I have read posts on this forum in which the poster--from the more frigid zones--claimed to plant the graft 4-6 inches deep--so I guess you can plant yours an inch or so deeper.

Kate

There is no reason to go deeper. Unless your soil is very light, the roots will have problems getting enough air if they are planted too deep.

It sounds like your roses may be dying back to the snow line. If that is true, then whatever happens underground isn't part of the equation.

I had read in different places to go six inches, so that is what I did. They all made it through the winter. This is only my second year with roses, so will see how they do this year. I was just curious, how do you winter protect yours? I am also in a cold zone.

Hi sowandgrow,
Glad to hear you have had success burying them to six inches, I will definitely try a few. I would be satisfied if I could compfortably plant zone 5 roses, there are so many more choices if we can include that zone.
I had a big maple tree cut in my yard, I rented a stump remover which chewed up the stump in fine shavinIgs. I ended up with five huge containers full of these shavings which I have been using to bury the rose bushes to 6 to 10 inches.
I have a Oklahoma, rated zone 5, planted flush with the ground that I brought through two winters with the shavings. Of course I lose some of the shavings each year because I can't recover the whole thing, but I still have half of it left.
Also the zone ratings are questionable, not all sites rate them the same. I have four Fimbriata (rated zone 5 on Help me find), after the first year I had canes between 4 and 5 feet high, I didn't protect it at all this first winter and only lost a few off the tip of the canes. Also I should mention Alec's Red, with protection all four of these came through with very little cane damage and started budding when I still had snow in parts of the yard.
How have you protected yours?

Interesting to know Oklahoma and Alec red made it through the winter for you. I also have those. My hybred teas and more tender roses I have I stored in my unheated sunroom . I have them in pots. But the way I am acquiring them I will soon run out of room to do that so I would like to start planting them in the ground. All the ones I have planted are zone 3 but mostly 4. I too would love to be able to go up to zone five, so many more choices then. I would think you are zone 4 that that wouldn't be a problem. To winter protect on some I filled small groceries bags with shredded leaves and put under them. Some I put small square cardboard boxes on filled with shredded leaves. That gave the yard a ghetto look, so I guess that isn't the best but it worked well. Some I bought that plastic green fencing and cut it about a ft. High then filled with shredded leaves. Very interesting about the shavings..I remember when I was young the fishery use to pack their ice blocks (they used to put the fish on to ship)in shavings all summer. They never had the big spcommercial freezers like now. We have sawmills around here so it would be easy to get for me.

Here are a couple responses I got to my post inquiring about growing hybred teas in cold zones. You may be interested in them. As usual wonderful info from fellow GW members.

Zone 5

Posted by don555 3a (My Page) on Wed, May 22, 13 at 17:14
I grow hybrid teas (6 of them I think) and lately a couple of yellow ones that I think are grandifloras. They must have been growing for the past 8 or 10 years and I don't believe I've lost one yet. Most years they kill right to ground level but then bounce back quickly in the spring and get 3 feet or so by late summer. Start blooming just after the hardy roses, but then continue pretty much non-stop until a killing frost. I cover them with leaves or straw in the fall, but they still usually kill to ground level (though this winter the bottom 15 or 20 cm or so seemed to survive, I guess due to the early and heavy snows.
The key is how you plant them. Dig a deep, long hole and then lay the plant in on an angle, maybe 45 degrees, so that the roots and the bottom 20 or 30 cm of the stems will be below ground level when the hole is filled. Even when the tops are killed over winter, the plants quickly put up new shoots from the underground stems in the spring.

Hope that helps!

T

RE: Zone 5 roses

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Posted by northspruce z3a MB CDA (My Page) on Wed, May 22, 13 at 22:54
I have 30-ish roses and most of them are not considered hardy. When I plant them, I dig the hole quite deep and don't fill it in all the way the first summer. This also helps direct water to the roots when I'm watering them. The first fall I fill up the depressions and mound up some soil, then cover them with leaves and hold the leaves on with burlap. In mild years I might get a foot or two of live canes on the hybrid teas, but in worse years they die back to the ground and occasionally I lose a whole plant.

Posted by northspruce z3a MB CDA (My Page) on Wed, May 22, 13 at 22:54
I have 30-ish roses and most of them are not considered hardy. When I plant them, I dig the hole quite deep and don't fill it in all the way the first summer. This also helps direct water to the roots when I'm watering them. The first fall I fill up the depressions and mound up some soil, then cover them with leaves and hold the leaves on with burlap. In mild years I might get a foot or two of live canes on the hybrid teas, but in worse years they die back to the ground and occasionally I lose a whole plant.

Check out jack rosarian.blogspot. He is growing roses in Minneapolis.

I surely must have read your post wrong, I thought you said something about getting rid of some of your roses! Really?

I have several tender roses, (hybrid tea, miniature and Hybrid musk) which I planted the bud union 6 inches below the soil. It is lot of hard work digging a hole that deep! Yet all my roses came back, without a hiccup. I was especially worried for those planted in the raised bed, but they survived.

In retrospect I'll go for 4-5 inches below the soil line, or simply go for European OGRs or other hardy roses :-)