you don't have to force them into dormancy. You have done what needs to be done to discourage new growth. They will work out the rest on their own. Roses don't necessarily have to go dormant. In warmer regions they probably just go semi dormant.

I agree with getgoing. There are only a few types of roses that need a true dormancy to bloom and those probably wouldn't grow well in your area anyway because they need a cold spell to set bloom. I'm not positive but I believe those would be Gallicas and Bourbons. Just like Teas and Chinas won't take my cold winters. Otherwise they will slow down on their own from the lack of sunlight from shorter days but will continue to grow as long as the weather permits. And that's OK! Just keep them watered and leave them be until spring pruning time.

Yep, just leave them be -- nothing you can do to force them to go dormant, they're going to do what they're going to do on their timetable. All you can do is not encourage new growth, and you've got that covered already.

Thank you so much for your advice!! I’m seeing a lot of people mentioning that they defoliated and forced their plants into dormancy and I thought maybe I should have done this at some point. ☺️

Some people do remove the leaves because they start to look pretty old and tatty but it isn't necessary. If a leaf is no good anymore the rose will shed it on its own. When you spring prune you can remove any ugly left overs at that time.

Our winter in Texas this year is expected to be mild/warm & drier than normal due to La Nin~a (there will still be some cold temps though, specially in Jan-Feb) so do not force dormancy in a way or fashion. As a reference point, here in DFW, all of the rose varieties that I have will typically not go dormant.

Warning: I have to pay attention to the soil moisture and water on dry winters. And yes, I sometimes water in Dec-March when a finger inserted into the ground feels dry.

Winter preparations should only consist of putting some mulch, stop fertilizing in early Fall and, maybe, pick up any fallen foliage with fungus problems (black spot for example).

Slow-release fertilizers should be last applied three months before your average date of first frost. For Houston, that average date is somewhere between the last week in November and the first week in December. So, your last application should be on the last week of August-ish.

Maintain 2-4" of organic mulch around the roses to protect from hot/cold temperature extremes and conserve soil moisture.

@luis_pr Thank you!! I’m going to make sure & watch them for water.

Here in Italy (probably zone 8-9) my roses don't go dormant in winter very much. Also, I like to prune during the fall and winter; the light is so low that it doesn't seem to stimulate growth much at all. I agree with the adage that says that in warm climates, all major pruning should be finshed and done by Valentine's Day,and for a gardener with many, many roses, this means starting in the fall.

I am in warm Southern Californian and I have a few roses that stop sending new shoots in October and then I have others, especially the Tea roses like Monsieur Tillier, that are covered in new growth and in full bloom right now. I suspect that the rose’s genetics may have something to do with it. All of my Austin’s have gone into some level of winter dormancy without any help from me. All my Tea roses are putting out new growth and blooming like crazy right now.

I grew roses in Houston successfully for over 35 years. Texas especially Gulf Cost has special requirements, If you do not remove all leaves and give a major pruning by Valentine Day you will spend the next year fighting blackspot and other diseases. You will have unruly oversized bushes with gangly arms. Did I metion all the bugs that you will have to fight off your bushes? clean up all dropped leaves go down to clean dirt or mulch. This procedure is a “must do“ for attractive bushes and blooms on shrubs, HT, & Modern roses. Tiny weak plants just remove leaves and water with fish when weather warms, give no chemical fertilizer until they are growing strong.. Antique and climbers and have their own pruning requirements depending on type. Give organic fertilizer (many recipes and brands around) after pruning. Save time released until later. Mulch trimmed plants with at least 2” compost, covering over your organic fertilizers. if you spray use a fungicide like Mancozeb that kills existing disease, (hitting any dropped leaves on ground you might have missed in cleanup). Follow up in 7 day with a systemic like Honor Guard.. One product kills disease the other prevents it. I sometimes did a one time insecticide spray if I had had a bad bug issue the previous fall., taking care not to destroy garden balance. Don’t kill the good guys. Products suggested are just examples.

This works, good luck.

Thank you so much for such a detailed guidance.

Oh yes of course if Houston has that level of disease pressure then definitely follow austinkisses advice! The Huntington Gardens in Pasadena CA also removes all leaves and prunes the Hybrid Teas down to 2-4 feet depending on the rose variety every January. For the climbers, they remove all leaves and trim back long canes. For the Antique Tea roses, they remove all leaves but do not prune them. Antique Tea roses hate being pruned, which means their Monsieur Tillier and Rosette Delizy are both small trees with trucks that are 6 inches across. Teas are a warm climate rose class that generally likes zones 8 and warmer. After they remove all the leaves they add a thick layer of very fine mulch that covers all the soil. I personally don’t bother with any of this but we don’t have much disease pressure in dry Southern California and if a variety gets disease I just replace with something resistant. Houston must be a climate where even the most disease resistant roses still need this extra care to keep them that way due to its humidity.

