Everywhere above that I typed "north" I meant to type "south." It has been a long day, but I'm not a total gardening idiot. :)

for sure grow it on indoors over the winter, that way by next year u get a good sized bush. just use a shoplight with cool white t8's on 24/7, or better yet, 2 shoplights (total 4 lamps) you'll even be able to take cuttings from cuttings, qe is really nice too.

So since my classroom has like a bizillion flourescent bulbs in the ceiling already, that makes it the better choice than my basement?

I need to be economical here--my utility bills are already sky high (you'd be astounded at how much it costs to run a 96-year-old boiler at 68 degrees all winter).

Of course, turn in into a horticultural science project. why don't you run your boiler at 60 degrees and wear a few sweaters? sixty degrees is actually quite warm; i can afford the heat, but i still run mine at 60 degrees, because a dollar saved for me, is like 2 dollars earned. you should be able to find a nice wool blanket and a few nice wool sweaters at the second hand store - (I did) - very quickly your body will acclimatize and it will feel like normal.

So anyway, any other opinions on the matter of getting the rose thru the winter are appreciated as well.

Last winter, I carried over my rooted roses in my unheated, attached garage. I have grow lights, but they're not necessary if your garage has a window. Since this rose is so precious to you, if you choose to go the garage route, I doubt you'll forget about it. Make a habit of going down on a regular basis to check on it.

Do you have access to the bush to take more cuttings? Now can be a good time to try to root it again, so you have a back-up copy. You can contact me privately, if you want, and I'll coach you through what I do.

Good luck with QE. She's a very nice rose.

Connie

Paul, you live so far north that you almost have to grow your cuttings indoors for them to survive winter. As a bonus, they are larger than they would otherwise be come spring. The method works well.
I, however, do not wish to grow mine inside. I start them outside. I repot them once they have rooted and started to sprout new leaves and either plant them in the garden where I want to grow them, or plant the pot for winter, with their bottles on top. I rarely lose a rose over winter, but I can do this because the winters here are moderated by the proximity to Lakes Huron and Erie.
Different stokes...
Steve.
My apologies for reposting the link again, for those tired of seeing it. S.

Here is a link that might be useful: Overwintering

My cuttings survive outside in winter really nice. I have been growing Fair Bianca by cuttings and layerings for about 7 years now and giving them out to my friends and neighbours.
I end up tending to my neighbour's bush personally, since she is not too familiar with what to do with a rose, but for the last 2 years, I have not used ANY WINTER PROTECTION AT ALL.
That single layering that I gave her 6 years ago, is now a big bush, about 5 feet across and 4 feet high, and this is in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, not known for it's warm winters, and not known for a long growing season. The only reason is started growing cuttings indoors this past season, was last November (yes November) I TOOK MY CUTTINGS THE DAY BEFORE THE FIRST BIG SNOWFALL WAS FORECAST, and it would be impossible to grow cuttings on outdoors - the ground was already starting to freeze up!!! By observing that roses do incredibly well with the lights on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, I now heartily recommend this method - the only special materials are a shop light, which many people already have, in order to start seedlings in the spring. Make use of that shoplight in November, and you get big bushes by planting time next spring.

S--The article link was great! I have bookmarked it. Thank you!

Connie, I am currently 2 hour drive from the rose, but as long as it is there, I can probably get more cuttings. However, it seems that FIL has taken to ripping out my late MIL's garden one thing at a time and I am afraid it will disappear on me. I would just ask for the whole rose, but he gets annoyed when we ask for the things that he says he doesn't want anyway. Don't ask. :(

Paul, it's really cool how you began propagating inside.
I do not seem to be as fortunate about not losing cuttings without protection through winter outside though perhaps I have never been as brave as you in removing all protection. This spring, we had a lot of warm weather, and the bottles all came off. The cuttings were leafing out and well ahead of the established roses when we had two over-night freezes in a row. Nearly half of my cuttings died. Those that didn't are happily blooming away today.
Steve.

I think the sensitivity to a spring freeze is strain dependent. HT's are bad. By now, I'm over 10 years into growing roses, and ALL of my original HT's are long dead, whereas most of my DA's are doing great. I find Abraham Darby does not tolerate the winter too well, and is also susceptible to rust, so AD is dead, but otherwise the rest of my DA's are doing great, especially Fair Bianca, which is why is just grow DA's now. All of my DA's this spring tolerated repeated freezes, with no problems. We have a man in town that started a QE hedge about 20 years ago, and that hedge still does great. All he does to it, is protect the crown with a small mound of oak leaves each fall, from what I've read and can see, Queen Elizabeth is a fairly hardy grandiflora. I wouldn't grow her, though, because she's not really fragrant enough.

You're quite right. I'm nursing HTs through winter. There were so many here when I moved in, I tried to keep them going, but added roses that landscape better and, additionally, are hardier. I discovered a couple of years back that the blooms from the HTs make wonderful cut flowers and have been starting more HTs from cuttings to, not only fill in the spaces in the HT bed, but bring blooms indoors. The hardier roses are generally much larger, and I'm running out of room, and sunlight, on my city lot.
Steve.