Hmm. I'm not one to comment for your zone, but perhaps Joey will pipe in with hers in Z4. I think she says Queen Nefertiti does well, although I'm not sure how many have lived through a winter. Glad to see you posting, Kelly!

Queen Nefertiti does fine for me in -30F with no snow cover and on the worst side of the house in the wind. So do Iceberg, Blaze (climber) and Mandarin Sunblaze (mini). Double Pink Knockout always has had the ice sliding off the roof landing on top of it, so it would spend winter encased in a block of ice chunks, but it also has done well for me. I dumped a bucket of leaves on top of each of first year Champlain, Sexy Rexy, Apricot Twist, Ebb Tide, and Champagne Arches, and they all did fine and bloomed beautifully the next spring. I should say that all except the Iceberg and the Blaze are own root, and the Ebb Tide was under a tree so a bit more sheltered. I added several more this last fall, so will see in spring how they did.

Also had a 12foot x 10 foot x 6foot high Harison's Yellow that was planted sometime in the '70s and just kept growing. I never saw any winter kill on it anywhere.

Good call, joey. Matt at HCR had a huge one growing outside the old greenhouse. It was magnificent.

Matt gets his stock of Harison from his sister's nursery in Jensen, Utah, out in the desert. It isn't a particularly civilized rose, maybe, but there is something spectacular about driving through the desert in spring and seeing the abandoned old homestead log cabins with clusters of magnificent bright yellow roses growing up the side of the cabins and through the old fence rails.

Thanks for that info. I just asked him about it yesterday! Your ears must have been ringing! : ))

Thank you. Yes, there is actually one Austin that does really well for me here. I also got that one from Matt at HCR. I wonder if that is the queen as well. May be. Many of the Kordes have potential but only have been in the ground 2-3 seasons. The last few winters have been brutal here so we will see how they fair this year. I also am trying a new climber cherry frost with little tiny red blooms but it is in a really bad spot. Might have to move it to give it a fair shot.

Yes. Please do report back on CF as I've been reading about that one. How is your Nahema doing? I finally got mine planted in the ground last summer and it seems to be doing well. : ))

I would order from High Country Roses. They have lots of roses that would work for you, Kelly. Many grew for me in Alaska.

Does Champagne Arches re bloom? How large does it get for you?

Kelly I know you are colder than me, but I think you have more snow cover. Party Hardy, Above and Beyond, Laguna, Miracle on the Hudson, Summer Memories, Pompanella, Fairy Tail, Thomas Affleck, Sister Emanuelle, Purple Rain, DeeLish, Polar Eis, Blanc Double, Zaide, Tchaikovsky, Sven, White Gold, Savannah, Scepter’d, Scarborough Fair, Rose de Rescht, Olivia Rose Austin, Music Box, Fire Opal Kolorscape, Dakota Sun, Dakota Song, Chuckles, St. Cecelia, St. Swithun, Mother of Pearl, The Fairy, Belinda’s Blush, Belinda’s Dream. These all actually grow for me :) and get some size, and I’ve had these all for several winters. I figure if they made it through last year they are pretty tough. Across the board these are all pretty healthy, I don’t do any spraying. I put Cherry Frost out last year, will see how it does. Kind of a mild winter so far, which I’m glad for, I was planting way to late last fall.

Champagne Arches only had slight rebloom for me, but it had a rough summer transplant. Even if it doesn't repeat much next year I will still like it, because it has lovely almost feathery foliage that looks pretty growing along the fence. How are climbing roses measured? By length of the canes from the root base, or across the span of all the canes? It was planted in fall '18 as a quart band, and in '19 grew canes each about 3 feet long from the base. They fanned out in an arching shape to take up about 5 feet of fence. Sorry for all the extra details, I'm not sure exactly how to explain it.

Thanks Joey! Sounds like it might really climb once it gets going,

Hi Kelly,

I'm not sure how much work you want to put in, but if you want to grow roses that aren't suited for our zone, try construction, concrete curing blankets. I learned this from George. I will have to look up his web name. He is extremely knowledgeable. He was growing Austins as climbers up his house in Mpls. In addition, he grew antiques and others. Some were rated zone 6.

If you aren't interested in the extra work, I recommend all rugosas, which I'm sure you already know. Sven, for me, has been happy with extra snow cover from plowing. St. Swithin is a must try. My Girl did great. I had Champlain at my old house. I didn't do anything for that rose, and it was happy.

MNkittyz4, how did George recommend using the curing blankets? Wrapping the roses, draping them over the top, or lying around the base of the plant? I would think that draping would break the canes particularly once you add snow cover, and wrapping would also require some pretty substantial canes to withstand winter winds toppling the whole tied up rose over.

Cynthia

I wonder if this is what the Montreal Botanical garden does with some of their roses. They are famous for growing more tender roses overwintering them under covers of some sort. Of course, there's snow on the ground all winter so that helps.

nippstress, You bend the roses over and hold them down with something. I've used large rocks or landscape blocks. Then, cover the roses with the construction blanket. When George first told me this I was surprised that the canes wouldn't all break, but he said he trained them every year since they were young. This is, I believe, my third winter using the blankets. I will take pictures this spring to show what it looks like. There are people in northern MN who cut their roses down before they cover them. I like George's idea of getting them to grow as tall as possible. I can't say I haven't broken a cane or two, but that's usually due to my rushing around in the cold.

Vaporvac, I looked up what the Montreal Botanical garden does, but I'm thinking what I saw might be old news.

Julie

I'll see if I can find the article. Can't wait to see your pictures. : )