This whole concept of defoliation and forced dormancy is not something needed where I am. So I know nothing about it. The question that occurs to me is that if you are going to cut them back hard by early February, what is the reasoning behind removing the leaves?

Thank you. Yes I do deal with a lot of disease and bugs even into fall. I don’t grow any Tea roses, I mostly have English garden roses and a very small number of HT. I’m going to prune in January but I will go ahead and spray with horticultural oil and insecticide.

The idea of removing the leaves is that they carry diseases from one season into the next. And by removal it means that the leaves exit the property in the yard waste bin. I do wonder if there are a few roses that are totally disease resistant in Houston, but you might be quite limited in the varieties there. Huntington of course would do it because they have an army of staff and they are trying to grow many varieties that are not all very disease resistant. For instance they grow Paul Neyron and I have never noticed disease on theirs but in my garden a few miles away my Paul Neyron left to its own devices with no special leaf removal or spraying is covered in rust. My response is to throw it out and replace it with something disease resistant in my climate and that will stay disease resistant without any fussing, spraying or leaf removal.

I think it is hard to appreciate another gardener's climate unless you have lived it. In my experience, even the "disease-free" roses can't overcome the Houston climate without the precautions I shared. It becomes a matter of degree and your tolerance for it. I have none, loving lush green leaves with my blooms.

When I was a young gardener, I read Teas did not like trimming so I left them. In Houston's 12-month grow season and all the rain they became huge fast, taking over the area. I still grow Duchess de Brabant but trim her as I do all others just a bit taller trying to maintain her vase shape. Roses appear to tolerate most things and try their best to give us beauty.

I don't see the reason for defoliating in warm zones either. Yes, you may remove a few mold spores but it will just be a pittance of what is out there. Fungal spores are everywhere, in the soil, the plants, the air, and removing the leaves won't even make a dent. In cold zones we do remove the leaves in the spring because they are shriveled and dead from the winter cold. It has nothing to do with disease prevention.

I’m still not clear why, if the bushes are to be cut down in early spring, the leaves need removing before then. When they’re pruned any overwintering leaves will go too. Roses are pruned here any time from November to March and many leaves and even flowers remain in winter, but we don’t defoliate.

If I am going to guess, it's like dentists in the US desperately wanting to remove all wisdom teeth. My reaction is why fix what isn't broken. I generally hate attempts to improve upon mother nature and unnecessary interventions. But everybody is different. Some people want better noses, chins,...To each his/her own.

Floral, the leaves are removed after pruning each January in a warm climate. Thus after all your cuts whatever green leaves remain after pruning are plucked off. In a warm climate leaves usually last about 18 months before falling off on their own so that means if you pluck them off once a year in January you are removing green leaves that would have otherwise stayed until the fall. I don’t remove leaves in my dry climate so I have seen firsthand how they live longer than a year. These older leaves are not as resistant to disease so in the last 6 moths of the lifespan of a particular leaf that would have otherwise lasted 18 months it is covered with diseases. Then these old leaves being right next to the new leaves will transfer the disease directly to them at a high dose level. This results in widespread infestation of disease in the whole rose garden that would start right at the beginning of the season. I am sure Austin kisses has direct experience with this issue.

Stephanie thank you so much for sharing the explanation. . It seems that defoliating roses is always a HOT BUTTON. I never have understood why. People like me would not recommend it and other practices unless we had tried and true evidence of its success in our areas and in our gardens. When I first began growing roses 40 yrs. ago I read all available information written by local Rosarians. The Houston Rose Society and their contributors being my first source. As time went on, I continued to read and learned what worked and what did not. I only share to save others from making my mistakes while following well-meaning advice but advice not appropriate for our area. Sumera will follow her own path I was only hoping to save some pain. I would have no clue how to garden in zone 5 or 6 or in another country and I know I would rely heavily on the advice of others who did so successfully. It is nice to have this link so we can all learn; I would have killed for all this knowledge shared when I was young and just beginning my rose growing.

@austinkisses2008z8a, I am a member of the Houston Rose Society as well. And this is what they advise as well.

I didn’t remove all leaves the last two years and as Stephanie mentioned above, I had black spot from spring already. I was just removing dead/diseased leaves and canes.

I’m not trying to contradict local experience. I just wanted to understand why it’s done. I can see that if there’s foliage still remaining after pruning that’s a reason. I assumed there’d be little or none remaining after a hard prune, so couldn’t see the rationale for doing it before pruning. Blackspot is common here and foliage often overwinters but I've never seen defoliation mentioned as a technique. I was just curious.

Floral oh, maybe you could try it on a Bush or two and start something new over there! :-)