I can't speak for Ohio..But here in Milwaukee, WI we're a zone 5. We have cold wet winters and avge rainfall in summer. The best is to raise your bed. That will help immensely. Also a nice gravel mulch is good also. I, personally, do not cover anything. Some leaves do float in and I have learned to not be so meticulous in my fall cleanup. I think it has helped some things like Delospermas come through the winters. If you feel the need to cover anything I would not do the whole bed. Make a tent of some plastic sheeting and just lay it over the individual plants like a pup tent (weighted down on opposite sides and left open on the other ends for ventilation). Just my 2 cents worth, and what works for me may not work for everybody. Dave Milwaukee

The need for a period of chill is not determined necessarily by species. There are several species of trees that are capable of growing in tropical areas with no period of dormancy and in temperate parts if the world, protected by dormancy and subsequent quiescence until temperatures increase to levels that stimulate growth. Ulmus parvifolia (Chinese elm) comes to mind immediately as a tree similar to F carica in that regard. Both cold-hardiness and the need for a period of dormancy is a genetic trait in carica, not an 'across the board' species trait. Those trees evolved in southern provenances that grow and fruit well near the equator, along with their vegetatively cloned offspring, are unlikely to grow/fruit well or survive freezing winters in a colder, more northerly provenance. Conversely, those trees and clones that grow and fruit well in a more northerly provenance, when moved nearer the equator are unlikely to grow or fruit well and likely to go into decline and eventually die if deprived of a cold rest. Al

Here we get some really extreme temperature shifts,even in the course of one day. I clearly remember shoveling deep snow away from my gate, sweating in the heat of the sun!!! then, the sun goes down and the temperatures plunge,and all the melted snow turns into ice.All year round there tends to be a huge difference between day and night temperatures; it's a very unhealthy climate , for people and plants, IMO. The sun is just SO hot! We were really struck by the difference of, say, the Irish climate, where there is no great temperature change between night and day,so no organism has to deal with the stress of constantly trying to adjust. Still, I don't know that this is particularly a problem for established plants. However I do zealously protect newly planted bare-root roses by mounding. One person on the forum kind of "sneered"at me for this, saying it wasn't necessary,but I disagree, and so do many Italian rose nurseries. it isn't just the temperture swings; the mounding helps guard against the canes drying out,for example, if it's sunny and windy. I mound with synthetic materials: wine corks and pieces of styrofoam ,held in place with rocks and gravel and sand, because one winter I had problems with disease,but most people don't seem to have this problem.

Below is the info. that Floweraremusic (zone 5) in Washington gave on her 2020 winter-survival. She has alkaline clay with rocks at bottom like mine & less snow in winter: "My hardiest roses are the Canadians. John Davis, John Cabot, Wm. Baffin, Morden Sunrise, Morden Blush and Morden Centennial, Victorian Memory aka Isabelle Skinner, also a Canadian rose. All these only have tiny bit of tip damage and bloom a lot with no special care. Also, my Hybrid Perpetuals only have tip damage after winter. Magna Charta, Mrs. John Laing, Black Prince and Marchesa Buccella. The only negative is they don’t have long enough cutting stems. All my Austins are very hardy. The one I just can not grow is Jude. Leonardo da Vinci is super hardy and always healthy. Quietness comes through winter very well. Even Rouge Royale survives beautifully. Cinderella Fairy Tale is very hardy. Gruss an Aachen also. Ballerina and Marjorie Fair are both hardy. Poseidon, Princess Charlene de Monaco and Crazy Love didn’t do as well as I’d hoped. The surprise losses this year are Quicksilver, and Dames de Chenonceau who is left with only 1 cane. Versigny is also reduced down to almost nothing. This was a mild winter with very little snow. " Floweraremusic (zone 5). From StrawChicago (zone 5a with hard black-gumbo alkaline clay & less snow but with freezing rain in winter). Versigny didn't survive winter either. So I lost Versigny TWICE. Besides Versigny, other wimpy own-root roses that don't survive winter well: Paul Neyron, Anna's Promise, Pink Peace (own-root died 1st winter, but grafted-Pink Peace survives many winter), Elantyne, Jude the Obscure, Young Lycidas (bought as grafted-on-Dr.Huey, now with only one cane), Mary Daly, and many floribundas don't survive my zone 5a: Pink Chiffon, Sheila's perfume, King Arthur, Deep Purple, Shocking blue, Honey Bouquet (survived 1 winter). Polka Climber (survived 1 winter), Cloutilde Soupert (died twice on me). Sutter's Gold didn't survive winter, same with many fragrant mini-roses from Burlington nursery. Below are my hardy OWN-ROOT roses in my zone 5a alkaline clay, only Double Delight, Young Lycidas and Lavender Crush are grafted-on-Dr.Huey. Bold-faced are the very vigorous ones: Own-roots with 3 feet of green canes: Carding Mill (since 2012), Princess Charlene of Monaco, Duchess de Rohan, Crown Princess Magareta (since 2012), Zepherine Drouhin, Lady of Shalott, James Galway, Lavender Crush, Queen of Sweden (gave away but very hardy), Poseidon (right below the rain-spout, dug down to 2.5 feet), Scepter'd Isle (very big & hardy own-root but gave that away with its lousy scent). Own-roots with 2 feet of green canes: La Reine (many winters), Blue Mist (since 2012), Prairie Harvest (since 2014), Mary Magdalene (since 2011), Evelyn (since 2012), Radio Times (since 2011), Pat Austin (since 2011), Christopher Marlowe (since 2011), Golden Celebration (since 2011), Lilian Austin (gave away but very hardy), the Squire, the Dark Lady, Wise Portia survived 4 winters but died in poor drainage clay, Dee-lish (since 2015), Twilight Zone (since 2016), William Shakespeare. 2000 (since 2011), Comte de Chambord (since 2012), Princess Anne, Sweet Mademoiselles, Aloha climber, Orchid Romance, Bohemian Rhapsody, Marie Pavie, Lagerfeld (since 2017), Frederic Mistral survived 2 winters but died when I didn't winter-protect with leaves, Sonia Rykiel (survived 3 winters) but died in freezing rain winter, same with 1/4 of the street-trees in my neighborhood, Excellenz von Shubert (since 2013), Own-roots with less than 1 foot of green canes: Gina's rose, Tchaikosky (since 2015), Cornelia (since 2018), Bolero (few winters), Peter Mayle, Sharifa Asma, Neil Diamond, Amber Queen, A Shopshire Lad, Strike it Rich, Old Port (since 2012), Veteran's Honor (many winters), Double Delight (grafted on Dr.Huey), Savannah, Tess of d'Uberville, Gene Boerner (since 2014), thornless Yves Seedling (since 2013), Stephen big Purple (since 2012), Louise Este, Mirandy, Crimson Glory, Liv Tyler survived 1 winter but needs winter-protection, Rouge Royal (bought last year with no winter-protection). Annie L. McDowell (survived 2 winters but needs a wet-spot since it's almost thornless), Nahema (survived 1 winter then died during freezing-rain winter), same with Eyes-for-you (drought-tolerant and doesn't like freezing wet winter), Souvenir du President Lincoln, Madame Issac Pererie and Madame Earnest Calvat, Firefighter (survived 2 winters) but died since it's next to tree. Bayes Blueberry (survived many winters but I gave away), Charles Darwin (gave away since it fades badly), Arthur Bell (since 2012 & killed it since I don't like the flowers). StrawChicago.