Some years, my gardens reward me with blooms until Thanksgiving or even later. This just isn’t one of those years. It’s important to remember with our gardening hobby to listen to what our roses are telling us and care for them accordingly. Don’t watch the calendar. Each season and each gardening year is different. We have had three big freezes here in my Windsor, Connecticut gardens. One of them was 17 degrees! My roses have informed me that there will be no more blooms this season due to winter damage. What does that mean, and what will I do now?

Protect Roses from Winter Damage

Historically, here in Southern New England, we can get some pretty massive snow and ice events, and they can show up at any time. I have witnessed Novembers that had 75 degree temperatures and within a matter of days the temps plummeted to single digits. Surprise snowstorms on summer-tall roses (around here, often 8-12 feet) can result in some terrible carnage.

I have seen ice-shattered canes, majorly crushed rosebushes (sometimes down to the bud union) because of heavy, wet street snow: you get the picture. Lots of winter damage. I don’t want that to happen in my gardens, and so I have begun to cut my roses back on the early side because this year’s growing season has finished somewhat earlier than normal.

Fall Pruning

I am trying to prune back at least two beds a week. I pull on my gauntlet gloves, strap on my knee pads, put my Felco’s in their pruner holster and hook them onto my back pocket, and carry my long-handled loppers with me to the garden. My husband Bob is a famous sharpener, and so my pruners are sharp enough to shave with. Sharp tools make my life a lot easier.

There is nothing fancy at all about Fall cut-back. We are not pruning to stimulate growth; that will happen in the spring. I call Fall pruning “Gross Pruning.” It is just to protect the plant from the possible wicked, winter storms to come.

In my garden, I cut through the rose canes rather uniformly, about knee-high, or 18-24″. This applies to Hybrid Teas and Floribundas. Climbing roses should be tied to their supports so that their canes don’t whip around in the big gales to come. I like to trim off the ends of the canes on climbers, too. Mini and Miniflora roses should be cut back similarly to Hybrid Teas, proportionately. Shrubs, like Knock-Out Roses should be taken down by about a third so when the snow falls, it can fall between the canes and not crush the tops of the bushes. Same thing with David Austin Roses. Knocking back by a third will protect from big ice and snowfalls.

Adding Winter Protection

I will hold off on applying any winter protection until there is some good frost in the ground. Mounding up our roses too early with mulch, leaves, pine needles or anything else is an open invitation for a vole hotel. Those little critters can devastate our roses, so best to let them find other housing than our gardens before the ground freezes. And remember, we protect our roses when they are cold to keep them cold all winter! This will prevent bud-break if we have a mighty warm spell mid-winter.

I love my roses. I have found, over the years, that the more time and care I invest in them, they always pay me back with their beauty and fragrance at least a hundred-fold.

And so, when I’m cutting them back to protect them from the upcoming winter season, I talk to them the whole time. I thank them for their thousands of blooms over this past growing season and tell them to sleep tight. I let them know how much I will miss them, but that Spring will be here before we know it. Hopefully they won’t get too much winter damage.

Finally, I blow them kisses and go inside. My beautiful roses deserve this winter’s rest, and so do I.