Rose winter shelter. How to protect a rose bush from frost: preparing flowers for winter. Specifics of shelter for climbing roses
A beautiful rose is a whimsical and delicate flower. So that the perennial rose bush pleases with abundant and lush flowering, you need to properly prepare and insulate it in the fall. An uncovered rose will certainly freeze and die in winter. The same thing can happen with a carelessly covered bush. Take care of your beauty and properly insulate her for the winter.
Not all seedlings are equally winter-hardy
Before we talk about ways to insulate a rose bush for the winter, let’s find out some important nuances purchasing plants. Never buy rootstock from unfamiliar sellers! According to him appearance it is not possible to determine whether this variety is cold-resistant. You should buy seedlings only from trusted suppliers and on recommendation.
When deciding to purchase rose bushes, it is useful to think about the following points:
- varieties of roses Some people tolerate winter more easily, while others hardly tolerate it. This data must be included in the description in the catalog. The most resistant to cold are park roses; they need not be covered at all, and the most demanding of warmth are hybrid teas.
- rose bushes are low- and tall-growing, upright and climbing. Some of them are easier to cover, others are heavier, and others are very energy-consuming. Consider your capabilities;
- planting density. Plants sitting side by side survive better in winter and are easier to cover than individual bushes planted here and there. What’s faster – to build one large, high-quality shelter or several small ones?
Preparing roses for shelter before winter
Before wrapping up your rose bushes, be sure to take some important steps to help them get through the winter relatively comfortably.
| Event | Target | How to do |
| Don't cut flowers in autumn | Preventing the emergence of new shoots | |
| Stop feeding | Stopping plant growth | |
| Remove leaves from stems | Disease Prevention | In October, starting from the ground, you need to clear the branches of old leaves. The direction of movement is from top to bottom. Do not throw away the leaves, but burn them. At the same time, you need to rake out all the old leaves and dry grass from under the bush. |
| Spraying with fungicides | Prevention fungal disease– infectious burn | At the end of winter, dangerous colonies of fungi can develop on covered stems. For prevention, before covering, you need to spray the bushes with copper or iron sulfate |
| Hilling up the root trunk with clean sand | Additional protection from cold weather | Sprinkle sand generously on the ground so that it rises in a heap of several centimeters, covering the stems. Attention: you cannot use peat, soil or sawdust for these purposes! They freeze in winter and then become impenetrable to sunlight. In spring, the above-ground part will quickly warm up, while the roots “under the shield” will remain in the cold for a long time. As a result, the plant, deprived of nutrition, dies |
Ways to cover roses for the winter
Below are different ways preserving delicate pink shoots. There are different options for different gardeners. Begin covering work in middle lane needed after mid-October, before the first frost.
Air dry
The most practical, but also the most material-intensive. A canopy is built over the bushes from shields or boards; the main requirement for it is to withstand the pressure of snow masses. The edges of the canopy are placed on bricks or timber stumps. On top you need to throw insulating material - polyethylene or non-woven fabric. Along the edges, the covering material is pressed tightly to the ground with bricks. The height of the canopy should be calculated based on the height of the bush. Approximately: for tall climbing roses - up to 80 cm, for short roses - up to 50 cm. The branches can be bent, but so that they do not break.
Read also:
How to prepare roses for winter
Keep in mind that snow itself provides cover. Snowdrifts on top of the canopy will be beneficial, but you will have to throw snow on the sides yourself. In mid-March, it is advisable to rake the snow from above to prevent the plants from overheating. It can also be removed from the sides in order to slightly open the “shelter” for ventilating and hardening the bush.
Cover with spruce branches
Air-dry - the most reliable way save roses in the garden. But not all gardeners have the opportunity to build houses. For many, a cheaper and faster option is suitable - spruce branches. At the end of October, after carrying out the activities described in the table above, you need to stock up on spruce branches and first cover the ground under the bushes with them. The bushes themselves need to be prepared - cut off the leaves and petioles. Then bend the shoots and collect them into one bunch, if possible, or several bunches if they all grow in different directions. Wrap the bunches with twine, secure them to the ground with iron arches, and cover them generously with spruce branches. The structure must be covered with woven material. This method allows air to pass through the shelter, resulting in a reduced risk of infection by fungi and rot. The edges of the non-woven fabric are secured with a weight.
To prevent bent shoots from breaking off at the roots, a support is placed on the ground close to the stem on the bending side - a block, a ball or other bulky thing.
Frame made of arcs or chain-link
For folded climbing roses and for bushes that grow in a row, it is convenient to build a greenhouse from iron arches cut in half gymnastic hoops or a rectangle of chain-link mesh. First, the ground under the plants is cleared of old leaves and debris and covered with spruce branches. Climbing roses are bent down and fixed, but small upright roses are not touched. Next, on top of the bushes, at the same distance, arcs or a mesh are stuck into the ground, which is covered with film, and on top with non-woven fabric or roofing felt. The edges are securely fastened.
Rose is the queen of flowers on the site. It will decorate any flower bed, lawn, landscape corner, the main thing is to properly care for it so that the flowering is lush and the foliage does not lose color. Covering roses for the winter is an important part of care, because if this is not done, the bush may die during severe frosts. You can read how to cover roses for the winter in this article.
Not all roses need winter shelter. There are varieties that can withstand even very severe cold without problems. The winter hardiness of a variety is an indicator that will determine whether the rose needs to be covered for the winter. Roses resistant to low temperatures not very many, and yet they are there.
