Should I bring in my miniature rose for the winter?

I live in Southern Ontario, Zone 5b and it gets fairly cold here in the winter. The rose in question is planted in a pot (I have nowhere to plant it in the garden, so that's out), fairly large-ish in size (the pot), I'd say, it's about 18 inches across (round) and about 12 inches deep. The only other option I have is to put it in the garage where it will not get much light and very little water. Will it die either way? It's a Sunrise Cupido rose. I like it a lot and would like to keep it. Bringing it into the house overwinter is not an option.

Should I bring in my miniature rose for the winter?
I don't know the type of roses (names), but I live in a zone 4b and I've had miniature roses outside for about five years. Most will make it over the winter, but not all. Cover them in the late autumn with dried leaves and make sure they stay covered with snow all winter. I n the spring, uncover them when the temperature doesn't go too far below zero centigrade. The worse thing for roses is to thaw out and refreeze; they can mostly handle the freeze.





Good luck
Reply:Thank you for telling us where you live!





Mini roses are marginal in your growing zone. Since your options are limited, I'd say Sincere had the best answer. If you could bury the pot for the winter, that would be ideal. If not, water it, then mulch the entire thing with dry leaves, straw, wood chips, something fairly dense - and make it good and thick - around late November or after a hard freeze when temps stay cold. Maybe throw some evergreen boughs over everything to hold the mulch in place. The object is to keep it frozen once it has frozen. Remove the mulch gradually when danger of frost is past in spring. Good luck!
Reply:No, they will sprout new stems in the spring and grow even bigger and more blooms every year. Just hill up the main stem after the first frost and trim off the dead stems in the spring.
Reply:The problem is the pot. Cold air will circulate around it and freeze the poor thing's roots. Since it can't go in the house and there is no place in the garden, the garage may be your only option. Maybe you can get a grow light from your hardware or garden store to provide it enough uv light to survive the winter.
Reply:If you don't have a cool conservatory to put it in, you could always put bubble wrap around the pot and stand it on something so that it is off the ground. Or build a cold frame for it to go in with a glass lid.
Reply:no