I never recommend rose cones. For one thing they hold in moisture and can cause canker, rot and mold. You also have to cut your roses way down n the fall to get the cones on. You shouldn't prune in the fall. Roses store energy in their canes that they will need to grow with in the spring. I leave my canes as long as possible and only hard prune in the spring.

Thanks, I will just pile up mulch!

I would use a $10 roll of burlap to protect those 15 hybrid teas. Unlike mulch or soil, burlap doesn't freeze solid, so I can wrap the roses after we have had a deep freeze or two. Burlap prevents big rose canes from snapping off near the roots. It also keeps light off the canes, so the bottom of the canes stay dormant during the inevitable freeze/thaws that routinely occur in my Zone 6 climate. Buds that swell and freeze in the middle of winter won't make it to Spring. It has been years since I lost a grafted HT to winter. It may help that I grow roses for exhibition and spray them regularly with fungicides to keep the leaves healthy through most, if not all of the growing season.

Thanks, Zack

You wrap each one individually? How many layers each? Where can you buy burlap these days? Do this around Thanksgiving?

What height burlap do you buy. 30"?

Both Lowes and Home Depot have $10 rolls of burlap that are 3 feet wide. Typically just one layer, though if the rose is small I'll just add another layer to use up all the burlap. Big roses may need burlap that is 4 or 5 feet wide. I like to wait until I see some hard freezes before wrapping the roses--last season they didn't get finished until early January, and I missed a few. Those died back to the ground but returned to a decent size by the end of Summer. I don't like to do that, as those plants won't yield useful blooms for the Spring Rose Show. As my other hobby is ham radio, I make clips out of old #14 house wire that were used to make antennas. The wire keeps the burlap from unraveling. Jute could also be used to tie the burlap in place.

No. They're not big enough, blow away if you don't put a brick on them, moisture and heat builds up and rots canes, premature dormancy breaks occur, not durable, and look both ugly and ridiculous.

You goal is not to keep the roses warmer to survive the winter, but to keep temperature fluctuation as minimized as possible, particularly highs, as strange as it sounds, that stress them out.

two alternatives:

1. Heavy roofing tar paper cut into collars, 16" diameter; 12" high. Cut yourself 60" X 12" lengths with heavy sheers. Join the sides by creasing each one's edge in 2". One crease is bent in; the other creased out so that the sides now interlock when joined. Use 2" brass plated document fasteners to join the sides. I use a philips head screw driver to make holes for the fasteners. One fastener at the top; one at the bottom, and two more up the fold every 4", four fasteners per joint, altogether.

Place the collar on the rose, but first tie together the canes with something soft. Do not prune the canes. Leave the canes uncut all the way to their tips. Fill the collars with fine pine bark mulch, the best filler. It does not build up moisture. Keeps the rose canes perfect, not too wet, or too dry. Water drains right through.

2. A five gallon plastic bucket instead of the roofing tar paper with its end cut off can be used as a collar. Not as versatile, or aesthetically appealing, but it will work.

Winterize your roses around Thanksgiving, maybe a little later. Wait until you get a month of off and on again freezes, but before you get lows below 25 degrees F.

Moses

Zack,

What weight burlap do you buy? I see it comes in light, medium and heavy. Do you leave the top open or tie it shut?

Back in southeast Ohio I used the tarpaper collar w/mulch system and never lost a rose. Others in my club lost up to 10% of their roses and they always made a pilgrimage to Canada to buy replacements.

Meanwhile, when I wanted more/new roses I had to dig a new bed!

What was rough about southern Ohio winters was the lack of consistent snow cover. The temps really bounced up and down. Now this was back in the 80's, probably even more variation now.

I don't think it matters whether the top is open or not, so I do both. The idea is to quickly clip the burlap in place and move on to the next rose. I have over 200 roses and wrap around half of them. I used to fill the burlap with wood mulch, and then experimentally found that the roses do just as well if I don't bother. I just buy the cheap stuff when it comes to burlap. I've also found that rabbits won't eat through the burlap.

The one year with consistent snow cover was actually worse that usual in my garden. The top surface of the snow melted and refroze into a thick layer of ice that damaged the rose canes! Normally it all melts, exposing the roses to the deep cold of winter.

The good thing about the cold is that if a rose survives the deep cold, it really wants to bloom the following Spring. I don't have issues with stingy boomers in my yard, at least for the first flush of Spring.

You mention "clip the burlap in place". With what do you clip it. I was going to tie jute around the burlap in two or three places

Jute works fine. But, I have a large supply of #14 copper wire that work just as well. It is cheaper since it can be reused many times and I already have it. I don't have a free supply of jute.

