If it was that dry I would go ahead and soak it over night. It's a good thing that you took the pot off. Never plant in those supposedly "plantable" pots. They take decades to biodegrade and in the mean time the rose is getting root bound. Don't worry about losing the "soil" in the pot. It probably wasn't very good anyway. Your rose will be much happier in real soil in the ground.

Thanks seil. Luckily that's exactly what I did. There wasn't much root hair, maybe they dried up and got ripped off. It looks like they trimmed the big roots and stuck it in the pot before shipping. I will hold onto my receipt.

Good! I look forward to seeing it in bloom!