I planted this Gentle Giant bareroot two years ago in a pot to get it started the first year. As is my norm, I overwintered it that first year in it's pot in my unheated garage with all the other first year roses in my Pot Ghetto and it did well. It seemed to do well last year. I really liked the vigor the bush displayed in it's foliage growth and blooming. And they were very large and colorful blooms!!
I don't winter protect as most of you know. However, I have two large oak trees adjacent to the bed this rose was in, and, I just let the leaves congregate around the roses so they get some good protection from them.
Unfortunately, this Gentle Giant rose didn't survive the winter and I found it dead completely to the roots when I did my Spring pruning last week. This is disappointing to me as I really liked this rose last year and looked forward to it's beautiful blooms this year.
Obviously I will not replace this rose with another GG as it apparently is not winter hardy enough for my garden in zone 5b/6a even with the pseudo-winter protection provided by the accumulation of the oak leaves. I just have too many roses--250+ or so--to do serious winter protection for all of them intentionally. We really had a very normal winter as far as temps go with a few days in the single digits and one or two even a couple of degrees below zero. It was dryer than normal though, and we didn't have the normal insulating snow layer to protect the roots of the roses when we had those very cold temperatures. So, that may have been what made the difference for this rose and thus it's death.
John