To ensure beautiful hybrid tea, floribunda, grandiflora, and other specialty roses in the spring, follow a few simple steps this fall. It is necessary to slow the growth of roses after the end of July; this is known as "hardening off". Hardening off is achieved by fertilizing with a low nitrogen fertilizer once or twice in mid summer, but fertilizing should be discontinued by August first.
The Minnesota Tip Method is the best method for winter protection of specialty roses. Come to a Bachman's Garden Center for a free fact sheet on how to do this procedure. If you don't have space to tip your roses, they can be mounded with soil and mulched. Pruning the spent flowers should be discontinued in September, so the rose can prepare for winter. The day before tipping (mid-October), spray the plant with fungicide, to discourage diseases.
Rose canes should not be pruned in the fall unless the rose has grown too large to be tipped and buried. To tip a rose, tie the rose canes together with a natural fiber twine. Make a trench as long as the roses are tall (about four-to-six inches deep). With a fork, push the tines on the opposite side of the plant from the trench, slowly work the fork back and forth to loosen the roots. Then push the plant down into the trench and cover it with soil. It is a good idea to place stakes at each end to indicate where the plant is located. Cover the rose bed with 8-to-12 inches of hay or straw after the soil has begun to freeze. The whole process should be completed before the ground freezes, usually in mid to late November. If you are mounding the rose, cover the trunk and the base of the canes with 10-12 inches of soil after a killing frost. Before the ground freezes in late fall, add 6-8 inches of mulch over the mounded soil.
What To Do Next Spring
Sometime after April first, the straw mulch can be slowly removed. If the winter snow cover is gone and temperatures climb above freezing during the day on a consistent basis, remove this mulch slowly and set it aside in case the temperatures plunge. Don't be concerned if there are late snowfalls. In a normal year, all the straw mulch should be removed by around the tenth of April. Keep checking the frost depth in the rose garden by first using a trowel and later a spade. Dig in an area that will not disturb the buried roses. When the ground is frost-free, the roses can slowly be dug out of their winter storage beds.
For further information, read online our care sheet on "Winterizing Roses in Minnesota", and "The Minnesota Tip Method".
