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For people in the warmer climates, roses all year round can be a special treat. For those of us who live in a four season climate, our roses will stop growing when the weather turns cool and they will probably need some protection from the frosty winds of winter. Hopefully, when you selected your roses, you purchased one of the newer, winter hardy roses. New breeds have been developed to better withstand winters in the colder areas of the country.
If you’ve planted your roses by a building such as the garage or house, depending on the direction, they may have all the protection they need. Our roses are planted on the back wall of the house and are protected from the east. We don’t even cover them and they come back every year full and strong.
However, when we had roses in the front of the house, there was nothing protecting them and we had to take precautions to keep them coming back lush and fragrant.
In that transitional time between summer and fall, make sure the rose bushes are well watered. They won’t get any water when the ground is frozen. If you’re tempted to give them one last good shot of nourishment; stop yourself. Roses don’t grow over the winter so fertilization is a waste and anything that grows will get creamed in the first shot of frost.
Roses don’t like it when their leaves get wet and since winter is all about moisture, you should remove the leaves from the stems. If they are not diseased, throw the leaves in your compost bin. If they have been diseased then destroy them.
If your roses are low to the ground, you can purchase rose cones to cover them. You will probably need something like a brick to sit on top of the cone so it won’t blow away. Another option is to insulate the canes with compost or mulch or if the canes are too far off the ground, you can either insulate them by wrapping them with cloth and securing it with tape or you can dig a trench and bury the canes securing them with gardening or landscape ties.
You should know protecting the canes alone will not save the plant. Protecting the canes will keep them from drying out in the winter wind. Roses don’t die from the cold weather; they are damaged because of the constant thawing and freezing the ground goes through which breaks their root systems. So if they are exposed on all sides, they will need something to keep them from freezing.
If you happen to live in an area where frost isn’t a concern, but you still have seasonal changes, you want to make sure moisture doesn’t get to the leaves. Wet leaves means fungus and that can harm your plants as well as leave them unsightly. Strip away the diseased leaves and destroy them. Have you been deadheading throughout the season? You want to ease up on that around November to give your plants a chance to harden for the winter season, even if it’s a mild one.
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Author Bio Box: Darren Gill
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