Winterizing Your Rose Garden

As winter approaches, it's important to take steps to protect your roses from the harsh weather ahead. Winterizing your roses helps them survive the cold temperatures, frost, wind, and snow, ensuring they bloom beautifully when spring arrives. One of the best ways to winterize your roses is by cutting them back and mounding them with mulch. Let’s take a closer look at these essential steps.

Step 1: Cut Back Your Roses to About 36 Inches

The first step in winterizing your roses is to cut them back properly. This is not the same as deadheading or pruning. You do not need to cut at a five-leaflet. Start by cutting back the canes to about 36 inches. This may seem like a dramatic reduction, but reducing the amount of plant material that could be damaged by frost or snow is necessary. Use clean, sharp pruning shears to make cuts. You will still want to cut back your climbing roses, but not to the height of 36". Consider taking off no more than half of the rose.

Step 2: Clean Up Around the Base of the Plant

Before moving on to the next step, clear away any fallen leaves, dead stems, or other debris from around the base of the plant. This helps reduce the risk of disease and pests overwintering near your rose bushes.

Step 3: Mound Your Roses with Mulch

Mounding your roses with mulch is one of the most effective ways to insulate the roots and protect them from extreme cold. Use a generous amount of organic mulch — such as pine bark or hardwood mulch — and pile it over the graft of the rose to a height of about 6 to 8 inches. This layer of mulch acts as an insulating barrier, helping to regulate the temperature around the graft and root zone and keep the soil from freezing. If your roses are on their own root, you will still want to add 6 to 8 inches of mulch around the base of the plant.

Mulch also helps retain moisture, which is important since winter dryness can stress your plants. Be sure to pile the mulch around the base of the plant. 

Step 4: Keep an Eye on the Weather

Once you've winterized your roses, monitoring the weather is important. If temperatures rise during the winter, you can remove the mulch or protective coverings to allow the plants to breathe. If a cold snap occurs, you may want to add extra layers of mulch or protection to safeguard your roses.

Things to Remember

1. Cutting back and mounding your roses should be done every year to protect them from possible cold damage

2. Pine straw or leaves do not insulate enough, so they are not recommended for winter protection.

3. Before cutting back, ensure your pruners are sharp and in great working order. This will make the job easier and safer for you.

4. While we are sad to see the growing season come to an end, we can get excited about giving our roses time to rest and recoup for the next season!

Winterizing your roses is a simple yet crucial task that will help ensure the health and vitality of your plants come spring. By cutting back your roses to about 36 inches and mounding them with mulch, you’re giving them the best chance to weather the cold months and thrive in the warmer season. Remember to clean up around the base, remove dead material, and provide extra protection for more tender varieties. 

Happy gardening, and may your roses bloom beautifully in the year ahead!