Mulch will probably keep you weeds down better than a groundcover. But a thick groundcover that would be low and spread easily around your roses is creeping phlox. It'll spread really well in full sun, which is probably what your roses are in anyway. If you have 3 year old mulch out there, it's probably too thin of a layer by now to block out the weeds. The idea of mulch is to cover the ground so weed seeds can't make soil contact and germinate. However, if you're fighting perennial weeds that germinated in past years, mulch won't get rid of them. Many perennial weeds have the type of roots that when pulled, any bit of root left in the soil will grow right back. So pulling them is a losing battle. I've used Bayer All in One Weed Killer For Lawns to spot spray in my gardens with a hand held trigger spray bottle. As long as you don't do it on a windy day, you'll probably be fine. It kills most broadleaf and grassy weeds. What I'd do is spray the weeds with that, and then the next day cover them all up with cardboard, or mulch or something. Then as new weeds pop up through the mulch, spot spray them right away, before they can go to seed or spread by runners. It will probably take all season to get the weeds under control, but next year will be better as long as you cover up the soil that the weed seeds are freely germinating in. Deanna

Zone 5: your already two/three weeks behind... Your get out of jail free card reads like this: Stop all ferts just like York and Seil had said get a nice layer of alfala hay two - three inches deep at the base of all of your roses add to that layer as many of them fallen leaves as you can get walk around ontop of em for a couple minutes to hold em down as leaves fall add em on and walk on it again for but do this with fluffy not stuffy and about 6 inches high as a goal the rain helps hold em down so add more on as needed then wrap em in a burlap as an option yes but a better idea as well ty seil. I don't think it's a matter of how much work you wanna do or not the less you do now is the more you'll have to do next yr and right now you need to do alot don't get lazy ok it will only pay off later. Listen to York and seil they know this wintering info as well as I do, trust us you don't wanna skip this step. Hi York: Matt may of had alot of extra rain this past season just like you and I did perhaps even more his zone 5 says this... I'm sure he'll follow up and add his state. I think it's best we wait til later to help him on that rust problem.. agree ? Pest probelms: I am 100 % organic matt think it over during the winter and make up your mind on that I say this as I will step on toes when other methods are used Pre spring prep: this will make sence in spring but final steps are theres going to be some left over hay with a five gallon bucket and lid fill the bucket to half full with hay and let the rain fill it to 2/3 full then snap close the lid any remaining hay can be stored in a cool dry area garage, shed, basement, ect the base of it is going to stain the flooring or any surface you are not going to be able to clean this stain so a 1/2 inch piece of plywood will prevent this stain leaves : find an area in the corner of your yard to place any left over fallen leaves this area is going to stain too think of it as a composting area it will need to be big enough to hold these leaves build em up has high as you can Example my leaf storage area is 40 feet by 30 feet by 10 feet high late fall it shrinks to 0x0x0 by the end of spring and I end up hunting for more during summer AKA composting enjoy the work Matt it's well worth it

Hi lizi !! That's great you inherited some roses with your home. Can you tell us where you are located so we can give you good advice ? When I have had those yellow leaves they usually just fall off and I don't worry too much about them . If you are in a cold zone you don't want to prune til after winter . And it looks like a climber, so you really don't need to do much pruning on those as some bloom in old and new wood. But if you have photos of the flowers we can do our best to id them . Hope we can help you more and get to see more ! Happy gardening!!

Update - It's alive and finally putting out new shoots! I have a feeling I'm going to have to be really patient with this one.... Here's a comparison to my Queen of Sweden, purchased at the same time and planted 1 day apart....what a difference... Thank you everyone for your help!