it to a bed against the main wall of the house without hurting it. It has a lot of growth but I don't really want to prune any of the branches

If it is possible to do it when would be the best time? I don't want to disturb it at the wrong time.

Would really be grateful for some advice.

It's a little late to be pruning now. I would suggest waiting until the rose is dormant, over the winter to move it. I generally prune all my roses in March.

It's a good idea get into the habit of pruning your roses every year, as they will repay you for it with strong healthy growth and more flowers.

If you absolutely have to move it, and don't mind possibly losing your flowers for this year, I would cut it right back to a few buds above the ground, and dig as big a rootball as you can manage. Dig the new hole bigger, add lots of garden compost and something like bonemeal, mix it all up in the bottom (wear gloves). Pop the rose's root ball into the hole, at the same depth and backfill the soil. Hoof yer boot to make sure there are no air pockets, and water really well (even if it's raining).
This is what I do if I want to rejuvenate an old rose. It'll be fine, but you do have to cut it back to help it recover.

Thanks Hayley

Yes I think we have to move it, it can't really go up any further, and we can't force it go horizontally I don't think.

If I decided to leave it until Autumn would I still need to cut it right back.??

yes. Whenever you move any plant, they have to lay down their roots to be able to provide for the good stuff up-top.

You actually, can get better flowers if you do make the plant grow horizontally.

Do you know the name of the rose?

If it were me and I REALLY had to move it, I'd cut it back now while it's still pretty cool, move it, then train all this years' new growth horizontally. Shoots will grow off the horizontals, and it's these that will give you the best show. You MIGHT get some flowers, but next year it'll be breath-taking.

A lot of climbing plants will respond in the same manner...clematis, roses, honeysuckle, wisteria. Train them horizontally, and the flowers will be all over the plant rather than stuck at the top where you can't always appreciate them :D

Oh, and fruit trees like apple, pear and peach crop well by doing the same thing, as well as keeping the trees small ;)

Hi Hayley

Thanks for replying.

The rose is called Dizzy Heights, beautiful clumps of deep red roses.

It's reached the top of the porch now and can't climb any more as will be out of support:|

Will it grow back quite quickly, it must be about 9 ft at the moment?

oh yes, if it's only 2 yrs old, then it'll be romping away in no time :D

Roses repsond really well to pruning. If you really wanted to keep it over the porch, all you need to do is prune it each year by about 1/3. If you don't, you'll end up with a load of tangled stems, and not many flowers.

It all depends on what you want to do with it really, but whether it's going to stay put, or be moved, you'll need to do it early in this week if possible. There's warmer weather on the way, and you want to have pruned it by then really.

Now I know what the rose is called, it's what is called a group 3 pruner. Which means in subsequent years, you prune it in the autumn after its finished flowering...this could be quite late as I believe Dizzy Heights can flower into November, and beyond.

Just to put a spanner into the works now. Why not grow an early summer flowering clematis up the rose, that way there'll be interest over a longer period. Go for something that will be cut low each winter/spring to keep things simple like Clematis 'Rhapsody'