I have stored roses in containers in my garage for years with excellent results. I don't move them into the garage until the weather is forecast to go down to freezing. And, where I live that can be anytime from November and into December. I have them ready and waiting by the door because of the number I have to move inside. When I store them they have had leaves removed,sprayed and pruned - basically ready for spring. I don't water mine, but most are in larger pots. You may have to water yours, but I would not water much or the roots will rot. Another thing I have found is that spraying with lime sulphur dormant oil seems to prevent the aphid attach that will come with new growth. However when you have only a few pots you may not want to go to the trouble of spraying so should keep an eye out for aphids when the roses start to grow.

When I retreive the pots from storage in late winter/early spring they have started into growth and if it's frosty, leaf damage will occur, so I usually try to keep them under cover until they are climatized. I'm fortunate to have a wide overhang on my house. I think this is something one needs to experiment with. I find it works really well for me and I'm always happy with the results. Our tree roses are treated in the same manner and some of these I have had for up to 15 years. Good luck with your experiment!
K

I overwinter all of my potted roses in an unheated garage.
I spray with a mix of Wilt-Pruf and Lime-Sulfur, prune down to about 12" tall, and take off all remaining foliage. In my zone 5B/6A, I usually do all this around the Thanksgiving holiday when winter has really set in.
When it snows during the winter I gather up a wheelbarrow full of snow and put some on each pot so that they don't dry up and die. The very first winter I did owverwintered in my garage I didn't do the snow thing and I lost every one of them come springtime.
I usually bring the pots back out around the last of March or beginning of April when the chance of a hard frost has passed.
I usually end up having to prune another 4" or 5" from them when I bring them back out of the garage, as that much has usually died. I just prune back the canes to the green.
I have had very good luck with this method for the last 5 years or so.
Good Luck!
John

Thank you both - "K" and John,
Never used Lime-Sulphur or a dormant spray before. What I subsequently found on threads makes me think I should first prune back to 10-12", remove any remaining leaves THEN spray heavily. Do I have the sequence correct? Also seems like another spraying in late winter or early spring before the new growth starts is good idea. Do you agree? THX
Hank

Yes, in my opinion you have it correct! Not everyone wants to go to the bother, but I wholeheartedly agree with the procedure. I think you'll find less problems will emerge next season. Although, if your roses had disease this past year and you can get or have "manzate" (mancozeb)an early spring spray with this is very desireable. Unfortunately though not all Cities or Municipalities allow cosmetic pesticides.
K

Well, it has been very cold here and will drop to 'high' of 18 degrees (F) over next few days - but - I noticed my potted roses in the garage have sent out new growth leaves already. I've got 2+ months before they will be moved outside. Should I just leave them alone for now? Later, when I do move them outside do I prune back to bare canes? THANKS!!

Yes, leave them alone. Make sure they stay watered. Most of the time that "ghost" growth falls off once you bring it into the sunlight, so you can take them off when you bring the plants out of the garage.

i was going to do this as well but didn't. most of my minis are in small hanging baskets and during this winter we had a lot of snow and temps that dipped in the -20 celsius range (with wind chill) all i did was harden them off in the fall and they all look alright now.

The roses in pots that have over wintered in my garage should be brought outdoors very soon. They have lots of growth and so far look ok, but if left too much longer I fear they will go down hill from lack of light. When I do bring them out, I'll keep them under cover for a few weeks as we will still experience frost and the soft new growth will be damaged. As long as they are kept under some sort of cover such as the overhang of the house or whatever else can be rigged up they always do ok. I haven't fertilized them yet, but since I use my own homemade organic mix, they will not need a chemical boost for a while yet.

There is lots of growth and no aphids which I credit to a good dormant spray before storing them. I'm posting a photo I have just taken of my little brood.

Kayli

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Kayli,
Thanks for posting picture ... they look great! I will take your advice and likely move my containers outside and place them under overhang in next week or two. Question: what about the early spring spraying (should I remove the early growth then spray or just spray as-is? )? BTW - I sprayed before storage with Lime-Sulphur and was able to obtain Manzate and think that would be best spray for now.

The first spray for me will be manzate, but not until it warms up a bit here. We are still very cold here. The foliage has always stayed on the plants for me, but I'm sure if they were hit with frost there would likely be some damage. There has only been one or two years in the past 15 that damage has ocurred to the foliage after taking them out of storage. I will keep them under cover where there is as much light as possible and I know they will be just fine. In the meantime, I'll apply my organic mix and mulch the pots, then add some osmocote which won't do any good until it warms up considerably, but then I know all they will need is water for a while and I can get on with the roses in the garden.

To answer your question - I wouldn't remove the foliage unless you really want too. If the leaves are looking pale, give them a bit of liquid fertilizer and that should green them up. I don't see anything wrong with pruning them back more, if you think they need it.

I don't know about you, but I've had enough of this cold snowy weather nonsense and I'm looking forward to spring. Good luck with your roses. K