Thanks! Here are a few I’m trying to protect. They are hybrid teas. I bought them because my wife wanted them and we both kind of assumed they would only sell stuff that would work here. We do have a hope for humanity that’s not pictured.

Blue Girl. Which smells amazing btw. I’ve seen z4 for this so I may get lucky for a few years. Who knows? I’m new to this

Easy Spirit and Lasting Love. I’ve seen z4 for easy spirit, but LL I’ve seenz5b! No hope for that one. Why would they sell that here?

Those are lovely roses. Yes, many stores around here also sell roses here which may not survive. And sometimes there are surprises which do survive.

Although it might be too late for this, a tip for future roses is to plant the crown of the plant extra deep. I usually plant the crown about 6” deep.

Another thing I wish I had followed more was to amend the soil first before planting - a healthier rose usually has a better chance of surviving the winter.

How does that work planting the roses so deep? Won't that rot the stems and 'girdle' the plant?

I too was concerned at first, but from what I’ve seen, the buried stems of any roses I’ve planted deep remain in very good shape. Not sure what the science is behind it.

A couple of times I did happen to plant far too deep and then replanted higher because I thought the roots would not get enough oxygen.

I happen to be in an area where winters usually involve unreliable snow cover, extreme temperatures fluctuations, and drying winds - perhaps the deep planting helps deal with these factors?

Planting them deep protects the roots a bit more, and the graft, if they're grafted.

Northspruce, who used to post here, has several hybrid tea roses that survive for her with little or no protection. She lives north of Winnipeg, and i'm sure she gets good snow cover that helps.

I've found over the years that there are roses that suffer severe dieback no matter how well you protect them (Champlain, Morden Sunrise, White Koster, JP Connell), and others, even those out of zone, survive quite well without protection. Last fall we were surprised with a heavy snowfall on October 26th that ended up being our permanent winter snow, so that was the only protection any of my roses got. Most came back fine, even Knockout, which is zone 5. Here she is this summer. :)

(i tried to post this once and it didn't go through - not sure what's up)

Marcia, I absolutely agree, some are simply more resilient to the cold than others.

Thank you for hearing about about your success with Knockout, I might give it a try one day.

Other than the usual rugosas & scotch roses, one which has surprised me is LD Braithwaite. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s in a more sheltered area from the wind, but the canes have had minor dieback. Prairie Joy also continues to impress me. Oscar Peterson, Winnipeg Parks, Emily Carr, and Canadian Shield also have leaves in very good condition after that crazy weather.

I still appreciate the ‘hardy to the tip’ roses more and more. I just wish they were a tad smaller and had better bloom form. I wish there were more medium height Scotch/spinnosissoma roses available.

I have a few that are "hardy to the tip" - Blanc Double de Coubert, Marie Bugnet, Therese Bugnet, and Martin Frobisher, sometimes. He's old and scraggly-looking now - not sure what to do with him. Maybe a good pruning next summer. :)

I once had a beautiful but fragile rose. I thought that if a little mulch was useful, a lot would be great. I buried the whole plant in straw and built a shack of bales around that... In the spring there was nothing left. Mice had treated my structure as a hotel with room service. Plant the splice down a bit, mulch a bit and set up a screen of canvas or burlap to block sun and wind while catching snow. Hire cats to patrol the garden in the fall. Mice don't migrate much in winter.

This "spring", Campfire is the one who has come through the winter the best. Many of the canes died back, but the few inches that are left are almost fully leafed out. A few others have green canes near the ground, and a few have leaf buds. Knockout doesn't look too promising and neither does another zone 5 rose, 'Love', that my daughter-in-law gave me for my birthday last year.

I just shoveled some dirt on my roses and clematis last winter. They all survived and their canes under the dirt are alive. I didn't do anything with my Persian Yellow and John Davis. They are always hardy to the tips.

Marcia, thanks for listing your reliable roses above. I am going to check out Blanc Double de Coubert and Therese Bugnet based on your recommendations.

I agree with planting the graft a little deeper - 4 inches or so?. I'm in 4B and have overwintered a "Love Song" floribunda for 2 winters now. There is still a lot of dieback, but it seems to give the rose extra protection. I'd never considered anything so foolish before, but the color inticed me and I figured it was worth the risk Totally agree with Therese Bugnet - added bonus she blooms well even before the Japanese Beetles come out. Hansa is also supposed to be extremely hardy, and you can't beat the fragrance on both of these.

Update on 'Love' and 'Knockout' - both have survived! I'm still waiting for blooms on 'Love' because it almost looks like it came back from the root, in which case, the original root stock it was grafted to may be growing instead of 'Love'.

Marcia, that's amazing 'Love' survived for you! I thought I had almost lost 'Hansaland' but it's come back strong. Sadly, I lost 'Rugelda', but it was barely hanging on from the previous year.

I did cages of straw & straw bales around 'Tuscany' and 'Queen of Denmark' and they were live to the tip, luckily no rodent damage. On the other hand, a gopher was munching on my geranium 'Rozanne' under the straw over the winter. It is somewhat recovered now, I assume the gopher is feeling good too. .