Possibly nil unless you do a lot of winter protection. The Don Juan "climber" likely won't climb as it will never build enough height due to canes being froze in the winter.

It's not your fault, why would they sell these roses in your area if they're not hardy, right?

You can enjoy them for the summer, hopefully they'll bloom. After that it is up to you whether you want to research winter protection or not.

They are both hybrid teas, which unfortunately don't do well in the north, but continue to encompass most of the retail offerings in roses. If you are interested in growing roses, you can do some research or pose questions here (we have a few MN growers) about kinds suitable for your zone.

Don Juan is not that cold hardy and will not survive a winter in your zone. If you want to keep it, you will need to either keep it in a pot and bring it in for the winter. Or bury it in the ground. I saw a tv show with rose growers from Minnesota doing this. I thought they were crazy, but rose growers are crazy!

All 3 of our Tropicana don't get protected in winter. They get too large if they start the season with a lot of live cane. Tropicana is tough. A friend grows DJ and canes do freeze and die over winter. DJ is like a tall shrub for her. Our winters are a bit milder than yours. There are folks from your area that post here. They will be able to give you better advice than I.

I have had Tropicana for 2 years, and it survived our winters so far without much protection. It is planted near the base of the front of the house facing South. This probably gives it a zone warmer. Good luck
Joan

We buy grafted roses and plant with the bud union 2 to 4 inches below ground level. I do mound all new roses with mulch their first winter. After the first winter Tropicana didn't get mounded/protected.

Hi Idafrances,
I live about 50 miles west of you. I don't have any experience with either of these roses, but I can tell you my rose experiances in general.

If the rose wasn't a H.rugosa, a species or an Explorer it died back to the snow line this winter. Unless you do the Minnesota tip with your plants, you can expect that every year. I usually have a few H.Teas/Floribundas that die every year from winter kill. I treat them like annuals, I just buy new ones in the spring. I attribute this more to the rootstock "Dr.Huey" that they use more than to the variety not being hardy enough. I've had plants that the top was still alive but the rootstock was dead and the top started to send out its own roots. I tend to either buy own root roses or ones that are budded on to R.multiflora rootstock. The roses out of Canada usually come this way. The Bailey Roses are all own root also.

I have the climber Altissamo that I've only had a couple years and is still pretty small, so I was able to bury it last fall. I will keep burying it in the fall until it gets to large to do so. After that I will have to treat it like I do all my roses. I just mound dirt around the base and cover them with 6" or 8" of straw. I prefer straw to leaves because straw will stay put whereas leaves will blow away. Also straw is hollow so it has a better insulating value.

Unless you have a place to keep the roses for a month, I would say that it probably was too early to purchase plants.
I don't usually plant roses until late April or early May.
When the soil has warmed up and the danger of frost has past.

Paul

I know several people in zone 4 in Michigan who grow both of these roses. You will have to do some kind of winter protection and yes, Don Juan will have to be cut back each spring, but how far will depend on your protection efforts and how severe the winter is. I've seen some that were hardy nearly to the tips in milder winters. Since they are already potted just leave them. If you have an unheated garage you can keep them in there (put them on some wood or something to keep them up off the concrete) until it's warm enough to put them outside. If not you'll have to bring them in but be warned that roses hate being indoors so get them outside asap. If the temps are warm enough during the day take them out and just bring them back in at night.

Vielchen, first off, they don't care diddly squat what does well where, they only care about selling as many roses as they can and making money. Second, I have many friends from Marquette zone 4 to Monroe zone 6 and we all grow HT's and they do very well, thank you very much. I actually know of someone who grows them in Alaska zone 2 (although she trenches all her roses for the winter there). It all depends on what you want and how much sweat equity you're willing to invest.

idafrances, enjoy those roses!

Don Juan is probably hopeless. It died here the first winter and it was tipped and buried. There is some hope for Tropicana. However, it hasn't done well past the first year for me, but with good winter cover it survives.

I asked a local nursery why they sold roses that did not do well in our climate and he said with a straight face that some people grow them as annuals.

I find the idea of roses as annuals a bit troubling, but that is the best use for your DJ and probably the Tropicana as well.

This June you could go out to the U of MN arboretum and see the roses that survive without any winter protection beyond a few inches of fresh wood chips. There is also a second rose garden that shows what a lot of work digging up and burying modern roses can accomplish in this climate.

I don't bury many roses any more because it is just too much work. Fortunately, there are plenty of hardy and close to hardy that do well with just a mound of chips or chips covered with bags of leaves.

Regards,

Charles

Wow....thanks to everyone for your help on this...I really appreciate it. I'm not opposed to sweat equity at all, and with the low price, I feel it's worth an experiment. I have to chuckle at the "Minnesota Tip"...it sounds like a nerdy dance or Twins cheer.

Anyway, thanks to all of you, and here's to experimentation!

Don Juan is a lovely climber but I doubt that it is hardy in Minnesota except if you are willing to do the Minnesota Tipping (??I am not sure in the name every fall .

Cl. Tropicana might be hardier but it was among the absolute worst roses we ever had. We gt rid of it when SPing was a very big no-no with us.