Question
I have just acquired a polar joy tree rose and am wondering what to do with it for the Toronto winter (which last year meant 4-5 feet of snow). I have read that this tree is hardy and can survive Minnesota winters without being trenched, but I am not sure whether this is a chance that I should take with an unestablished tree. Tonight there was a risk of frost, so not knowing what to do, I thought it best to bring the still-potted tree into the house. Any advise about wintering this cherished tree would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much for your time and expertise.

Answer
Snow is an excellent blanket to protect roses. I know that gardeners think snow is bad but it  actually is an excellent warm blanket during the winter. Polar Joy is rated at being hardy to zone 4 and you are in zone 5. However because you rose is a tree rose it should be protected. There are two things you can do and in my opinion, the first is the easiest. I would simply place the rose in an unheated garage because it doesn't need light and it only needs a cup of water every month. I would wait until all the leaves have fallen off and then the rose would have hardened off it's canes. Frost doesn't effect a rose at all, it is only the hard type of frosts that do. The other way is to dig a deep hole and then sink the pot in it so it covers up the base of the canes. Then take soil, mulch or compost and mound i up to about 12 inches all around the base. Finally wrap the whole tree in agricultural bubble wrap, which you can get at hardware or garden centers. When they make a tree, they usually use a rugosa rose and grow it until they have the right height. Then they bud Polar Joy, or another rose, onto the top. It is the fact that the actual rose sits exposed on the top instead of the ground which causes problems in the winter for these rose trees. Personally I would put it into the garage and then take it out during the day in the spring and bring it in during the night. Then when there was no more nasty frosts ,I would place it outside n the garden.










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