I have a bunch of cuttings this size. put it under a shoplight in a cool basement. bottom water occasionally so it doesnt dry out but dont soak the soil. feed it with a weak fertilizer once a month if its pushing growth.

Based on the fact that it's a several month old cutting and looks like that, you have roots. I definitely wouldn't pull it up "to check" or disturb the roots in any way. At this point, my further advice is worthless, since I'm in a warm zone. In my zone, I'd put it in full sun and make sure not to overwater it, nor would I fertilize it. I don't think going dormant is a possiblity for a new cutting (it will just die), so Josh's suggestion for a grow light or shop light is good. Maybe a south-facing window? You have to keep it growing now for it to survive.

Roses are hardy plants. Providing it truly is rooted, ad not just putting out leaves, I would let it go dormant and put in the garage. And that's only because it's in a pot and you don't want the new roots to freeze. Otherwise I'd leave it outside. It does not need to be kept growing when it would naturally go dormant.

This is a good discussion; an example of the Best of this forum.

Dee, you did a fine job. The little rose looks very happy. Your story is inspiring.

I would grow it on in the house, either in a sunny windowsill or under a light set-up. You're in a cold zone, and if it's not that well-rooted you run the risk of losing it, even it a garage. It's not going to put on that much growth over winter that it becomes an un-manageable size in the house. Even if it does put on a lot of top growth, it's easily managed by pruning back. Set it out in the spring.

If the bulldozer doesn't arrive by then, can you go over to the farmhouse once the ground un-freezes and dig the entire rose? (ask permission, of course -- but if they're going to raze everything, they likely couldn't care less and will let you do it).

60'ish with shop lights is a good place. The breezeway is probably better since I can forget plants in the basement. (I only go down there to do laundry)

I wouldn't want to put that rose in the garage since it may not have had enough time to replenish the energy is used to root.

Don't repot it until you see roots coming out the bottom.

BTW, light setups don't have to be expensive/complicated/intimidating, I've only worked with old fluorescents, so don't know anything about LEDs etc. The big trick is to keep the lights *very*, **VERY** close to the plants. With fluorescents, the bulbs themselves are cool. The ballasts at the end are the only part that heats up, so I usually have roses growing into the bulbs.

Need some insurance? IF you can find any suitable material after the city sheared the roses back (grrrrr), here's yet another option: taking hardwood winter cuttings. It is one of the easiest and most successful methods to propagate hardy roses. Right NOW is the time. Go take several cuttings, about 8" long, of the rose from this year's growth. It might be worth trying older wood, if that's all that's left. If your soil isn't already frozen (if it is, see below), in a spot that is semi-shaded in Spring/early Summer, dig a trench of however long, loosening the soil. You can amend, but do NOT add fertilizer. You'll want to place the cuttings at least 12" apart, so they have room to grow, and you can transplant them easily after they've rooted (!). Treat the bottom ends of your cuttings with rooting hormone (not totally necessary. I almost never do. I said this is easy), put the cuttings in the prepared soil (careful not to remove the hormone if you used it) with about 2/3 of the cutting buried. Water in. IF you don't have snow cover soon, you'll need to cover with pine needles or another very light mulch. Be sure to remove the mulch at the first sign of warmer weather. Protect from late frost like any other plant. Wait until they show new growth next Spring (I can almost guarantee they will, assuming you can find some of this year's growth to use). Then, without actually digging them up and trying not to disturb the soil too much, take a trowel and carefully push it straight down about two or three inches from the cutting, repeat all the way around in a circle. Firm the soil back in place. You're root pruning and encouraging a more solid root ball. About a month to six weeks later, your new roses are ready to transplant. Remember, you need to dig them with the rootball you created. Make it about 4-6" across. Pot them up or transplant (I usually pot them for another six weeks)

Now...if your soil is already frozen, this works just as well with pots placed in a cold, unheated garage. You just have to schlepp those cuttings in and out next Spring, starting as soon as the buds swell. Be careful NOT to over water the pots. Wet soil is actually deadly to rose cuttings in pots. Keep BARELY moist. That's all. EDIT: do not use potting soil with added fertilizer. It will burn newly forming roots.

