Most all of the mail-order places have own root roses for fall shipping including Chamblees and Northland Rosarium. Most don't recommend planting in the fall in our colder zones though since it's iffy that they'll survive over winter.

Sharon

Isn't it better to plant just before spring so that the winter danger is gone?

Where you buy roses in the fall is your local nursery's sale section.

Palatine roses will ship in the fall, they grow some big healthy bareroot plants.

I strongly suggest you defer any planting of pot grown stock until spring. Bare root roses are planted in spring too, in zone 6b, not the fall. Had you acquired your pot grown roses up to early August, then, with good care, they could have been planted then. They would have had enough time to adjust, acclimate before winter.

Now, if you have a sheltered location to overwinter potted roses, purchasing them now would be acceptable, but not planting them now. About mid November they would have to be kept in that sheltered spot until planting time come spring.

An unheated garage, shed, cold greenhouse/cold frame, or fruit cellar would work. The over winter temps should range between 25 to 40 degrees F., no lower or higher.

Bear in mind that late season bargain sales of potted rose stock at your local nurseries at this time of year are often poor choices. Neglected, picked over stock is no bargain in the long run.

Moses

I planted 4 last week from Antique Rose Emporium. I got some advice from a couple people, and I'm going to follow this http://theminnesotarosegardener.blogspot.com/2016/08/five-important-steps-to-winter.html?m=1 They are pretty big plants, and I wont know if it can work, until I try. I am really thinking I messed up, and HOPING for a warm fall. lol

No, I don't recommend it now.

I'm with Kate and Moses, not in our zone. It can be warm, then snap cold, It can be cold, then warm. Snowy or dry and windy (which is very bad). Order bareroot plants now with delivery and planting in late March/early April. I would stay away from potted own roots until next April/May.

You can amend your soil now, put down some compost/composted manure and let the beds settle in for next year.

Mati,

Diane above, is 100% right. Spare yourself disappointments!

I can understand your desire to get your roses now, but try to hold off until spring. Order bare roots now for planting in spring, since already some bare root nurseries are running low or sold out of some varieties.

Nurseries supply roses to the whole country. Folks from CA, TX, FL, etc., plant in the winter, and they are rose shopping now. They have first flushes in late winter, when we still have snow! You have to put your orders for bare root roses in now, before they're sold out. They ship in spring at the right time, for you. Own root potted roses, not so hard to get later on in spring, both locally and by mail.

Now that you got some roses from ARE, a great nursery, even if they are listed as hardier than zone 6b, winterize them come mid-November to give them every advantage to survive.

The article whose link you provided is well written, lots of good advice in it.

On item 3. in the article, using soil for mulching mounds, I don't recommend it. Watering the mulch regularly over winter will most likely either outright kill the rose bush through wet rot, or kill enough canes that the bush, if it survives at all, will be a shadow of what it is now. It will spend all next summer just getting back to the size it is now!

Soil is too dense and water retentive to be used as a winterizing mulch where it freezes and thaws all winter as it does in your zone 6b. Your soil does not freeze to 2'_deep, or stay frozen and snow covered all winter, like it does farther north.

Actually, roses have a tougher winter surviving in zone 6b, than in a zone 4b that freezes solid, and has snow cover all winter!

I recommend medium to fine (olive to domino piece sized), pine bark mulch/nuggets (whatever your source calls such sized pine bark mulch).

You really shouldn't water it at all over winter. You want to prevent rot. The pine bark will keep things moist enough and dry enough, just right.

Place a collar, 12" high, 12-16" diameter, around each winterized bush, then fill it up with the mulch. I make collars from heavy roofing tar paper...cheap and reusable for a few years. Otherwise your mound will flatten over winter, and by February, the 'Grim Reaper', month in zone 6b, your mound will be ineffective.

The article was correct about winter freeze damage. It's the repeated freezing and thawing that kills the rose.

Ice/snow can be no colder than 32 degrees F. It acts as an insulator!

What you're trying to do by winterizing is not prevent freezing, but keep the rose as evenly cold as possible without the damaging effects of swings of temps. Also, a collar full of mulch prevents dessication, and frigid wind burn of canes.

In time you will learn which roses need winter protection, and which ones are tip hardy without any protection over winter at all. Usually, hybrid teas are the most winter intolerant roses. Fragrant roses also seem to be more winter tender.

Moses

Moses that's what the guy told me, that wrote the stuff in the link. He said use mulch in my zone. Would a pot like the one they came in, with the bottom cut out be ok to hold it?

Abe Darby, lady of shallot, edith shurr, and julia, is what I planted. I planted them about two inches deeper than pot.

witchygirl- I over winter roses in pots sunk in the ground every year since I seem to always buy more than I have time to plant. Mine are own root so they don't need to be buried deep. I don't even mulch and have not lost a rose yet with this method. I don't cut the bottom of the pot out since there is plenty of room for these tiny roses' roots. But none of my roses are as young as these. Most were purchased in May or June so the root stems are developed some. I don't have anywhere the experience of Moses or others at growing roses though but this is my experience. I tried overwintering last year covered in mulch/leaves but not planted and voles got to most of them.

