It is a "regular" rose bush, and will be just fine outside. I have minis in pots and in the ground. The ones in the ground usually don't even get mulched and it has to be severely cold for me to put the ones in pots inside.

Minis are very hardy roses. All I do is cover mine with a thin layer of mulch and leaves and they sail through winter.

Jen

okay! Thank you both for taking the time to respond!!
~Kimberly

The answers here are very helpful, except I've never had roses, so do I need to cut back my mini-rose bush like I've seen others do to their regular size rosebushes? And can I leave it in the pot outside? I thought it might do better if I put it into the ground (?) I plan to put it in the ground next year when I get around to landscaping my little townhouse front yard patch. I live in Allentown, PA which I think is zone 5.

No, don't prune your rose at this time of year. Wait until spring just before you start to see new growth starting. But yes pruning is the same on minis as full size bushes. I'm in zone 9 so I can't help with your wintering question. I don't grow my minis in pots or I'd be happy to help you out there. If you look around a little you might see some answers but it's nice when someone answers you direct. Look on the rose and antique rose forum and there are some odd questions on roses in pots and wintering them. Good luck to you. Leslie

Jane, there's an answer about wintering minis in pots on the next thread a couple down that talk about pots and bury them and talk that some pots aren't insulated enough for the roots and might freeze to plant the pots, I've seen people post both ways, that if it's not to cold yet you just might go ahead and plant the rose and you can always transplant it in the spring if you don't like the location you put it in now. Or you can look around further if you don't get an answer and put the pot in the garage, there are posts about wintering them in the garage at some point once the temps hit a certain point. But...if it's not too cold now, I vote since you are going to plant it and it's not too bad weather now and the plant has all it's leaves, go ahead and plant it and maybe give it a little miracle grow transplant liquid, if not just give it some water and a little extra TLC.

But, give it a little longer and see if someone will answer about your pot..... Still, luck to you in the pot, the plant will still eventually go dormant and drop it's leaves, it's not dead, it's sleeping and you need to protect it until spring... Leslie

Jane, no answers, if your weather is still decent and not freezing at night, how about sticking in the ground and give it a good layer of mulch and in the spring you can easily transplant it to wherever you would like it best at. But maybe put it in a nice protected spot where it'd get nice afternoon sun now. There are posts about this subject but they can have conflicting answers and if you're not freezing yet I would put it in the ground with a little miracle grow shock treatment and a layer of mulch and let it go or just put it in the ground in it's pot and mulch it that way and don't worry about the miracle grow. Put a post out and let me know how it goes, I'd be curious, good luck to you, meant sincerely. Leslie

Go ahead and plant it. Water it well and cover it up with mulch. Do not put any nitrogen fertilizer. Superphosphate would be great to add to the hole.
If your ground is frozen now just put it in the garage. Just keep the soil moist.