Question
Hello,
I live in southern Germany, & my roses need winter protection from the snow and cold temperatures.  When I lived in Ontario, I mounded soil around the base of the rose bushes.  But here I have a rose garden for which I have installed a soaker hose system, and covered the ground with black landscape fabric, then wood chips as mulch.  I do not want to mound soil on top of the wood chips.  Is it okay to mound wood chips around the base of the roses as winter protection?
Thank you very much
Judy White

Answer
Wood chips will be fine. One of the problems with landscape fabric is that sometimes it prevents good drainage but that would only be a problem in areas whre you get a lot of rain. Because you have protected your roses so well, just make sure you put the mulch on when there has been a couple of hard frosts as landscape fabric, plus a mulch on top, could warm the roots up if the temperature rises causing activated growth. The definition of a hard frost is when both the soil and the air above are below freezing. You probably know this already, but roses don't make it through the winter because fertilizer has been given to them after the end of July. Rose canes need time to harden off. Hope this helps. Lynnette