"Dustin Albright" wrote:
I have 15 rosebushes that were placed in containers when we moved last
september and they have been in storage since then. I am now ready to put
them in their new home but I can't imagine anything being much worse for
them than planting them now. Any way to minimize the damage? They are in
pretty rough shape now but they are attempting to flower.

My own experience over the past few months says: plant the bushes.
I have re-potted a couple dozen roses and planted out a couple
dozen more since May, and the losses I have had have been due to
1) neglecting to water plants that were in too-small pots (left for a
long weekend without rain; I hadn't set up automated watering),
2) black spot fungus, 3) deer and insects all but defoliating them,
4) some combination. I have also planted out a dozen Italian stone
pines that had been languishing in pots since I bought them in after=
Christmas sales, three fig trees, and various exotics including a rare
Chinese maple. No losses yet, and new growth on most plants. (For
some reason, the insects and deer seem uninterested in them.)

I'm in zone 8b, North Florida, and it's been unusually hot most of
this spring and summer, with heavy rains alternating with a week or
more at a time of complete drought. On the other hand, I have a
good mix of sand and clay that retains water pretty well.

Some pundits have claimed that "containerized" plants can be
planted in the ground, or moved up to bigger pots, at ANY time,
provided that one keeps them watered. I think that that is overly
optimistic, but I've had good luck. My big problem is that I bought
a mess of bare-root bald-cypress, osage-orange, and other trees a
few years ago, potted them up, and left them alone apart from some
watering, and they've all far outgrown their pots, sending roots
though ground fabric: I think that too much of the root mass is outside
the pot in these cases for me to transplant them until they go dormant
for winter. All my own damned fault, neglecting them like that, I
must confess: biting off more than I can chew.

Anyway, go for it. Plant them out, or at least move them to bigger
pots if they need those.

Mark., your mileage may vary, etc.