Hello Tim,

for the first time this year we have planted over 50 roses in
big, big 15 and 20 gallon pots. Moving them? not a chance!
I only brought one rose into the garage because it was acting
as if it was weather challenged and started to put out buds
like this was May in January. Yesterday we took it back outside.
Never again. It threw more green limp things around that for
a moment I thought "verticillium", but not. Just too dry and too
warm (unheated tho) in the garage for Eugene.

To protect your roses there is something we have done before
and that is to cut the corners of the recycle yard debris bags,
you know the brown ones with the waxy interior, and place
it over the rose, put a couple of those U shaped pins you can
buy at the garden center to attach the weed barriers, or set a
couple of heavy rocks so the wind won't blow the bag away.

If the roses get enough air and the wind and the freezing rain
don't get to them, there isn't any reason to bring them inside.
The bag acts as insulation and during the day, the natural
heat from the sun whether it is out or not will create enough
warmth inside the bag to help hardening the plants. We have
excellent results with that, even with the ones on the ground.

Make sure they get enough water -easier on your back anyway
than moving the pots- and other than that if your roses are HT
instead of ogr, then a good 8 to 10-inches of mulch around the
graft is all you can do for them and hopefully they will survive
just fine under their "paper hats"- Good luck and what kind of
roses do you grow?

Allegra