If you have had successful experience wintering roses in the garage, go ahead and do that, but it is tricky. Roses in pots can freeze, and they often grow out prematurely with white shoots that will probably die, wasting energy.

Opinions differ. I have done OK with bands planted directly in the garden and buried for the coldest part of (zone 6) winter. Next year, order your bands and 1-gal roses for mid-spring delivery and they will have better prospects.

Consider it a learning experience. Most Austins seem to be uninspired growers own-root, so they will do better in the garage if handled properly. Whether they need it or not, try to get them into at least a 2 gal pot before storing them. The larger pot holds more water, and seems to help. When they start growing in the spring, put them outside on warm days, so they don't lose the first growth.

Temperature range of 25-40 would be ideal. Probably this means the coldest part of an attached garage. Don't bring them in prematurely. They should be semi-dormant and stay that way as long as possible.

I bought a few roses from the Heirloom recent sale and planted the bands in my zone 5 Nebraska garden last weekend. Like Michael said, it's a 50/50 proposition for most people, but Mad Gallica has experience totally in favor of pots for bands in her zone 5 and I'm absolutely pathetic with pots even in the growing season, so it's in the ground or nothing. I've planted bands this late in the year before, and some of them survive and some of them don't.

Most of their survival depends on how healthy their root system is going into the winter, plus how well they can handle whatever you do to buffer the worst effects of the winter on them. I protect most of the roses in my yard with chopped off sections of leaf bags around them to buffer the winds and temperatures a bit, and for new bands I also fluff some oak leaves (that don't mat down and hold moisture) around the plants themselves. You wouldn't do even that until November at least, though, and if the bands don't have enough root system to survive the average highs of 25-40 that Michael discussed, they don't have enough growth on them to probably survive either in a garage or outside with protection anyway.

Since you have the roses anyway, you have the potential to experiment a bit, for a quite reasonable price of $10 each. If you're a pot person, try that route. If you're a pot klutz like me, experiment with winter protection. If you don't know, try one of each. At worst, you will have learned something about yourself and rose growing, and at best you'll have a system that works for you.

Cynthia