This is first attempt at growing roses. I am worried about how to winterize them. They have only been in the ground since May/June. They came as bare roots. They are still flowering here in OKC. I have read to create a mound from soil/mulch. I don’t understand if I need to cover them with something or not? Also, I don’t want to prune them bc they are still babies lol. They haven’t grown much yet in size, only flowered. I don’t remember all the names of the ones I bought. I know I got Julia Childs, Dick Clark, and something from downtown Abby. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I sure love them!

My roses are all babies as well (planted as bands last year). Whenever I see a cane too thin to stay upright on its own, I stick a tree branch into the ground to hold it up. I also do this when new canes are growing too close together -- in that case, a tree branch will guide growth so that there is more space between them. As the canes mature, often I simply remove the tree branch. I think this looks more natural than using tomato cages, or making a "fence" of stakes around the rose and holding everything together with string. This is 'Paul Neyron' which flopped over when the rain made the flowers too heavy. If you look VERY CLOSELY, you'll see two tree branches holding it up -- one on the left edge just below the lower-left flower, and another on the right edge behind the two sets of bright-green new leaflets. This rose is 'Souvenir de Victor Landeau' whose canes naturally arch to horizontal under their own weight, and I took advantage of this rather than try to keep them upright. I used tree branches to hold them in place (to space them out and keep them from blowing around in the wind), and in a few cases to keep them off the ground. This is the left-third of the rose: And this is the right-third: This looks extreme, but I'm actually NOT holding the rose down with the tree branch -- I'm propping it UP. 'Yolande d'Aragon' grew a long, thick cane going straight-up last year, but it leafed out only at the top this year. After a few rains, it flopped down onto the ground, and was whipping around in the wind. Rather than try to keep it straight, I did this: As a result, it started sprouting new growth further down along the cane, and soon won't look so extreme. And there are a couple of new shoots at the base which will fill out more empty space as they grow. That pic was from a few weeks ago. 'Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseaux' is an old mossy Damask, which naturally grows long, arching canes, eventually forming a V-shaped shrub. Mine being a baby, there's just one of these long canes now, and it, too, was a bit top-heavy. So I stuck a branch to keep it from arching too far and falling onto the ground. Now it's stiff-enough on its own, and actually straightened out just enough that it doesn't even touch that tree branch anymore. But sometimes I just let the roses lie on the ground when the canes are just too thin to hold up even with branches. I know that these baby-canes are feeding the plant, and soon thicker shoots will emerge and stand up on their own. This is 'Honorine de Brabant' blooming on its long, flopped-down cane. :-) ~Christopher

Wow, I wonder if it will do that again. Probably not consistently tho. I have a rose called MEILLAND DECOR ARLEQUIN that often has stripey and even speckled blooms in the very first flush of the season, but not afterwards. Must have something to do with the cooler temps.

sorry