QuestionQUESTION: I have several shrub rose bushes which were planted last summer and did terrific. I took good care of them and had beautiful growth until late fall. This spring I have not yet seen any growth and wonder if all the bushes died. I notice the same is true for several neighbors who planted them as well as the common ground area where roses have been planted by the community association. Is it just too early??? If so how late do they start to show growth. My wife and I are very unhappy that all these rose bushes may have died since they were really beautiful plants and we understood they were very hardy. We leave in the Chicago north suburban area. Any help would be appreciated.
ANSWER: In your area you should be seeing some sort of life on the roses. However if you have had a nasty winter, it is not unusual for roses to sit for a longer time before they start into growth. That is the positive scenario. The negative one is that you use fertilizers on them after July and they didn't have enough time to harden off and may have been killed back. Although a rose may be labelled "hardy" this only applies to letting it go dormant on it's own. Most of the winter damage is cause by being too kind to the roses in the fall. Take your fingernail and scratch the canes and see if there is a green colour under the bark. Keep going down until you find the green in the cane and then prune back to it. I really don't think that they are totally dead. The worst in my opinion would be that they took a hit and the cold cause dieback to nearly the ground. Also if that is the case, bear in mind that roses can grow back and flower from 2 inches of canes.
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QUESTION: As it turns out my shrub roses did die over the winter and my landscaper was nice enough to replace them. I do not want to lose them again over the next winter so what suggestions do you have for caring for them in addition to no fertilizer after July. Do I have to protect them in the winter & how? What about cutting them back? Also how do I properly care for them over the summer? Do I cut off dead flowers? Any help would be appreciated.
AnswerIf you cut the rose canes back and you get a cold winter, the tips of the canes will die back and be killed. You want to leave enough cane length so that winter kill doesn't completely kill the cane. Then you can continue to prune back as you usually do in the spring. I would leave about 24 inches and then mound up soil, compost even mulch, all around the base of the rose bush t about 8 to 10 inches. Just don't use the soil near the rose as that will expose the roots. Then if the canes do die back they will not go past the mound and that will make a normal bush on next year's growth. Next spring give them some rose fertilizer and after they have had a first flush of blooms, give another smaller amount of fertilizer. But if your roses are modern shrub roses, they really only need one amount of fertilizer unless you have poor soil. You want the roses to be strong and being kind to them tends to make them less able to fight the winter cold. A rose figures it has done it's job when it flowers and makes a rose hip. To con them into thinking they haven't finished their work, you just snap off the dead flowers with your hands and the rose continues to produce more blooms. However don't dead head after the end of july and the rose will start to harden off for the winter naturally as it has done it's work for the year.
Roses are assessed by how much cold they can take or what zone they can survive in without a lot of protection. The secret to growing roses in cold climates is to only grow those that don't mind cold winters. You are on the edge for hybrid teas and many floribundas to survive well.
