I'm not Kim but would like to ask what growing zone you in and your general location? Thanks...That helps get more accurate answers to your questions.

Good point, Jim. My additional question is, when and why are you bringing the plant indoors?

Yes, you do have to worry about insects indoors. Anything which might have infested the plant outdoors might easily live indoors, such as scale, mealy bug, aphids, spider mites, fungus gnats, perhaps even saw flies for a while. If you have insects like ants, earwigs, slugs and snails as well as other ground insects, they can easily invade pots and live indoors. That's why plants mailed in soil from nurseries usually have to be grown in soil less mixes and never set directly on the ground, for fear of shipping insect pests.

Have you grown this or any other rose indoors before? Generally, roses are not "house plants" and suffer from too hot, too dry air with too little light. Sometimes, in hotter, sunnier windows, they can literally burn from the intensity of the sun rays focused through glass. The air close to the windows is often very hot and dry, leading to spider mite issues. Once inside, many insects can proliferate unchecked. Outdoors, they have predators. Indoors, you are their prime predator. Kim

Indoors, you can count on having severe problems with spider mites unless you flood the foliage with water every few days, or spray with oil or soap every couple of weeks with 100% coverage. Please tell us where you live and we can advise about overwintering pots.

Suzy11 other thread says shes in PA here Kim & Michaelg...
I hate using pots for roses and am not very experienced with pots at all...

I have only overwintered one pot outside on our open front porch. I placed a pot in a half barrel and placed leaves between the spaces AFTER it went somewhat dormant from hard freezes.I placed snow on top once in awhile during winter. It made it through the winter ok... Our rose was in a plastic pot and half barrel was plastic 1/4" thick sides.

I guess an unheated garage would be better...

This post was edited by jim1961 on Mon, Sep 23, 13 at 19:25

Thanks, Jim. That means you're probably the better one to advise her how to over winter the rose. My "winter protection" is to make sure there are no overly long/tall growths to be ripped off and whipped around by the winds, and to keep the roses watered well if it doesn't rain. Here, they don't even stop flowering much of the time. Kim

Thanks, Jim. That means you're probably the better one to advise her how to over winter the rose. My "winter protection" is to make sure there are no overly long/tall growths to be ripped off and whipped around by the winds, and to keep the roses watered well if it doesn't rain. Here, they don't even stop flowering much of the time. Kim

Sorry I forgot to tell you where I live

I already brought my potted mini rosé bush inside for the winter. Should it stay out?

I already brought my potted mini rosé bush inside for the winter. Should it stay out?

I iive in central pa. This is my first rosé. It is inside for winter because we get cold and snow. It's in a Tera cota pot. I sprits twice a day with water. Is that ok?

What should I do with it for the. Winter?

Suzy, because of the tremendous difference in our climates, I'm going to suggest Jim or someone else who lives where roses may have to be "put to bed" for the winter, responds to your questions. I would think the rose would be better off in a plastic or foam pot instead of the terra cotta pot because of the heat and cold transfer the terra cotta is very good at providing. You want some insulation against temperature extremes. Plastic doesn't heat up like terra cotta does. They literally make cook ware out of terra cotta. Other than that, I can't really suggest what to do as far as bringing it indoors or putting in a sheltered spot outdoors for the winter. I'm sorry. Good luck. Kim

Put it outside in the sun right away. You don't need to worry about winter damage to the canes or roots until temperatures drop below 20 F for pots or 10 for garden roses. Your rose will continue to grow and bloom until a freeze of around 27 degrees, which might occur around Nov. 1 for your location. This will damage the soft new growth and induce semi-dormancy. You then want the rose to stay as dormant as possible until, say, early April. After it is dormant you could push it against the south wall of the house and pile leaves around and over it. This should be good down to around zero or minus 5. Big pots can stand more cold than small pots. Terra cotta pots may break because of expansion from freezing. You could also keep it in a crawl space or unheated garage at temperatures between 20 and 40, but it may get too warm in March and start growing out prematurely.

To keep the rose growing in the house you would need 5 hours per day of direct sunlight along with regular spritzing that reaches the underside of the leaves. You would fertilize it like other houseplants.

Thank you very much for your help. You both have given me really great information. I do not have other house plants. My citrus trees are the only other plants that will be in the house over the winter. I don't really Know how to fertilize plants in winter. Will it say on the fertilizer? Michaelg that sounds pretty doable I need to learn about fertiliIng though. Can I use a growing light?

I don't have any experience with growing lights. They would probably work with small rose plants.

You could fertilize with Miracle Gro or Schultz, 1 TSP to a gallon once a month. Roses are just plants and need the same nutrition as other normal plants.

Great thanks very much! What a releaf. Do I need a plastic pot?

I wouldn't even try to winter a rose inside. You can't reproduce the proper conditions to keep the rose happy. I have tried and failed at it many times. Follow Michael's advice on wintering it outside. The south facing wall of your house is usually the sunniest and warmest spot to winter roses. But you want to keep the rose dormant all winter so pile those leaves deep and, if necessary, wrap the whole thing with burlap to keep them in place all winter.

Yes, a plastic pot would be better. Terracotta pots absorb water and when they freeze they crack. It won't hurt the rose but you'll have a mess on your hands come spring. Trying to get the broken pot out of your winter storage will be difficult to do and you'll have to repot it immediately.

There are two other options for wintering pots. You can keep them in an unheated garage up on some wood blocks or on a shelf. If you do this you MUST remember to water them a little each month all winter long. Even when the pot is frozen the rose still needs to be watered. The other method would be to dig a trench and bury the pot in the ground completely. Digging roses into the ground is a tried and true method but it's very labor intensive. My best tip for this method is to make sure you mark where you buried it VERY well so you can find it and dig it out without damaging it come spring.

I forgot to add that I think it's way too early to do any winterizing for your zone. I don't know how it is for you but I've been getting blooms into November here. I never winterize mine until after Thanksgiving and some years well into December. You should never winterize before they have gone completely dormant and that will depend solely on the weather we have.

How does it look when it become dormant? Is the Tera cota pot okay?

Dormant: not growing. The new growth will be burnt--you will prune that off in spring. Mature leaves of repeat-blooming roses will not drop in fall but will be injured by temperatures around 10 or 15, This is not a true deciduous dormancy; the roses will grow out whenever temperatures average above 40 for a while.

Terra cotta pots may break when exposed to temperatures below 20 for some hours because the rootball expands when frozen. It may be OK under a pile of leaves.

Again, you should take the rose outside and grow it normally for the next month or so.

Ok.you gave great info thank you very much! You helped a lot? I just had a crash course in roses. :)

Ps. Grow lights are used in winter for citrus. I have not used one.