Question
Hi Lynnette,
I live in zone 6, Massachusetts.  This past summer I fell in love with Roses, and planted about 10 of them in my yard.  

In the meantime, I had some excess mulch that I stored in a clean, plastic, rubbish barrel. However, the mulch was quite moist when I put it in the barrel. Now, I'd like to use that mulch to spead ontop of the roses to protect for winter, but don't want to pass on any type of fungus or mold to the roses.  Do you think that mulch will cause any harm to my roses?  

Also, I have carefully selected roses that are hardy to my zone, so I'm not even sure if I'll need to give them any protection. I just love them and don't want to lose them!

Thanks very much for your wisdom and insight!

Colleen


Answer
Zone 6 in not what they call a bitterly cold area so if you have chosen carefully, then your roses will be fine. Selecting roses that are hardy in your zone certainly makes it much easier to look after especially during the winter. If there is any fungus in the mulch and there probably isn't, it won't be passed onto the roses for a couple of reasons. One the type of fungus is not interested in roses. And the other reason is that the cold of the winter will kill the fungus anyway. Because this is the first winter for your roses and if it will make you rest easy, just place the mulch all around the base of the roses and also add some soil if you want to. That will keep the roses safe if you happen to get a nasty cold spell during the winter.