It’s not quite time to start winterizing your roses but I figured that now would be the perfect time to discuss the topic since you don’t want to leave your roses until winter is almost upon us. You will find that most roses should be winterized in November. More than likely they will still be blossoming but heave a sigh of resignation and then get to winterizing. You can always bring those wonderful blooms into the house.

There are a number of ways to winterize your roses and it depends on the climate you live in and also the type of rose that you have. Obviously a shrub rose is not going to be cut back but it will still require some maintanance to ensure that it is healthy the following spring. The topic of winterizing your roses is one that is often debated. Some feel that roses don’t need to be winterized, some feel that only a few types need to be and others follow a general rule of thumb, “if it’s a rose, it should be winterized.” I usually follow the latter but don’t feel that you need to.

Now that you have assessed your rose bush and the climate you live in, let’s get to winterizing in general. Since there are a number of different varieties of roses, I will cover them in sections.

Rose Bushes:

Rose bushes, such as hybrid roses, only need minor pruning to prepare for winter. This means that you remove all of the leaves and if you feel it is necessary, cut back the canes of the rose bush until they are about 3 feet long. Once you have cut the canes back, you can use a rose bush cone or chicken wire and stakes to create a circular enclosure aroudn the rose bush and pile some soil around the base of the bush. Generally, you want to use about 12 inches of soil. Once the soil has frozen, pile another 4 inches of mulch on top of the soil and make sure it is spread around the entire bush.

Climbing Roses:

Climbing roses do not need as much work as a rose bush does but it will still take a bit of time to secure your climbing roses for winter, usually because of the fiddly parts the job entails. Before you remove your climbers from the trellis, or fixture that they are attached to, you will need to go under the bush and remove any small canes that seem to be growing uncontrolled. After that, remove the climber from the trellis and lay it flat on the ground. Cover them with soil and leave them for the winter, come spring you can reattach them to the trellis.

Before you winterize your climbing roses, make sure that they need to be. Many varieties of climbing roses are hardy enough so they will not need any winterizing to be done.

Rose Shrubs:

For the shrubs in your yard, all you will need to do is crawl under your shrub and cut away any dead canes so there is ample air circulation through the plant. After that, you’re done, except for the usual care of your rose bush before winter, such as removing dead blooms, ect.

With all rose bushes, it is recommended that you remove all of the leaves that you clipped off from the area. Don’t leave them in yoru garden since they could be covered with insect eggs. Another recommendation is to spray your roses with lime sulfur after you winterize them and throughout the winter if you can. This is not a necessity but it will help alleviate blackspot in the spring.

Sirena Van Schaik

Tags: climbing roses, lime sulfur, rose buds, rose bushes, rose canes, Roses, shrub roses, Winter, winterizing your roses

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