I would not cover them with straw. I've read where this is an invitation for rodents to nest and chew. My roses have benfitted from mounding leaves on them. Roses are most susceptible to die-off in the spring when the canes freeze and thaw. In the spring I remove the mounds of leaves but do protect them (the canes) when (usually April and sometimes May) when I know it's going to frost/freeze. I know frost/freeze danger is not out of the question until late May here in mid-Michigan. I don't have any ZD's as you mentioned but I'd look them up and check their hardiness zones. They may not need any winter protection. Just Google Z D's hardiness zones.

You need to start winter protection when you plant the rose by placing the graft/bud union 4-6 inches below the soil surface. With own root roses, plant an inch deeper than they were in the pot.
Late season planted roses are more likely to die in the winter than those planteed in spring. Spring planting give the roots time to grow into the surrounding soil and allows the bush to harden off as fall weather cools and days shorten. If you can wait until the soil freezes before you put down your winter protection it's better for the roses. By that time most destruction rodents have found a winter nesting site. The idea is to prevent the freeze thaw cycle not keep the soil from freezing.
The average last frost date in zone 5a is May 15. I remove my cover in mid April. Frosts after that date in my area are usually mild and do little if any damage to the roses.
I would think zone 6, bordering on zone 5, could remove winter protection after April 1.

It depends on where you are. Around here, I'd strongly discourage any form of winter protection. The winters just aren't dry enough or stable enough temperature-wise to make it a good idea. Temperatures in the mid-40's, with a lot of snowmelt around, in mid-January, all add up to trouble for mounded roses.

I'm definately in zone 5 and haven't been as cold as you have been yet..it's coming though...low tonight of 23 and tomorrow 19 - the rest of the week the lows are in the 30's-40's though...usually i just use leaves and quite honestly i usually let nature deposit the leaves (i've got a couple rather large trees in the yard that are happy to oblige)...i figure mother nature knows far more than i do

mad gallica...that makes sense. I live in the KC and have trouble with canker in spring. Missouri has numerous shifts in weather during the winter. Ice, thaw, warm weather, snow and more ice. I think I've been protecting too early. However, maybe I shouldn't protect at all. What do you think?

It's definitely worth trying. I will add that it is very rare around here to get bitter cold with no snow on the ground. I can think of only one year we were below around 10 without snow. We got down to something like -3ðF, and certain plants were hit quite hard. Roses did not seem to be on that list, though.

I am new to roses adn got my first one this year. I live in NC and was unsure on how to prepare it for the winter.
Hor far to cut back, etc...
I have a jacadnof tea rose bush.
Can anyone help?

I have that rose (goes by radiant perfume to most of us). Where in NC are you? What zone are you? It depends on that. This rose is hardy to zone 6b.

I am in zone 8 VA and I do not do any winterizing. You do not need to cut it back unless you think it is so tall it will be damaged by the wind. If it is new this year I doubt that is the case.

I do not prune until march.

HTH
Sunni

Thanks for everyone's input. Since most of the roses are still blooming, I will definitely wait to do anything. Most of my roses are own root, and they are all planted about an inch below the pot they came in. I do have several grafted ones, and they are planted about graft level, so I will need to mound them with some dirt. As for the ZD's, is there a way to save the canes, if I wrap them? Last year they froze back and it took all summer for them to get long enough to wrap on the porch.

Hello Sunnishine, I am in zone 7. I will trim some back because they are a bit tall. Thanks a lot for your input.
Ah...radiant purfume. so true! Lovely rose.

I used to wrap ZD with burlap--it did just fine on an arbor. But, we had issues with rose midge and moved it to a more protected spot--where we don't bother with winter protection. Now it loses the top part of the canes. We now have Super Excelsa on the arbor, which we wrap with white seed cloth.

Elizabeth Park wraps its climbers--they are over 100 years old. They also put fences around the garden to break the wind.

I've been using tree chippings from a tree company for years and no problems. It takes a 5 yard load to cover them.
My back knows it the next day. I put it on in november.

Last year I used burlap and attached it to a short 'trellis' or stake using closepins. I did it after the first hard frost. The reason I do it is to protect them from deer, but it probably works against cold too. They were fine in March when I unwrapped them. In MI/Z5 you could wait till April. Just a thought.

I spray my Rose Bushes with a product that keeps the canes from drying out before I put my winter protection down. I am in zone 3 and here a lot of protection is required. We put a fence around the whole Rose Bed and put about 2 feet or more of shredded leaves. (too many plants to do each one separately). This of course would be too much protection for warmer areas but I think your plants could benefit from the Spray to keep the canes from drying out.