Seil -- I only have a dozen in pots, and it was backbreaking work to move they around. I admire your stamina! I am a newbie. This is my third winter winterizing roses. For the past two years, I put them in my garage, but did not like it because they all started to bud out in around March and once I took them out, they suffered quite a bit of dieback.

This year, I have moved them under my patio, in a corner where they will get minimum wind. However, they won't get any sun either. Is not letting them to have any sun a good idea?

Thanks,
Mark

Mark, you should check out the rolling plant dolly made by devault industries I got mine at Home Depot and they have saved my back. We cold zoners need all the help we can get. I have about 14 tree rose in large ceramic pots and I could not move them without these stands. LOVE them.

I keep mine on plant trolleys during the season to move them around. We use a hand truck to move them around as well. They only need to be lifted off the truck onto the ground against the house. That helps a lot.

I don't think a lack of sun will hurt them while they're dormant. I know some people who garage theirs and they have to pull them in and out of the garage several times in the early spring because they start to bud out. That's a lot of work!

Mine will stay in until the first of April and then come out. Sometimes they start to grow while they're still under wraps but they do get full sun in the back of the house so I don't have a problem with them getting that white growth.

Lookin' great, Seil. Best wishes on all of them doing well!!! :-)

I don't have anything to add, except I wish you the best in your endeavor.

What amazes me is that the plants don't die because the roots must be frozen solid in the pots during the winter... Do you let them freeze solid, or do you provide some protection that helps the roots survive above ground?

Your patio must look spectacular in the summer with all those potted roses, Seil. Congratulations on a job well done. I got my last tulips and other bulbs planted yesterday just as the first snow flakes started to drift by from this arctic blast. It sure feels good though to know one is as ready for winter as one can be...

Thanks, dove song and Sara Ann!

Marcindy, I do add more protection. They will be wrapped in burlap and stuffed with mulched maple leaves. Just haven't gotten there yet. But the pots do freeze anyway. The same as the roots do in the ground which freezes at least 6 or 10 inches down here depending on the winter. The mulch is actually meant to keep them frozen in the early spring when we get a lot of temperature swings. I don't want them to wake up and start budding out too early and then have all the new growth freeze off and have them have to start all over again.

I got all my 160 bulbs planted last week as well. Can't wait for spring now!

Good luck Seil, looks like you are well on your way. I'm done, just finished wrapping my last five or six yesterday morning, which is a good thing since we got snow yesterday afternoon and evening. -13 C this morning and a forecast for 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inches). of snow in the next four or five days.

Winter is coming!

Cheers, Rick

Good luck Seil, looks like you are well on your way. I'm done, just finished wrapping my last five or six yesterday morning, which is a good thing since we got snow yesterday afternoon and evening. -13 C this morning and a forecast for 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inches). of snow in the next four or five days.

Winter is coming!

Cheers, Rick

Glad to hear you got yours in, Rick. I'll probably finish the rest next weekend. It's supposed to be above freezing then so I'll be able to work on them without freezing to death myself, lol!

Thanks, Seil and Susan. I will get a hand truck.

Seil -- sorry that it did not occur to me that I should have posted in another thread. Did not meant to hijack your thread.

Cheers,
Mark

Not at all, Mark! I didn't think you hijacked anything. It was all part of the discussion on winterizing.

Seil, is all that protection really needed? I know not all Zone 6 areas are identical, but I know several Zone 6 gardeners who don't do much of anything to protect their roses except maybe let a few of their neighbors' oak leaves drift into the yard--and not all the roses get leaves near them--some only get a half dozen leaves at most. A few randomly get a bigger pile of leaves.

Not criticizing--just wondering if you are displaying excessive concern. Several of the posts about adding protection are from Zones 5 and 4--and probably therefore need protection. I'm just wondering if Zone 6 really needs it? What do you think?

Kate

OK--difference between in ground and in pots. I get it. Since all my roses are in the ground, I don't have to worry about protecting them--though my HTs aren't overly happy having to play Darwinian survival--but they pop right back after I spring-prune them down to 6-12 in. tall (occasionally even shorter, if needed).

Kate