When I first moved to Iowa in 2001...I was wondering the same thing. My old neighbors from So. Calif. sent me 3 rose bushes and I didn't think they would survive winter. I think after 2 years of bringing them in and out in big pots was enough for me, so I put them in the ground and they come back every year. I have had mixed results with roses...just go for the cold hardy ones and you should be fine. Miniature roses do well here also, as they grow from their own roots.

Thanks for the reply. Yesterday I bought 2 rose plants with bright red colour roses!! I am so eager to see them grow...

iowajo - funny - I moved here from So. Cal. in 2005 :) I have not been brave enough to chance putting in any of the beautiful tea hybrid roses I had when I was there.

I can personally recommend Knock Out roses and carpet roses. They are going gang busters right now with all the warm weather we've been having. Hoping for no major frosts because of all the tender new foliage!

Ours are 40 yrs old - no idea what variety. They get leaves in fall and snow piled on in winter, every year they come back.

different varieties of roses live through the Iowa winters....others do not...if you plan on growing roses in Iowa, plant shrub roses or plan on replacing about 1/3 of them every year.
Linda C

I just moved to Iowa last winter, but I can tell you that some of the very best and easiest roses to grow were developed at the University of Iowa. They are called Buck Roses after the professor that developed them. Because of a low budget, he couldn't afford lots of chemicals and such to baby the roses he developed. As a result his roses are hardy for Iowa winters and summers and very resistant to diseases that plague other types of roses. So far I've gardened in NH and Texas and very successfully grew Buck roses in both places. Check out the link below for more information on these beauties.

Here is a link that might be useful: Buck Rose Website