The issue of frost resistance of a variety should be clarified in rose gardens even when purchasing a seedling!
Which varieties are the leaders in terms of winter hardiness?
Most wild roses or rose species can withstand severe frosts. They grow wild in many countries and cities; you don’t have to worry about their shelter and protection in the southern and middle regions. TO good varieties include varieties of roses “Nitida”, “Wrinkled”, “Glauka”.
Winter-hardy varieties. These include: “Jens Munch”, “Hansa”, “Scabrosa”, “John Davis”, “Snow Pavement”.
Hybrid roses usually tolerate cold weather well. These include “Alba”, “Rugosa”, “Spinosissima”.
Park roses: “Conrad Ferdinand Meyer”, “Lavinia”, “Ritausma”, “Adelaide Hutles”, “Pink Grotendorst” and some others.
It is advisable to cover all other types and varieties for the winter, especially in cold climates. But it is also worth considering that almost any rose, even one that is not frost-resistant, can survive a mild winter without sudden cold snaps or severe frosts. Therefore, in the southern regions, shelter is extremely rare.
Depending on the type of rose, the covering method may vary significantly. So you first need to determine which rose is growing on the site, and then proceed directly to the procedure. In the middle zone, the event is held no later than the 3rd decade of October. IN southern regions you can postpone the procedure until November, but in the northern regions it is recommended to start before the end of September.
Also check out these articles
Most types of park roses are frost-resistant, but sometimes, in the coldest years, it doesn’t hurt to play it safe. So, how to cover roses for the winter if they are park view? First you need to trim the bushes, remove diseased and damaged branches. Then, annual branches are cut to 5-10 cm.
Interesting!
Autumn pruning helps roses slowly enter the dormant stage, accumulate nutrients and increase resistance to fungal diseases.
To cover, the ground is mulched with peat to a depth of 15-20 cm. The bushes themselves are covered on all sides, including on top, with spruce branches, simply wrapped in agrofibre or sprinkled with peat. If possible, they simply place it around the bush wooden frame, boxes and cover them with boards, cardboard or film on top.
Before describing how to cover roses for the winter, it should be mentioned that climbing roses require special handling. Due to their pagons, which are tenaciously attached to any support, they are easily damaged, so it is recommended to carry out preparatory work before covering.
Covering roses for the winter photo
The shoots are pinched - this needs to be done before mid-autumn so that the cutting areas have time to tighten a little.
The pagons are carefully removed from the support and folded one to one; you can also roll them into a ring.
Leaves, buds, and flowers that have not been cut before are removed from the bush.
All wounds and cuttings are powdered with wood ash.
Interesting!
When choosing a material for covering roses, you should give preference to something that is vapor-permeable. It will allow the plant to “breathe” and create the most favorable microclimate inside.
There are two methods of covering climbing roses for the winter.
The first option is quite simple - the base of the bush is sprinkled with earth, pine needles, then sand and spruce branches. Then the lashes are laid on top of this “pillow”, covered with spruce branches, and the resulting mound is wrapped in film. In spring, the shelter is removed gradually to prevent a sudden change in temperature.
In the second case, you need to twist the rose pagons with a tourniquet. Those that do not curl can be placed on a frame placed on the ground (so that the pagons do not touch the ground). The tourniquet is laid on top of the bent branches. Then you need to arrange a wooden frame over the laid rose and cover it with film on top. The film should cover the top, front and back walls, but not the sides. But as soon as the air temperature drops below -3 degrees, you can close the sides.
Floribunda roses usually tolerate winters well, but for them, shelter is a must! To begin with, all the old leaves are removed, along with the remnants of the buds. Then the bush is pruned so that the ground part is no higher than 30 cm. All cut areas are sprinkled with charcoal. The bottom of the bush is mulched with peat.
If the winters are not cold, then you don’t have to do anything else; if severe frosts are promised, a wooden frame covered with film or simply covered with spruce branches is made on top of the bush.
Many flower lovers ask how to cover roses for the winter if they are of the standard type, and whether it is necessary to carry out the procedure at all. In the case of standard roses, shelter is mandatory, because most of these varieties are afraid of even the slightest frost!
Interesting!
Unlike other species, standard crops are almost not pruned before constructing a shelter, except for removing diseased and broken shoots, as well as leaves.
In order to cover young standard roses, they are simply bent, the stem is fixed to the ground with spiers or staples. The needles fall apart at the root zone; you can use spruce branches or leaves. Fir branches are placed under the crown, and the crop is wrapped with film on top.
It is impossible to bend a large standard plant without damaging it, so a “hut” frame is made around it and covered with film. You can also simply wrap the crown with roofing material or agrofibre. And pour pine needles inside, put spruce branches under the bush.
The first frosts for a bush rose are something like hardening; they are not terrible, but persistent cold can be harmful. Before covering a rose for the winter, all thin shoots are cut off, as are immature branches, leaves and dry buds. The bushes themselves need to be cut to a height of 30-40 cm - the cut areas should be powdered with wood ash.
Covering roses for the winter photo
The shelter is made from almost any material - the main thing is that the top is a kind of “hut” for the bush. The walls can be made from spruce branches, knocked together boards, frames and film. The soil under the bush is mulched.
Ground-covering varieties are those roses that are usually not covered at all for the winter, due to the fact that in winter they are covered thick layer snow is an ideal insulator from the cold. However, if the winter is predicted to be without snow or in the area where these flowers grow, snow is generally rare, it is necessary to make a shelter.
