Winter Care for Roses

Roses love to put on their best show any time of the year. And if you don’t stop them in time, they will keep blooming all through winter and eventually wear out. Winter is the time to put them to rest (read bed) for a few weeks so that they wake up stronger and happier just in time to shower you with larger and better blooms for spring and more years to come. The trick is to not make them warm and comfortable, but let them be cold and help stop their growth.

1. By the middle of December, stop fertilizing your rose plants so that they winterize completely by the mid of January which is the coldest time of the year.

2. When you observe some purpling of the canes, stop deadheading and allow hips to form. This will slow down their growth.

3. Cut back the canes and remove leaves even from healthy rose plants in order to help bring them into the state of dormancy for winter. Most leaves will fall on their own but you will need to pull out the remaining ones.

4. Pruning is essential at this time of the year and ensures very good blooms in the next season. Prune low if you want few, but large blooms and prune high if you want lots of blooms. You should have no problems pruning back a foot or two for most healthy plants.

5. Use a good dormant spray that has, horticultural oil, a copper fungicide and a strong insecticide to do away with bugs, mites or diseases that the rose plant might have.

6. For tall plants, climbers and some floribundas, wrap the canes with burlap or plastic mesh bags. Never use polythene as it will prevent ventilation and cause diseases.

7. Winter is also the best time to transplant rose plants. If you want to change the placement of a rose plant, prune the canes and dig up the plant as much as possible and then shift the plant with the entire root ball to the other planting spot and cover with soil. By the time spring comes and it is time for the plant to bloom again, the transplanting process must have completed.

8. Protect potted rose plants by watering them well and keeping them in a cool, dark corner till winter lasts. But don’t bring them inside the house or their soil will dry causing the rose plants to die.

9. When your plants begin to grow again, remove all your winter protection materials by a light spray of water. Then start fertilizing regularly and water your rose plants daily. In colder climates, you will need to water only on sunny days.

10. If you do not have the time or energy to winterize your roses, you can always opt for the easy way out and let your roses just die and buy new plants next spring, treating them as annuals.