I'd give them at least a month. Longer if they are killed to the ground, and have to come back from scratch.

Aaron. I can’t “like” your post, but I want to give you my sympathies and best wishes that your roses come back from the roots and give you a lovely season of bloom.

There are a lot of roses in my zone 5 yard that die completely to the ground and don't emerge until late May or even June as Sheila says. The low temperatures and swings may have killed off the canes above the ground but I bet a majority of them will come back from the roots or graft (if you buried it).

Hang in there and have hope. Some of them probably died but yes, you can expect it can send out a shoot from the base if there aren't any buds at all on the existing (and perhaps dead) canes above the ground. No guarantees, but it can so hope that it will.

Sympathies as well for those that may die. Counting each rose that shows shoots from the ground or canes as a gift rather than grieving those that don't come back is my strategy.

Cynthia

Aaron, are your roses grafted or own-root, or a mix? I'd definitely give it until the end of June for any own-root, as it will take that long (in your zone) for new shoots to appear from below. For the grafted roses, I'd wait until mid May, then if they show no signs of life, prune them very low and then wait until the end of June. You might (hopefully) be pleasantly surprised. As long as ANY dormant buds survived, they WILL try to grow.

Asron , id be happy to send you cuttings if there are roses i grow that youd llike ! im so sorry you are going through this . its not fair

Aaron, my roses have already formed buds, and I decided that Eveline was gone. I scratched the bud area(no live canes) and saw green, but there were no visible buds. I pulled her out (not very gently), and of course there were a few live buds—so I moved her to a pot for now. She had been under a pot, and I had applied alfalfa tea and other stimulators.

I wouldn’t give up in your zone either. Just uncover the bud area, apply your favorite stimulators, cover it with a pot that has a hole, and hope some of your roses recover!

Here is a very good description of a few methods and products:

https://youtu.be/IdQo-5Q2oH8?si=0fLcG33JgvOMhL_t

Aaron,

Have you selected varieties to grow that are winter hardy to zone 5, or better yet, even zone 4? I mean tip hardy, not just crown hardy. Grow zone 6-7 roses, which I estimate are 90+% of modern roses available commercially, and winter die back among them is rife in your zone 5.

If you select your roses from only those that are tip hardy in your garden, your winter kill problems will be greatly reduced if not eliminated. This surely limits you to what varieties you can grow, but I think it's better to eliminate problems than to angst over the failures of problems left unchanged that can be changed.

Moses.

I'm looking at my Beverly and thinking it's gone. The rest of the roses all show signs of growth, despite a very harsh winter, low temps, and 2 ft of snow covering them. The big problem were the rabbits who stripped the bark off the canes. As they did most of the others, but they all have growth below the damage, Beverly does not yet. Of course, that was my favorite. I only have 6 roses, so that's a pretty good percentage of roses that survived.

Next Fall I'm going to have to surround them all with wire to protect against rabbits. But maybe it was the cold for Beverly.

It is hard if you have many to replace. It's so expensive now. And if i wanted to replace some of mine, the growers that I bought them from are not in business any more. *sigh*. I'm wondering about propagating what we have and trading with others?

Prairiemoon,

The 2' of snow that covered your roses actually protected them from the single digit or lower spells! Snow cannot be colder than 32°F., so it actually insulates and protects your roses during the intense, killing lows.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I garden, is not in the snow belt. The snow belt in Pennsylvania is north of me, beginning about 90 miles north. Meadville, PA (92 miles north), and Edinboro, PA (109 miles north), are just about in the snow belt. Erie, PA (127 miles north), is the farthest north larger city in Pennsylvania. Folks in these cities growing the same varieties that I grow have better winter survivability than I do because of the consistent, all season long (most of the time), snow cover they get during the winter.

The snow cover I don't get, or get very intermittently, being too south of the snow belt, creates a more inhospitable environment for winter survivability. Erie, PA, is in the same growing zone, zone 6b, as I am, but roses there come through winter better then mine do because of the snow cover there. That's regardless of Erie being 127 miles north of Pittsburgh.

Snow cover means a lot in growing roses where winters are cold. It's a blessing, not a cursing.

Moses.

Snow cannot be colder than 32°F

Huh? So when the air temperature is -40, the snow is still only 32°F? How does that work?

Seriously, explain.

and the snow ends at the Crawford - Mercer county lines.

Hi Moses, I understand snow cover insulates. We did start the winter without snow cover and very low temps with a lot of wind chill factors too. We had a little of everything this past winter...lol. I have no idea why I may have lost Beverly. The only other reason I could think of is the damage the rabbits did to the canes. but since all the roses got the same treatment, it will remain a mystery.

