When you put them in the ground, you may also want to plant them a bit deeper to give them a head-start on getting through Winter. When I planted the first of my roses here, they went into the native soil level. I built raised beds around them, and added 6-8" of composted shredded tree mulch in mid-Autumn. As it turned out, their first Winter was that harsh "polar vortex" one of 2013-2014. A few -- Chinas and Teas -- were cut to the soil level, or just above, but they had buried cane that was enough to get them going again. As I planted companion perennials the following Spring, I noticed that the roses started generating roots into the mulch layer, which meant that they had nearly 18" of root depth just one year after coming as bands. My Winters aren't as severe as yours, but what I did worked for the "borderline-hardy" roses I planted. Out of about 75 planted that year, only 2 didn't make it -- 'Jaune Desprez' and "Secret Garden Musk Climber". I didn't replace the former, as I realize that was a bit of a pipe dream here. But I did get a more substantial gallon-sized SGMC, and it made it through last year's almost-as-harsh Winter. :-) ~Christopher

Carol, for FL it is not necessarily to lift the plants and take them inside for winter unless you want too. Unlike human, plants don't like sudden changes. They do well if we let them be. Winter cares are very similar to spring and summer cares. Only exception is don't give them too much water. When spring comes gradually give them more water. I will check the plant for root rot during winter since we get rain. Sign for root rot are the skin color change to pale green/yellow, when touch the plant shake, and squishy when pressed.

If you cover with plastic, it isn't going to dry out. The only reason to keep it moist is to keep the bacterial degradation going, and unless you're doing in situ composting, that really doesn't matter much. To the extent your soil actually freezes, not much bacterial degradation will be going on anyway.

Containerized bulbs should be maintained over winter at temps between 35-45F (2-7C). It doesn't hurt if the temp drops below that range slightly but avoid temperatures that remain consistently below freezing.