I'll let zone 5ers answer this one, but just be sure to buy a pair those goatskin gauntlets before you plant ND--heheh. Sorry, I'm being facetious, but ND has ferocious thorns. I don't plant roses in the fall, but those on the forum in colder zones may have some good ideas for you. Diane

If you pot it up, where will you store the pot over winter? A basement or garage that is attached to the house is too warm, the ND would try to grow. Do you have an unattached garden shed?

Seriously, what choice do you have? It is possible to overwinter roses in garages, but it helps to have some experience in the matter. There are tricks and things that seem to be counterintuitive to a lot of people.

If you can't cancel the order (first choice), second choice is probably to plant it and pray to the rose gods for another mild winter. This isn't the year you want to see -25.

I remember I bought Trumpet vine mid September. I planted it along with the pot. It made it to the next season. It's still alive but I have to kill it since it will be replaced by ND.

Do you think ND will make it since it's still warm here?

As Mad Gallica points out, at this point you have the opportunity to make this something of an experiment this year if you can't delay shipping to spring. I would totally kill any plant I left potted for more than a month, winter or no, though plenty of folks overwinter roses fine in pots with experience.

A rule of thumb for planting roses in the ground is to allow a minimum of 10 weeks to establish roots and plan for winter survival, more is better. In my zone 5, you'd might get that much time in before the first really hard freeze that stops roses growing - the first frost date might not be when roses actually decide to close up shop for the winter. You have the added benefit that New Dawn is resolutely hardy in this zone, so it isn't likely to find the winter temperatures intolerable in principle like some HTs or teas.

My recommendation would be to plant it ASAP in good soil, preferably on the sunny side of your house if that's an option. Be faithful about pinching off any buds that try to form, and water it deeply if needed. You might use Kim's recommendation to feed it "weakly, weekly" for a few weeks or plant it with alfalfa and a root stimulator, but your goal is to grow strong roots not foliage at this point, so hold off any heavy application of nitrogen this fall. Some folks would hold off any fertilizer at this point in the fall for zone 5, and it depends on what has worked best for you with young plants if you want to fertilize or not (but water soluble and for a short time if you do so).

You could boost its outside chances by creating a little wind protection to increase its productive growing time for a short period. I put chopped off sections of leaf bags NEXT TO but not on or touching tender roses (like my teas) to create a wind buffer and maybe increase the functional zone inside the barrier one unit. Allow plenty of air circulation around the rose and at the top, and wait till the weather gets good and cold (20's) so you don't encourage fungal diseases. For a larger rose, many people mound soil at the base for winter protection, but I've smothered some baby bands with this method if they're too young.

Then you wait and see, and don't fret about it. If it survives, it'll take off next summer and never look back. If it doesn't you'll have learned something and be ready to try New Dawn again at the beginning of the spring/summer if that's the rose you want. Roses tend to be tougher than we give them credit, and New Dawn tends to be a survivor in general.

Cynthia

Awesome! I will follow all your advice. Thanks a lot everyone! :)

I would either reorder for spring or plant and baby it all winter. She does really well in my zone 5 garden. Is it a bare root or potted? My area doesn't freeze until after thanksgiving so you still have time. I would use organics to encourage root growth. All of my roses are still leafing and breaking. If we get an early cold snap you could cover the drip line area with a coarse mulch.
Good luck and keep us posted.

If you get decent snow cover, you should be OK (right, like I know about Z5). If it is just frozen ground, winds and so on, fingers crossed. If ever there was a time for generous mulching, I am guessing it would be on receipt and planting of said rose. Cut it back hard - (helps prevent wind rock) - although this could be rubbish advice - am bored and insomniac, so responding willy-nilly, all over the boards.

Cynthia and Mads, otoh, know what they are talking about.

As does DIANE.

And actually CAMPS, with 85 roses in zone 5 for 30 years, including new dawn, I do too!

Lol

I'm hoping it's going to be a mild winter again like last year and two years ago. :D

It hasn't arrived yet maybe tomorrow.

Plant it now, but make sure the bud union, the graft, the knobby point where The New Dawn is likely growing on another root stock, is 2 to 4" below grade. Otherwise you may be planting an annual. I have planted roses just before the snow flew and not lost them. The ground is still warm enough for the rose to develop new roots. Plant in the native soil and add amendments like compost on top, much like Cynthia recommends. A great rose, but huge even here.

Good luck with it.

Steve

According to the supplier's web page, it's an own-root band. So if it has significant die off during the winter, it may not have the reserves to grow next summer.

Campanula was admitting that she herself has no experience with zone 5, whereas Cynthia and Kay have plenty. She was not belittling other posters.

To the OP: If you can keep your plant buried under snow when the very cold temperatures arrive, that will be good winter protection. Shovel it on whenever you have a chance.

Oh, sorry, Susan....mea culpa - all those other numbers 2495 confused my brain so I didn't notice you were another freezy zone 5 type. Obviously, everyone who can keep roses alive in those temperatures has a depth of committment I can only guess at.

I have kept new cuttings, including The New Dawn, alive over winter by siting them in their pots along the uninsulated, north foundation wall of my house and covering them with 2 L pop bottles, from which I have cut the bottom, and oak leaves. The only tricky part is removing the bottle caps when it's warm in the spring so that fungii aren't too happy.