As for own root potted- some of the mail order places are taking orders already for spring shipping. Heirloom is and I believe Northland and RU are or will be shortly.

It's also recommended to apply weekly applications of high potash (0-0-50) from now until frost to help with winterizing roses. The author of the great article you linked to discusses this in another post.

Sharon

Sharon they are in the ground. (2gal own root) I was thinking of using a open bottom pot to hold the mulch around them at the right time. I am doing the potash thing too, with all my roses, but I used maybe a 1/4 teaspoon per bush mixed with water on the new ones. It was sulfate of potash powder. I wasn't sure how much, and I didn't want to hurt them.

Whether or not you want to cover them with moisture retaining mulch is very regionally dependent. Here, that is the best way I know to kill a rose. Winters are too wet and too unstable for it to work. I have no idea about how reasonable it is where you are. You need to find *local* sources of information - within a few hundred miles.

I'm in the woods lol

I am in 6a (NY), I planted more than 12 potted bargain roses last year from a local nursery, 3gal for $9.99, I took pretty much all their left over climbers. :-) I mulched them (just covered the grafted parts), they are doing good. Now I am thinking about digging them up and moving them to the countryside. I am waiting for the weather to cool down, and the raining days in the fall.

I explained to my husband about what I needed to do. He told me he could saw some buckets in half, and cut the bottom out. So one bucket could make 2 collars, and should be really sturdy. Would it prevent critters, if we topped them with mesh, and made sure they were tight against the ground? I'm thinking this would be easy to lift and check to make sure it wasn't too wet also. Would that be ok ? I'm going to go ahead and get the pine bark, so I'm not trying to track it down in a hurry. *edit to add this - Would it be helpful or harmful to drill some holes around the bottom, to let any melting snow/rain escape quickly, or would that let too much air in? Maybe like 1/4 inch holes?

Girl, just throw some mulch around the base of them, make it easy :). As Mad G said, if you have freeze thaw cycles, soaked mulch packed into a collar will give you problems. If you are really worried, I know Nippstress surrounds some of hers with bags of leaves to make a wind break wall. Hay bales could be used too. Keeping the mulch slightly off the base/ crown will reduce the risk of critter damage too I think. Good luck with whatever you decide!

You're hearing from a lot of folks about preferred winter protection methods for those of you who've planted roses in the fall and want to give them their best shot. In answer to the OP, I agree not to choose fall planting unless you're experienced enough to know what works for your zone and like a bit of a gamble. Spring is much safer and gives roses maximum time to establish before winter.

For winter protection, one of the key factors is to wait until the ground is FROZEN to do the protection. That way the critters have already chosen their hiding holes and are not likely to choose your rose as the all-you-can eat bed and breakfast for the winter. They can chew through the side of an astonishing number of materials or burrow a little under the soil to get through barriers if they're still active, so don't count on keeping them out mechanically if you protect before the ground is frozen.

My tip for winter protection is when the highs hover around 20 for a stretch of time. Nights below freezing with days above freezing can still be active bloom times for some roses, so I don't find they go dormant enough to protect until December or so. As Dingo says, I've moved from creating individual collars to fill with mulch - you can use empty leaf bags and pine needles or OAK leaves (that do not mush up in moisture like other leaves) to protect particularly fussy roses. I found that was way too much work however, and I get as much benefit from just providing a wind break next to the roses. You want to leave the tops open for air circulation to prevent mildew and mold wrecking the roses, coincidentally one of many problems with the "rose cones" that get sold these days. Snow is your friend and ice isn't a particular problem except for breaking canes if it gets too heavy.

You can also do nothing and learn about rose protection in your zone. The two David Austins are pretty reliably hardy in your zones and should be fine. Julia is more of a traditional HT and mine likes zone 6 temperatures but wouldn't be hardy much below that. Edith Schurr in my experience is the least hardy of the bunch and she's died once or twice on me in zone 5. So the latter two would appreciate the protection the most. If you're in WV as I guess from your user name, you do have to watch moisture problems being on the east coast. In your case, you might choose a little less dramatic protection than I might in a dryer climate. Definitely leave room for air circulation.

Don't worry or second guess yourself if some or all of them don't make it. Life is about a learning process and you'll be able to share "I told you so" stories with us if you do something unconventional and it works for you. Every yard and rose is different.

Cynthia

One of those myths that seems to never die is that ice or snow can not be colder than 32 degrees. Ice and snow are not magic materials, on the surface of the earth their temperature is 32 or colder, .

Water changing to ice will maintain a constant temp of 32, in warmer climates, this phenomena may be used to protect tender plants. It involves having a constant source of water applied throughout the below freezing temperature period.

Thick snow is a good thermal insulator.