Can I save these roses?

[hippopandamouse]

Bought roses online, didn’t plant them anywhere near as quickly as I should have 🤦‍♀️ is there anything I can do to save them? Family are giving me mixed opinions haha! Help!!

they do look a bit dead, scrape the branch and see if its green

Hm. They do look totally dead. The not planting out shouldn’t have killed them, did they totally dry out maybe?

In future, if you can’t plant immediately, put them in a bucket of water. If they’re still there in a couple of days, take a spade and drive it into soil to make a not quite vertical slit. Push the spade forward to open up the slit, drop the plant in, and use your heel on the “uphill” side of the slit to close it up. This is called “heeling in”. Plants will be happy for months.

They aren't necessarily dead. Try cutting through any of the stems of each of the plants with a sharp pair of secateurs and if there's green then they'll be fine. You do need to get them in the ground as early this month as you can.

I've only about six years gardening experience and I've always found roses really difficult and would never attempt them again. Lots of maintenance. And there are loads of just as pretty, low-maintenance plants.

I have a nasty feeling they may have had it! 🫣

Did you soak them before planting? And add any mycorrhizal root powder? They might take!

I have a nasty feeling that may be the case! 😩

Were they bare root and you left them out?

Sorry my phones playing up and won’t let me reply properly!

Yes they were bare root and got left in the house without water, completely my own fault just wondering if there’s anything I may be able to do to save them. I’m a total novice but was hoping to add a bit of colour to the garden in time for my baby’s christening. I’ve cut through the stems on each and all looking pretty brown. There is however some colour lower down on some of the plants.

Should I cut them right back and see what happens? They’ve been given food and watered daily since being put into the pots. Considering just ordering some more. Got mum some at the same time and hers are doing really well but haven’t been planted yet just in a bucket of water

There is however some colour lower down on some of the plants.

if I were you, I wouldn't cut them any lower. But do take action immediately.

[ I'm having second thoughts about my advice below ... because I notice you have been feeding and watering them. It may be best just to leave them be, but I'll leave the advice here in case you get desperate lol ]

(Put your gardening gloves on first, those thorns look pretty sharp!) take them out of their pots, bunch them together and plunge them into a bucket filled up to the brim with clean water. Leave them in the bucket of water somewhere protected for at least 24 hours before you plant them again.

if you're planting them in the garden I can send you a photo of the David Austin instruction leaflet which is helpful for planting prep etc.

@daisychain01 thank you for your advice :)

We were planning to keep them in the pots, the thought being they’d look nice on our patio once it’s completed. Is that okay for them? I’ve really gone into this very blindly.

Probably a really silly question but if the stems are dead do they not need to be cut off?

Roses notoriously like a hard prune. But they are very short already. I’d not cut further.

did you soak them in water for at least 24 hours before planting? If not take them out and do so.

You cannot possibly do any harm cutting them further back if what you're cutting off is dead - so I'd cut until you hit live wood. I wouldn't take them out of their pots either - don't disturb them any more now they're in, so long as you're confident you got them thoroughly wet. If not, give them a soaking. Then, don't water them every day, don't keep feeding them, and cross your fingers.

Your mum needs to plant her roses - sitting in a bucket of water for longer than about 24 hours isn't good for them.

As to whether they'd be happy in pots (if they're alive), it depends on the type. Small shrubs might; these look like shrub roses, though quite hard to tell in this state.

You’re getting conflicting advice op as it’s very difficult. Bare root roses should be planted within a few days of receiving and also the roots soaked first. The roots can’t dry out, as they will die and it does sound like they have dried out if they were left in the house, unplanted with no water.

i think whatever you do won’t harm them further to be honest.

for context my roses right now are in full leaf and growing.i have two shrubs, one dogwood and 4 climbers and all in full leaf. Two of the climbers I bought as bare root last year and they took a good couple of weeks to start to grow leaves.

They do look pretty dead to me. One last thing you can try - the ends of the roots will have dried over so take them out of the pots and trim a bit off the roots, a cm or two will do, and then soak for a few hours before re-planting. It may or may not work.