I am so sorry. I would be happy to share cuttings or young props with you, what roses did you lose?

I have had some roses die down to the ground that I thought for sure were dead, no signs of life and no green at the base with a scratch test. Then when I later go to replace them I find new canes appearing out of the ground, give it some time. My dear husband has even ran over a young hydrangea that ended up regrowing with a vengeance and now is larger than her neighbors in the hedge. Plants are resilient

Mad,

Not at a snowfall's first surface inches. They are the air spaces between the snowflakes that create the insulating effect. As you proceed from the snow's surface down into a snowfall's interior the temperature rises considerably above the outside temperature, until it reaches near freezing at ground level. When the term, 'blanket of snow,' is used people usually don't realize that it literally is functioning as an insulating blanket, as on a bed.

The state bird of Alaska, the Willow Ptarmigan, dives head first into snow banks as dusk approaches, to survive the winter night cold buried deep in the snow where it is considerably warmer that outside. As the birds wiggle to open an air space for themselves within the snow bank, their body heat and warm breath exhaled, slightly melts the snow to form thin ice crusts over some of the space's sides. The insullating air spaces between the snow particles, and the additional air room within their chambers keeps the birds from asphyxiating or succumbing to CO2 gas. The ice crusting formation allows the willow ptarmigan to have a firm surface from which to push forth its escape from the snow bank in the morning.

Moses.

Aaron, I also garden in Zone 5b, and several of my roses look like they may be goners, but I would wait a few weeks. Because our temps are still cooler, it takes awhile for the roses to warm up and put out any leaves. Don't give up on them yet. Perfect example is a very pretty climber that I purchased two years - Cherry Frost. Just picked it up on a whim at Menards. I'm not kidding - this rose wants to LIVE! LOL. Last year, it was spectacular, and was blooming well into Nov. I just checked it yesterday and the canes have what appears to be dieback, but trust me, this rose gets very little winter damage and takes awhile to push out any new growth.

Bottom line - wait a few more weeks. I'm sure your roses are fine. If you lose a few, think of it as an opportunity to buy and try some other beautiful varieties. Speaking of which - I just purchased a few more from a local nursery, Meinke's in Niles, IL. They have an AMAZING selection of roses! You all have to check them out if you're in the area!

I purchased 10: Quicksilver (2 - I love this climber), Colette (deer mowed down my other one), Powerpuff Pink, Cathedral Bells, Oliva Rose (DA variety), Raspberry Swirl (or Twirl?) climber, Crazy Love (love, love, love the color combo on this one), Martha Stewart (heard good things about this one, can't wait to see the blooms) and Darcy Bussell (another DA. I told my husband to pick one and this is what he chose).

Happy gardening!

Thank you all for encouraging patience—I saw new buds on several roses I thought were dead! Two definitely are—one Evelyn and my Tchaikovsky :( but it’s not nearly as bad as I thought. Much appreciated everyone!! You’re all so kind.

So glad to hear it Aaron! I also see some growth on the rose i thought might be dead. The base of the plant looks really bad. Almost black. For me the new growth is suspect. It does not look vigorous and healthy. So, I'm going to wait some more and keep it watered.

I was wondering. If it pushes out enough new growth to get a cutting, would that be an option to take a cutting and start over or leave it alone and see if it actually starts to fill out with healthy growth? I had a shrub rose that bloomed beautifully one year and suddenly one cane started to die. I had to cut it down and the cane was dead inside. Brown center dead. Yet it still pushed out new growth and bloomed before it went kaput. Every other rose in the garden is looking great. Healthy abundant new growth from the base.

Aaron, I am in Zone 4b - or was - maybe now 5-A, at any rate if in 5a, 4b is still within 15 miles of me, despite global warming.

I have been growing roses for 38-years, and learned a lot on here, and through experience.

The most important winter protection in USDA plant zone 4-b is controlling disease during the growing season. Disease seldom kills during the growing season -- it kills by weakening the plant during the growing season, and then in the spring the rose bush doesn't come back up.

For grafted roses, plant the crown 3-4" below soil surface. Shoots can come up from the graft if it is so buried below surface. Keep a top mulch such as cypress mulch or red cedar. Both will deter fungal diseases, and insects during the growing season, and help keep soil temps moderate during the summer, promoting growth. You want to grow roses during their season as well as you can as it makes them hardier after winter die-back.

