As a gardener, I have always been interested in the weather, and we certainly have had a weather year! 2011 is officially the wettest year we have had since they started keeping records. In June, just north of us in Massachusetts, there was a fierce tornado that ripped across the state leaving a path of destruction. There was an earthquake late in the summer. There was a devastating October snowstorm which buried our still-growing gardens and toppled thousands of trees onto houses and power lines, throwing countless people into the dark for almost two weeks. Now, December has been calmer.

We gardeners, though, know how to count our blessings. Myself, I decided it was time to cut my garden back earlier than normal this December because I had a lot of crushed canes. It was a lot more pleasant than normal, because my fingers and toes were not freezing! That was a blessing in itself, after the storm. It could have been very cold, as it often times is when November sweeps into our gardens. November, normally a dark and dismal month, was warm and sunny, and the sun being low in the sky shone directly into eastern and southern windows and warmed the inside of the house during the day. More to be thankful for!

December Pruning

Have you whacked back your roses yet? If not, now would be a good time to do it, if you live in colder climes. I generally cut mine back to around 18″ or so…around knee high is good. Fall cutback is just gross pruning, there is nothing fancy about it. (We will fine-prune in the Spring.) When I plant my roses, I always make sure the crown, or bud union, is buried at least 3-4″ below soil level so that it is always protected. All good things in the rose world come from that bud union, so if yours is at soil level or above, you will want to mound up your roses for winter protection.

Some rosarians bring in soil to mound their roses. For me, that is too much work as it needs to be removed in the Spring. I like to mound my roses with shredded pine bark mulch. That way I can spread out around the garden when my roses break dormancy. If you live in a really cold, windswept area, you may want to use Rose Kones (they look like a giant styrofoam cup, inverted) to cover your roses. However, if you decide to use this method, make sure you poke some holes up near the top so there is some air circulation. If it gets really warm, rose kones can get hot inside and cook your roses. Keep an eye on the outdoor thermometer and remove them if this happens.

The When

Regardless of what method of winter protection you choose to use, don’t apply it until it is cold and there is frost in the ground. Usually this happens in December. Remember this: Winter protection’s purpose is to take our cold, dormant roses and keep them cold and dormant!! We don’t want them to be warm because that might stimulate growth which will be lost to the big freezes throughout the winter.

I always keep a few roses in containers, and I will be bringing them into the garage for the winter today. We have finally gotten some freezing temperatures, and they are sliding into dormancy. I plan to trim them back a tad and strip off all the leaves. This will push them into dormancy the rest of the way. Then, I store them on the top shelves of two rolling carts I have in the garage.

I made a mistake one year and put my potted roses on the bottom shelves, too. The voles got in and tunneled around in the containers. They completely stripped off the green canes and chewed their way through the shanks. In short, they murdered my roses! The voles apparently can’t get up to the top shelves, though, so that’s where my plants will winter. If you choose to store potted roses, they will do just fine in an unheated out-building, away from windows. Dormant roses don’t need any light or water.

And so, our roses go gently into this chilly season this December, and now it is time for our well-deserved rest. I will be thankfully counting my blessings every day. I wish a wonderful holiday season to all of us. Blessings to you in this season of love and light, and always.