I live in Richmond[zn7A]; have wintered roses in pots for several years now and they do fine. However, I do plant the rose pot and all in soil or a wood chip mulch so the pot is buried up to the rim or about an inch from the rim. Some of these are rooted cuttings and they do fine.
Jim

What Jim said. If an especially cold night is forecast (teens) I pull up the pots and put them in the garage.

Susan
In your area I think your potted roses would overwinter very well with the method you use for your other potted plants. I've successfully done it that way in my zone 5.

I wintered my pots against the back (south facing) wall of my house buried in leaves and wrapped in burlap and they did better than the ones in the ground last year.

Susan, I have a lot of rooted cuttings and small to large potted roses which I leave unprotected all winter. Most of them do fine. I even have some cuttings not potted up yet which usually do fine. We're a little warmer here though.

It may be good to mulch the pots but for me there are two things that seem to contribute most to losses in winter:

too much mulch against stems ( they rot)
wind

So I'd put them in a place that's less windy. Good luck with your surgery and recovery and your rose babies.
Linda

I stick mine in the garage, and water every few weeks. I agree with wintering in some fashion, unless its a real hardy one like a once blooming OGR- then its probably overkill.

Thanks everybody, I'll go ahead and order. I have friends who have volunteered to mow and water for me but I can't reasonably ask them to do digging and planting as well. I had visions of me balanced on a walker trying to get these in the ground!