In the springtime, clean the dead leaves out from under the center of the rose. Reapply clean mulch as mentioned above.

Spray fungicides as needed during the growing season. I spray Daconil in cool temps, and other sprays when it is warmer. (Daconil cannot be sprayed in temps over 78 or higher). Snow is the best winter cover. If your rose bushes are near a sidewalk or driveway, blow or shovel snow onto them during the winter.

Thanks Mark—I didn’t really think much of treating disease as being important to staving off winter kill but it absolutely makes sense. I’ll be sure to treat my roses appropriately. I really appreciate your insight!!

We have had early warming this spring in NE Iowa, which woke up most of my roses early, and frosts. I have difficulties too, but they all came back this year, some more weakly than others.

Here are two more tricks.

Make sure you have 3" of mulch in your rose bed -- I have to supplement my mulch in the spring most years. You want mulch that helps control insects somewhat, keeps the area beneath your rose clean so fungal disease is discouraged, helps soil remain cool in the summer, and prevents soil from drying out entirely. I use cypress mulch. Red cedar mulch has comparable qualities. There may be other mulches with these qualities.

On warm days, especially in late spring with roses that are slow coming back pull the mulch away from the center of the plant. The idea is to get some warmth where you want shoots to grow. (Be careful about doing this too early in the spring and encouraging premature growth that gets frost damage)

Pay attention to the weather forecast so you can push the mulch back over the tiny vulnerable growth you have coming up to protect it against frost damage at night.

I just wanted to add an update. The new growth on my Beverly that I had my doubts about, did disappear and just wasn't viable, BUT....I just noticed yesterday that I have a new shoot coming up next to the dead stump of Beverly. Very exciting. I'm glad I waited past the time I thought it should start showing something.

I am always surprised at the resurrection of some roses I'd written off as dead. In zone 5-6, we just expect some winter kill even of established roses so we need a tough bark on our hearts :). I lose 10-15% of my roses every year for a variety of reasons, but I plant more than replacement numbers so my garden keeps increasing. Like Prairiemoon I get a certain number of roses that put out a little growth then lose any signs of growth after a while. I call this "pretending to survive" if it doesn't put out additional new growth pretty soon. Glad your Beverly survived! Mine is a goner and I don't think I'll replace it.

I just marveled at a Table Mountain own root plant from Roses Unlimited that was showing no indications of growth whatsoever. I put another rose in its place, but I always check the roots of the rose I'm digging out to see if it's dead or just "mostly dead". As in the Princess Bride, Table Mountain turned out to be only "mostly dead" which is also "somewhat alive". If the roots don't snap like a broken branch, I figure there's hope. This one had roots that bent rather than broke and still looked moist but inactive.

I potted up its lifeless little stubs and roots and ignored it with no hope. To my surprise, at the beginning of this week (yes late JUNE) it is now putting out growth. Being own root, it is definitely the right rose, and its one of many reasons i don't do my Death March to pull the tags and roots of roses that die until July or later. You never know...

Cynthia

Thanks for sharing that Cynthia, I love hearing those stories. I thought I'd learned my lesson but two years ago I had to move 3 roses to replace a fence. I had a New Dawn that I loved, and it was too close to the fence post and we just butchered that poor rose getting it out of the ground. I tossed it, thinking it was a goner. Later I realized, just light dawning on 'Marble Head' that the part of the rose that was deep below where we had cut too much, still had roots and if I had done what you did with Table Mountain, I'd still have my New Dawn.

I just wish I didn't have to learn the same lessons multiple times! [g] Glad you saved your Table Mountain!

Prairiemoon, my 2 Beverly’s and 3 Plum Perfect’s were hit hard/damaged last winter/early spring. All are in the process of rebounding and still not back to what they were. The plants were well established.

I was just about to post that I discovered another cane sprouting up from the dead brown base of Beverly. Very exciting. There are three stems from the first cane with small buds on them and now a new cane about 4 inches away from the first. Very happy I didn't lose it.

KRose...very happy for you that yours are recovering too! PlumPerfects are one I am thinking of getting too. My Beverly was well established too...about 5 years before this happened. Aren't we both lucky?! :-)

If it matters. I trashed 2 Plum Perfects this year in my zone 6 other garden. I don't know how long they were there, but it was at least 3 years. They didn't grow, they barely bloomed. They blackspotted.

I have a picture, but since it is also badly eaten by Japanese beetles, it's about the most pathetic rose you ever saw.

