City Of Duluth Rose Garden Needs Your Leaves, How To Winterize Your Roses

Have you raked your yard and haven't dealt with the leaves yet? The City of Duluth is in need of bagged leaves to place on top of the roses at the Rose Garden. All the beautiful roses need to be covered by bagged leaves annually to protect them from the harsh Northland winters.

As of today there are not enough bagged leaves to cover all the roses. If you have raked your yard and are looking for a place to deposit your leaves please bring them to the parking lot of the Rose Garden.

Do you have roses of your own and want to know how to winterize them? According to most Gardening and Planting websites they all have these is common:

Dig a trench to the side of the rose. Cut the canes back so the rose is no longer than 2 feet long. On the opposite side of the trench, dig up half of the rose' roots. Gently tip the rose into the trench. Completely cover the rose and its roots with about 6 inches of soil. Then, put leaves or pine boughs on top of the soil for extra protection. This technique works well, but you can't be guaranteed 100 percent success.

Chicken Wire and Mounds.  Make a "silo" out of chicken wire that will go around the circumference of your rose while leaving about a foot of clearance all the way around. Mound soil or compost over the crown of the rose about 8 inches deep. Then, backfill the chicken wire silo with leaves -- really pack them in for adequate insulation of the rose, making sure that the entire plant is covered. If you have secrets for keeping the mice and other varmints away, use those methods too before you bury them.

Don't use styrofoam cones on your tender roses unless you cut off the top to provide air circulation (fill up the cone with leaves for insulation). On sunny days in the winter, those cones turn into little ovens that cause your rose to break dormancy.

For more tips on Roses click here