Dale........ When I first started growing miniatures, it was in southern California where there is no real winter. Since then, I have moved to the mountains of northern California. The first year I moved here, I was gifted with more than 60 miniature and miniflora roses in April 2004. Since I was working on the house I just purchased, I potted the roses up in the largest pots I could find because I didn't know a thing about over-wintering roses and figured that it would take longer for soil in a large pot to freeze than a small pot. It turns out that was a very wise decision. Some of those roses have been in pots for four winters. So far, I haven't lost one rose to winter even tho'temps have gotten down to the low teens one winter. (Most of the time we can expect low 20s) All of these gift roses came in 2" to 4" pots and, like I said in my other post, I just put those tiny little plants into the big pots. The roses were full size by the end of summer. Then I had to learn about over-wintering roses in pots because I didn't have time that first year to plant anything. I suggest a spring order. Now that I have experienced over-wintering roses in pots, I know it's easier to work with a plant that has already developed a root system. You can pot up in your new roses in smaller pots than I did, if you plant to put the roses into the ground in the fall. Mad-gallica - Micro-minis might get lost in the grass, but I have tucked them into the rose bed in front of larger roses and they can really add to the look of the bed. I have also planted them in a cluster of small plants in one bed and it seems to work. There are miniature roses that can grow to 5' tall... those plants do not get lost and can be quite lovely. And, of course there are roses in both the miniature and mini-flora classes that are taller than the micro-minis and shorter than the big mini roses. Deb and Dave Boyd, who often post here, have a garden listing on HMF. You might want to check out some of his photos of minis. He grows several of my favorites in a zone that is similar to yours. Lyn Here is a link that might be useful: Deb & Dave Boyd's Garden on HMF

You have a choice with Hansa or other rugosas. Spray and loose all the leaves due to rugosas not liking to be sprayed or suffer with diseased foliage in late summer/fall and lose all the leaves. Either way you lose all the leaves. Some of mine are bare sticks or filled with diseased leaves. Others look good. It depends on where they are planted, the amount of sun they get, and how well air circulates around them. I don't cut them back now, I wait until spring. Unless we have a late freeze like last spring, they normally don't suffer winter dieback and come back each spring with nice foliage. As summer progresses they slowly get diseased and drop their leaves. Am curious, Would the systemic Bayer drench product work as it isn't sprayed on the leaves? Might try it on one or two rugosas next year.

But soupaman has plants on fortuniana. Buford's suggestion for hard pruning works for HTs on other rootstocks. Johnny Becnel (sadly deceased) used to preach about how to grow HTs on Fortuniana and he was adamant about no hard pruning. (He lived on the main channel of the Mississippi below New Orleans so his growing conditions are comparable to soupaman.) Soupaman needs someone to show where the dormant eyes are on those roses. Johnny would prune specifically to force the dormant eyes to break and he'd expect four or five breaks per cane. And the first question could be, how old are the canes (at their bases)?

I've had some of the foliage issues on one particular rose and after the first flush of bloom, if the foliage is getting ugly, I have cut the whole rose back to about 6 inches off the ground. I am not an expert rose grower by any means, it's just the easiest way for me to live with roses, without using any sprays. The rose has always come back for me and sometimes I get another flush of bloom later in the season. And they are growing in a perennial bed so by the time I'm ready to be done with the foliage, there are other plants around them getting large enough to hide the missing rose.