A Winters Nap for Your Roses
By Stan V. Griep
Member: Loveland Rose Society & Denver Rose Society
American Rose Society Member
ARS Certified Consulting Rosarian
Colorado Native Rosarian 40+ years

As hard as it is to do, in cold climates we need to put our roses to bed for a nice winters nap. If we do what we need to, we will see them burst forth in beautiful bloom come spring. There are many different methods used by us cold climate Rosarians, so I will just go over some ways that I take care of my roses for the winter.

Once a good hard frost has hit and the ground has become at least somewhat frozen, I mound up garden soils around each rosebush in some of my rose beds. The mound is approximately 6 inches in height. If I do not have some extra garden soil saved up I buy some bagged garden soil at a local garden center well before I actually need it. I make sure not to buy any garden soil that has fertilizer added to it as that is not needed or wanted for this winter mounding use. Once I have formed the mound of garden soil around each bush, I apply a nice layer of shredded cedar mulch over the top of the mound. I find that the mulch helps to hold the mound in place. I water this mound lightly to help settle it in place.

When I pull back the mounding and mulch in the spring, the mixture (with some added compost) makes for a great amendment to the soils around the rosebushes. I need to step back just a bit here though. Before I actually do the mounding I will apply a couple tablespoons of super phosphate around the base of each bush and work it into the soils as best I can. The little dose of super phosphate helps keep the roots strong through the winter.

Some of my roses are planted in gravel mulched beds. In those areas I have done two different forms of mounding for the winter protection. (I give all of these roses the same two tablespoons of super phosphate as well.) One way I mound my roses in the gravel beds is to simply form a gravel mound around each rose with some of the existing surrounding gravel. Since it is so simple I use this method on nearly all of them. However there are some roses that are a bit more winter tender and need a little different protection. Since I do not want to pile garden soil on top of the gravel mulch, I put down a 20 to 22-inch diameter circle-cut piece of landscaping fabric at the base of each rose. The landscape fabric has been cut at one side to form a slit as well as a hole cut in the middle to allow placement of the bush into the center of the fabric circle. Once the landscape fabric circle piece has been fitted around the base of the rosebush, I make sure to overlap the cut area so as to seal it into a complete fabric circle without gaps, except at the very base of the rosebush. I form the 6 inch garden soils mound on top of the fabric circle and up around the rosebush. After completing the soils mounding I apply the same nice layer of shredded cedar mulch to help hold things in place.
A plastic rose collar can be placed on top of the fabric circle as well and then filled with garden soils and/or mulch, thus protecting the rose and holding the mounding well in place. I water these mounds a little also.

In spring when it is time to pull back the mounding protection I use a garden shovel and place the soils and mulch mixture in these areas into my wheel barrel where it is all mixed with some nice compost. The gravel mulch is pulled back away from each of the rosebushes, some of the amendment mix from the wheel barrel is worked into the soils around each rosebush and a bowl shape created with the existing and newly placed soils. At that time the spring feeding is also worked into the soils and the gravel moved back into place and everything watered in well.

The landscape fabric works great to stop the soils from getting down into the gravel and discoloring it or basically just making a mess of the surrounding gravel mulch. I use new landscape fabric circles each year when I use this method. The landscape fabric is purchased in a large roll. I outline and

Rose Growing Journal - Entry #1
By Stan V. – Sept. 2004


Over the years I have helped my mother and Grandmothers with growing their roses. I have also been growing my own roses now for several years. When I was younger I remember watching the applications of powders and even fogging to protect the roses from bugs and disease. The deadheading was done in various ways. Some were just simply snapped off when the blooms were done. Others were pruned down about an inch or two below the bloom. Then there was the practice of pruning the roses down to the first “five leaf” junction with the particular cane. All of the folks I watched as I grew up had beautiful roses. So it did not really appear to make a big difference as to how deadheading was done. I currently prefer to deadhead by pruning down to the first “five leaf” junction with the can involved. Except for my mini roses that is, they just get snipped off just below the bloom after it is done with its show.

After deadheading and at times of first Spring pruning, the cut ends of the canes were also sealed in various ways. The ends were sealed with one of the following: a pruning sealer spray, tree wound tar sealer, finger nail polish, Elmer’s white glue and wood glue. The cane borers seemed to use the black spray on sealer as a target as they went right through it most of the time. The tree wound sealer seemed to work very well but was also messy to work with. The tar seemed to come to life at times and just jump onto a persons clothing and arms! The finger nail polish worked okay as long as a good enough coat was put on, as if it was too thin the borers went right through that too. Some of the nail polishes were not liked well by some of the rose bushes though and there was a lot of cane die-back after using it. This same thing was true of the wood glue applications in that it too seemed to cause more die-back of the sealed canes. The white glue is the only one that seemed to work pretty well without causing the die-back issues and also seemed less messy. There is still the drawback of getting enough of it on the cut end of the cane one is attempting to seal though. If just a fine film is applied, the cane borers seem to almost laugh at the attempt to seal them out! Getting a good layer on the cut ends is very important to the success. One has to be careful not to get too much on the cut though, as it will tend to run down the side of the cane and onto the leaf junctions. The use of too much of the glue can cause some more die-back problems, not to mention the damage to the very point where the new growth for a new bloom is to come from. I use Elmer’s white glue to seal the ends of the cut canes on my roses. I carry a small squeeze bottle in my pocket when I go out to prune or deadhead. I also stuff some paper toweling into my rear pocket, to wipe off any spills or runs that may happen. The small squeeze bottle is very handy to carry around and can easily be refilled from a larger bottle.

I have also seen many different kinds of “mulching” done. This varies a lot with ones location as to what is available. I have seen some problems with funguses or molds that are brought in with some mulch materials transferring to the roses. It is hard to get rid of the infection as the fungus or mold hides and thrives in and under the mulch in question. Some mold is to be expected as it is a part of the breakdown process of the mulch that leads to the nutrients it provides.
The problems I have had personally and seen others have lead me to stay away from most common mulches. Currently I use a shredded mulch only as a form of winter protection for some of my roses. When Spring rolls around I rake it out and put it in one of my composting areas. Then I mix a nice bunch of well aged compost into the soils around those roses. I grew up watching my family members use “pebble mulch” around their roses. I have been told many times that this is not a good thing to do. The reasons seem to be unending from the experts I encounter.

I am advised that the pebble or ¾” gravel mulch I use will create a “heated island” effect on the plants and roses. Thus consuming more water and burning the foliage. I have also been told that it will heat up the soils below so much that it will kill the tender feeder roots of the roses and plants, thus causing them not to thrive and to die. For many years I have watched the pebble or gravel mulch work with great success. My roses and those of my loved ones have flourished using it. Even on the hottest of days here in our climate, I can pull back the pebble mulch and find it moist underneath and the soil temperature is just fine. For winter protection I push the pebble mulch in around the roses and form small mounds with it. Then in the Spring I just rake it out into a bowl shaped ring to help collect the rain or other watering.

More to come on my rose growing experience as I get time.