Planting, Caring for, and Winter Protecting Rose Bushes in the Northern and Midwest Garden

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The basics apply to even modern shrub roses and landscape roses. Growing hybrid tea roses require the most attention in northern climates, many Rugosa roses and hardy shrub roses require little to no special attention. The differences in care requirements are discussed in the details of the individual plants.

Planting Rose Bushes

(Also see Transplanting Roses)

Proper planting gives even the hardiest rose bush the best chance of a long and healthy life. Most roses require at least 6 hours of full sun, but all day sun is best. Good soil and adequate moisture are just as important. To reduce fungus, if possible plant in a site that gets a gentle breeze to increase air circulation. And don’t crowd your plants, give them plenty of their own “air space”.

For bare root roses (no soil, not in a pot) soak the roots in a bucket of water while preparing the planting site. You can soak them up to 12 hours. Then dig a hole wider and deeper than the size of the roots, at least 18” wide and deep, and up to 24”. You can not dig a hole too big, but too small will crowd the roots. And roses do not like wet feet, but they do like lots of moisture. A deep hole will provide good drainage. This is especially important if you have clay or compacted soil that will trap water at the bottom of the hole. If you have sandy or loamy soil, 18” deep should be adequate. Test the hole by placing the rose bush in it. Holding the bud onion (the “bump” that joins the stem and the root stock) at ground level, the roots should not touch the sides or the bottom of the hole. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of bone meal or superphosphate around the bottom of the hole to stimulate root development. Add compost to the soil you removed, a couple shovels full, and if your soil is clay also add peat moss in the same amount. You may also add extra NATURAL nutrients to the soil, an additional 1/2 cup bone meal and blood meal, and a cup of cottonseed meal. (Chemical fertilizers will burn new roots.) Mix it well, and add a small amount to the hole. Working the amended soil in with soil from the bottom and sides of the hole, form a mound on the bottom of the hole, continuing to add more amended soil and working in soil from the sides until the mound is large enough to support the plant so the bud onion is just above ground level. As the loosened soil settles, the plant will settle lower, leaving the bud onion at ground level. Carefully arrange the roots so that the are not tangled or folded. Start adding amended soil, working it in lightly around the roots by hand, until the hole is about 3/4 full, then tamping the soil down lightly. Fill the hole completely with water and let it soak in, then fill again. Now trim the canes (stems) back to about 6-10 inches and remove any damaged canes. If the canes are twice the size of the roots, there will not be enough root to feed the plant and the rose will grow spindly. Cut just above outside buds on the canes, cutting at an angle with a sharp rose pruner. Finish filling the hole, mounding up the excess right over the canes. This will protect the canes and keep them moist while the rose bush establishes it’s roots. The mound will compress over time with continued watering. If your rose was potted, the same principles apply, but you of course will not form a mound for the roots. Make sure the hole is at least 6 inches wider and deeper than the pot. If the bud onion can be seen, position it just above ground level. Spread a thick layer of mulch around the rose bush to prevent splashing water from spreading any fungus spores that may be present. Water deeply every 4 or 5 days. You do not need to fertilize, the organic amendments you mixed into the soil will feed your rose slowly as it becomes established. A chemical fertilizer can burn new roots. As leaves begin to show in 3 to 6 weeks, spray the stems, leaves, and surrounding soil with a fungicide for black spot. If the soil mound has not completely settled at this point, CAREFULLY remove the mound with your fingers so you don’t damage any new growth.

If you are planting a grafted rose, position the bud onion right at soil level, or in colder climates position it 1 or 2 inches below the soil level. If you lose the top growth to winter die-back and the bud onion is protected under the soil, your rose has a chance of re-growing true. Be sure to read the care instructions for grafted roses so you understand the differences between grafted and own-root roses.

Spring and Summer Rose Bush Care

If you want a healthy rose bush with lots of blooms, your roses will need some attention through the summer.

The compost you added to the planting hole will feed your rose through it’s first bloom. Each following spring, fertilize after you remove winter protection. Use a low nitrogen fertilizer, there are several types specifically for roses. Too much nitrogen will promote leaf growth rather than flowering. Better yet, for the first spring fertilizing, use a mixture of 1 cup bone meal, 1 cup cottonseed meal, 1/2 cup blood meal. Prune out any spindly growth from the base, wayward or crossed branches, and dead or damaged branches. Check the Pruning Roses page for spring pruning after the first planting year. Spray the stems, leaves and ground surrounding your rose bushes with fungicide each spring when the leaves begin to appear to help prevent rose disease.

After the first blooms have faded, fertilize again. Make sure your roses get an inch or two of water each week. If your soil is clay, perhaps every 10-14 days. Roses like consistent moisture, but not wet roots. To keep the leaves dry as much as possible to help prevent fungus, water with a slow trickle from the hose into the soil, or with a soaker hose. If you must use a sprinkler, use it in the morning. Inspect the plant periodically for aphids, and spray them off with a good blast from the hose. Leaves that show signs of rose diseases such as black spot or powdery mildew should be removed and thrown in the trash, NOT in the compost heap. Fallen leaves and petals should also been cleaned up periodically and thrown in the trash. If any pest or rose disease causes enough damage to disfigure the plant, cut it all back to about 12 inches again (check the specific disease instructions that follow). The rose bush will produce new leaves, and probably new blooms the same season. Be sure to check the page about controlling rose diseases and insects.

Fertilize about once a month through the growing season. Your roses may bloom through October, or November further south. Do not fertilizer in the fall, it will encourage new growth that will be damaged in winter. In zone 5 and north, do not fertilize past the middle of August. Zone 5 may take a final fertilization by end of August, perhaps a bit later in zones 6 and 7. You may want to leave some blooms on the bush to form rose hips. The red or purplish fruit adds winter interest and attracts birds.

Roses like a pH between 6.0 and 6.9. Fall is a good time to add lime to the soil if you need it. Check the pH first, then mix additives to your soil as needed. See Soil Amendments for more detail.

Winter Protection for Roses

Until the ground freezes, make sure continue to water your rose bushes with a soaker hose or slow trickle from the garden hose. Prune lightly, removing only the spindly new top growth to prevent snow and ice from breaking them. Thoroughly clean up all leaves and plant debris from the ground to minimize disease growth. Spray the roses stems and the ground with fungicide to reduce the possibility of fungus being harbored over winter.

Some rose bushes can be seriously damaged if the ground surrounding the roots are frozen. Hardy rose bushes can be damaged or killed if a cycle of freezing and thawing heaves the root ball up from the soil, so the objective is to keep the rose dormant by keeping the root temperature fairly constant - in other words keeping it frozen! Different varieties require different methods of protection in different climate zones. Make sure you protect your rose bushes with the appropriate method. DO NOT PUT PROTECTION IN PLACE UNTIL JUST BEFORE THE GROUND IS EXPECTED TO FREEZE HARD. AND DO NOT REMOVE UNTIL THE EARLIEST SPRING BLOOMERS HAVE BLOOMED (in many parts of the country those are forsythia shrubs).

Minimal Protection: Mulch heavily, 3-4 inches deep. For added protection, pile leaves or evergreen boughs in the canes (perhaps in a “tomato cage” to hold them). This will protect the canes from winter wind and bright winter sun, which can scald bare limbs.

**Somewhere between minimal and moderate, leaning perhaps toward moderate, falls a protection that is less used than it used to be, the old white styrofoam rose cones. The rose canes need to be tied together to fit in the cone, and the cone then weighted down so it doesn’t blow away. There is usually a hole in the top for ventilation, however it can still heat up too much inside on sunny winter days. Added ventilation holes will eliminate the problem. It is a very unattractive method that has been replaced by wire collars, similar to the above mentioned “tomato cage”. However the rose collars are less open with more of a wire screen to hold mulch or compost more securely. These collars can be used with the minimal or moderate methods of protection.

Moderate Protection: Mound soil up around the canes of the rose bush about 6 to 10 inches deep. Add mulch to the top, and leaves or evergreen boughs in the canes as described above.

Maximum Protection: The Minnesota Tip method of protecting rose bushes from extreme cold. Dig a trench beginning at the base of the bush, and extending out from the base slightly further than the height of the plant. (The trench should surround the root ball, but not expose the roots.) Gently pulling the branches in toward the center, tie the bush up beginning at the base, winding twine around the rose bush to hold the branches together. Now tip the tied up bush into the trench, leaving the roots in place. Cover the entire bush with the soil you removed, then cover with leaves or bags of leaves over the entire area.

Protecting Tree Roses: How to prepare a tree rose for winter might be a bit trickier. Most tree roses are grafted, so if you lose the top you cannot grow new foliage from the trunk. Protecting the roots is not enough, the graft is extremely vulnerable and cannot be exposed to northern and midwestern winters. In zones 8 and 9, no protection should be necessary. In zone 7 and north, varying degrees of protection will be necessary, and there are not any firm answers to the dilemma of method. Select a method you can accomplish relatively easily, and consider your regions’ low temperature, wind, snow cover, as well as the site your rose tree is planted in.

If your rose tree is in a container, you can bring it into the garage after the leaves have fallen if your winters don’t get too cold. This should be adequate in zone6 and 7, and perhaps zone 5. A cold corner of an unfinished, preferably unheated basement works well in colder zones north of zone 6. If it is even minimally heated the tree may not go dormant, in which case lack of sunlight and water may kill it as it tries to continue growth. Temperature should be between 32 and 45 degrees, and you will want to give it MINIMAL water to keep the soil from going completely dry, and NO fertilizer. Or leave it in the garage and wrap the entire container including the bottom with a heavy blanket. Then wrap the entire tree with burlap or other fabric. Up here in zone 4, my garage is not heated and temperatures drop to 30 below zero or more, probably colder when the door is open a while. I would create a cylinder of a heavy kraft paper or chicken wire and fill it with mulch or oak leaves, entirely covering the tree, as well as wrapping the “cage” in burlap and the container in a blanket. This can also be done with the container outside, but it is not very attractive. In the garage it is out of sight with a tad more protection.

Or you can Minnesota tip your grafted rose tree, see the instructions above.

There are a few tree roses that are not grafted, but rather grown “own root” and trained and pruned to tree form. Generally these are marginally hardy shrub roses, but still need special protection because the top is so exposed. If your rose tree is planted in the ground, first tie the trunk to a tall stake driven deep into the ground next to the tree. Then follow the guidlelines for your zone to protect the roots (mounding soil deeply over the root area and heavily mulching). Next you need to protect the rest of the tree. Form a cylinder around the tree with tall chicken wire fixed around tall stakes. Or fix it to the ground with stakes - the long “staples” made for securing mulching fabric work well. Then fill the cylinder with oak leaves, straw or other mulching material, completely covering the tree. Finally, wrap the “cage” in burlap. If you have a variety that in shrub form is hardy in zone 5, this method should protect the tree form adequately in zone 4.

Polar Joy is the newest development in hardy tree roses, with gardeners in zone 4 claiming they are completely hardy without protection. I will be looking for a nice spot to try one in my landscape!

Don’t get scared off yet! I have grown several varieties of roses in the frigid north. So far I have never “Minnesota Tipped” any, nor have I encountered any devastating disease or fungi. I have simply selected the “right” rose bushes, and devoted minimal proper care. So read on!!...and you will be able to do the same.

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