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Winterizing Carpet Roses

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From: Barbara Sweeney City: Dalton, MA
Hello, We have one carpet rose which prefers to climb a trellis. The other carpet roses are trailing along the ground. We would appreciate your help with winterizing them. We generally leave MA mid to late October for the Winter returning mid to late May. Our question is how to winterize the roses and should we allow the one to climb? Thank you
	Extension Message From: James Schmidt Extension Specialist, Home Horticulture/4-H Department of Crop Sciences schmidt1@illinois.edu
Carpet or landscape roses are very hardy compared to hybrid T roses and should not be damaged other than some tip dieback. I wonder if the climber is actually growth from the root of what was a Carpet rose variety. This would only be the case if your roses were budded or grafted. Climbers do need winter protection. Canes can be laid down or the trellis lowered so they can be covered in loose straw for wind protection. Another tip would be to cove the crown of the climber so that if the canes do die back, the crown survives and regrows.
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