Do not cover roses when it rains or when it is warm. This can cause damping off.
Ground cover roses photo
So, how to cover roses that creep along the ground for the winter? For this, simple spruce branches, peat or loose lutrasil are used. The bushes are tightly covered with one of these materials in the fall before constant cold sets in. This will be quite enough for plants. Before covering the crop, it needs to be trimmed (not too much) and all leaves, as well as wilted buds, must be removed.
First of all, those roses that have been properly cared for tolerate frost well. What tips do experts give for caring for roses before winter?
In order for roses to easily withstand the cold, you need to slow down their development before winter. To do this, the plant is never watered before winter.
Untimely feeding can cause harm, so do not feed the rose before winter! All fertilizers should be applied no later than early autumn or late summer (in the southern regions by mid-autumn). At this time, minerals such as phosphorus and potassium are added. You can use this composition - 10 g of potassium sulfate and 25 g of superphosphate per 10 liters of water. Apply no more than 4.5 liters under the bush.
Before wintering, the rose is inspected and all the last faded buds are cut off.
If roses often get sick, it won’t hurt to spray them with a 5% solution of iron sulfate and Fitosporin-M at the end of September, before covering for the winter.
Damping off the bush is much more dangerous than freezing, so in the spring you can’t delay cleaning winter shelter! Especially if it was made of thick material or plastic film!
In the spring, the cover is removed, the bush is untied, if it was tied, it is inspected. If the stems have darkened and the pagons are a little damp to the touch, then most likely they have frozen out and the bush will have to be dug up. If the pagons are of normal color, not wet, without any problems, then you can scatter phosphorus fertilizers on the ground, dig up the soil near the bush, and cover it on top with mulch of rotted manure or peat (whatever you have on hand).
Country cheat sheet No. 8: “When to cover roses for the winter in the fall?”
The October issues of magazines for gardeners and gardeners are literally full of notes on the topic preparing plants for winter : pruning flowers and raspberries, harvesting perennials for storage, whitewashing trees, winter crops… in autumn A summer resident has no less worries than in the summer. And if they grow on the site roses- it's time to think about shelter for the winter for them. All important information About, When is the best time to cover roses for the winter? , we have combined in one article. The result is a very informative country cheat sheet, which we hope will be useful to both us and you 😉
- Preparing roses for winter.
- It's time to cover the roses! Dates for the Middle Zone (including the Moscow region), the Urals and Siberia.
- Favorable dates according to Lunar calendar for October and November 2018.
- Fatal mistakes in covering roses.
- Features of covering standard roses.
- How to cover roses if only stumps were left when pruning.
Preparing roses for winter
Top dressing
From mid-August it is necessary to finish fertilizing roses nitrogen fertilizers, reduce or completely stop watering (depending on the weather). Starting from August, only phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. In autumn, on the eve of wintering, roses need potassium-phosphorus fertilizers. They help control growth, promote wood ripening (woodiness of shoots) and increase cold resistance. Fertilizers containing potassium and phosphorus can be applied from the end of August. Superphosphate, potassium sulfate, ash, as well as special complex “autumn” fertilizers are suitable. If the autumn turned out to be long and warm, it is not too late to do the final fertilizing in the 2nd ten days of October (if you did not have time in September). In addition, in the second mid-September it is necessary to stop digging and loosening the soil between the bushes, their formation, so as not to cause the development of shoots from buds that are at rest
Scheme for strengthening feeding of roses in preparation for winter:
- The first fertilizing is applied in mid-August. Dissolve in 10 liters of water: 25 g of superphosphate, 10 g of potassium sulfate, 2.5 g boric acid. The solution is applied at the root at the rate of 2 liters per 1 square meter.
- The second feeding is done in September. Dissolve in 10 liters of water: 15 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium sulfate. Or you can use complex “Autumn” mineral fertilizer.
*For foliar feeding, the dosage is reduced by 3 times.
Pruning shoots
More recently, flower growers were of the opinion that in the fall rose bushes should definitely be pruned, leaving stumps of about 30 cm, with 5-7 buds on the shoot. Now another technique is widespread: in the fall, the branches are bent to the ground, securely fixing them, and then covered for the winter. Pruning is carried out in a gentle manner, as necessary: dry, diseased and very old, inflexible branches that prevent covering, as well as immature wen shoots, are cut out. It is believed that autumn pruning takes away the plant’s strength and requires enormous costs to restore it. Bushes that are not pruned in the fall survive the winter better, and in the spring they begin to grow faster and bloom earlier.
In the fall, it is advisable to trim branches if they interfere with the shelter and may break when trying to bend them down. Pruning is done only to the height of the shelter, adjusted for the variety (there is a difference in pruning climbing, hybrid tea roses and so on.).
It is better to prune roses in the middle - end of October., while the frosts have not set in, but the main heat is already behind us. You shouldn’t rush with pruning, otherwise the buds will wake up and the shoots will begin to grow again. It is useful to treat sections on thick branches with garden varnish, and thin ones with brilliant green.
The main pruning is carried out in the spring, based on the results of wintering, after removing the covers,
Leaf trimming
Until late autumn, when it is time to prepare shelters, some varieties of roses remain green and even bloom. If you leave everything as is, during wintering, they will most likely rot (and this will adversely affect the health of the entire plant).
Late October - early November(after the first frost) the leaves must be removed without leaving petioles. At the same time, the remaining flowers, ovaries and immature shoots are cut off. It is convenient to trim with a small pruner or scissors. You should start from the bottom of the branches, gradually moving to the tops.
