Well I didn't winterize my roses before the first snow fall so I know how you feel. I can't say that I forgot to because I got the nasty flu. I feel better now but snow is upon us. I pray my new roses will not die this winter. I am not too worried though, because I could always buy more roses in the spring. Although, I hope my Jude the Obscure will live because the garden center only has one plant (family owned business) and I couldn't find it anywhere else. Crossing my fingers...lol.

We had temps in the single digits in November here in 6a so I know what you mean...
I do not winterize here so I'll let someone else guide you on that...

We had the same thing happen here. A week of temps that never got above freezing (including several record lows) then it got into the 40s and 50s last weekend. Normally, like you, I don't winterize until after Thanksgiving or early December but we just did it this past warm weekend. The roses are fully dormant and the ground is frozen a good 2 inches down already. We just put the finishing touches on everything today. After yesterday's 50 mph winds we had to repair some stuff we'd already put in place but the yard is now all tucked in for winter!

I don't think the cold snap did that much damage other than to send them all into full dormancy a little earlier than usual. I'd say you should still winterize if you can. The winterizing will play a big role come spring freeze/thaw cycle. That's really what it's for anyway.

JJ, I don't know what you had planned for winterizing but do try and do it now anyway. Don't worry about putting it on top of the snow. The snow is good for them and the mulch will still protect them from freeze and thaw cycles later on.

You need to remember that winter protection is not meant to keep the roses FROM FREEZING. They're going to do that whether we winterize or not. It is meant to KEEP them DORMANT through those ups and downs that can be devastating later in the early spring. The roses only have a limited supply of stored energy in their canes. They lose some to die back. What's left has to get them started with new leaves next spring so they can start to produce more food. If there is a thaw that starts them to leaf out and then a later freeze they use up all the stored energy on false starts. They can only do that a couple of times before they run out of energy and just never leaf out again when real spring arrives.

Thank you seil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Going out today to get the collars around the 12 bushes & hopefully there is enough existing mulch to put in the collars. Normally I fill the collars 1/3-1/2 full of existing mulch. The stores stop selling it or run out & don't replace by September/October. Then mulch is like, "Huh, what is mulch????"

Yeah, they sell mulch in the wrong season here too, lol! If you have leaves put the mulch in first and then fill the collars the rest of the way with leaves!

Menards still has mulch available if you are looking. Don't know if they are on the East coast though!

dingo2001, I put the collars on yesterday and filled with all the existing mulch and some leaves that were in the rose bed, so I don't need to add more mulch now. I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so not the East coast, but the Midwest. Lots of places that normally carry mulch that I use were out by September. They must think it is a summer thing. Grrrrrrrr. Oh well, it worked out though. When I take the collars off in Spring, I will be able to just scoop the old mulch around the roses & get rid of the old so I can add new.

Thanks for the advice Seil. Usually, my roses are okay in the winter, except the last polar vortex we had last year. I usually don't really winterize them except put a mound of soil on top of them to protect the base of the plant. Almost all of my older plants comes back. The only ones that may not is the D.A. roses and Climbing Eden that I planted this year. I think it is too late for me now but I will check this weekend.