We have some pretty mature rose bushes in our front yard.  4 are about 4 feet tall and pretty wide as well, the other 2 are low-lying, like bushes, and are maybe 2 feet tall and about 4 feet across.

We hate roses.  Yes, we're probably the only people on the planet, but we hate them.  We want the front yard to be all lawn.  Is it possible for these rose bushes to be dug up and rerooted?  Like, could I offer them on Freecycle to whoever wants to come dig them up?  I don't know enough about roses to know if they'll survive replanting at this stage of growth, or if we should just dig them up and throw them away.

Here are a couple of sites I found that discuss moving roses. Another idea would be to contact your county agricultural extension agent and ask him/her about moving these roses. I'm not sure where you are in Georgia, but extension agent offices are usually located in the county seat.

http://www.geocities.com/PicketFence/2254/transplant.htm

http://www.midwestgardentips.com/transplanting_roses.html

I didn't think so either, Lea.  I've always heard that rose bushes require a lot of love and attention.  These don't, apparently, bc they bloomed all summer and fall.  We just don't like them, and we really want a plain lawn out front until we can afford to make it all look nice.  We had some neighbors come walking by back in the springtime that begged us not to do away with them, but they also didn't want to take them off our hands.  I was really hoping to Freecycle them to somebody, and I will in the early spring, just to offer them to someone if they want to come dig them up.  But I imagine we'll end up cutting them down ourselves in the early spring.  Poor things, it's not their fault....

Where do you live, someone said Georgia? Are they fully dormant? You shouldn't have too much problem moving them in winter, I would definitely offer them up before they leaf out in spring. That's why they can sell all those bare-root roses in the home centers you know. If the ground was frozen you'd have to wait, but otherwise cut them down to about 24" or so.  They're big so you want to dig out as much of the root system as possible which will mean a fairly wide and deep hole, but you're just going to fill it in with lawn so what the heck.  Whoever takes them might have some trouble with them suckering later on, but that's their problem.

Thanks, Cyndi!  I posted them on Freecycle and had 6 hits immediately for them.  I'm sure one of them will show up to take them.  My mom even said she wished she could take one.  I told her to buy us a good shovel and we'd give her one of them, but she said no, lol.  So they'll be gone, and we'll go buy some dirt to fill in the yard, and then lay seed.  Woot!!