No. What cold hardiness zone are you in? You need to give your roses about three years to show their stuff. How do you even know all your top rose has died back yet, for petessake? Are all your roses grafted? Diane

I am in zone 7A. They’ve got dieback almost all the way down to the graft. Yes for the most part all of them are grafted.

I'm in zone 7a and I bury the graft (bud union). Do you? I bury it about 3-5 inches and I've never lost a rose to cold damage. I'd still definitely wait to see what kind of growth you have in spring. Does yes, for the most part, mean all your roses are grafted? Any own root then? How are they doing? Diane

By ” …switch to own root roses”, do you mean remove and discard the about 30 roses you planted?

I'm in zone 7, N.E. Georgia at the foot of the smoky mountains. 95% of my roses are on an understock. I have learned, the hard way, to winter protect by piling about 18 to 20 inch's of oak foliage into my rose beds soon after Thanksgiving. ALSO, I don't push the hardiness zone of any varieties anymore. It's a trial and learn situation. Some varieties that are said to be winter hardy for zone 7, die during the winter and others come through the winters just fine. If I have to replace a rose that has died over the winter, I try a variety that is zone 6 hardy. The web site, helpmefind/roses, will usually give you information about all the varieties that you grow and might be considering to replace anything that has died.

Yes, I bury the graft union as well and yes I’m pretty sure all my roses are grafted. Maybe a couple of my David Austin’s are own root and it seems like they’re doing fine.

@ken I definitely think this is my trial and learn phase. Right before Thanksgiving I piled compost on them to try and give them some extra protection for the winter. Not sure if I put enough though. Seeing some die back on the canes to the pile of compost. I haven’t assessed it any further. Thank you for the helpmefind/roses I’ve never heard that that website.

There is an awful lot going on here.

First, where are you? Zones are not places, and plant advice is based on places.

In the places I'm familiar with, grafted roses are planted with the bud union a few inches below ground. They are not winter protected. Protection causes a lot more problems than it cures. If your roses really have died back, it might be the protection that has killed them.

Own-root roses are not hardier than grafted. In many ways, the opposite is true, since own-root roses tend to be less vigorous. So even if your roses have died back, they will regrow. That's what the rootstock is for - getting the roses to regrow.

Totally agree with what you say, mad gallica. I do no extra winter protecting. I just bury the bud union a few inches when I plant the rose. And own root roses are not the magical answer, either. And, yes own root roses do tend to be less vigorous, at least the ones I have tried. Diane

I am in 6b, last year we had a very cold Winter, down to -5F with wind.

Here how we protected roses.

All of them except 3 died back. But all of them survived and bloomed nicely. This season we just covered them with soil and recently covered climbing roses to protect canes. I would say, do not panic, they most likely come back.

What was your lowest temperature?

rifis (zone 6b-7a NJ)

16 hours ago

By ” …switch to own root roses”, do you mean remove and discard the about 30 roses you planted?

Protecting your roses the way Elena does comes with its own risk - voles, which can eat the entire roots! When I do it I end up lifting the canes up in the spring to fknd no rootball attached. Protect canes or protect roots, kind of the same choice in choosing same root or grafted.

kitasei2 , I do not suggest to cover roses my way for sure, just shared the way that works for me. We do not have voles, just one groundhog, who is sleeping at Winter.:)

Also, by "die back" do you mean the canes have gotten darker? Because that does happen and it isn't always die back.

@PDXRobertZ8

Your roses have cankers, it might be the reason why they are looking or really dead.

See fig. 4 here: https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/diseases-of-roses.html

I never experienced this, but you need to remove all dead canes and burn them and watch if your roses will produce new grows.

Gosh S B I'm sorry--you're right, they don't look good! And I do wonder if it's pathological and not necessarily weather related? I'm in a much warmer zone than you are, so I'm afraid I can't answer more than that. But if you are burying the graft union, I would think it's not the cold that is doing them in (if they are, indeed, done in).

You have to remember, some roses are just NOT winter hardy. The first hard freeze (below 28 degrees) and their canes will freeze and die. It's known as "learning the hard way". And yes, you have a few dead canes. I would wait until mid March and cut them down to any green stems and then wait until early May to see if anything coms back. But if you are like me, if the rose has major winter die back, I toss it. It's to winter tender for me to fight over. Like I said, I'll hunt for a rose that is listed as winter hardy to zone 6.

Ken with all due respect I am very disagree. All my roses died back last season due to very cold Winter came back healthy and strong. Can’t imagine repalcing 50+ roses I had at that time.

SB most likely has rose Canker Fungus, its a different story.

Spoken like someone who has never grown Kings Ransom.

One of the best lines I've ever heard:

'Kings Ransom dies back if you walk past it carrying a glass of iced tea.'

And S B, we still don't know where in the world you are. My official guess is New Jersey.

Jere in colorado, almost all my rose canes are black and dead. most die back almost to the ground (or all the way) but then come back and perform nicely. the benefit for me is that they dont grow into huge monsters, and i can stuff more into my garden.

Just inspected all my roses, no single cane or part of the can is dead or damaged. Yahoo!! We had a cold past week, down to 5F. Hope rosses would stay healthy till end of the Winter, 60F in the next week.

Usually that happens to me late in the spring as a result of freeze the.. Saw. Saw. Saw. Thaw. Freeze cycle.

Ouch! Last year it was obvious just after -5F frost.

Yes. It may seem like onlyn10 degrees, but it was also the incredibly cold wind we experienced last year. -20+ wind chill. Also, its been single sighDigits ts longer this year so we shall see.