The old method of protecting climbers was to take them off their trellis and lay the canes on the ground and cover with dirt and mulch. I wonder how old that statement was and if the person ever tried to take New Dawn or Alchemist off a trellis!!! I've been able to do it with some yearling climbers that I didn't get tied very good and if they had flexible canes. I have put up wind barriers behind the roses on the direction of most prevalent winds, in my case west/northwest. I used white polypropylene(?) livestock feed sacks stapled to the structure. The white is to reflect sun rather than using black ground cover cloth which would attract heat and might cause the roses to prematurely come out of dormancy. I also put wire mesh guards around the base of the rose, not tight around, with room to fill at least a foot high or more with dead yard leaves. It's never a guarantee and I still get die back on the tops.

Cynthia is right. Over time nature will win. I would try High Country Roses or Northland Rosariam and get the z3 or so. Barely staying alive will not make for attractive plants. I lived in z 3 for 33 years is how I know.

You could grow climbers in pots, and store them in the garage during the winter months. Carol in zone 3 does container roses.

Many of my old gardening books suggest building a trellis with a hinged bottom that can be lowered to the ground for the winter and then covered with oak leaves and pine boughs. Of course if one has large bushes in front this isn't possible, but would work with deciduous perennials. I always thought that it was a very clever solution for those roses with limber canes. So far my climbers are hardy to the tip here, but when I plant my pergola, I intend to use this method for those hardy only to zone 6 as they may not climb otherwise.

Sam in Z4NY does lower and then cover his Viking Queen with oak leaves every year and seems to experience no die back as his plant is huge. I guess it's some work and just depends how many climbers one has.

As others have said, the Canadian roses are your best bet, but I've been impressed with Dortmund, if a single petaled red rose appeals to you. It does have a charming white center and the bush is graceful. Rated to zone 4. So far, it's only draping itself across a picket fence, but it's my climbingest rose other than the Canadians. It's said to only have occasional repeat, but I find mine blooms more than that. It has gotten through 3 winters with no cane die back. I'm not crazy about red roses, but this one has won my heart.

Another one I almost forgot about is Jeanne LaJoie, a sweet little climbing miniature to around 8', give or take. The perfect little buds start out like tiny high centered hybrid tea blooms, then relax into tiny pink puffs. Jeanne is rated to zone 4 and has been cane hardy for me, and I never winter protect.

Sue,

You will save yourself a lot of headaches, money, and wasted time if you only grow climbers that are tip hardy in zone 4. Cynthia is the Roses Forum's top counselor on all things concerning growing roses in cold climates. Do what she recommends....you can take what she says to the bank! Her wisdom has enlightened me time and time again.

Moses

Do you have a local rose club? They'd help you with growing roses in zone 4.

Sue....you said you want an easy way to overwinter climbers in your zone. There isn't an easy way...unless you grow them in large pots and overwinter them in the garage or unless you grow hardy roses. It doesn't sound like you bought hardy climbers though. And you've probably planted them in the ground by now.

Are you growing them against a house or in the open along a trellis? My advice would be different for each way. :)

Carol

Heavens Moses, I appreciate the complements and confidence but I'd hate to have anyone assume whatever I say about roses is necessarily true or going to apply everywhere else. First of all, I still screw up regularly and sometimes spectacularly, and it can take me an embarrassingly long time to figure out why. For instance, I've discovered that what I've treated for many years as my zone 6 pocket on the south side of my house drops off in zones pretty dramatically after the edge of the house, and a lot of the roses I've claimed for years aren't hardy in my yard may actually be just fine if I planted them a foot or two to the west.

Also, everyone that has chimed in on this thread and other similar threads has different input that is all both useful and true, even on occasions that we present opposite viewpoints. We reflect our own growing conditions, care and priorities, and it's in the variety and mix of all of the above that we're hoping to be useful to rose growers around the world. I simply can't overwinter New Dawn in several tries, but other zone 5 gardeners with New Dawn with the size and temperament of Tyrannosaurus Rex are astonished, and correct that it should grow fine in our zone. I don't use landscape fabric and counsel others on the tremendous headaches it can cause, but I've seen lovely postings of people with roses surrounded by landscape fabric and stone mulch that works fantastically for them.

I think Carol has captured the essence of the question from Sue - she already has these roses, probably from local sources, and she's hoping to keep them alive since she's been justifiably frustrated in the past. By all means winter protection is an option and we all have our favorite methods that we have suggested. A better idea of your location and way of growing the roses will help us give you more specific suggestions for saving these climbers. You can pick whichever sounds like the least work to you, we're just reminding you not to get too frustrated if those methods don't work for the particular roses you have. Most garden stores sell what's well known rather than what's hardy or otherwise good for our zones, so that's why we're also giving you advice for the future about how to be less frustrated next year if your protection methods don't work for these roses.

Of course if they do work, we welcome having you log in and tell all of us "experts" that our advice doesn't apply to you and you have a better strategy. We are happy to be wrong if it means that you're successful in growing roses the way you'd like to do.

Cynthia

One problem with z3 in Alaska is we never heated up and Heat index was 0. The Canadians even struggled. The mid country Canada has much hotter Summers than the Anchorage area.