If there is a lot of foliage and its removal becomes too labor-intensive, you can get by with a little:
- Before covering, treat the bushes with any copper-containing fungicide, following the recommendations on the package.
- Remove at least the base of the branches from the leaves so that the bush is well ventilated, and then spray with any antifungal drug (containing copper) or a 3% solution of iron sulfate.
Treatment before shelter
After gentle pruning and removal of leaves, the bushes are usually treated with fungicide solutions to prevent the spread of rot. In addition to the above-mentioned remedies (copper-containing preparations, iron sulfate), it is recommended to use a 3% solution of Bordeaux mixture.
Should I hill up roses for the winter?
The question is again controversial, here rose growers have two opinions:
- Hilling up rose bushes will protect them in frosty, snowless winters. In this case, hilling will be beneficial.
- The base of the hilled bushes is dampened, so the hilling will only do harm.
Conclusion: everyone chooses for themselves whether to hill up or not.
It is definitely worth refusing to hill up if the area itself is damp or the autumn was rainy and the soil was oversaturated with moisture. In this case, hilling even previously prepared dry soil mixture will be redundant. It is advisable to carry out hilling if the autumn turned out to be dry and slightly frosty. Suitable option mixtures for hilling roses for the winter: dry and loose mature compost with sand and peat. You should not use pure peat and sand - they absorb moisture, and sawdust rots.
Important! Standard roses absolutely require hilling (the features of their shelter are discussed further in the text).
Sheltering roses for the winter: Optimal timing
After preliminary preparation, with the onset of favorable weather, the roses are ready to cover for the winter! Question: when does this readiness occur? So, the sources we analyzed say:
— Cover the roses you can start in the first ten days of October (newspaper "AiF. In the country" ). While the weather is still warm enough, the shoots remain flexible and bend more easily (on frosty days the shoots become brittle and brittle). The branches are bent and fixed in a horizontal position using metal pegs. Thick branches can be bent gradually, in several steps. At the same time, the shelter frames are installed. The roses are finally covered in late October - early November, after the onset of persistent cold weather (and even light frosts), but before snowfall. At the final stage, the installed frames are covered with spunbond. Important! You cannot lay roses directly on the ground: there should be a gap between the soil surface and the shoots for ventilation, and one and a half liter plastic bottles or thick foam plastic should be placed as a “gasket”.
— Don’t rush to take cover ( magazine "Flower"). Roses should be thoroughly insulated on frozen ground., and it’s better to prepare for this in advance - start bend branches before frost (from mid-September). Roses are quite cold-resistant and can easily tolerate light autumn frosts without shelter. Let the rains pass and begin to settle subzero temperatures- then you can finally cover the roses with non-woven materials.
— Warming shelters for roses it is necessary to install after the autumn frosts grab the ground or shortly before this moment - no earlier than November ("Homestead newspaper" ). Hasty sheltering (at temperatures from zero and above) is fraught with the fact that the plants will begin to wither away, humidity increases, which creates favorable conditions for development fungal infections.
These terms can be applied both for the Middle Zone (including the Moscow region), and for the Urals and Siberia, since it is more worth relying on weather conditions, weather forecasts, and temperature indicators.
Favorable days according to the Lunar calendar 2018
In October In 2018, astrologers recommend pruning and covering roses:
- 14th, 19th, 22nd, 27th, 28th and 31st.
According to the calendar from the magazine “Homestead Farming”.
Not favorable days for pruning in October:
- October 9, 17, 18, 19, 24 (days of the New Moon, Full Moon, Moon in the sign of Aquarius).
In November 2018 favorable days for covering roses for the winter:
- November 1, 3, 17, 18, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30.
Unfavorable days for pruning in November:
- November 7, 14, 15, 23 (days of the New Moon, Full Moon, Moon in the sign of Aquarius).
According to the calendar from the magazine “My Favorite Dacha”.
7 mistakes in preparing roses for winter
1. Early cover.
If you thoroughly cover roses at temperatures above zero, there is a great danger that the bushes will dry out and become easy prey for fungal infections. At the beginning of autumn - from mid-September - until the branches are caught by frost and bend well, you can begin to bend them to the ground. And it is better to start insulation on frozen soil, no earlier than the end of October. 2. Bending branches in frosty weather can be dangerous. Frosts make the shoots brittle and brittle. The bark may crack, resulting in the formation of wounds that will become gateways for various kinds
3. infections. It is recommended to start bending the branches in mid-September, and it is better to do this gradually, fixing the horizontal tilt with metal pegs. It’s convenient to use kebab skewers for this - they go into the ground “like clockwork,” and it’s easy to tie twine to the tip. immature shoots, while it is still warm, stimulates the active formation of new ones. It turns out to be monkey work. It is recommended to trim immature shoots (as well as leaves and remaining ovaries) only after the first frost (usually in the 3rd decade of October). In general, flower growers today agree that it is not necessary to carry out fork pruning in the fall; it is enough to remove old and diseased branches, as well as selectively shorten them if they are difficult to cover.
4. Gartering roses with ropes made of natural materials is dangerous because during wintering it accumulates moisture and rots. Polypropylene twine is more suitable for this.
5. When sending roses under cover, you cannot leave leaves on them. They will rot, the bushes will not be ventilated - all this opens the way for infections. In the second half of October, the leaves are cut with pruning shears or, carefully running your hands in gardening gloves along the trunk, shake off the foliage. Attention! Rose leaves cannot be used for shelter; they should certainly be removed from under the bush.
