Oh, I hate to see the cold weather coming!  Here in the Northeast, it’s time to think about winter protection. But in climates that are warmer than New England, it’s still the growing season, even though it is winding down. Some of the mail-order companies are offering roses for fall planting, and rose plants may still be available at your local nursery or garden center. Wherever you live, fall is a great time to put in a few more rosebushes!

Where you live, however, will determine when and how you plant fall roses. In all climates, you should keep your new rose plants outdoors and well watered until you can get them into the ground.  You should prepare your planting hole in advance, just as you do in the spring, and make it a big, generous hole in well-drained, loose, friable soil.

 

Fall Planting in Warm Climates
Plant these roses as soon as you can after they arrive from your local nursery or favorite mail-order company.  Prune the canes back substantially to stimulate new root and top growth.  Fall roses will be potted, and chances are the plants will be rootbound.

As you know, roots that have been held captive in a pot for a long time don’t like to grow outside their comfy rootball, even when they’re given lots of new space and lovely new soil. Roots have to be encouraged by the gardener to expand out into their new world. So you have to break up the rootball to stimulate new, more expansive growth. You can either knead the outside of the rootball with your fingers to loosen the hair-like feeder roots, or use a utility knife, inserted about a half-inch into the rootball, to cut the feeder roots, from top to bottom, every two inches around the circumference.  This damages the feeder roots enough to stimulate them, but not enough to deprive the plant of its food and water.

Plant as usual, being sure to use water to compact the soil, rather than your hands or feet.  This “mudding in” compacts the soil perfectly, eliminating any large air pockets, but keeping the correct amount of vital oxygen in the soil. Don’t fertilizer the plant this season, but keep it watered and allow it to adjust to its new home.

Fall planting in Cold Climates
If you live in a cold climate, your potted rose will probably arrive from a climate that’s warmer than yours. Because the growing season is over, your new plant will be unable to continue growing this season and should be allowed to go dormant before you plant it in the garden.  Leave the potted rose outside and in the sun during the day when it’s above freezing, but bring it into the garage overnight if frost is expected. Do this for a couple of weeks to allow the rose to ‘harden off’ after its move from warm weather to cold weather. Then you can leave the plant outside day and night so it can begin its natural dormancy process.

Once the plant is dormant, but before the soil in the pot freezes solid, prune the dormant canes way back— to about eight inches— remove the plant from the pot and knock all the soil off the roots. This will damage or destroy the feeder roots, but that’s okay because feeder roots die over the winter anyway. Don’t prune the big anchor roots, but spread them out in the planting hole.  Plant the bareroot rose in the garden, mudding it in, as described earlier, and then add soil, until it is mounded right up over the tops of the canes.  Cover the shortened canes entirely to keep the plant safe and dormant all winter.

Your fall-planted rose will start to grow new feeder roots as soon as the soil warms in the spring— which is a lot earlier than you’d think!  When you remove the soil mound, in mid-April, your rose will already be growing. It will bloom right on time, beginning in mid-June.

Winter Protection in Cold Climates
Where winters are cold— in Hardiness Zones 6 and lower— some or all of your established rosebushes will need protection.  Roses, of course, are hardy perennials, but a cold winter can severely damage many varieties if they’re not protected. Winter damage is perpetrated by the cold drying winds that desiccate the canes, and the numerous cycles of freezes and thaws that break the plants’ cell walls. Therefore, the object of winter protection is not to keep the plants warm, but to keep them evenly cold. This is best achieved by mounding the base of each plant with soil.  As long as the crown of the plant is protected, the rose will survive and grow strongly next season.

Roses that need protection include every new rose you planted last spring (and this fall!) all budded hybrid teas, and any shrubs, floribundas, and climbers that have proven tender in your garden. Check out the directions for making cheap and easy newspaper collars that hold the soil in place around the plants at http://www.primaryproducts.com under “Culture Tips.”

Remove any leaves that may remain at the bottom of the dormant canes, surround the plant with the newspaper collar, staple the ends together, and fill the collar with soil. All the parts of the plants that were covered with soil will be green and sprouting when you remove the collars— and the soil— next spring.  Then just throw the collars in the trash.  Easy! GG

Ann Hooper is a certified American Rose Society Consulting Rosarian, who grows nearly 400 rosebushes at her home near Boston. She is the owner of Primary Products, a mail-order supplier of everything needed to grow fabulous roses. Visit the Primary Products website at www.primaryproducts.com . Ann will always answer your rose culture questions.  E-mail her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .