Question
Hi,

A couple of days ago I found 2 hearty rosebushes with nice canes and good growth on them. I purchased both and planted them in the ground where they receive lots of sun and in a well drained area. They have quite a few buds and deep green leaves. My question is what do I need to do to make sure they don't die from our cold weather. We will be having lows in the middle 30's and highs in the middle 50's. Is this too cold a climate for them? I need any information you can give me. I love roses but, haven't had any in quite a few years. It's been hard to find any hearty bushes here in the Dallas area. One nursery got some in but had a black substance all over them.
Anyway, whatever information you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Answer
Hi Martha-

You really don't need to do anything.  You are in zone 8 and this is considered a warm area of the country for roses.  Most roses do well down to zero degrees, except for a few tender Hybrid tea roses, tea and china roses.  At 30 degrees there will be some foliage which will freeze, but it will not be cold enough to kill the rosebush.  After the chance of any further cold freezes are over (Feb or March) then go ahead an prune your roses (which will cut off any dead leaves that froze and died). If you want to minimize any frozen foliage - just cover the rosebush with a blanket at night and then during the day uncover it so it will get some sun.  I have about 90 roses so it is not feasible for me to do this for my own roses.  I live in Houston which is a little south from you, and a little bit warmer, but last winter our night temps got down to about 26 degrees, and I didn't cover any of my roses and none of them died in the cold.  They had some dead leaves due to the freeze, but like I said after all chance of frost was over, I pruned them, and in spring they came to life and bounced back like new.  Also - if you know a hard freeze is coming - water your roses - which will help defend them against freezing weather.

I hope this helped.

Have fun smelling the roses!

Carlene
aka "The Flowerlady"