6. You should not lower rose branches onto bare ground or film. It is advisable that it be dry under the branches. By bending the shoots in front of the shelter, you can build a “platform” under them from plastic bottles or foam.
7. Ruberoid or plastic film are not very good as a covering material. It is also better not to use metal tanks and buckets. It is best to cover roses for the winter with thick lutrasil or spunbond, throwing them over a frame made of metal rods or chain-link mesh. It turns out to be a cozy mini-greenhouse.
How to cover roses if you had to cut them short in the fall
If you had to do short pruning in the fall (the old fashioned way), leaving stumps 30-40 cm high, it is recommended to do this:
- After pruning (usually after the first frost, in the first ten days of October), treat the bushes with a 3% solution of Bordeaux mixture.
- Hill up the plantings with dry soil mixture to a height of 20-25 cm, covering the horse's neck.
- Leave the roses to harden until early November.
- In the first ten days of November, in dry weather, you can begin insulation. There is no need to bend anything because the roses are cut short.
Ways to cover trimmed roses:
— The easiest way to cover roses pruned in autumn is with a layer of at least 10-15 cm of spruce branches.
— The air-dry method of covering is most often used (it is the most reliable): Build a frame over the bushes and cover it with hydro-thermal insulating material.
— Individual bushes can be insulated in this way: tie the branches of the bush together, surround them with a chain-link mesh in the form of a fence (diameter 30-50 cm). Fill the space between the bush and the mesh with soil mixture. Wrap the structure on top with spunbond in 2 layers. Straw, manure, hay and moss are not suitable as insulation materials, since they absorb moisture and can cause rotting.
Features of sheltering a standard rose
The main difficulty is to correctly determine the side of the slope, because the trunk at the grafting site is easy to break. An interesting comparison is given in an article on covering standard roses in the Dacha newspaper:
- You need to imagine that the fingers in a clenched fist are the bump at the grafting site, and the shaft is the thumb. Barrel, like thumb hands, should fit easily on the bump. The diagram clearly conveys this essence:
Procedure
- A small hole is dug around the trunk, very carefully so as not to touch the root system.
- The trunk is bent gradually, allowing it to get used to the new position. They bent it - waited a couple of days, and so on, until the plant took a horizontal position.
- The hole is buried, the base is covered with dry soil mixture.
- It is useful to place something solid under the trunk (a log or plastic bottle) as a support for the trunk so that it does not break under the weight of snow.
- The horizontal position is fixed with polypropylene twine, tying it to a metal peg.
- You can put spruce branches or dry oak leaves under the crown of the standard rose and on it.
- It would be a good idea to spray the plants with a solution of iron sulfate and put poison inside the shelter for mice, which like to visit pink shelters in winter and feast on the plantings.
- Finally, they arrange an air-dry shelter for the entire plant as a whole, insulating the stem as well. Thick lutrasil or spunbond is placed on top. It is better to refuse covering with film or roofing felt.
- If there is little snow in winter, it needs to be covered additionally. The main insulation for roses is snow.
We hope that we really managed to collect as much information as possible on the topic in this summer cottage cheat sheet, and that it turned out to be useful for you. Write reviews, share your experience in the comments, we will be glad! 😉
Rose is a beautiful and capricious plant that requires care. To prevent the flower garden from being damaged by frost, it must be carefully prepared. There are several ways to cover roses for the winter. The appropriate option is selected based on the availability of materials, weather conditions and planting area.
Is it necessary to cover a rose for the winter?
Covering a rose for the winter is a mandatory stage of care. Proper insulation will protect the plant from severe frosts. Roses are covered even in regions with mild climates to protect the flower garden from moisture. In winter, the plant can die not only from cold, but also from dampness.
The best insulation for plants is snow cover. Therefore, in winter it is recommended to throw a snowdrift over the bushes. If there is little snowfall in the region, then special attention is paid to the choice of material for shelter.
However, snow does not always guarantee successful wintering roses: it can fall out and melt, cover the soil unevenly, and is often blown away by the wind. Therefore, the flower garden is left without shelter only in regions with heavy snowfalls and rare thaws.
Even if you decide not to insulate your roses, it is important to prepare them for winter. The bushes are watered and fed, and excess shoots are trimmed.
Features of sheltering different varieties of roses
Park varieties and some hybrids are considered the most cold-resistant, but even they require additional insulation. Canadian roses tolerate cold weather well under the snow, even if the upper shoots freeze, the bush quickly recovers.
Important! Be sure to cover floribunda, ground cover, hybrid tea, standard and climbing roses.
Standard varieties are insulated using a special method. These roses look like small trees: They have a strong central shoot from which flowering side branches extend. To cover them, dig up the soil on one side and carefully tilt the shoots towards the ground. Then they are pressed with arcs and hilled.
An alternative option for covering a standard rose is to leave it in its natural position. A frame is placed around the trunk and the “crown” and insulation is attached.
Most often, difficulties arise when working with climbing varieties. They are removed from the support and secured to the ground with metal arches. The shoots can be tied with rope to make one bundle. Insulation is attached to the top.
When to cover roses for the winter
When choosing the timing for covering roses, they are guided by the weather forecast. The bushes are insulated when stable sub-zero temperatures are established and the soil freezes, so as not to cause the plants to damp out. At night, the readings on the thermometer should remain between -7 and -5°C.
