If you are really in zone 3 (-40 F), it will be hard to grow any roses except as annuals. But in case you want to try again, here are a couple of suggestions. 1. Plant grafted roses deep, with the graft buried several inches. 2. Winter protection is not to protect against snow and frost. It is to protect against serious cold that would damage the hardened canes and roots. In this case you are trying to save the graft or the underground crown from fatal levels of hard freezing. So do not protect because snow and frost are forecast. Wait until the plants are dormant, this will help them harden up. Protect when temperatures of 10 F and below are forecast. 3. Burlap is probably useless in this situation. None of the canes of regular modern roses are going to survive winter. Pile soil deeply over the crown of the plant and top with a mulch that will have some insulating quality. The soil will conduct ground heat from further down and provide a "thermal mass" that reduces temperature swings. 4. In spring, remove the cover and prune the canes down to healthy white pith. This will probably entail taking all the canes down to the graft, or if ungrafted, the natural crown between canes and roots. If you are lucky, some of the grafts/crowns will survive. For what it's worth, we had a poster, Riku in zone 3 Alberta, who tried hard to grow roses for a few years. He brought in a truckload of peat every fall and covered the entire bed a foot deep. He got some roses to survive. I suggest that you try the Canadian Explorer roses, the bush types not the climbers, for example 'Champlain'. These will be hardier, and some cane may survive. See the link. Here is a link that might be useful: HMF

Gail, I have used room sized rugs for this purpose for 4 years now. It started because I wanted to kill grass in a full sun area & wanted to get rid of old rug smelling of dog! I never considered the chemicals but have been lucky so far. I only left the rug down long enough to kill the grass then added compost, peat moss etc. and mulch. The 8'by 10' size was just right for me to amend the soil & plant one season at a time. This year I used newspaper in 4-5 layers as suggested by several GW forums as I don't have to move them like I did the rug.

I've cleaned mine with the spray foam upholstery cleaner that comes in a can. Also I've used my bissle green mean machine with carpet shampoo. Since we've moved to a milder climate I haven't had the problem your talking about. Just vacumn and spot clean them now. When we lived in Michigan I started removing them in the winter and using the heavier clear vinyl mats during the winter months.

Thanks Floorguy and Boxers. The GH Jute back is less stiff and therefore feels a little cushier. It is also the more eco friendly green choice. So with your blessings I feel confident to forge ahead. Is there any special product that will help clean up accidents and spills to keep bacteria at bay? I also have heard that wool takes specialty cleaning as well. I am sure that there will be manufacturers recommendations with the purchase. There are so many wonderful nylon products out there now that are probably better at stain resistance and such, but I just love the rich look and feel of wool. I hope that it is a decision that I won't regret. Thanks again for your feedback.