Hope this helps. I can't tell you how many roses I've rooted this way. It works for just about any rose that goes truly dormant, but especially well for those that require cold dormancy in order to bloom. You'd be surprised how many roses I have that were just sticks stuck in the ground in January, when I found a broken cane on the mother plant, lol.

John

"Would this room work to keep the rose in?"

I think so, yes.

It needs light, so I vote for anything that gives it the maximum amount of light. Without using artificial lights (best choice), I tend towards the basement, since you said its windows get almost full day sun and you could place it close to the window. Second choice maybe the breezeway, but only morning sun is a bit concerning. Agree with Mad Gallica that it doesn't have enough energy stored to go dormant in the garage, and *definitely* don't re-pot or disturb it in any way now. And no fertilizer. Fig's suggestion is intriguing, but may be more than you're willing to do now.

Thanks again everyone!

fig insanity, I am amazed at what you posted lol! Does that really work?? Wow, awesome. The bad part for me is that because the city came through and sheared everything back, I don't think there's 8" even left of the roses. But your method is good to know for future use. While I usually don't care to try cuttings of anything (mostly because I suck at it lol) I almost want to try this method just because I can't believe it works lol. Maybe I'll take a walk and see what I can find of these roses.

So I did bring the rose in the other day because it is starting to get colder here. I put it in my "breezeway" room, but now I'm thinking it needs more light. So I will probably try the basement window (at ground level next to the sunny driveway). I just have to be careful of what MG said - that I don't forget about it!

One last question if anyone is still reading - can I just keep it in my house? I mean, like in a bedroom or living room window? I ask because with folks here (and in my reading) saying things like "cool basement" or "sun porch" or "unheated but sunny" etc., does that mean it shouldn't just go into one's main house? I know there can be humidity and/or temperature issues with overwintering things, so I just want to make sure I'm not missing something here.

In the meantime, I am going to transfer it to the basement window, and keep my fingers crossed.

Thank you!

:)

Dee

" can I just keep it in my house? I mean, like in a bedroom or living room window? "

Yes. As long as it gets light. That is a better choice than the basement window if you think you'll forget about down there. If it's not dormant and it dries out = its toast.

Your goal here is to keep it alive and growing roots until it can be set out next spring. One winter in the house without dormancy isn't going to do any lasting damage. Heck, I overwintered a TREE in the basement one year at another house -- bought it at a trade show iin the middle of winter, it was fully leafed out and I didn't want to chance shocking it into dormancy in the midst of brutally cold temps so into the basement it went. It looked like heck the first season planted outside, but fully recovered and grew into a beautiful specimen over the years.

The problems with keeping roses inside the comfortable part of the house are that the warmer it is, the more light the rose needs, and it is much more prone to spider mites.

When I was rooting a lot of roses, and keeping them in the basement over the winter, I'd try to bring up the ones in bloom. It never really worked. They were obviously much happier in the basement.

IME, south facing windows aren't enough light.

Hardwood cuttings are a thing. We did it one winter. The damasks rooted. The albas didn't.

I used to do hardwood cuttings with my dad just for fun. We didn't need more plants. We just used a spade to cut a slit in the ground, shoved the cuttings in and forgot about them. Have a look again in the spring.

I'd reiterate that trying to keep hardy shrubs growing indoors is not a great idea. They should be allowed to go dormant as part of their natural cycle. And for that they need to be cool.

Hardwood cuttings are THE easiest way to propagate roses, but it only works for those roses that go truly dormant. Again, it works best on the types that REQUIRE cold to set buds, in other words, the truly hardy classes.. But yes, it works, very well. It can be used for many other shrubs and trees. And Floral's method is the same as I outlined, just in the simplest form. Simple is good.

The REASON it works so well for roses is that the cold air temp, coupled with the warmer soil temp, encourages callousing. The callous is where new roots form. After spending the winter forming a callous, the cuttings are ready to root at the first sign of Spring. Then they have time to root and leaf out before the weather gets too hot. So what you're doing is taking advantage of the Goldilocks conditions. When you take softwood cuttings, however, you have to CREATE the Goldilocks conditions: not too wet, not too dry, high humidity, protect from too much sun, make sure they don't overheat...none of that applies to hardwood cuttings.

For more info, just Google "hardwood cuttings", in general, and "roses, hardwood cuttings" specifically. Plants really do want to live, lol.