Approximate dates when it is time to cover roses, depending on the region:
- middle zone - end of October or first half of November;
- Ural and Siberia - late September and October;
- south of Russia – November.
Preparing plants for wintering
Before covering, roses need preparation:
- In September, the flower garden is fed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizer. Substances are embedded in the soil or dissolved in water before watering. Nitrogen fertilizing is completely abandoned so as not to cause excessive shoot growth.
- 3 weeks before sheltering, cut off all buds and leaves. This is how the plant is prepared for the dormant period.
- The shoots are cut to a height of 50 cm to make it more convenient to cover them. The sections are treated with garden varnish or a special paste.
- For disinfection, flowers are sprayed with a solution of copper sulfate or fungicides Topaz, Oxyx, Skor.
- The soil under the roses is weeded to remove weeds and fallen leaves are removed.
- The base of the bush is covered with earth or sand.
- Long branches are bent and secured with metal brackets.
What is the best way to cover roses for the winter?
To cover plants for the winter, both artificial and natural materials. It is allowed to combine several insulation materials at once.
The material for covering the rose must meet a number of requirements:
- strength and resistance to any weather conditions;
- vapor permeability to protect plants from damping off;
- accessibility and ease of use;
- durability and the ability to use for several seasons.
Film
Polyethylene film is one of the most popular insulation materials on summer cottages. It can be bought at any garden store. The film is sold in rolls and has a thickness of 0.03-40 mm.
The main advantage of polyethylene is its ability to transmit sunlight and protect from cold and precipitation. It is used for several years, not only in autumn, but also in spring. A serious disadvantage of the film is that condensation accumulates under it. As a result, the flower may die from its excess.
Advice! If polyethylene is used to cover the rose, it is important to leave holes for air exchange or remove the film when the temperature rises.
Sackcloth
To cover the rose, burlap made from natural fabrics, which is becoming increasingly rare, is suitable. In progress synthetic options with polyethylene lining. They will protect from the cold, but will not provide air exchange.
Traditional material also does not provide ideal conditions for the rose. Burlap absorbs moisture and freezes when the temperature drops. As a result, all actions to insulate flowers are reduced to zero. If you use old vegetable bags, then mold or signs of a fungal disease may appear on the roses.
Nonwovens
Modern nonwoven materials are gaining increasing popularity: lutrasil, spunbond, agrospan and others. The fabric is made from thin polymer threads. Such materials allow water and air to pass through, provide thermal insulation, and have a long service life.
If 60 micron fabric is used, then it is used in one layer. Roses are covered with material 30 and 40 microns in 2-3 layers. Be sure to choose insulation white, the black fabric will quickly heat up during the thaw. As a result, more moisture will appear, which will negatively affect the condition of the rose.
Cardboard
Cardboard protects plants well from wind and allows water and air to pass through. It is usually used as a frame onto which another layer of insulation made of spunbond or polyethylene is attached. However, this design will quickly get wet in the spring when the snow melts, so it is removed after the first thaw.
A good option is to use cardboard for the winter as an intermediate layer. First, the plants are covered with non-woven fabric, then cardboard is laid. Spunbond or polyethylene is attached to the top.
Lapnik
The traditional option for covering plants for the winter is spruce branches. With its help, they create an air gap and delay snow melting. Spruce branches repel rodents. The spruce branches will protect the bushes from the bright spring sun.
To cover the roses, branches are taken from healthy trees. It is not recommended to choose spruce branches with growths or yellowed needles. It must first be dried thoroughly. Lapnik is used in regions where weather conditions often change: after thaws there are frosts and vice versa. Spruce branches will provide the bushes with reliable insulation without damping off.
Advice! The spruce branches can be thrown over the main shelter made of non-woven fabric or film.
Straw
Straw protects roses well from the cold and delays the melting of snow. Its main disadvantage is that it gets wet when the temperature rises. If the winter turns out to be warm, the straw begins to cake and thicken. As a result, it begins to rot, in in certain places mold appears. This shelter is removed at the first sign of warmth: Sun rays do not penetrate the straw layer. The soil takes longer to warm up, which delays the growing season of the rose.
In winter, mice find refuge in straw. Rodents dig tunnels and damage plant roots. They are also attracted to other plantings on the site - apple, pear, and cherry trees.
Straw is used in combination with other materials that can protect it from moisture (film, non-woven fabric). If possible, choose mats or sheaves from which moisture rolls down and does not penetrate into the shelter.
Plastic bottles
Another option is to cover the rose plastic bottle for the winter. This method has the same disadvantages as insulation plastic film. It is best to use 5 liter bottles with a cut out bottom. A hole must be made in the lid to allow air to enter. Peat or other mulch is poured inside the bottle.
Is it possible to cover roses for the winter with polycarbonate?
Polycarbonate is suitable for insulating roses only in one case - if air exchange is ensured. This material protects well from cold weather, but does not allow moisture and air to pass through. A frame resembling a hut is constructed from the sheets. Until frost sets in, you can leave the roses under such shelter. When it gets cold, the structure is covered with agrofibre or other material that provides air exchange.
There are 3 main options for covering a rose for the winter: mulching the bush, wrapping it special materials or installation of a frame.
Prikopka
The easiest way to cover a rose for the winter is digging. The shoots are bent to the ground and spud up. The main disadvantage of this method is the damping off of the shoots during the thaw.
The procedure for digging roses for the winter:
- In early autumn, they spud the base of the bush.
