Transplanting rose

[Stacy P. 0]

I have a Theresa Bugnet rose, it's about 14+ years old.  A few years ago, another auxiliary plant came up about 2' feet away...it is an identical plant.  I have left the plant in place, but it has gotten so large it is not interfering with other plants in that bed.  Can this 'sister' plant be successfully cut away and transplanted without harming the 'mother' plant?  I was in that garden this past Sunday on our first warm day of the spring and believe another 'sister' has appeared...that makes 2. 

 

Also, some canes have gotten more thorny and almost hairlike, is this the sign the plant is failing?  Last summer, the blooms on both plants were just spectacular and no other issues, other than a few Japanese beetles, were noted.   This is my longest surviving rose in this bed..funny I originally purchased the rose bare root from Kmart for $1.98. It has outshown all others including Knock-outs and Carpet roses that were planted in the same rose bed.

[Dsmith74 16]

Better check the rose rosette thread. Change in thorns is a symptom, unfortunately.

[Janet Macunovich 32]

Right on, Dsmith.

As for the suckering. Lots of the old roses sucker over time -- the root system becomes large enough that some nodes capable of producing a shoot end up out of the mother plant's shade, feel the warmth and pop up. They can be cut loose from the original plant, but don't be surprised if they have a stringy long root system that takes digging through other plants to take up intact.

 

That plants can behave themselves for years and then start acting out, it's a fact. ("That Houttuynia 'Chameleon' NEVER ran around before, I swear it!") (No kidding. We had this report and saw this usually-gallivanting plant in a dry rocky bed in Clarkston Michigan and in a dry clay bed in Hamilton Ohio, and believe both gardeners who said it'd been stable for years.) Why does the change in behavior happen? Sometimes we're able to determine that there's been an environmental change that might account for it. (More sun when a nearby tree came down. Change in water table when a pumper-tree was removed. Change in watering or fertilization...) But lots of times we just have to grin and say, "They're living things and they do not always follow our rules!"

 

The difference in thorn might signal a problem such as rose rostte virus infection that can alter the thorn characteristics. Or perhaps your Therese Bugnet was grafted -- old rose/hybrid old rose or not that can be the case -- and these suckers are nearly the same but not entirely, so that kind of thorn is "normal" for them. Happen to have a photo of original and different thorny cane? Those of us who are learning love photos and I will forever count myself in that field.

[Dsmith74 16]

Whenever my rugosa roots see a little light, up pops a new one. That's why they invariably pop up in areas where I occasionally walk, trying to shred my cloths. 

 

Strangely, that's often where the hollyhocks also appear. Not sure why. Improved seed-soil contact? Seeds stuck to shoes? Another mystery. 

[Janet Macunovich 32]

Did a little more checking and asking about:

 

Therese Bugnet does sucker (and it does have very dense fine thorns, as it turns out, so maybe those  "unusual thorns" weren't something to worry about...)

 

We've moved roses from suckering colonies and did not have to take special care. Used a sharp spade to sever the running root cleanly, kept the roots moist, and put them quickly intoa new spot. But probably we didn't even have to be that careful... Twice, we pulled back from the compost pile suckers we'd dug for being unwanted and gave them away days after the dig. They took.

 

For me, the main question with this rose is whether it's healthy -- if the thorns are not unusual but the same as they have always been (which is quite pale to nearly white, and fine), and it's growing vigorously with no changes in foliage (like DSmith said, check the rose rosette thread), then it's a candidate to be moved or shared. If it's not healthy, if it's suspect, it's not a good idea to share it or move it.