How does one maintain potted roses in the Northeast during the winter months?

Question

Pope John Paul II Hybr I live in the Northeast United States (New Jersey).  I have two rose bushes which are hybrids; one is in a large pot with a large hole for drainage at the bottom(Pope John Paul II) and the other is in an elongated planter where there is a water well and there's a trellis (Barbara Bush).  The Barbara Bush did not yield any roses this past summer.  The Pope John Paul II produced the most exquisite looking and smelling blooms.
We just had our first freeze.  I brought the rose bushes into the house the night before to avoid them from freezing.  I now need to know where to keep them and how to wrap them for the winter.  It抯 my first time having roses in a pot.  Our last house had a garden and the roses were planted in the ground so there wasn抰 a problem. I do have a two-car attached garage and this will be the first winter in our new home.  I find that the garage reflects the outside weather except it doesn抰 get direct heat/sun and in the winter it won抰 get the snow/winds/freezing directly when inside.
I don抰 plan to put them back on the patio since it was difficult bringing them into the house and they won't survive outdoors.  One is on rolling casters (but on carpeting now) and the other needs to be carried from place to place. How do I prepare my plants and where do they need to be kept during the winter months?

Answer
Both the hybrid teas you mentioned would survive outdoors even when planted in the ground. You need to leave them outside until they drop all their leaves. Frost and freezing won't kill them.  Then they would have hardened off for the winter. Because the canes are ready for the cold, they would have  survived much better if the weather turned nasty. Keeping them warm stops the roses from hardening off. This means the growth is still active and if they get cold such as below freezing, then the new growth will be killed. It is always a wisdom to let a rose prepared itself for the winter before you do anything about moving it. If you are concerned about your roses, I would put them in the garage as they don't need any light as they will have dropped all their leaves. Give them a cup of water every month so the soil doesn't completely dry out and they will be okay.