Are my shrubs beyond saving?

yes it is gorgeous isn't it? That's why I'm so surprised at how badly these two have reacted, everything in my garden ussually flourishes (without any help from me!) Thanks for the pruning links, I'm going to feel like a real butcher but I will go ahead and prune them right back tommorrow.

 

Yep. That's what I meant. You put it better than I did:thmb:

ajones, Lets hope they make it.

 

There is farr too much leaf area on both the rose and the hydrangea, The plants simply cant cope in maintaining the leaf area with a disturbed root ball. when moving large shrubs out of season the best way is to give them a really good soaking the evening before then prune back by 1/3.

Try to get the largest root ball possible and avoid leaving the root ball exposed ie dig the planting hole before you dig up the plant.

 

I agree, Prune hard, water well until they start to shoot again (as I expect they will). The large rootball will support fast regrowth (probably not until next year though) so the size issue is "temporary".

I would give a high Phosphate fertilizer to encourage root regrowth. Normally I would put Bonemeal in the planting hole, but assuming you didn't do that a fertilizer high in Phosphate should help (you can probably get a "Super Phosphate" product in your garden centre)