While many roses, shrub roses in particular, can tolerate cold temperatures without special protection, winterizing hybrid tea roses is a critical maintenance practice to ensure vigorous growth from year to year. There are several things you can do to make sure your hybrid tea roses survive northern winters long before the cold winds blow. First, choose the most winter hardy roses available to plant in your rose bed. Next, make sure your roses are healthy and not under stress; healthy plants have a better chance of surviving the winter than weak plants. Reduce stress on roses going into the dormant season by irrigating adequately in late autumn and discontinuing nitrogen application in late summer or early autumn.

For minimum winter protection, tie canes of bush roses together, then mound soil 8 to 10 inches high around canes. For maximum winter protection, cover the rose bush with a protective cylinder. Use straw, leaves or similar material to insulate the bush inside the cone. Puncture several one inch holes around the top of the cone for air circulation.

Hybrid Teas, grandifloras and floribundas should be protected from winter damage after a killing frost but before the soil freezes (most shrubs do not require special attention). Reduce breakage of tall canes by winter winds by cutting them back to 30 to 36 inches and tying tips together. Remove dead and fallen leaves around the plants. Hill soil over the center of the plants in broad rounded mounds at least 12 inches high and 12 inches wide. Cover the soil mounds with a mulch of leaves, straw, boughs or similar material.

Another method consists of using all mulch--wood chips, sawdust, shredded hardwood, or pine bark--instead of soil, mounded to 15 to 18 inches. Some gardeners prefer to construct wire mesh cylinders to surround each plant, which they fill with mulch. Still others use rose cones, baskets with bottoms cut out or burlap to wrap the plants.

To winterize climbers, remove them from their support. Lay them on the ground and cover with 3 to 4 inches of soil. If this cannot be done, gather the tips of the stems together, tie them and wrap in straw with a wrapping of burlap over that. The base of the climber should be covered with 10 inches of soil. When severe winter weather conditions have subsided, remove most of the mulch and soil from around the bases of plants. You may leave a 2-inch layer of mulch in the bed.

Adapted from Cindy Welyczkowsky and Jane Martin, Ohio State University Extension, 2000