I can't compare my SoCal z8 mountains with yours in duration, but we do (luckily and hopefully) get storms of 3-4' which last awhile and then go away in a month or more.

To be honest, I haven't done anything with established roses. This is our 4th winter. I inherited several lanky, bushy types that I haven't identified yet that are simply just very hardy. Two years ago I brought up most of my pot ghetto and non-performers due to mildew (HTs, floribundas, grandifloras), all survived great. Well, I did get some die back on two, but turns out it was a gopher who winterized in my yard ;-)

This year, I have several OGR bands that I planted in spring. GramHat & Larry Daniels are 4' tall and I have tied them loosely, don't know why, maybe I should rethink this. The rest are Back to your question on leaves. Don't know what to think about that one. My leaves usually come through ok, or some dessication on the tips, but nothing to worry about. Last year we got 4' at Christmas and 3' in maybe Feb. so they were covered for a good bit, but again, probably not like you.

As far as canker, the wise advice that I got from forum members was to absolutely not mulch if you don't get a hard freeze throughout the winter as the 'melted mulch' for lack of a better term would be a breeding ground for canker. That also jived with what some of the locals told me when I moved in.

I'm still getting new growth now although most nights are below freezing. Some folks up here still prune within an inch of the rose's life, but I followed the other advice up here not to prune late but wait until spring, around Mother's Day or when the forsythia bloom and it has served me well with 'cold sensitive' roses that are hit with spring freezes and new growth (not because I knew anything, but because the interim previous owners did not watering or pruning except by the dogs, so I figured best not to tamper with success of late pruning ;-)

So, until we get more votes, I would just be concerned about cane breakage. Sounds like you've been there for awhile, can you tell us about problems you've had in the past?

I'm anxious to see other posters comments. Oh, btw, there is a thread I started about winter support you might want to see - lot's of very clever folks on this forum!

You could remove them by pulling them back to remove them from the cane. They should come off easily by now.

In the past, I mulched each rose with about 9" of compost. All my roses survived, but did suffer from cankers. Since my roses are under snow for a good 4 months, more established, own root, and all rated for my zone, I'm not too worried about loosing roses due to winter elements. I think the mulch is over kill because the snow lasts so long and does the same thing. So I'm going to skip the mulching this year. I also wait until Spring to prune. I like your Mother's Day time frame. I usually get the itch and start about 2 weeks too early.

However, I know I will have breakage of canes if I don't tie the roses. With such a short growing season, I like to preserve the canes as much as possible. Last year, I cut off all the leaves (but did not cut back the canes), and tied the rose canes really tight around each other. But I don't have the energy or time to cut off the leaves this year as the roses are so much bigger and thus have so many more leaves this year. So my gut tells me to tie the roses up but not so tightly to give the leaves a chance to breath and not suffer from some sort of disease. This way the snow can fall around the roses but not bend over a cane.

Say, gaw, when you 'tie' the roses, are you talking about simple ties here and there, or do you have them tied up in a burlap or other fabric? I can see where the latter would be a whole different story.

If you're only talking about ties, I don't understand what happens to the leaves, I guess my winter isn't severe enough for me to have noticed a problem with leaving them on.

wrape with burlap loosly tie it tighten as needed.
You do want em to breath as much as it can during off season, bugs no big worry as snow temps are to cold for the many your use to seeing

leaves will fall off as they do make a peek in fold back hole if you must

"I also wait until Spring to prune. I like your Mother's Day time frame. I usually get the itch and start about 2 weeks too early. "

Probably best for your area, but for me this year, the roses were already sprouting out on their own. Seems like a waste of energy for the roses on the parts that are going to get trimmed off anyway. Next spring, I'll play it more by ear (eyeball?) watching the weather forecast and the new shoots to decide.