i would say dont plant them the first year, put them in the basement where there will be shelther and allow them to recieve a mild winter. plant them the beginning of next season. btw...PREEETTY! (who are the lucky parents?)

Agreed, in your climate, overwinter them in pots placed in a cool location that remains below 45F (but above 25F) all Winter long and preferably in near darkness.

The Explorer series of roses were planted out in Kapuskasing, I believe, and whatever survived was selected. However, if you have discovered that some of the offspring are particularly attractive, I would make an assumption that since the parents are hardy, the offspring should be hardy, and I would go to the growing under lights forum and set up an indoor garden to actually grow them on through the winter. By doing this, next year you will have a good big bush to plant, and also in the middle of the winter, you can propagate your bush by taking cuttings.
Given your climactic zone, I suspect your growing season is short, so multiply it with an indoor garden. I use 11 2-lamp t8 shoplight fixtures back to back, and suspended a 4 x 6' reinforced plywood from the ceiling by chains, and use that as a base for the garden, and grew out
72 Fair Bianca cuttings, taken in the fall, grown over the winter, and this year I have planted quite an awesome hedge with plants that look more like 2 years old, instead of just less than a year (which they actually are - 7 months to be precise). Indoor growing allows you to keep on the lights
24/7 continuous, and the amount of achieveable growth is prodigious and makes the effort definitely worthwhile. The heat from that bank of lamps (700-800 watts) helps to keep the house warm in the winter, so the electricity is essentially "free", because you have to heat your house anyways. I buy some heavy duty hardware from Home Depot, use 2 x 3" lumber to reinforce a 4 x 6' 1/2" plywood. This keeps the garden near the ceiling, so you can still use the floor space, if you have just a small house, like me. Sativa.

Are these open pollinated seeds or from crosses you made? If at least one of the parent survives to -40 then the seedlings should be able to survive that also. Being they have only been growing since May(most of my seedlings germinate Febuary to April)you will have to make sure that the seedlings are hardened off before going into winter. If you get them into the ground now, the lessening daylight will trigger the plants to get ready for dormancy.
If you bury the plants and then cover them with mulch (I prefer straw as it stays put better than leaves and being hollow is a better insulator) the plants should be just fine. The ground usually hovers around 25 degrees F in winter. Last winter I didn't bother burying my seedlings, I just put straw around them and I didn't lose any of them and it got to -26 F here.

I always overwinter seedlings (except species roses like r. rubrifolia) and cutting-grown plants inside for the winter, then plant out in spring after hardening off, etc. If you grow them under lights, as suggested above, they will do just fine. One word of caution: such plants are insect magnets; they are especially attrative to spider mites. So be vigilant: check them often and spray the undersides of the leaves regularly with water. if you do have an outbreak, you can use insecticidal soap (though some labels warn against using this on rose plantlets, I've never had a problem; alternatively you can spray with a solution of 70% rubbing alcohol and water (2:1) with a bit of dish soap added as a surfactant). Good luck! GaryStPaul

I'm thinking that the ones that are really pretty, will be kept in the basement and the rest will be planted in the ground. They are already hardened off as they were sprouted on my balcony which is exposed to sun, wind and bugs. I'm almost considering planting them all out as this is a terrible year for aphids because of a low predator count. I do plan to collect hips from the same plants again as well as my Queen of the Lakes rose.

As for the lucky parents, requested by rabocsekire, I'm not sure what they are. The quick lube place on the corner had irresistible hips. Any identifications? They are rather isolated on a busy corner so I think they probably Open Pollinated each other.

The new August baby:

Those are very nice seedlings. Do the blooms last long or do they droop right away? Is there any scent?

Being you're in zone 3a I would say that the parents are most likely either Morden or Explorer roses. The red one looks just like my Champlain. The lighter pink one I'm guessing could be Morden Centennial, though the flowers are a little darker on mine. That could be because these might be past there prime. The darker pink one looks like it could be Frontenac or George Vancouver. But I'm just guessing on that one as I don't have either one.

Here are some links:
http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/pl.php?n=1062&tab=10
http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/pl.php?n=2871&tab=10
http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/pl.php?n=2932&tab=10
http://www.helpmefind.com/plant/pl.php?n=4381&tab=10

Paul

Thanks Paul. The blooms have been lasting about a week or more. Haven't been counting though.