In late October,  I cut off any existing roses and put them in a vase. Then I cut the roses bushes down to 16 inches high in order to fit them under the 18 inch high Styrofoam rose cones that I find at Hewitt's.  Next, I take all the leaves off my roses, leaving naked canes.  This puts them into dormancy.  I tie the canes together with twine to make them more A shaped so they will fit under the rose cones better. Before I put the cones on, I put down 1 Downy dryer sheet right next to the rose and place 1 moth ball and 1 package of mouse bait on top of the dryer sheet. This has helped to limit mouse and vole damage to the roses. I cover it all immediately with the Styrofoam rose cone and place 2 bricks on top of the cone so the cones don't blow away. (The rose cones should have two holes of about 3/4" on the top corners.  Don’t cover them. This is so heat can escape if we have a warm day.)   It is fun to peak into the little holes on top of the cones in the winter and see the green canes inside! The roses can be uncovered in late March or early April once the 10 day weather forecast show that nighttime temperatures will be above 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

 Note: I have previously covered the rose canes with about 10 inches of mulch, as shown in the pictures above. I have stopped doing this because I felt that the canes were too diseased in the spring because of the mulch leaning up against the canes.

The combination of initially planting the bud union (the grafted part) 6 inches below ground, and covering the roses with the Styrofoam rose cones gave me fresh green canes in the spring, without the work or expense of adding mulch in the fall.

I do put well-composted cow manure down each spring as mulch.

Revised 6/2022