Preparing Roses for Winter

Roses generally need a bit of help from us to stay healthy and beautiful year after year. Autumn is the time to clean up debris and insulate the crowns against winter cold. If your roses suffered fungus damage late in the season, be sure to collect the fallen leaves and discard them. Pruning should take place in the spring, but in the fall you can remove any dead or damaged canes. Cover the plant with a rose cone and mound mulch around the edges to stabilize it. (You may also wrap a rose collar around the base of the plant and fill it with mulch to cover and insulate the graft point.) Remove cones in the spring before new growth begins.