Most teas can go as cold as z7 and some to 6b. Even though I'm z7 my micro climate is significantly colder and I haven't been able to keep the teas alive through the winter. Some will come back in the first warm up, but either die in the the refreezes or get so sapped of energy they don't recover and spontaneously die in later in the spring. I am rural and I may also have a wind factor.

Something Kim said many years ago that was a giant lightbulb going off in my mind - teas evolved for drought dormancy, not cold dormancy. I see it with HTs, not true teas, but the principle is the same. The stupid things do NOT want to enter dormancy in a wet fall/winter. So instead of behaving like a nice intelligent plant that says 'Wow, it's getting cold, and the days are getting shorter. Winter must be coming. I must prepare.' Tea think 'OOH, the rainy season is coming. I must grow.'

This is why God invented garages. It doesn't rain in there.

Actually, most sources state the hardiness limits for most hybrid teas as z5 with a few cultivars of lesser hardiness. Regardless, this may help: "Regardless of a hybrid tea rose's hardiness, roses require winter-weather protection in any USDA zone where the temperature can dip as low as 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The protection is not added exclusively to safeguard against cold but also against freeze-thaw cycles as temperatures fluctuate during the winter months. The first step in providing roses protection is to cut back their canes to 24 inches. If left longer, the roses will be susceptible to wind damage. Add an 8- to 12-inch layer of compost, peat moss or soil, topped with hay, straw or evergreen boughs, around the base of each rose plant. The layers can be removed in early spring after the first signs of new growth appear on the roses."

Teas, not Hybrid Teas. I've removed most of them and replaced them with floribundas and shrub type roses. Even threw in a few Buck roses just to make sure something would be guaranteed to be winter hardy!

Subk3, your climate sounds like mine--z 7, formerly z6 just a few years ago. We are out in the desert hills with plenty of wind. I use compost or compost/manure around my roses in late fall. The more cold sensitive ones may get leaves mounded up around them on top of the compost. They are contained (sort of) by a ring of tall bamboo stakes. So your program sounds good to me. I, too, don't trust teas to be hardy here, but hybrid teas do pretty well, though I only grow a few oddballs. Diane

Here's what I do, and you can glean out of it what you find relevant.

I grow mostly hybrid teas, floribundas, grandifloras, minifloras, and minis. Except for the newer Kordes ADR roses and my minis, which are just about tip hardy without any protection, all the others would essentially die to the ground over winter without protection. In a matter of going through two consecutive winters without protection they would be dead.

Around Thanksgiving, when the roses have had about a month of off and on freezes, I place a large shovelful of uncomposted pigeon manure (just about the same as chicken manure....very strong and concentrated), around each large rose. Less manure is used, according to bush size, down to about a quart of manure per mini. I scratch this into the soil lightly which already has a nice layer of older mulch on it. The mulch is just fluffed up so the manure is worked through and below it.

The mulch breaks down from Thanksgiving on, all winter. The roses make few to no false, warm spell starts during winter. When they do, the false starts are at the cane tips which will be pruned away anyway, come spring pruning in early April.

My roses grow like gang busters. Come July and on, after the benefits of the manure fertilization have waned, I apply biweekly liquid feedings of bloom booster type fertilizer until the end of September.

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I believe applying fresh manure LATE enough, after a full month of freezes, will turn out with excellent results, and do nothing but good.

Moses

I actually just spread compost on mine. I made it over winter /spring this year and wanted to empty my bin for this winter batch. I know we aren't near a hard freeze for a while but I had to get chores done as I could.

We also have those cold bitter winds with no windbreak so all my teas are gone too. Just wasn't worth it and they never took off.

I had meant to ask you , did you order Phyllis bide? I thought I remembered you mentioned it . I was curious how disease resistant it had been so far . It's a rose I wanted but wasn't sure it was good for not spraying . Thanks !

Gardengal I don't know where you found that reference, I'm sure it's a good source, but I believe it's no longer recommended to prune in the fall, everyone waits till spring now.

Well, I don't know who "everyone" is :-)) That excerpt came from a well-known rose source, but a west coast one. Hard pruning in fall may not be appropriate in a cold winter climate but it IS prudent to trim back any long canes that can get buffeted around by winter winds as that can cause lot of damage. And pruning back in warmer winter climates helps to initiate dormancy, which can be excessively delayed. So no, not "everyone" waits until spring :-)

Besides, the reference was intended to speak to the benefit of composting or muching in fall, which is appropriate regardless of climate. Although I would never mulch as deeply as they suggested but only because I have no need to.

Gardengal,

If you are pruning roses down to 24" in the fall, are you doing a second pruning in the spring? How short do you go?

I prune at both times of year but not necessarily the same rose :-) Generally, I will reduce the size of the rose by at least a third in fall to prevent winter wind damage and to encourage dormancy. Depending on the rose, I may or may not prune harder in spring.

Keep in mind that I live in a pretty mild climate and roses can get huge here.

Yeah "everyone" in cold zones waits, or at least those that post on GW. Don't know about you lucky warm weather folks!

I do the same Samuel. The leaves are nicely broken down come spring. I use the compost then. However, I need a lot of compost and feel the need to parse my homemade stuff, so I don't think there's anything wrong with using it in the Fall.

A local rosarian did a quick blurb on the morning news. Her suggestion was to place newspaper and water it well and cover with leaves .

I used pine needles last year but I think I will try the newspaper /leafs this year. I am more Concerned with protecting my pots . I am confident in zone 8 that everything in the ground will be fine but not as sure about my pots.

Antique Tea roses don't wanting pruning anytime really. I had trouble getting found Tea rose "Jessie Hildreth" through the Spring freeze thaw cycle here, subk3. I think the wet Spring canker is a risk with mulch compost or manure near the canes adding to the risk. I planted Teas 8/31/17 and agree I didn't want to stimulate them in the Fall so I planted without additives except phosphate underneath. I'm hoping they are growing roots and settling in to take off in the Spring. I think they'll be really happy to be out of pots. I think I will put on manure and organic rose tone fertilizer around each rose during the winter, so the rains can wash it in, but keep it well out from the canes so as not to cause canker. I'm not mounding anything on the canes.