Winter
Protection for Roses
In
order for your
roses to survive the winter, keeping them
in good health during the summer is the most important thing you can do
for winter
rose protection.
Roses that go into dormancy
after being properly watered, well fed, insect and rose
disease
free will survive the winter months. Roses that have been poorly
maintained during the summer months usually do not have a very good
survival rate.
It
is possible to
provide winter rose protection to roses without
having to go to a huge amount of trouble. Letting your roses slowly go
dormant, shielding them from temperature differences, will get their
natural defense system to work properly.
What
causes the damage to roses in winter?
The
answer to this
question quite plainly is water. Roses
retain water in their cells during their growing season. When the
temperature suddenly falls the water in the cells freezes, making the
cells expand and rupture, causing damage or killing them. However if
roses go dormant slowly, the cell walls will have time to thicken and
the water turns into a form that fights freezing. This new form of
liquid is like an antifreeze keeping your roses from damage. Cold-hardiness
in roses is the degree in which
a rose can make this
conversion.
Is
timing important?
Roses
can stand very
low temperatures and not be harmed when
they are dormant. The trick is to keep the rose plant in a dormant
state.
Applying winter protection to soon, before the ground has time to
freeze, delays dormancy and keeps the soil warm.
Preparing
your roses for winter months.
1.
After the end of August do not fertilize.
New growth shoots will be encouraged by the fertilizer. In September,
check the base of your rose bushes for new growth, remove any newgrowth
you find to prevent an early freeze injury.
2.
Reduce manual
watering,
starting at the beginning of September. Reducing the water
roses take
in will allow them to start the hardening off process for dormancy.
3.
Dead leaves and any debris should be cleaned up
around the base of roses.
This helps to eliminate any
insects
on your roses
or
diseases that decide to stay or live through the winter months.
4.
Roses that had insect problems in Summer,
should be sprayed with a dormant oil. Apply it to the canes and soil
surfaces. Make sure your roses
are dormant before doing this.
5.
Avoiding dehydration, some
causes of
winter damage are low humidity, in conjunction with intense winter
sunshine and wind. Spraying plants with a product called Wilt-Pruf
when plants are dormant helps to combat dehydration. If winter months
are dry, water plants every three weeks.
6. Pruning
in the fall, is not needed
except to shorten any extra long canes that could be broken off by
strong winds or any heavy snow. The end of April is the earliest your
roses need to be pruned.
Specific
needs of rose species
Miniature
Roses: These roses are very
hardy
and need very little in the way of winter protection. Miniature
roses
are small and
easy to protect, mound mulch around the stems to the depth of four to
six inches, adding three inches over the soil around the rose plant.
Mulch can be anything from bark, straw, evergreen boughs, ground leaves
and soil. If you choose soil as your mulch see that it is brought in
from another location, using the soil already there could expose and
damage surface roots. In Spring, remove mulch a little at a time to
give new growth time to become accustomed to sun and wind. 
Old
garden and Shrub roses:
These roses are
winter hardy and do not need much in the way of protection. However a
little mulch mounding provides added protection.
Floribunda's:
These rose species are
hardier than hybrid teas, but could benefit from winter protection.
Treat them the same as miniatures, mulch to maintain a dormant state.
Hybrid
teas: Purchase only hybrid
tea roses
that are hardy to your location. To protect them cover the base with
twelve inches or more of mulch. Bring in mulch or soil from another
place,do not rake it up from the base, this can cause damage to surface
roots. Contain the mulch to keep it from blowing away. Wire mesh
cylinders and rose collars made of plastic about twelve inches in
diameter can be used and bought at any garden center. Start removing
the mulch a little at a time around the middle of April. A foam cone
that fits over the rose plant can also be purchased, however the rose
plant must be pruned, which is not recommended in winter to fit the
cone. The cone allows the rose plant to heat up in warm spells,
breaking the plants dormant state and encouraging shoot growth. 
The second is to
loosen the
soil around the roots, make a trench, lean it over and cover the whole
plant with mulch. Also you can dig up the tree, store it in a cool
place like a garage or a basement until Spring returns and then
replant.