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Home Home and Family Garden Winterizing Your Roses
Winterizing Your Roses PDF Print E-mail
Written by Adam Washington   
In order for delicate roses to survive the cold winter months, special are should be taken. If the climate in where you live is moderate with mild winters, then special steps may not be necessary. But if you live in cooler climates, then you need to protect your roses.
by AdamWashington


In order for delicate roses to survive the cold winter months, special are should be taken. If the climate in where you live is moderate with mild winters, then special steps may not be necessary. But if you live in cooler climates, then you need to protect your roses.

In the fall, you should start gradually watering less and less. This happens over a few weeks, and water is restricted a bit more each week to help toughen the stems of the roses. This helps keep the stems protected throughout the winter.

Rose hips forming signals that the growth cycle of the plant is finished for the season and it begins to go dormant for the winter. The plant should be shutting down so you shouldn't prune or pinch the buds because it can encourage new growth.

During this time, dead flowers shouldn't be removed because new hips should be formed. Rose hips are the fruit that is formed from dead roses. Besides looking attractive in the winter landscape, they're also a great source of food for the birds.

In zones 7 and cooler, most roses will need to be protected during the winter. They must be sheltered from both the cold and the damaging winds. Snow provides a blanket of protection that keeps the soil from being too cold and therefore snow actually protects delicate plants.

The roots are protected from frostbite and the roses are kept from going to a premature growth cycle because the roots get too warm. To help protect the plant if you don't get a lot of snow, you can cover the bottom part of your roses with 8-10 inches of compost or mulch. You may want to use the soil from another location since digging soil up from near the plant should hurt its roots.

Be sure to remove leaves that are left dead on the plant before you start your winterizing. You should also pick up any debris that is lying on the ground at the base of your roses and dispose of it by burning it or putting it into the trash. Don't compost any rose debris, because it can infect your roses again next year if there were any problems. At this time, you can prune any areas you want.

Styrofoam cones are available for protecting roses through the winter. Even though they're unsightly, they'll do a good job protecting your plants. Each plant should be tied into a bundle before the cone is placed around it.

To avoid the rodents burrowing into it, don't fill the cone with straw or leaves until the ground has frozen. Plastic towers filled with water can also be sued as well as chicken wire towers filled with straw or leaves to protect the plants.

In very cold areas, roses are often trenched for the winter. Generally removed is the old mulch from the base of the roses so that any potential diseases will be eliminated. Using a special synthetic twine that won't decay, the roses can then be tied together.

A trench is dug on one side of the plant, and then a garden fork is used to loosen the soil around the plant. Turn over the plant into the trench and make sure not to uproot it or break it.

Soil then covers the plants. In November, added over the top are about 12 inches of leaves and they're watered in order to keep the leaves in place. You can remove the leaves from the plants in early April. In mid April, the original trenching process is reversed when the plant is stood back up. It's a dangerous but effective method.

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