In article ,
says...
Roseburg, Oregon is the home of my grandfather's
two roses. His old property will sell soon and I want to
transplant them 2 hours drive north to Jefferson Oregon,
zone 6.

These monsters, which I do not have identified,
are at least 40 years old with large root mass
I'm sure and thick stocks by now, haven't been
pruned in ages, overgrown etc.

When I wanted to move my great grandmother's rosebush, I considered using
the family company's backhoe. If these roses are as huge as that one
http://www.geocities.yahoo.com/huski...simmortal.html - the
bush is at least 10 feet tall and more than that wide) could you rent a
front end loader or backhoe to try and retain as much root system as you
can? The roses might have to be transported in the back of a pickup
truck, that way.

However you decide to move them, I would be tempted to take a digging
from each of the plants (assuming they are own-root) to have a backup
shoot just in case.

CJ