During autumn days the sun's intensity is much less so the plant can usually be put close to the window---but watch out for sun burn through the glass....and less watering because they are not growing and as such, then are not given fertilizer. Flowering will eventually stop but if they can survive, will re-flower when the sun returns in mid February. The trick is to not let them dry out too much, water them only as it is used, dump the excess drainage, and not let them be hit by air currents--which is always the case when the furnace is on--the nighttime temperatures will agree with them...60ð - 65ð and keep them from drafts---such as near a door that is continually being opened and closed. It can be a struggle but with care plants should come through well. I think the biggest mistake is in watering. People tend to water much as they used when the plant was growing in summer. But they use much less and if they are not growing, need no food

Lynn....... I think you are making the overwintering of these roses too hard. I know you are a planner, but sometimes you just have to wing it. I started my rose life in San Diego and was given the same advice as above. San Diego is also considered to be Rose Heaven. Note the ARS giving that advice in San Diego gave that timing so that the first flush of perfect roses would be ready for the rose shows in early April. It takes about six to seven weeks for a rose once it has set bud to bloom, so if your timing is early April you work back from there. You do not have to follow that timing if you are not worried about having roses ready for a show, but are just growing roses for your garden and don't need perfect roses, but need healthy roses. Cooperative Extensions and Master Gardeners have been parroting the advice given by the local rose societies for more than 60 years. That's because they do not specialize in roses and figure the ARS must know what should be done for their care. In San Diego, we stopped dead heading our roses in October and then began our pruning in December to be completed by Valentine's Day, so that they would be ready to show. My experience and personal opinion is that you stop deadheading in October, allow the rose to set seed and then the rose will go as dormant as nature will allow that rose to go dormant. When we dead head, we are interrupting the plant's natural cycle of getting pollenated and then setting seed, which stimulates the rose to re-bloom. If you don't dead head, the plant will complete it's natural cycle and rest. There is no need for dormant sprays unless you have a serious disease problem or unless you want perfect foliage for a rose show. I believe in leaving the leaves because the rose will abandon them when they no longer perform the function needed for the rose. Studies show that the photosynthesis process stops when temps reach around the 70 degree level. So you can take them off or not. I think they provide a larger mass for the top growth and leaving them on helps protect the canes from the colder temps. Cluster your pots on your patio and surround them with bags of leaves or mulch and stuff the same material in the gaps between the pots to make a bigger mass and to protect the outside pots from the colder temps and to keep the temps within the mass as constant as possible. If you feel you need to protect the top growth from freezing temps, you can cover them just as farmers do with their crops. These are small roses, they don't need to be pruned for the first year except to clean out the rose and shape it. (Note: I don't even shape the rose until it's been in the ground for at least two seasons, but I live where temps get colder.) You want it to grow out of those gallon cans, so you might as well just let it grow. Cutting them back/pruning them when they are small just slows down that process because the roses are storing nutrients in their canes. I now live in a climate with temps lower than you have reported. I over-wintered roses outside for six years in containers before I got them all planted. None of them died. I should have replaced the soil in those pots, but I was too busy digging rose holes in rock. I had to over winter the pots in a totally unprotected yard and I did not go out in the rain or snow to cover them. I also had to maintain those roses in direct sunlight in high temps that lasted for months. The key to my success was the larger mass. Not taking off leaves, spraying or taking off leaves. It kept the temperatures and moisture more consistent. In my best year, I could only get about twenty out of over one hundred roses planted. The only thing you need to do differently than I have done, is to make sure the pots don't dry out while they are resting on the patio. I've been told watering once a month is sufficient, but it doesn't hurt to check and see if you need to do it more often in your climate. Once I got them in the ground, they my roses took off even better than I expected because they finally had a chance to spread their roots. So your choice is to go by the book or wing it. Smiles, Lyn PS ... this rose, 'Kim Rupert', looked horrid in the pot, this is how it looked the first year I got it in the ground.

in my sand.. i can do what smiv said ... i dont know about that.. if you have clay ... set it on the north side of the house .... and knock it on its side around thxgvg ... all the better if it is covered with snow ... ken

Gardengal, linnea wants hers to freeze and stay frozen. Your hosta routine sounds about like mine was, as I'm also in zone 8. I just left mine sitting in the pot where they were. If it rains, they get wet. If it freezes, they get frozen. However, here, it thaws and stays that way most of the winter. If it is a really dry winter, I water. Linnea's problem is that her hosta can rot if it thaws and freezes repeatedly and holds water. That's why she turns it on the side and keeps it in the shade. She wants it to stay frozen and have no standing water in it, ever. Hosta in pots are much easier in zone 8. bkay