HI Coryla Welcome to GW, and you have a nice collection of unusual colored roses to get you well and truly hooked. At least half of my 700 roses are ones that are not "supposed" to grow in my zone, so like everyone else is saying, don't presume the worst because of their ratings. At the same time, I've also killed (and repeatedly killed) about as many roses as have survived, so there's no way of telling which roses will like your conditions until you give them a try. For cold zone survival, you've already gotten some good advice. Odds are the roses you got are grafted, so if you didn't bury the graft well below soil level when you planted, you can either gently settle the plant lower in the soil now while it's still fresh and/or mound up some soil around the base of the plant to cover the graft (the knobby bit where the good canes sprout for the rose you want). Most of us in cold zones will do some of what ratdogheads talks about to aid the roses in winter survival, adding several inches of some organic material (hay, mulch, oak leaves) to the base of the rose to protect the lower cane. If you have consistent snow cover in SD, that helps winter survival too. Presumably you have the same fluctuating temperatures and high winds we do over the winter, and keeping some sort of NATURAL cover secure at the base of the rose once the ground is frozen will help reduce the effects of both of those factors. You might rethink the styrofoam rose covers as a first choice as winter coverage for a couple of reasons. First, natural materials breathe better, and don't retain unnatural moisture (snow and other natural materials are fine). More roses die in my yard over the winter from canker associated with trapped moisture and fungus than from the cold itself. Also, make sure not to do any winter protection at all, whatever the method, before the weather is good and truly cold and the ground frozen. Otherwise, you build a haven for mice and other critters to gnaw off your rose all winter, or for humidity to do the same in less obvious fashion. I wait till the day temperatures average in the high 20's for at least a week. Roses can handle some cold, even the hybrid teas, and actually need some of that cold to go into their winter semi-dormancy. Lastly, the really unfortunate thing about those rose cones is that to fit them on a mature rose you'd have to cut off several feet of perfectly healthy cane in early winter to fit them on the rose. In cold zones, you want to keep as much healthy cane as feasible going into the winter, so there's still some good rose cane left in spring after you prune off winter damage. It's your choice - I'm sure some folks have used the cones as well as any other protection method without problem, but your odds are much better with the more natural materials. Cynthia

Thank you Kristine. :-) The Lady Emma is for a purple and orange bed we've been working on. We did plant both a Twilight Zone and Ebb Tide in that bed about a month ago. I thought we were going to lose the Ebb Tide, but we just had a tiny first flower open. This first bloom is much smaller and more fuchsia than I think we will have when the plant eventually matures, but the scent is fab for such a tiny flower/plant. I'm planning to place Gold Badge beside a climbing Iceberg and Golden Celebration to create a hedge. In front of this we planted a Rainbow Happy Trails, and I'm thinking there's space there for several shorter perennials and another groundcover rose or two. Wanting to stick with the yellows, whites and touches of pink in this bed. And Koko? Golly. lol I have no idea. It's just been calling my name since I saw pictures of it on this forum. I finally convince my husband it was one we needed. I'll probably put it in a pot for now. That way I can move it around until we figure out a permanent home. I've read so many wonderful reviews of Roses Unlimited and I'm looking forward to ordering from them. We had been looking for an own root Lady Emma since the spring and I was very happy to see they have her.

philipatx, yes Sweet Olive grow wonderful for me in Dallas. I was told when I moved here from Houston that they might freeze but this has not been my experience . The second winter after I planted was when Dallas temps dropped into the low teens and remained. They were at my roof by then and I had them professionally covered with packing material then plastic. they were warm and toasty in their little cocoons. I have not done that since and they are now 11 yrs old and have become actual multi trunk big caliber trees . I highly recommend them but be prepared you will often lose some of those wonderful smells as they cycle in and out of bloom. It seem we get a freeze about the time they in beginning to bloom.... like today. They do cycle about 3-4 times a year here so never are they all lost. In Houston, I seem to remember them blooming always but of course they rarely lost flower in freeze. Hope this helps.

I've grown Blue for You for quite a few years now. I've enjoyed it in USDA Zones 9b hot inland valley heat; 10a hot inland valley heat mitigated by ocean influence and 9b coastal cool with periods of heat. It regularly has Western Flower Thrips like every other bloom in my yard (flower thrips have been a well documented issue in this area for the 150+ years it has been a heavy agricultural area). We don't have Chilli Thrips here...yet, and may never due to how cool, damp and chilly the climate is here. Its scent is INTENSE and impresses my nose as heavily spiced Honey Crisp apple. It continues flowering in heat (unlike its offspring, Rhapsody in Blue, which I have avoided because of its shutting down when the heat hits) and has been completely disease free everywhere I have grown it and in each climate I've gardened in. I do not spray anything, no pesticides nor fungicides and I seldom fertilize. Its color is highly variable, with the deeper, "bluer" tones developing in cooler temps and lower light levels, so if those are the colors you are hoping for, provide it some protection from the hottest, most intense sun levels. I absolutely LOVE this rose!