- When the time comes for full-fledged shelter, the entire bush is covered. Be sure to use dry mulch: earth, sand, sawdust, straw. The result should be a small hill 30-40 cm high.
- Spruce branches are placed on top.
- If possible, place a snowdrift over the roses in winter.
You can build a fence around the bush from mesh, polycarbonate or thin plywood. Then mulch is poured inside the structure. Additionally, covering material is attached to the fence.
Frame structure
The frame option is quite labor-intensive, but at the same time the most effective. Under such cover an air cushion is provided that protects the roses from damping off. Metal arches, thin pipes, wooden planks, wire, boards, plywood, and old baskets are suitable for its construction.
Depending on the shape, there are several types of frames: pyramidal, conical, spherical, rectangular. Shrub roses overwinter well under a spherical shelter. For low-growing varieties A conical structure made of 2 boards or sheets of plywood is suitable.
The procedure for constructing a frame from metal arches:
- Markings are made around the bush for future supports. If necessary, the bush is pruned or bent to the ground.
- 2-3 metal arcs are installed above the rose. To get a solid foundation, they are embedded in the ground to a depth of 10 cm.
- At the top point of the arc, they are fastened with a bar.
- The selected material (burlap, lutrasil, etc.) is attached to the top.
- Bricks or stones are laid along the edges of the insulation.
Advice! The frame for the rose can be built in advance, before the onset of cold weather. The material is placed on top and holes are left for air circulation.
Frameless shelter
You can protect roses from frost without installing a frame. Such option will do for insulating old bushes that are difficult to bend to the ground without damaging the shoots. In this case, only material and additional elements for its fastening (stones, bricks, wire, rope).
The procedure for constructing a frameless shelter:
- Rose is bent to the ground. The shoots are secured with metal staples.
- The bush is covered with the selected material.
- Bricks and other heavy objects are placed along the edges.
To insulate old bush before winter, it is covered with lutrasil, agrofibre or burlap. Be sure to wrap the standard. The material is fixed with rope or wire.
Conclusion
How to cover roses for the winter largely depends on climatic conditions and varieties growing on the site. First, the flower garden is watered, fed and pruned. To insulate the bushes, add mulch or use synthetic materials. It is most convenient to attach them to the frame to provide an air gap.
You need to think about the safety of roses in winter when purchasing them. Do not buy greenhouse roses; they are often sold in the spring and early summer after winter forcing. Such roses themselves may not be winter-hardy, and their rootstocks are often not frost-resistant, especially for imported roses. It is impossible to distinguish them from garden (not greenhouse) roses by appearance. The only way out is to buy seedlings from reliable suppliers. In addition, at garden roses, in turn, there are varieties that differ in greater or less winter hardiness. Many rose manufacturers in their catalogs highlight the most unpretentious roses into varietal groups of park or landscape. Such roses, in general, tolerate winters better than roses from other varietal groups, such as hybrid teas. However, there are many exceptions.
Rose in winter © Mike Plante
You need to take care of the wintering of roses during planting.
It is also necessary to take into account the dimensions of roses: low-growing (miniature and groundcover) roses are easy to cover, but tall, erect (non-spreading) roses with a height of more than 1.2-1.5 m (semi-climbing and large-flowered climbing) are much more difficult.
You also need to think about preserving roses in winter when planting roses:
- roses growing in a group are easier to protect from frost than roses scattered in different places in the garden;
- Fertilizers should not be added to the planting holes, which can cause active growth of shoots in late summer and autumn. Nitrogen (as mineral fertilizers and as part of humus) it is better to add less than more.
Finally, for the successful overwintering of roses, preparing them for the next winter is very important:
- You should not cut flowers at the end of summer and autumn, this leads to the growth of new shoots that will not have time to ripen by winter and will die (sometimes together with the branches of the previous order);
- starting from mid-summer it is better to stop feeding roses (roses do not need that much nutrients, therefore, spring and early summer fertilizing with complex mineral or organic fertilizers quite enough for the whole season);
- it is necessary in October (for central Russia) to gradually, starting from the bottom, clear the roses from the leaves (they are separated from the branches moving from top to bottom and, together with the already fallen leaves, are removed away from the roses; it is best to burn them to prevent the spread of spores of pathogenic fungi) .
Protection of roses by hilling. © Kevin Lee Jacobs In principle, there are no ideal ways to protect roses for all occasions. Much depends on the capabilities of the gardener and the availability of covering materials, on specific weather conditions, on the frost resistance of roses, their size and ability to bend to the ground.
Which method of covering roses to choose?
The gardener himself must decide which covering method to use, but to do this he must keep in mind the following considerations:
- during the cold period (and not only in winter), roses can be damaged by frost, affected by pathogenic fungi, branches can break both during shelter and under the weight of snow;
- a large, well-prepared rose for winter in the middle zone will almost never die, even without shelter (the exception is “black” frosts, when due to the lack of snow at the beginning of winter, not only the above-ground, but also the underground part of the bush can freeze);
- a rose that has come out of winter with large losses of the above-ground part is greatly weakened, and the next winter may be its last (the plant does not have time to grow the above-ground part during our short northern summer); The gardener’s task is not just to keep the rose alive, but to preserve, if possible, its above-ground part;
- in the fall, roses themselves gradually prepare for frost (according to my observations, the critical temperature for hybrid tea roses in mid-September is -5 °C, in mid-October -7 °C, in the first half of November -10 °C, in the second half of November - about -15°C and even -18°C);
- pruning roses (not only for flowers, but also for shelter for the winter), premature wrapping of bushes not only stop the natural process of preparing roses for frost, but can also completely deprive the plants of acquired hardening, especially if there are many warm days in the fall; the rose recklessly comes to life, even a light frost can destroy it;
- If you leave fruits set on the bush after flowering at the end of summer, the plant no longer “thinks” about new growth of shoots, the buds do not awaken, and such a rose overwinters better.
