These potted gift roses (also known as grocery store roses) can easily be saved with very little effort.

Things you will need:
• A large mixing bowl or bucket
• One 6" pot per plant or two 12" pots
• Potting soil – it can have slow release fertilizer but NO water crystals

What to do:
1. Fill bowl or bucket with enough water to cover all the roots of the plants
2. Remove rose from pot and place in bowl, let sit for a few minutes
3. slowly "swish" the rose plants back and forth to loosen as much dirt as possible from the roots
4. When you have gotten as much soil off as possible, slowly start pulling the plants apart. Be very gentle so as to break as few roots as possible. The best way is to jiggle the roots around until one of the plants starts tilting. Then slowly pry the roots apart. It helps to return to water every now and then to swish the roots around again. (Note: don’t worry if you loose some of the roots...there really isn’t a way to avoid it from happening, especially if there is a strong network of roots growing)
5. When plants are separated, plant one each in a pot or alternatively, several around the perimeter of a larger pot.
6. Water pots and place in a well lit place but out of direct sunlight for a few days.

Notes:
Soil – Use regular, good quality, potting soil. It is ok if it has slow release fertilizer, but no fertilizer is better. Do NOT use soil with water retention crystals. (Although peat moss is ok)

If the plants are waterlogged (the soil from the original pot is soggy and boggy, the leaves are all turning yellow, etc) it is best to withhold water for the first 12 to 24 hours after replanting (this gives the roots a chance to dry out a little and excess moisture will be leached into the new dry soil). After that time, water well to make sure that there are no air pockets from when you potted up. ( – note: this is after you have put the rose in its new pot, you can still use the bucket of water to separate them)

Keep the newly potted roses out of direct sun for a couple of days. After that, acclimate it to direct sunlight.

Once the rose is established (about 2-4 weeks after repotting) start fertilizing. You can tell if it has established itself when new growth starts forming