Have you ever moved a "Fairy"?

I think "The Fairy" rose is such a stunning rose for any garden.  It is so easy to grow, so forgiving and so gorgeous.  It blooms from early June to late in the fall.  Here it is in late October and still in bloom...

So, imagine having to move this spreading bush, that in spite of its massive blooms, has even more thorns.  Mine was about 6 feet wide and almost 4 feet tall. I think it is not impressed by being moved.
This is the third time I have moved this rose - from house to house and finally it would now be in its permanent spot.



We came up with the idea that wrapping it might work, and it did.  Here is How We did it...

I took a large roll of clinging plastic wrap that movers use to wrap furniture.  Starting at the bottom, I wrapped the bush rather tightly, pulling in all the spreading branches, but also being careful not to break them.

Here it is below- wrapped, which made it so much easier to dig up.  Notice there are not many spreading roots…. This is because I transplanted it only the  previous  Fall and it had only one summer to grow in rather poor soil. As a tenant, I was not prepared to replace all the soil  in this borrowed garden, but I did add compost and fertilizer.

Because it had to be transported in the backseat of my car, I wrapped the roots in plastic.

Here it is with the roots wrapped in plastic.




And.....

All safely tucked into the car for the long drive to the new garden.  I say this with tongue-in-cheek as the ‘new’ house was literally around the corner from this one.

We love this neighbourhood so didn't want to move far!

Here it is planted in its new - and last - home.  The previous Fall, when we moved it from the last garden a medium sized piece broke off from this one so it too, got planted.  At least, no flowers or leaves fell off in the process.

Below you can see the largest piece on the right, and the smaller piece that broke off, to the left of the Japanese Maple.  There are Iris, Lungwort, Monk's Hood, Phlox and a Pee Gee Standard Hydrangea in the corner.