You are not alone in wondering about whether the roses will survive. It's been a really nasty winter for a lot of us. But roses are tough and I'm very hopeful that many of them will do just fine. There are some I figure weren't very healthy going in and won't make it but then most of those I wasn't all that pleased with anyway so no loss.

My roses look like someone took a blow torch to them. Pruning should be easy--close to the ground. I have some roses on fort. rootstock, which is winter tender for my climate. The graft/bud union is buried about 2 inches deep in the ground. Spring frost protection should be easier, though. Good luck!

Right now we have 20+ inches of snow.
I noticed rabbits have nibbled some of our roses.
I had cages around them but snow got so deep rabbits got over cages...lol
Last winter rabbits ate my newer roses to the ground
and they came back...

Best of luck with your roses Susanne! Hopefully they do great & come through ok...

I've been worrying about this too. I'm in zone 5b in Staten Island and we have had so much snow coupled with night temps that went as low as 5 degrees. I think the fact that they have been buried in snow might be good for them though as I've heard this can offer protection.

Anyway, we'll see this spring:)

Maude

My heart goes out to those of you in the south and northeast who are experiencing yet again unusually severe weather conditions. This has been a tough winter up here as well. According to the US map, I am actually in zone 4 although it is shown as zone 5 in Canada. The deep snow cover probably is a blessing as everything - roses, perennials, bushes etc. - are completely blanketed. Its good to see that there are other cold weather rose growers on the forum. It gives me hope and encouragement.

Plenty of cold zoners on this forum! Welcome to the optimist club. I also think I will have to prune WAY down this spring. And if they don't survive? Well then we will already have holes dug for the new guys.