I have roses in pots. two english, three floribunds & two
hybrids. Live in zone 8b. & was out sick during the fall.
So my roses got neglected & they have no protection from the cold right
now. What can I do to save them still?
BRing them to my garage? Patio? cover with burlap? mulch? Do I water
them? Do I prune or save it ffor the spring?

This is my first year with roses so please help.

Thanks

On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 09:43:43 -0500, Venu Shelat
wrote:

I have roses in pots. two english, three floribunds & two
hybrids. Live in zone 8b. & was out sick during the fall.
So my roses got neglected & they have no protection from the cold right
now. What can I do to save them still?
BRing them to my garage? Patio? cover with burlap? mulch? Do I water
them? Do I prune or save it ffor the spring?

This is my first year with roses so please help.

Thanks

Have you got ground that you can put them in? If so, I'd suggest doing
that. You can always give them back out in the spring.

If all of the branches are dry and brittle, it might be too late, but
if the branches still have some flexibility, or you're seeing new
growth, then it's not too late.

In 8b, you don't have to offer much protection at all though. If you
have an occasional light frost, all you might do is toss a little
burlap or blanket around the pot for the night. You really might not
even have to do that if it's just a light frost. What you don't want
is for the root ball to freeze and this is unlikely in 8b, even with a
quick frost. Maybe someone else can weigh in?

More important than temperatures in your zone is watering. You
probably shouldn't let them dry completely out, even in winter. Keep
in mind that this means at least weekly waterings (probably).

"Venu Shelat" wrote :
I have roses in pots. two english, three floribunds & two
hybrids. Live in zone 8b. & was out sick during the fall.
So my roses got neglected & they have no protection from
the cold right now. What can I do to save them still?
Bring them to my garage? Patio? cover with burlap?
mulch? Do I water them? Do I prune or save it for the spring?

This is my first year with roses so please help.

I'm in 8b as well, North Florida. Most of my roses are keeping
most of their leaves. Most of them are also in pots. I'm keeping
them watered; many seem to enjoy this weather (except the freezes
proper) and are in bloom (Prosperity, Old Blush, various English
roses, some modern hybrid teas, some old Garden roses).

I have been covering my smaller potted roses with frost cloth
when frost is forecast by dawn, hoping that tender new growth
will not be damaged by cold, as sometimes it is. So far it hasn't
been under 28 F and the frost cloth seems not to have been needed.

In your position, I'd keep them watered. I'd prune off any dead
wood. Frost protection is probably not essential, but if it's
practical, moving them to a sheltered area when temperatures
are below freezing might not be a bad idea...or covering them
with something during freezing periods: burlap, plastic, frost
cloth. Don't let the soil dry out. Frosts lasting only a few hours
probably will not freeze the pots. I understand that wet soil
is better than dry.

If they've got no living leaves or buds, they might be done for;
it varies with the variety. As I mentioned above, almost all of
my roses have some green (or new-growth reddish) leaves,
apart from some species roses I just received by mail. Have
a look at the canes, see if they are brittle, try scratching the
bark with a fingernail to see if there's some green underneath.

I was in your position last year and most of my roses survived.

Mark., good luck!

"Venu Shelat" wrote in message
...
I have roses in pots. two english, three floribunds & two
hybrids. Live in zone 8b. & was out sick during the fall.
So my roses got neglected & they have no protection from the cold right
now. What can I do to save them still?
BRing them to my garage? Patio? cover with burlap? mulch? Do I water
them? Do I prune or save it ffor the spring?

This is my first year with roses so please help.

Thanks

I'm in Zone 8 also (Seattle) though not sure if I'm in 8a or 8b. I don't do
anything to protect mine and they weather the winter just fine, even with an
occasional sub-freezing night here and there. Of course, we get tons of
rain during the winter so I don't need to water-- you might. However, I
would NOT cut them back during the winter-- Wait till just before spring to
cut them back. If you prune them now, you'll just wake them up and they'll
die back more. Leave them alone for now, just make sure they're watered.

Roses are pretty hardy, if your Zone 8b is like my Seattle Zone 8 (a or
b...) they're not going to die. Even if all the leaves die.
I even had one bloom on New Years day last year.

Good luck

JimS.
Seattle

In Mark. Gooley wrote:
I'm in 8b as well, North Florida. Most of my roses are keeping
most of their leaves. Most of them are also in pots. I'm keeping
them watered; many seem to enjoy this weather (except the freezes
proper)

Hold on a second... it even freezes in FLORIDA? Is there some part of
the US that doesn't freeze in winter outside of Hawaii?

"Daniel Hanna" wrote:
Hold on a second... it even freezes in FLORIDA? Is there some part of
the US that doesn't freeze in winter outside of Hawaii?

Most of Florida will have at least one freeze in a typical winter. Most
of the Florida Keys are frost-free, and frost is very rare indeed along
the coasts in the southern end of the peninsula, say from about Stuart
south on the east coast and maybe Fort Myers south on the west. Go a
few miles inland, though, and most of that southern tip of Florida will
occasionally get frost. Yep, that means almost all the Everglades. Not
usual, but not that rare either. The further south and the nearer the coast
of the peninsula you get, the less likely frost is. Disney World gets frost
every winter, far as I know.

My neck of the woods is pretty much the center of the peninsula, about
where the peninsula starts being a peninsula. The maps say I'm a few
miles from where zone 9 starts. My land (36 acres) is on a slight rise,
and most of it is a clearing, formerly farmland, and rather exposed. I
get ten to twenty frosts in a typical winter. I had one yesterday morning,
I'll have one tomorrow morning, and I'll have another the morning after
that. It'll perhaps hit 25 F during one of them, with freezing temperatures
probably lasting at most three hours. The record low for the area is 9 F,
in I think 1985, when it barely got above freezing for a WEEK. (I wasn't
here then.) In a normal winter, not even the most tender roses are
really at risk of severe damage or death.

I think that the California coast south of Los Angeles is pretty much frost
free -- Californians will be able to tell you better.

The real pain about much of Florida is that it will be quite warm for
several weeks in winter, and then one day brings plunging temperatures
and high winds and a clearing sky, and temperatures well below
freezing by dawn. Plants get fooled into blossom or growth, then
zapped with cold. Tender new growth on roses can be killed.

Mark.

"Daniel Hanna" wrote in message
home.com.au...
In Mark. Gooley wrote:
I'm in 8b as well, North Florida. Most of my roses are keeping
most of their leaves. Most of them are also in pots. I'm keeping
them watered; many seem to enjoy this weather (except the freezes
proper)

Hold on a second... it even freezes in FLORIDA? Is there some part of
the US that doesn't freeze in winter outside of Hawaii?

Not so fast with Hawaii.....you can ski on the top of the volcano on the big
island (Hawaii) too!

JimS. wrote:

Good luck

Damn. Six posts and not one of you could put in
a proper subject line?