Winter Rose Garden Care Tips

Winter is a naptime for your rose. It is the hibernation that is very necessary and important to its growth. Your rose will flourish if it hibernates, but you will need to take the proper precautions.

Old Garden roses and own-root species are usually hardy enough to make it through the winter hibernation period on their own unscathed. The more fragile the rose is, the more precautions you will need to take to make sure the rose plant makes it. Hybrid teas and budded roses will have a difficult time during the winter so you will need to make sure they are well protected.

Preparing for winter needs to begin at the beginning of the rose selection process. If you are browsing for new roses online or through catalogs, you will need to be sure to select varieties that are capable of withstanding the coldest possible winter in your climate zone. You will need to look into your “hardiness zone maps” before you buy your rose to make sure that you get one that will last your winter season.

The best way for roses to survive is to make your roses go into total dormancy. In order to do that, you will want to stop giving your rose fertilizer around mid-August and stop your deadheading chores or cutting the flowers around October. You can allow hips to form to further promote dormancy.

You will want to make sure your plant stays totally frozen throughout the year and doesn’t freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw over the course of the wintertime. Don’t cover the plants too early. After the first frost has occurred, you can prepare then after the leaves have started to fall off the trees. If you have any ground foliage or garden debris, be sure to clean it up now since it might contain diseases or insects that will hibernate with your rose plant and spring to life to attack your rose later.

Prune taller roses before you prune for the winter. Don’t thoroughly prune since you will eventually want to cut the dead things back and get rid of the diseased parts. It is typically a good idea to tie the canes together and protect them from the strong winds of the wintertime.

A very common protection method against the winter is a procedure called “hilling.” Pile loose and well-drained soil or compost over and around the rose until the hill is about 10-12 inches tall. Make sure that the soil or compost doesn’t have any moisture in it. You will ant cold dry soil for a winter covering to be successful. Once the mound has gotten completely frozen, you can put leaves or hay or evergreen branches on it.

If your rose is healthy, the hilling with help the rose to make it through the winter season. Get your tools ready to be prepared for the winter season, so that when spring comes, you are ready to go! Get ready to see your roses again in this spring.

         

Rose Garden - Climate Zones