Bareroot Rose in February

by Nicki Fox
(Booneville, KY, USA)

I have purchased several bareroot roses but will be unable to plant them right away due to freezing rain and ice in my zone (6). Should I pot them up and keep them moist for the time being, or should I put them in my unheated garage to keep them dormant until I can plant them? Approximately how long can I wait before planting directly in the garden? Thank you!

Doug says "it depends". A fully dormant rose cane will do quite well for 7 days or more if the roots are kept cool and moist. If you allow those roots to dry out - you're toast. Or at least the rose is going to be very, very unhappy.

But if you've let it get warm and it's thinking about starting to grow - you'd be better off planting it in a pot and keeping it cool then.

At least the roots won't get dried out / dead. Try to keep it as cool as you can without freezing so the growth doesn't start. If you can keep it dormant, then you can plant right outside as soon as the ground is diggable.

If you start seeing green shoots on the canes because you've kept it too warm, then you really should pot it up but you can't expose it to freezing temperatures of any kind or you'll "burn' off those tender shoots. If the buds haven't started to expand, this is good. If they are expanding, you're keeping it too warm.

I understand there are gray areas here - like how much is too much top growth (where you can see green in the buds) but generally the rule of thumb is to keep it above freezing and don't let the roots be dry. (pack with wet shredded newspaper)

Good luck