Which to move, Rose or Peony?

Last autumn I planted bare root peonies. The dog stole my plant labels, so forgot where they went. Later on I planted bare root roses. It wasn't until the Spring that I realised how close some of them ended up. I am going to have to move some. Best to move a young rose or a young Peony?

 

People say that peonies don't like being moved. My daughter has moved roses successfully. Prepare the new planting place, dig in some compost and dig the hole. Water the rose well, dig it up trying to keep some earth on its roots then pop it into the new hole, fill in the earth and compost and water well. Hopefully it won't notice what has happened.

 

I've moved peonies successfully but failed with roses, possibly because it's quite hard to keep a decent rootball around the rose roots when the soil is sandy and crumbly. With peonies the trick is to avoid planting deeply - the top of the crown needs to be pretty much on the surface.

Whichever you decide to move, it's probably best to wait until autumn when they're going into winter dormancy.

 

It would be best to wait until autumn or winter though. The worst time to move roses is when they have started into growth in late spring when the new little white roots are very fragile. Once those roots have turned brown and toughened up it's not as critical.

 

Ironically I would say move the peony, especially as it hasn't been in the ground very long. I've moved both roses and peonies and would say that overall the peonies survived more successfully.

 

Peonies are fine being moved. The biggest problem is that they're often planted too deep, which prevents good flowering, but it's nothing to do with them being moved as such. As long as they're replanted at the same level as they were before, they'll be fine, especially as they haven't been in long.

I don't grow roses, so can't advise on those.