It depends a lot on what types of roses you want to grow. Are you looking for modern roses like hybrid teas, floridundas and such? Are you interested in old Garden roses? Are once bloomers OK? You mention two DA roses. Are you looking for more of those? Or would you like a mix of all of them!?

I grow Austins and Hybrid Teas. Queen Elizabeth and Perfume Delight are two of the hardiest Hybrid Teas that I grow. Hybrid Teas are vulnerable during the vortex winters.

Some Austins are more compact than others. Olivia Rose Austin is hardy here. On my Profile page under Ideabooks I have a list of the roses that I grow... I collect fragrant roses; Queen Elizabeth is one of the few that I have with light fragrance.

I don't spray and the roses defoliate from blackspot. Olivia Rose Austin does not get as much blackspot as some of the other Austins.

I don't grow roses in pots, my experience is only with roses in the ground...

Have you looked at any of the the Buck Griffith roses? They were bred for the colder climates and they are very beautiful. Some also have a great scent too.

Many of the Canadian roses are big fellas, but there are also garden size plants, such as Morden Blush, Morden Sunrise and Campfire and there are others. Some Canadian roses are rated to zone 3. I never have any cane loss on these.

Are you planning on overwintering these pots outdoors or will you havew someplace protected to keep them during the cold?

Most potted roses will need to be seriously protected to live through a zone 5 winter. About the best way to protect them is to move them into an insulated but unheated garage. So you'll need to be sure you have the space and the pots are movable.

The Griffith Buck roses and Canadian Explorer roses are a good selection but not all of them are hardy to zone 5. So you'll need to research which ones would be best. I really think you need to contact someone local for more specific advise I'm sure there are some good rose societies in NY, And there are some fabulous rose gardens that may also be able to help you.

Grace -there's a thread that just resurfaced that Seil started about a sustainable garden in cold zones. There are a lot of terrific suggestions in there as well as pictures. My summary of the hardiest roses for zone 5 would be - once bloomers, Canadians, Lim (Easy Elegance), Kordes, and Buck. Most of those are not fragrant, so it's often a decision between hardiness/frequent bloom and fragrance. In my zone a lot of Austins do well and they're often fragrant. The most fragrant Austin is Sharifa Asma in my admittedly poor fragrance detecting opinion.

Cynthia