Mad_gallica, that’s one of the things that I like most about this forum, diff things can happen in each person’s garden. My back and front yards have diff microclimates. I love reading about people’s diff experiences. Just by chance were they grafted or own root? I don’t know if mine will ever fully recover and be the beauties they were or their fate will be the shovel.

PLUM PERFECT, Sept . 5, 2022

BEVERLY, May 16, 2024

Beverly June 3, 2024

My 2 Beverly 2013, 2014. Plum Perfect 2018, 2019 x 2. JB’s really love both of them!

@kentucky_rose zone 6, I have the same experience But they seem to be rebounding. So long as we don't have another extremely harsh winter I think they'll be back to normal. Mine were much smaller than yours were but they were much younger also. This is plum perfect I'm talking about.

Kentucky_rose - those are exceptional rose bushes!!! I hope they recover. If not, maybe get the same varieties? Impressive!!

Vaporvac - I'm glad your PP is rebounding.

I finally took some photos of the recovering Beverly....

Here is the stump with the second cane popping through. We haven't gotten around to cutting back the stump yet. Now I wonder if that worked out better that we didn't. I could wait until next spring to trim it or do it now. Which do you think would be best? We'll have to take a saw to it.

@Aaron Rosarian Zone 5b

&

@kentucky_rose zone 6

and Rosie Friends,

You both had beautuful gardens! I am sorry for your losses. Wishing you blessed gRdens in the future! And better weather!

Aaron,

-20F is very cold. I guess you must buy roses for zone 5 & 4. Last winter was a big surprise with freezes in very low temps. that were very difficult on rosesI You had a great loss. I heard lowest temps in my NY area in over a decade. Do you have many Kordes or Tantau? I find them the best for freezing winters so far.

Actually, small Cream Verandas in first season survived my front hill, last freezing winter-which is the coldest point on my property. Also, Drifts on hills seem to do the best! (The Fairy and Petal Pushers are ok in the hill but not as cold hardy.) A new small Bolero did not surivive the winter on the top of the hill. . Many of my new roses from 2025 potted didn’t survive in my backyard buried.

.

Kentucky,

I am very surprised your Beverlys and Plum Perfects, Kordes, were damaged too much. Although, any rose could be damaged by that last winter-it was truly a deep freezing one. However, my Dark Desire & Wedding Bells, Kordes, did take big hits by our last deep freezing winter, too. My Wedding Bells was not as strong as usual because she had been transplanted. Dark Desire receives part sun/shade may be weaker, too. Dark Desire is ok and blooming , but only 1 foot tall now. How low did your temperatures get in Kentucky last winter?

MY NY WINTER ROSIE EXPERIENCE

I lost about 20 roses in last winter NY zone 6, deep freezes for the first time in my 30+ years of rose gardening. The back yard was full of black canes on most roses. The big Black Forest! LOL! The front yard had hardly any black canes. It was 1F at the lowest & teens for too many days last winter. The coldest in NY in decades. . My strongest roses survived. I mostly lost young new 2025 seasonal roses which were potted, but buried in ground. I had them out in the yard, buried, mounded & burlaped. However, now, lesson learned-in NY, I would now recommend all potted must be buried in ground next to south side of home or in a garage for warmth. . This season, many I pruned down to 6 inches, removing black canes, in end of March & start of April.

A few were pruned down to ground after little bit of green canes left, later turned black.

Most roses have rebounded back and I had a large flush in June-to mid-July.

Effie and Juliet , 2 1/2 years old, are the smallest roses left that survived. Effie grew back from the roots, 3 new 6 inch canes now July 27, but I took her out of the ground & potted to pamper her. I even moved her to part shade during the heat wave. Now she’s in full sun & looks like a baby happy rose. She was one of my best ever bloomers! She had one bud, but transplanting lost it. However, she is growing well a couple weeks later now.

Juliet was 3-4 ft last season. She had 6 inch canes to start this season. She had gardener hack off one of her taller canes, so she is only 2 1/2 feet now with 2nd few flush blooms.

I also lost 4-2 year old florist roses, Princess Kishi, Cartonnage, Shinoburedo, & Yves Rouge de Parfum. RdP & Shino. were oldest, and started coming back, but heat wave put the 2 assunder in June. The baby new rebounders could not survive 97F & humidity. One needs to be careful with the ”new florist roses, some are hardy and some are fragile.”

All roses were mounded & smaller ones were burlapped. A bucket over them may have helped. Planting the more delicate florist roses & Yves roses in pots & putting them in a garage if in NY may be a best recommendation now.

