Got snow?

This seems to be the most oft-repeated question of the week.

The answer I have been giving the others is that I do no particular winter protection of my Zone 6 roses, but that is partly because all my grafted roses have the graft planted 1-2 inches below the soil-line. If you have grafts, I hope you did that also. If not, it would probably be good to dump some leaves or mulch around those plants--but trying to do that when it is 2 degrees outside does not sound like an enviable task.

In general, like I said I do nothing. However, my neighbors' oak trees do scatter some oak leaves haphazardly around my garden--that might give some minimal protection, but I've never lost a plant to winter-cold--just to summer-heat.

If you have some snow out there, that's good--will help insulate some of the roses.

I just wouldn't worry about it. Zone 6 is not the frozen Arctic--though it sometimes feels that way to us. : )

Kate

Thank you we have a thin layer of snow I'm going to go crush some leaves. Do I need to even cover my min. (Side note:I can't wait till after valentines day all the mini rises are 4$ and there is multiple roses in 1 pot)

This post was edited by michael1846 on Fri, Jan 3, 14 at 13:39

If your roses are in pots, yes, you should protect them. Put them in your garage or line them along the south foundation of your house (or structure that gets more sun). It wouldn't hurt to scatter leaves or mulch around them also.

Ah, the cute little minis. If possible, check and make sure they are hardy to Zone 6. But grocery store minis might not have that info. Hard to say how hardy they are or are not.

Good luck.

Kate

No, you don't need to cover them if they are in the ground. In fact sometimes it can do more harm than good by breaking canes. As Kate said, if you planted them deep to begin with they'll be fine. If not you should have mulched them some in the fall but if you want to go out and try to now I guess that would be oK. Be careful not to bang them up though. At these cold temps canes can snap easily.

Yes, you're going to have cane damage. There is nothing you can do about that and it will need to be pruned off in the spring but in the long run you're better off just letting them be. The snow on the ground will be good insulation for the roots and that's the most important thing.

Most roses aren't really lost from the cold temps but more from the freezes and thaws of early spring when they try to leaf out too soon and that new growth is repeatedly frozen off. The rose uses up all its stored energy before true spring arrives and has none left to bud out with again. That's usually when I lose roses here. So the best thing is to keep them dormant for as long as possible so that doesn't happen. That's really the purpose of the mulch. People think the mulch is to keep them warmer but it's just the opposite. It shouldn't be put on until after the ground is frozen and the roses are completely dormant. Then it can keep the cold IN and the ground frozen to keep them dormant through any early warm spells that you know aren't going to last. They save their energy for when it really does warm up for good in the spring.

Well that was a cold activity. Thanks for the advice. :)