Prepare Your Roses for Winter

All roses need some attention going into winter. Winter weather in zones 6 and below can really challenge rose bushes, particularly the hybrid teas. Shrub roses are hardier and can pretty much fend for themselves, but the hybrid teas and other modern hybrids are a little fussier. Here are some tips for winter rose survival, starting with zones 6 and below:

1. Coax Them Into Dormancy.

Stop feeding and pruning your roses around the end of August, to discourage tender, new growth that will suffer from winter damage. Leave the last of the flowers on, to turn into hips. The hips are the rose's seed pods. By producing seed pods, the rose bush thinks it's done for the season and can start to go dormant.

2. Make Sure the Rose Bushes are Well Watered.

After the first frost, thoroughly water the soil around your rose bush. Once the ground freezes the bush has to take care of itself, so give it a good soaking going into winter.

3. Prevent Problems from Over-Wintering Near the Rose Bush.

Remove all fallen leaves to prevent diseases and insects from overwintering. If the leaves were healthy, you can go ahead and compost them. But if you had a problem with a fungus, like black spot, or an insect infestation, dispose of the leaves and get them out of your yard.

4. Protect the Graft Union.

After a couple of hard freezes, mound 6-12 inches of compost around the crown of the plant, to protect the roots and the graft union where the rose species you are growing is attached to a hardy root stock. The graft should be at or just below the soil surface. In a mild winter, you could also circle the rose with wire and stuff this cage with leaves or mulch. Don't try to use the soil around the rose bush as mulch. Moving it could expose or disturb the roots.

5. Special Care for Climbing Roses.

Climbing roses are at risk from strong, drying winds. To protect the canes of canes of climbers, either wrap the canes together bundling something like straw on the outside for insulation or remove the canes from their trellis or support and lay them on the ground. Then tie the canes together and secure them to the ground with landscape pins. Protect with a layer of mulch.
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How to create an easy water garden

Essentially a pond-in-a-pot is a large watertight pot with submerged or floating water plants arranged to create a pleasing composition.

For a container water garden, it's best to start out with a water-tight pot, intended for water gardening. I chose a glazed pot traditionally used to grow lotus plants (shown here).

However, any large watertight container at least 18 inches high with a diameter of at least 24 inches will do.

Half barrels are a great size, and many garden centers now sell them with plastic liners as easy-to-set up kits.

If you're going to set it up on a deck, balcony or roof-top, remember that a container water garden is heavy, so check that the structure is strong enough to support the weight.

If you're concerned about weight, but still want the sound of water in your garden, consider the versatility of garden fountains for your deck or patio (link to Plow and Hearth opens in new window).
Aquatic plants for your easy water garden

Aquatic plants for your water garden will need a platform on which to sit. I used a large upside-down plastic nursery container and weighed it down with bricks.

Another method is to stack bricks up from the bottom of the container, but this will make your pot heavier.

Once you have your shelf ready, you just fill the container with water and arrange a collection of water plants into a pleasing composition.

Add a pump for the soothing sound of water

If you crave the sound of water in the garden, you can install a small re-circulating fountain pump at the bottom of the container with a short length of plastic hose attached to act as a small fountain.

A pump isn't absolutely necessary in a container water garden, but it does prevent the water from going stagnant and breeding mosquitoes.

I put my pump inside the upside-down plastic pot, and thread the plastic hosing (which takes the water up to the surface) through the drainage hole in the pot.
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