JC is easily crown hardy here in northern Illinois. I have had one for 8 years now with no winter protection. Several others are 3 years old now. She is not cane hardy here and gets cut to the ground each spring. Mine are own root.

Hopefully some more knowledgeable rose growers will step in soon to answer your questions. I am in zone 5b in Michigan and planted a large potted Julia Child from a local garden center in spring 2015. I plant roses with the graft 2 - 4 inches below ground. Other than that I did not do any winter protection. She came through last winter fine, but I did have to prune her back to about a foot tall this spring. We did have consistent snow cover over the winter which is a good protection. She grew well and bloomed prolifically this year. A wonderful rose.

Thanks for the information! I actually don't know if mine is own root or grafted...it came potted and was pretty small, so I didn't look. (The website doesn't say either way, so I'm guessing grafted.) But it's good to know that they are making it through zone 5 winters elsewhere. I'll just handle her like my other roses, most of which die back at or close to the crown anyway. Thanks again!

I have JC in z4 & she survives the winter here with just burying the bud union extra deep, canes die back to ground level but come back nicely for me.

My JCs are own root, third year bushes, growing in zone 5/6 W. PA, with sporadic snow cover, which means snow cover cannot be relied upon to insulate against the winter.

The first year no winter protection was provided. They died to the ground, but came back respectably. At the end of their second year of growth, 2015 season, they were bigger than they were after their first year. Good sign.

Since they died back to the ground after their first winter, I decided to protect them last fall. A collar of heavy roofing paper filled with pine bark mulch was used. This past spring when the JCs were uncovered there was dieback until about 6 inches above the crown, unlike their total dieback their first winter.

This year's growth is about equal to their growth last year, their second year. Does this mean the winter protection provided last winter was unnecessary even though some above ground growth was saved? One would think so, but if they had not been protected this past winter, they could have been killed, or cut back so far that they regressed in growth. There are so many variables as to how successfully a rose will survive winter that it is very difficult to predict what the outcome will be. I've had severe winters with minimal dieback and mild ones with severe dieback. I think the periodic warm spells during winter cause more winter kill than one would think.

I intend to winterize the JCs again this winter. What have I got to loose? Any advantage a rose gets helps.

I would advise you to give your Julia Child maximum protection. What's the harm?

BTW If you have more than one Julia Child, are they then Julia Children?

I don't think you'll have any problems keep JC alive in zone 5 Here in zone 6 she is usually cane hardy nearly to the tips. Even in the two polar winters, the first of which was her first year here so basically a new rose, she did a wonderful job of staying alive and flourishing. She's a sturdy woman just like her namesake!

Thanks for the encouragement, Seil. Since I have two JCs I plan to leave the huskier one (there's always a more vigorous one), unprotected this winter, and protect the other. Perhaps being 3 yr. olds now, they are over their tender stage.

Opuntiamc, could you try leaves in your cylinder for winterizing instead of bark mulch? That's what I use when I want to winterize a rose (I winterize a few of them in my zone). I have a new Julia, plus two mature Julias. I plan to winterize the new one. Dead leaves work very well for me with zero dieback. We get little snow and rain, so I don't worry about the leaves packing down and rotting. Diane

Nanadoll,

I have a backyard rose garden. My home is smack dab in the middle of a business district in the heart of an old city, an asphalt and cement jungle. My home is the only one in my block, all the other properties are businesses, mostly mom and pop.

Trees are scarce. I have never had to rake leaves in my garden, ever! I would literally have to ask far flung friends to save leaves for me. Therefore, I winterize the roses that need it with pine bark mulch. Come springtime, the mulch is spread throughout the rose bed. It performs a double duty service.

People grow rose in the most unlikely and inhospitable places. My garden is proof of it. I have such intense heat, radiating from all the commercial buildings, cement and asphalt, walk through my garden at 1:00 PM on a summer day and you will think you are in Death Valley. Then, my winters are brutal going down to -10 F. and lower, routinely. I can remember a -24 F. in my lifetime.