Question
I am a very new gardener & I just bought my home a few years ago.  When I did I inherited 3 rose bushes.  They were beautiful!  Unfortunately I had to move them when we had to have some work done unexpectedly in the back year.  2 of the 3 did not make the move.  The third is living, but is not blooming anymore.  I admit I don't know much about roses. They were on the west side of my house and I moved them to the east side.  I am wondering how may hours of sun roses need?  I think that might be the problem.  & If it is, do I move it now, or should I just endure the summer and move it in the fall/spring after it goes dormant?  

Answer
Roses are high-maintenance plants that make demands you never made of your own mother.  Tea Roses are the prima donnas of the flower world.  When in bloom, they're breathtaking and often disarmingly fragrant; when not -- which is almost all the time -- they're ugly as sin and covered with thorns and yet they STILL have demands.  Remember that, Ginny.  Because Gardening with Roses is NOT like Gardening with any other flower I can think of.

More than anything, Roses need TONS of sunshine.  You did not mention what kind of Roses you inherited.  But all of them are sun-lovers.  Some need less than others, but those are fairly old hybrids, and it is unlikely that someone growing only three would have purchased only those.

Without a solid full day of sun, your Rose will sulk.  You can water, you can feed, you can spend the better part of your day spraying and pruning and adoring that Rose, but if you don't give it ALL the sun it needs, there will NEVER be blooms on this rosebush.

So if you placed this Rose in a pot on the East facing porch, it won't bloom.

If it is under the shade of a tree on the East side of the house and gets some basic light, it won't bloom.

If it is in sun in the morning and light shade the other half, you might see a little bloom here and there. If you are lucky.

It needs SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN.  You can't give any rose too much light. They NEED it like you and I need air.  They BREATHE sunlight.  Roses can't bloom without bathing in lumens from dawn to dusk.

OK, let's suppose you do have your little rose bush in a bright sunny position on the East side of the house.  Let's suppose it does get Sun.

Another thing Roses need is food.  Remember, I told you these are DEMANDING shrubs.  Of course they need their OWN special fertilizer.

There are special fertilizers labelled "rose food" because Roses have special diets.

Most flowering shrubs are perfectly happy with a fertilizer that is high in Phosphorous.  These are fertilizers with the N-P-K label and the middle number, the P, is the biggest.  (N stands for Nitrogen.  P stands for Phosphorous. K stands for Potassium.)  We usually push the middle number as high as we can to get the most flowers.  And that usually
works.

But with Roses, you need more.  Roses need a LOT of Nitrogen in addition to Phosphorous.  

So you must feed your little Rosebush special Rose fertilizer.  Preferably one that is a slow-release -- the kind with pellets that you only apply once and the pellets slowly dissolve for two or three months.  That will free you up so you can do other things with your day.

Ginny, if you take care of these two things, I guarantee your Rosebush will bloom.

Was there more light on the West side?  Did the East side seem to have just as much light.... until the trees leafed out in late spring?  That happens.

Best time to move any shrub is late fall, when the leaves are turning yellow and orange.  But yours is a fairly new shrub, and if you keep as much of the rootball intact as humanly possible, if you disturb the roots and the tiny, microscopic root hairs that tumble off the root like scrambled eggs off a Teflon frypan, if you give it the right transplant treatment, you will minimize 'shock' and see some blooms this year.

Transplant secret: Rosarians use a product called 'Messenger' to transplant their Roses and various other Rose related work.  'Messenger' is an invention of Cornell University's Agricultural School.  They were researching plant proteins and dreamed this up as a way of healing certain plant injuries -- it's not an enzyme, it's not a fertilizer, it's a protein and it SPEEDS plant repair, among other things.  The company that licensed this stuff is very small and markets terribly, but the American Rose Society uses it, along with other people who are familiar with it.  it will MINIMIZE your transplant shock and get your Rose back to its normal self QUICKLY.  This is the best thing since sliced bread.  It is hard to find so if you need to know where to get it let me know.  Just give me your Zipcode and I'll find someone who sells it near you.

There is more work to be done for your Rose.  This is only the beginning.  Keep me posted.  Let me know when you're ready for the next step.  And thanks for writing.