How to tell if your rose was lost to winter-kill and what to do about it ....... This winter was very hard on roses.  Many gardeners are distressed by the lifeless canes on their formerly-beautiful roses.  Some have even dug them up, returning them to us for replacement credit.  Don't be hasty!  As we've told several people "your rose was alive until you dug it up." Remember, our roses are winter-hardy.  That doesn't mean they're winter-proof all the way to the tips of their canes.  The term "winter-hardy" means that the rose will survive winter, with new life springing from the roots after severe winters.  Our roses are grown on their own roots -- they're not grafted.  The roots are the same variety as the top of the plant, so new sprouts from the roots will soon mature into the same variety of rose you enjoyed last year. What to do if the plant looks dead.  First, remove the winter-mulch and leaf debris from the crown of the plant.  You may discover the base of the canes are green and new sprouts are emerging from the soil.  Wait a week to permit the soil around the base of the plant to warm.  Keep the rose well-watered. You should water your established roses every 3 or 4 days, increasing to every 2 or 3 days when the weather heats up. You'll probably find more sprouts when you inspect your rose in a week.  Prune away all dead portions of the canes.  You can't tell if a cane is dead from its exterior appearance.  Often, mature rose canes turn maroon or deep red.  Rugosa canes seem grey, dead and lifeless until they sprout leaves.  So, start to prune a cane by removing just a few inches.  Inspect the interior of the cane.  If it's brown and lifeless, then remove a few more inches, inspect and repeat until you discover a green circle of inner bark.  Congratulations!  Your rose is alive. Remove all dead portions of the canes.  Fertilize in mid-May after the soil warms.  Use a good rose fertilizer that you lightly scratch into the soil.  We use BioBloom in our garden monthly from mid-May until mid-August.  RoseTone and Osmocote are other good fertilizers.  Water well the day before fertilizing and water again just after fertilizer application. So what's the point of "babying" a rose that sustained a lot of winter damage?  Why not just dig it out and get a new one?  Well, admittedly the roses in our nursery pots look better than the ones in your garden right now.  But remember, your rose is at least a year older than the ones we're selling and the roots are much better developed than those in our nursery pots.  Roses grow quickly and (if you followed our planting instructions) your rose has a root mass that is better established than anything we have in the nursery.  It should bounce-back quickly. What if you try all this and the rose still is lifeless?  Last year, we guaranted the roses we sold in round nursery pots for one year.  You can select a replacement rose of any variety in a similar size pot.  Ideally, we'd like to see the dead plant, your receipt (which we don't use at farmers' markets) and the plant tag.  It's not that we doubt your veracity -- it's that we learn from problems.  If we know which variety didn't survive, we could suggest a hardier variety -- one better suited for your garden conditions.   Where can I get a replacement rose?  Of course, we'd prefer that you visit our nursery.  That way, you'll be seduced by all the beautiful roses and will leave with more than just your replacement rose!  However, you can select replacement roses from us at the Ann Arbor and Northville Farmers Market and at special events where we sell roses.  Very few rose retailers offer one-year guarantees.  Our suppliers and other retailers have told us we're insane to guarantee roses.  Everyone knows they're annuals, right?  Wrong!  We sell roses that thrive in Michigan.  Our customers flock to the many educational programs at Great Lakes Roses.  An educated gardener is a successful gardener.  We're confident that you can succeed with our roses, utilizing the advice of this website and the programs at the nursery.  We plan to retire in the fall.  Unfortunately, no one has stepped forward to continue the business, so we will be unable to offer our usual one-year guarantee for this year's purchases.  We will, however, replace any roses that fail to perform provided you have followed our planting instructions and we have inventory available.