Question
Hi, 'm hoping you can help me with the Blue Girl and Mr. Lincoln rose trees i planted this summer. I live in central Pennsylvania and I know the best way is to bury them in a trench, however I didn't do my research first and they are in raised beds and I'm not able to do that. I've been told various things and I wondered if I make a "cage" around the entire stem and fill with leaves or mulch, etc. if this will keep them. Should I wrap them in burlap too? I would be grateful for any help. Thank You, Cheryl

Answer
As you already know, almost all Roses are vulnerable to damage during winter - frigid, drying wind on leaves and stems; freezing/thawing underground; graft frosting.  The problem is that these Tree Roses are even less tough in very cold weather than other Roses.

Your concern is well founded.  Many a Rose Expert has gone to great lengths to save his Tree Rose -- and failed.  This OFTEN happens when you buy a Tree Rose.

Traditionally, people have done one of two things.  Either they buried their Tree Roses underground for the winter, or they dug them completely out of the ground, potted them and kept them in a greenhouse or garage until spring.

Nobody ever said Roses were low maintenance.

But one gardener has posted a personal report
(www.mgs.md.gov/mdrose/docs/rosestandards.pdf#search='rose%20standard%20how%20to') describing how he lost his beloved Tree Rose, despite the best of care.  It is a pdf file so you will need Adobe Acrobat to read it.  Let me know if you need help with that.  It is an important read for any Rose grower in Zones 5 thru 8.

It is a sad but enlightening story.

He points out: "I tried to protect it with an improvised net filled with a mulching material."

As he found out, even this "improvised" mulch he described did not work, and sadly, his Tree Rose expired that winter.

Remember, this is a seasoned gardener we are talking about. So he was terribly distressed to find his method failed.

It took another Rose consultant to solve this problem.

A gardener in Maryland dreamed up an excellent technique with foam pipe insulation used by plumbers.

The gardener wraps the trunk of the Rose with insulation sheets and tapes that in place with silver duct tape. Special attention is paid at the base of the Rose, at the bud point where the graft attaches to root stock.

So I'm recommending that two or three weeks after the hard frost, when you mounded soil over the base, you would wrap your Tree Rose with plumber's insulation, and seal the insulation at the base.  Pile regular mulch (leaves, etc.) inside.  And wait for spring.

Pure genius.

As the aforementioned writer points out, plumber's insulation is sold at Home Depot.

For a second opinion on anything, keep web address for the Pennsylvania-NJ Rose Society (http://www.pjdistrictrose.org/) handy - you'll see links to local expert Rosarians and at least one chapter easily within a stone's throw of your garden (Del-Chester, Greater Harrisburg, Lehigh, Philly, Pittsburgh etc.).

Is that clear?  If not, let me know.  And good luck.  Keep in touch.