Some florist roses did very well last winter: Miyabi, Constance, Eisvogel, Ashley, Pas de Due, Juwena, Sweet Flow, Blushing Parasol, Yves Cantina, Georgia Peach, Royal Palace, Scheherazade, & Princess Charlene de Monaco did well! Some black canes, but grew well. Francis Meilland-4 years old has 2 canes now ( wind storm blew off a tall cane of hers). Francis M. grew back from ground roots. She is 2 1/2 feet, looks very healthy with thick canes.

I am happy with Juliet & Effie, they look very healthy, but small. They are reestablishing. May look nice sized by Oct.

A few lessons learned about which new roses are the most hardy, potted rose care, In the end, the most healthy, strongest roses survive. All my DA did pretty well at rebounding, too.

I also leaned that if you have a rose which is small, may be new or rebounding from a harsh winter, and it’s pencil thin. It looks like a new baby rose under a year old. It needs green house or pampering conditions to do well. No 97F & humid temps fir it! LOL! Morning sun/afternoon shade is best. Muted sun light when it is young on heat waves. Really good enriched soil & regular fertilizing. Ideal conditions to grow or recover.

Effie Jully 26, 2026

Effie 2025

@Kittysrosegarden Many thanks for the info. of your rare & florist roses for winter survival. I love your pics. of Effie above. Copy/paste my winter survival in zone 5, NW Chicago from the other thread here:

My roses did well this past 2025 winter since I spent time collecting 80+ bags of leaves from the neighbors .. they leave the leaves out at the curb for FREE leaf pickup so I gather them to mulch my roses. I also had one HUGE maple tree chopped down in late fall, which the tree company grind up as FREE MULCH, so I topped my roses with a thick wad of leaves, then more wood chips on top.

I was too busy with my many veggies garden to fertilize my roses. I don't have the time to push the top stuff away to spread granular fertilizer. My roses did fantastic WITHOUT any fertilizer in spring.

The late rosarian Karl Bapst (zone 5) is right about NOT using granular fertilizer in spring since the tender feeder roots of tiny roses emerging from winter get burnt with granular fertilizer.

My neighbor put woodchips on top of his roses (more than 6 inchs) and he used cheap MG-soluble for plants to fertilize his roses. His roses were loaded with blooms despite NO GRANULAR FERTILIZE IN SPRING.

I got 100+ buds/blooms for the first time in a decade on my own-root Poseidon, see below (fertilized by dunking pea gravel in my rain-barrel), I also put some biochar (half-burnt wood) on top with the thick layer of mulch & leaves:

I got over 100 buds/blooms on Royal Jubilee (4th year own root) with NO fertilizer in spring, just a thick wad of leaves & woodchips:

Below left beige bush is Sweet Juliet (nice scent like Jude, but with a touch of lemon). Pink bush is Royal Jubilee, I can smell its old rose & alba scent 5 feet away:

I didn't put down any fertilizer except for homemade compost this mid-July (year-old kitchen scraps) for my roses. I save the huge $12 bag of chicken manure for my many veggies.

Straw,

Lovely comments on mulching & fertilizing your roses. 80 bags of leaves sounds like a big project! Biochar sounds very effective as a fertilizer! Chicken manure is fabulous, too! Amazing rosie blooms! I am fond of Plant Tone organic granules, kitchen compost, fish fertilizers, and alfalfa. I love saving kitchen scraps monthly for the garden. Bananas, old salads & veggies, fruits are wonderful! Thank you for sharing your wonderful ideas.

Prairie, just be careful when removing the stump that you don't knock the new growth off.

Prairie, sometimes I leave the stump at least for a while because it can serve as a wind break or animal deterrant. Your new growth is only 1 precious young tender cane, not hardened off yet. I have regrettably removed things that can make the new growth more vulnerable to outside elements. Lots of rabits here. Whenever you do remove it, putting some stakes around it can help protect some. Also, another option would be to put a wire cage around the plant. Good luck!

Sheila and KRose - Thank you both for that warning! I was worried about how I would get that old stump out of there. I wish I had taken it all the way down before the new growth showed up. It was just an inconvenient time. I removed dead canes with Loppers and the rest of the stump was going to need a saw and I never got back to it.

So, it's no advantage to remove what's left of the old stump? I wondered if it would trigger more new canes?

I am planning on putting a wire cage around it before the winter to keep the rabbits off it.

I would want the old dead stump off eventually. I would probably take it off soon, just very carefully before you get more new growth you could injure.

Thank you Sheila!