My Zephy is not hardy here in my Z5 yard, although it is only a couple years old. I got it as a band from RU a couple years ago. I think this past winter was it's third winter. It is planted on the east end of my front porch. It is in a protected location recieving the least amount of wind/weather and yet it still completely dies down to the ground each year and blooms very sporadically for me. Maybe it will improve as it matures a bit but so far it has not been hardy for me. Mine is an own root, so it comes back pretty strong each spring, but has never gotten over about 6 foot tall. It gets about 4 hours of direct sunlight per day plus another couple hours of indirect sunlight, so maybe that is part of the problem with mine. My Awakening climber, which is supposed to be a better/improved version of New Dawn has been much more hardy for me, although the bunnies did it in this past winter. They ate everything they could reach from the ground/snow so I was left with a detached 15' tall tangled thorny mess to remove from the side of my chimney. Next winter I will put up some kind of bunny proof barrier around it's feet to keep the bunnies away. :I also planted a Dublin Bay climber late last year. It was just a small own root band, so it didn't do much in the short time it was in the ground. Since it was so new and small, I did winter protect it with a rose cone. So far this spring it seems to be doing nicely. I have been training it on the lattice along the side of my deck. Hopefully that one will prove hardy for me also.

Unleash many of Mr. Austin's creations in environments more benign than even the best of the British types and watch out! I lived through the experience of discovering his newly introduced to our country, "mannerly five foot shrubs" quickly becoming house eaters in Southern California. Remember, the first bastion of "English Roses" and the initial push to introduce them to American gardens began right here. One of the first American collections of them was planted at The Huntington Library where I was an active volunteer at that time. We were all amazed at the intense vigor the majority exhibited. Mr. Austin was reportedly amazed when he witnessed the proportions his roses achieved in their first season (and even more so with subsequent seasons!) here. I battled Golden Celebration for far too many years, first attempting to encourage it to develop into a large, free standing shrub, then to constrict it to a house wall when it demonstrated its complete resistance to being "shrub like". It refused to be contained in either situation, rapidly throwing itself in every direction and refusing to provide any color until it fully blocked access to any point past its position. Not even the stiff winds experienced on occasion in its situation could keep its exuberance in check. Perhaps, had there been a huge lawn with a very tall, long fence to permit it to eat, it might have succeeded, but in that normal sized, suburban garden in a fairly typical, upscale, Los Angeles bedroom community, it was much too enthusiastic and demanded far too much space and water. It sulked if not provided regular flooding. It made extremely efficient use of increased water when it was provided. Crown Princess Mag. was the same, as is Graham Thomas, Pilgrim, Charles Austin, Yellow Charles Austin, Leander (10' X 10' or NO bloom), and far too many others to list here. All of this on the same fertilizing and watering all the other garden roses were provided and none of the others (assorted OGRs, moderns, polys, shrubs, HTs, etc.) demanded more nor responded in similar bad behavior. I don't plant nor suggest many OGR types, as so many of them require much more winter chill, rain, humidity and much less heat and intensity of sun than we can provide. Many once flowering European OGRs simply will NOT flower here. Many Damasks, Centifolias, Hybrid Chinas, Gallicas are as successful as stone fruit with 400+ hours of winter chill requirement. We can frequently succeed with those which require no more than 150, in good years, 200 hours of winter chill. Short season foliage too frequently does not remain viable and healthy when exposed to double and longer of their suitable season length. Just as more tender roses frequently fail when exposed to the colder, wetter, shorter and less intense British 'summer'. I don't expect the roses to develop themselves into the desired framework, however, selecting those which DO (and, there are actually a rather large number which WILL), creates a significantly easier, pleasing garden in which to enjoy your time, and goes a very long way toward significantly more successful plants. Perhaps, if I had Mr. Hearst's land area and water budget, more of the Austin roses may be permitted to develop into what they demand to be in this climate? Yes, absolutely, they CAN be pruned and I have removed MANY yards of Austin roses to be sent to the green waste processing sites, but that much too frequently turns them in to thorny junipers, with the same level of 'garden color' junipers afford. Actually, perhaps a bit less than junipers. At least they provide a much more varied palette of green, are without the flesh ripping prickles, and they don't experience the foliage issues too many of the Austins have here, particularly when maintained in malnourished states from being forbidden the foliage mass they demand in this endless growing season to remain healthy. A large, thorny green plant with no flowers is disappointing in your own garden. It is completely unacceptable in gardens for which you are being paid to provide the required bloom. Kim

Mad Gallica is a real expert on roses and I've learned lots from her posts, but I'm going to disagree with her today a bit. I have an Autumn Sunset climbing rose, bred by Mike Lowe in southern NH. It has double, yellow to apricot, medium scented roses. It repeats on and off for me all summer (my only repeating rose) and has overwintered for me with no protection other than its usual mulch, a deeply planted bud union, and nearness to a large builing. It grows to well over my head in an arching form (I haven't gotten a trellis up yet as I thought it would take several years to get big enough to need one) and has made it through either 1 or 2 central NH winters (last winter was a bit warmer than usual, maybe to only -15, but had little snow cover to serve as protection) with virtually no damage. I really like this one, and my husband has noticed it, and he doesn't necessarily notice everything in the garden. I do agree that most climbers aren't worth the garden space in colder areas of New England, but this one is a gem.

What direction does that back door face? If it is on the south facing wall it should be doable. I don't have a garage so I keep all my potted roses outside all winter. I place them along my south facing wall (warmest exposure, most sun and some wind protection). I pack them with leaves and wrap them in burlap. So far I've had very good success with this. Even in the two polar winters most of them came through fine.