Protecting roses from diseases during wintering
Diseases are no less a threat to roses than frosts - at the end of winter and beginning of spring, under shelters at slightly positive temperatures, a dangerous fungal disease - infectious rose burn - actively develops on the branches. Dark brown spots appear on the trunks. As they grow, they lead to the death of the entire branch above the lesion. If you open roses in a timely manner, without waiting for the snow to melt, you can interrupt the period favorable for the development of the disease. This is the main thing.
It also helps to spray roses before covering with fungicides (for example, iron or copper sulfate). In addition, it is a good idea to hill roses with clean sand in the fall to cover the lower part of the plants from frost and protect them from diseases. It is impossible to hill up soil taken from under a rose, as it may contain a lot of “unfriendly” bacteria and fungal spores.
It is also bad to hill up with peat and sawdust - when frozen, they create an insurmountable shield for heat by spring. In this case, the rose may die due to the fact that in the spring, under the sun, the above-ground part quickly awakens, and the roots are still dormant in the cold soil for several weeks. By the time the roots finally warm up, the aboveground part may die.
Covering roses for the winter. © Smoobs Air-dry method of covering roses for the winter
Knowing all these difficulties, you can consciously approach the choice of shelter for roses. The most reliable (though also the most material-intensive) method of covering is considered to be the air-dry method. A canopy made of boards or shields is installed over the roses, capable of withstanding snow pressure. The canopy rests on pillars made of bricks or lengths of logs dug into the ground. On top it is covered with non-woven material, or even better - with plastic film, you can use old one (it’s easier to open it slightly in the spring for ventilation). The edges of the film are pressed to the ground with stones and bricks.
The height of the canopy should be such that it is possible to bend the branches of roses without breaking them - for large climbing roses with long branches 60-80 cm, for others - 30-60 cm. In severe frosts, additional snow must be added to the ends of the shelter (without, of course, exposing the soil around other valuable plants). In early to mid-March, I clear the snow from the flooring; this allows me to get away from temperatures favorable for the development of rose blight. Additionally, the film can be lifted from the ends for ventilation.
Roses under an air-dry shelter overwinter (if everything was done on time) with virtually no attacks or losses of the above-ground parts.
Now about “on time”. Roses should be covered when cold temperatures are expected (usually this happens at night) below -10... -12 °C. As a rule, this is the second half of November. It is useless to protect from early (September and October) frosts - they will not damage the roses, and the roses will not harden due to early shelter.
The air-dry method ideally protects rose bushes from damage - both when covered in autumn and under the weight of snow in winter and spring. It protects very well from frost. But from an infectious burn - not always. The fact is that in the spring you really don’t want to open roses when they are well covered, and especially when the snow has not yet melted. Meanwhile, in February-March there are already low positive temperatures under cover, favorable for the harmful fungus.
To protect roses from disease if they open too late, it’s a good idea to:
- treat boards for covering roses annually with an antiseptic;
- When working with roses, disinfect the pruning blade more often (with potassium permanganate, alcohol, over fire, etc.);
- in the fall, hill up the roses with clean sand (protects the lower part of the bush, which is more susceptible to disease);
- mulch the soil in the fall with spruce branches or any other mulch (insulation from possible sources fungal spore);
- collect and burn fallen rose leaves throughout the growing season.
In general, air-dry cover is the best way to preserve roses in winter. However, it requires timely closing and opening of roses, a large investment of time and materials. Not everyone can afford this and would prefer a simpler method of shelter, sacrificing the reliability of wintering.
Covering roses with spruce branches
For them we can offer the following. Roses are covered at the end of October - beginning of November, after the lower leaves are snuffed. The branches are bent to the ground, covered with one layer of spruce branches. This layer prevents the roses from coming into contact with the ground, but allows the warmth of the earth to pass freely to the roses. A layer of spruce branches and non-woven material is laid on top of the roses. This layer of spruce branches protects the non-woven material and at the same time your hands from rose needles. In addition, it insulates roses.
In order to protect roses from breakage, it is useful to place them under the branches before bending them down. suitable size linings (see figure). They protect the branches from breaking at the base. To keep the branches bent, they are pinned or some kind of weight is used. Sometimes the weight of the spruce branches is enough. Non-woven fabric They press down with stones along the perimeter. As always, it is useful to cover the base of the bush with sand in advance.
For simplicity, the figure shows the covering of one rose, but in a similar way you can cover a group of roses at once. The only more difficult thing is to bend down neighboring roses at the same time.
Roses should be opened gradually in the spring. And remember that at this time they can be damaged:
- from severe return frosts (if the insulation is removed too early and abruptly);
- from an infectious burn (if, on the contrary, the insulation is removed too late);
- from sunburn (if the shading is removed before the soil warms up).
Roses in central Russia usually begin to open in the first half of March (depending on the weather). At the same time, they clear off some of the snow and open the covering film slightly to ventilate the roses. After the roses have fully opened, they are pruned. But this is a different stage in the life of roses.
Of course, the preservation of roses in winter largely depends on luck (or rather, on the weather). But it's up to you whether you risk half of your roses or only one or two percent.
Garden.
