Any Rose experts? please help!

First of all, where is you ex in the sale process? If the house is under offer you need to check if you can remove the shrub.

If it has been there for 25 years, isn’t going to like being moved even if you could get down to the roots which will be deep.

Your best bet is to take softwood cuttings which will come true to the parent shrub.

You need to wait until there’s about 6” to 8” of spring growth. Cut at a 45 degree angle below a leaf node, remove lower leaves/thorns, dip in rooting hormone, and plant in a pot with damp, free-draining compost. Keep moist and in bright, indirect light until rooted. Cuttings should take about 10 to 14 days for roots to form and another 3 to 6 weeks to develop a robust root system ready for moving to the flower bed.

If the house changes hands between now and when the spring growth is long enough, you will have to liaise with the new owner occupiers/tenants to do it. Let the conveyancers know in case the new owners flatten the garden and you miss the chance of taking the cuttings.

Ah Cookiemonster66, I've not had much luck in transplanting mature roses so no tips from me there. However,
you could think perhaps of getting a watercolour done of this setting of your clever grandad's lovely rose showing it's booms
Hopefully someone will give you good advice as to moving the actual rose, but this might be something of a back up plan. Good luck!

Surely, if you dig around the earth giving the root ball a wide berth , thus not disturbing the roots whatsoever, the rose should be ok. Perhaps, if there’s time, ask someone to take a cutting for you just in case moving the original rose isn’t a success.

If it has been there for 25 years, isn’t going to like being moved even if you could get down to the roots which will be deep.

I don't know, Graphite, I think that roses can be pretty robust about being moved, however long they've been established.

Many years ago I had to take down a rose with a bit of a local history connection that I wanted to keep, but was in the way of a new porch. I took loads of cuttings and dug out the root and replanted it to see what would happen. Most of the cuttings rooted and the root regrew... (leaving me with a lot of rooted cuttings to rehome)

Of course, it's too early to take cuttings now, but, if it is legally possible to remove it, I think that there would be a good chance of the original plant regrowing.

Fair enough. Last year, I did try to dig out a rose that has been in the ground for almost 40 years - because it had become very woody with poor, spindly annual growth. It's wouldn't budge. I've had to saw it to the ground.

And as it's been a very wet winter, it might make it easier to for OP to dig hers out.

Perhaps belt and braces then. Try to dig it out but not until there's enough spring growth to take some softwood cuttings as a back up.

If Cookiemonster's grandad created that bush by mixing two roses together, maybe cuttings wouldn't work? He may have done it by grafting a cutting of one rose onto the main stem of another.

If so, a cutting from the part ABOVE the graft will grow the same root support as the bush that the grafted-on bit was taken from, so the new bush could end up much taller or shorter than the old one, depending on whether the bush that cutting was taken from was big or small.

Meanwhile, a cutting taken from growth sideways from BELOW the graft could be like the root bush, both in size and in the colour and shape of the blooms.

I've dug up and propagated roses for nearly 50 years.
My lovely Greek neighbour taught me and I think of her everytine I do it .

Choose a day which isn't frosty .
With sharp sterilised secateurs cut off the top branches and put them in warm water .
I never use cold .
Have big pots prepared with sand and compost mixed together.
I use more sand than compost.
The mixture must be free draining .
Wet the mix before you add the cuttings so that the rooting powder stays on .
Using a pencil or dibber make holes around the perimeter of each pot .
Now bend each each branch and cut off the part above the bendy part .
Make an exaggerated angled cut beneath a leaf node above where you previously cut it off the main plant .
Each cutting should be about 10" long .
Dip the end in rooting powder
Shake off the excess.
Plant in each hole .
Set aside in warmish place.
Each will throw out roots after some weeks .
I'd wait a year before planting out in the new garden .

Now return to the old plant.
Cut off any obviously dead branches and discard .
Water well around the roots.
Dig all around it carefully with a garden fork .
Established roses have long tap roots .
When it comes free soak it with water for a few minutes then place in sacking to protect it.
Plant it in a deep pot
Cover with compost
Water.
Plant out on warm , but not hot day when you are ready .
Don't allow to dry out .

If your grandfather hybridised it-there will be records and you might be able to buy one .
Just inform any potential vendor that there is a plant of great sentimental value .

I would add one thing to other posters. When you have replanted it give it a feed of potash. You can buy rose fertilisers, use wood ash, or even a banana skin. Now is the best time of year to move it so hopefully you will be successful.

I've moved roses, even older ones but never later than March and generally been successful. We brought some old ones of MIL's here, and 🤞 they are still growing. We pruned them well first and they were transported fairly quickly in a polythene bag with the soil, and replanted straight into the ground. They are still thriving 25+ years later.

I didn't know you could take rose cuttings successfully, I thought they always had to be grafted and, as Elegran points out, they would revert to type in this case.

Live and learn on Gransnet!

Ps we used really well-rotted old horse manure in the planting hole ; it had turned to soil so no risk of 'burning' the roots.

If the poster's Grandfather hybridised a new rose by cross pollinating then it will come true to form .
None of mine have reverted.
I propagate dozens every year .
If you cut into the rootstock and discard the rest then you'll have a wild rose or not a hybrid .
Good luck.

Besides well rotted manure I also add a handful of mycorrhizal fungi into the dug hole and onto the rose roots. It helps them get off to a good start. I've successfully taken 12 inch cuttings by putting them up in a deep trench in the garden with just a quarter of the cutting showing above ground. Like others have said, you'd be taking out an insurance policy by also some cuttings. If you do a Google search for how to take rose cuttings look for the video by Alan Titchmarch which is a good one. Good luck and don't forget to keep the bush well watered.

wow thanks everyone, you are all a fountain of knowledge on this subject, I will follow all your advice very carefully and will cross my fingers that I can save this precious rose in memory of my grandad xxx

Well…I can’t be the only one who thought this would be about wine? Surely 🤭?

Chop it down to a manageable size and dig it up then put in a large pot of earth to travel to your new home.
Add feed to the roots when you re plant it.

We’ve dug up and moved many roses over the years. Cut it down to manageable size, dig it up, pot into a large pot or plant bag with good compost, manure, chicken pellets and feed. Leave for a few months, once you see new shoots appearing replant into the garden and use the same mixture as before.

Here is the rose bush in its new home. I followed everyone’s advice and it seems to be very happy here with me now. I hope grandad is looking down on me and feeling proud. Thanks everyone xxx

Great! Can we also see a photo of when it's in flower later?