Frances,

I really like your paper bag cones, and I like your entire methodology, too. Thanks for it sharing it with us!

Moses

Not here. Covering is not advised as it is usually very wet in NJ winters and anything on the canes promotes canker. If anything, try frances in NJ's method. But, I don't cover anything.

Frances,

What do you use for stakes and how many per bag?

So glad you found this of use, Moses! I worry that I'm boring people because I post about this every time the issue of protection comes up, but its just made such a big difference for me in wintering over new or less-than robust roses, that I want to be sure other people know about it and maybe can also benefit from it! Diane, as I mentioned, I have not had trouble with canker using this technique (though I did when I used burlap/old sheets, etc). And I agree that its probably best to grow roses that can take our climate without protection, but I do find that first-year roses sometimes take a real hit without a little help (and I am guilty of some zone-pushing). Dmoore, as for stakes, I just use regular old bamboo stakes, or sometimes the metal ones lined with green plastic. I'd say just use whatever you have handy/is cheap. I usually use 3 per bag, but sometimes 4. Incidentally, you can use the stakes to kind of push the bag sides away from the rose canes so they are not even touching - this'll help keep the canes from getting wet (though again, those bags dry out super fast so I don't think its the same danger as with fabric). Good luck with all this!

Thank you Frances! I have quite a few smaller roses in the ground that I'm worrying about. They are doing well, just small and new this season. Last year Margot Koster was small and she had a lot of die-back. I also have a LOT of bamboo I've just cut out and paper bags, so I'm set. When in the Fall should I do this?

Frances I am very glad I saw your method! I have been fretting of what to do for my roses as I’m still only a second year gardener going into my Second winter.

I only had 1 rose tree last year and half the graft died as I was naive and didn’t protect it AT ALL from the Massachusetts winter (really surprised the whole thing didn’t die). I now have over a dozen roses and have been panicking about what to do for my new babies. I’m so glad there’s a simple and cheap method that others have used :)

I never heard of paper trash bags. I better check it out. Thanks for the tip.

I usually don't do any rose protecting til after Thanksgiving. You want to wait for cold weather. I guess I mostly do it early December. Btw, the bags I am talking about are not regular paper bags, like from the grocery store. These are leaf bags, designed for collecting garden waste in the fall. As such they are much thicker and sturdier and taller than regular paper bags (which I think would just rot in short order). Here's a link to an example:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/The-Home-Depot-30-gal-Paper-Lawn-and-Refuse-Bags-5-Count-49022/100080704

Kali_c, I hope it works well for you in Massachusetts! You are in a colder area than me (I would guess zone 5?) so your issues might be somewhat different from mine. I definitely think your best bet is to concentrate on roses that are hardy enough to withstand your winters. But that said, I do think its a good idea to winter protect any roses that seem to be struggling. I also winter protect SOME of my first year roses.

Here's how I decide: 1. Did I plant the rose early in the season? If so, its had plenty of time to get established, and should be fine. But if I planted later in the summer, or in the fall, it probably will need some help over the winter. 2. Is it a super hardy rose? I'm in zone 6 - if its a rose listed as good in zone 5 (and again, if I planted early in the season) it should be fine with no protection. If its listed as zone 6, and I planted early, then I'll decide based on how the plant looks. Does it look very robust and happy? Then it might be fine. But if I have any doubts, I'll protect.

And finally, of course, I do have my few indulgences in zone denial; I grow a few roses that according to some sources are only hardy to zone 7. Those, I protect every year. I try to keep this to a bare minimum, however, because it becomes a lot of work!

Thanks for all the feedback Frances!

Most of Mass is in zone 5, however I am very lucky and in a small spot well within 6b on most maps.

All my JFK roses were planted super early and are very healthy, varying sources say either hardy to zone 4 or zone 7, but I think I can push it. The JFKs and my peppermint pop (hardiness til Zone 4) are also very close to the house which is on a hill so there’s very limited wind chill, yay!

The lavender crush was planted in June or July but has taken off extremely well, and even had new nasal cane growth that’s not about four feet tall. But it is far away from the house so I’ll probably protect that one a bit, along with my sweet drift tree that I neglected last year.

Thanks so much :) I’ll be happy to keep them all safe this year

Thanks for the visual Frances. Those look perfect. I have been wondering what to use on pots.

Frances,

how do you bag roses that are over 6' tall? Do you cut them down to 3" or let them stick out of the top. These bags aren't wide enough for some of my older roses. Should I tie the branches tightly together before I try to put the bag on top of them or do you let three year old roses survive on their own without protection?