Question
I live in northeastern Pennsylvania (wilkes-barre/Scranton area). I can not find any information on how to care for these plants in the winter time. Do I need to cut them down to the ground? Do I need to cover the plants? I basically need the winterizing procedures for these plants. As you can tell this is my first year with these plants. Any help at all would be helpful. Thank you

Answer
Gene Boerner is a very good rose and will give you loads of flowers as well as being a hardy one. You are on the boarder of heavy winter care. So all you need to do is make sure that if you get a very nasty cold winter and the rose canes die back, they will only be allowed to die back so far. To do this you take soil, compost, wood mulch etc and mound it up to about 12 inches all around the rose. Cut any very long canes back even with the others and then tie them up in a reasonable tight bunch together. This will stop them moving and disturbing the roots if the winds get strong. It will also give you healthy 12 inch roots. That will give you a good amount to grow back from. Roses can make a bush from canes that are only 3 inches.
In the spring when the hard frosts are over, remove the mulch, give the rose a handful of fertilizer sprinkled all around the base and then cut off any dead growth. It really isn't necessary to prune Gene Boerner hard, simply tidy him up. His normal growth height is about 4 feet tall. He likes to be left alone and you will get more flowers from him. Some roses contradict the rose books and he is one of them. Hope this helps.