Subject: Re: How 2 winter roses in Zone 2?

From: "[email-masked]" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 2 Apr 1995 05:28:30 GMT

On 15 Mar 1995 08:43:34 -0500, 
Only Jules  <[email-masked]> wrote:

>What is the best way to keep roses alive over winter? (This year we only
>had -30 as our low.)  I've buried one in the garden, put a cone and leaves
>over another, and left a shrub to the elements.  (Obviously a beginner).
>
It depends upon where you live.  I live in Minnesota, zone 4 
with some of us pushing to grow zone 5 stuff in sheltered places.  
With nonhardy varieties burying seems to be the only reliable method for us 
(years with good snow cover people can save a few inches of nonhardy 
plants).  The Minnesota tip (spray, tie bush together like a bare root 
plant, dig trench on one side deep enough to take plant, tip with fork 
bending just under graft union, cover with dirt and leaves) will give you 
green canes in the spring.  Cones are questionable as to value here.  The 
other alternative is to get familiar with the old hardy (not all old roses 
are hardy) roses and the newer hardy varieties.  Some of these are quite 
nice.  An example is Cuthbert Grant, which has some dieback, but quick 
regrowth in spring, but has dark red fragrant, almost hybrid tea, flowers 
on the majority of its canes.  It has both hybrid tea and hardy roses in 
its parentage.  I have a bed with five plants just outside a window and 
love the resulting view.  It gets a few extra leaves in the fall when we 
are raking (maybe 6"), though I hear it should survive by itself. 

Some people simply plant in pots and bury these.  Heavy clay soils can be 
an additional problem.

lah
[email-masked]