I have a friend who lives in N.W Iowa and grows a lot of roses in pots. He puts his in the basement and waters them about once a month. During the winter his basement stays about 38 to 40 and is dark most of the time.

Do not bring it inside. It will most likely die if you do. The basement is OK if it's as cold as Ken's but if not don't try it. In anything warmer than that it will try to keep growing with inadequate light and humidity and will exhaust itself and die.

I don't know when your ground would freeze but if it's still several weeks away and you want to plant it do so. The ground is always the best place to winter roses. When you plant it situate it so it is just a little bit lower in the ground than it is in the pot and try to keep that existing root ball in tact as much as possible. The less you disturb the roots the better.

Otherwise put it in the garage, on a shelf or up off the floor. Water some every month all winter, even if it looks frozen, water it some anyway.

Thank you both for your responses. I think I will put the plant in my garage. My basement is cool, but not cold, and I am a little daunted at the prospect of planting it outdoors now. I will plant it in the ground in the spring. Am I correct in assuming that I should not cut the plant back at all until spring? Thank you again for your advice.

Yes, you are correct. You want to keep as much cane length as possible. It has stored energy in those canes that it will need come spring. You will lose some of it to winter die back anyway so you want to keep all you can.

I had some potted roses that I dug a hole and put the pot into thew ground. I then covered the plant with mulch the same as I do for all my roses. It will be fine.