Question
Hi there. I have 3 rose trees in a pot that i have now enjoyed for a couple of years. Every winter, I put the pots in the garage to protect it from the harsh winter here in PA. This time however, something weird happened to the rose trees. 3 weeks ago the tree started sprouting some leaves and the little trucks becoming green, like it knows that spring is coming. My husband and I decided however, to wait a few more weeks when the night's don't go below 30 degrees anymore. A couple of weekd ago, I noticed 2 of the trees leaning on it's side like somebody pushed it. I thought the pot fell got knocked off a little bit but  when I noticed that it's not, I tried to let the tree "stand" thinking maybe that the soils is getting loose or someting. But, when I pulled the tree up, it came right off, like it got cut off from it's roots - the other day i noticed the 3rd tree did the same. Needless to say all of my 3 rose trees don't have roots anymore. What is this. Am I to think that there are insects infesting inside the pot now? Or it's some kind of plant virus. The trees still have leaves in it that looks green and healthy, thenother tree , the leaves are starting to become reddish/pink..can the trees still be salvaged somehow? Thanks...

Answer
When gardeners bring in plants to save them from a very cold winter, many times the roots are eaten by mice. Plant roots are one of the favorite foods of the mice. Look for any mice droppings around or near where you had the rose trees they look like small black seeds. There are insects which will eat rose roots but they are beetles and could not do such wide spread damage. Rose trees are made by growing, usually a Rugosa, rose up to the required height. Then they bud the modern rose on the top of the tall stem. So what you mainly have is a damaged Rugosa rose. Because it is the base that is keeping the modern top rose alive, it would be impossible to save the whole tree. Mice like to come in for the winter and can go through a hole that is the same size as a nickel.