late freeze

My roses had been coming along very well. There were buds everywhere developing on the abundant strong growths. Then two days ago, the snow came down all day, collecting on the new growths of the roses. I rushed to get all the potted plants into the garage. By late afternoon it had stopped and melted, and with even colder temperatures predicted for that night, I hurriedly covered my roses with sheets and plastic. My garden became a tent city.

The next morning there was ice in the tarps, and I was hopeful that the growths were saved.

Uncovering the plants, however, the damage was evident. The tarps had weighed down and broken many of the new growths, which were also frozen. That night was supposed to be even colder than the previous one, and I desperately covered my plants again. This time I used stakes to keep the tarps from touching the shoots of the roses. Today, the roses didn't seem to be any worse, but the damage had been done. The new growths on the lavender were mostly destroyed as well, and the lilies new growth was damaged or completely destroyed.

In fact, the covered roses seemed to be much worse than the ones that were left open (although the open ones were damaged, too). 

 I'm devastated. Heartbroken. A response from my question posed on Gardenweb's Rose Forum from Seil, said:

"All is not lost. When it warms back up just snip off anything that is dead. It may only be the tips. The rose will recover and still put on new growth and bloom this spring. Your spring flush will most likely be delayed but it will occur! I go through this almost every year here in Michigan and I always get a spring flush anyway.

For future reference I do not recommend covering roses. Sometimes the covering can do more harm than good. Roses can take temps down to about 27 degrees for a few hours at night with little or no damage. Only a severe and prolonged temperature drop will do bad damage. Covering can cause a lot of breakage of canes and new growth. Particularly if there is rain or snow to weigh it down. Also trying to remove the coverings can easily break off tiny new growth buds. And NEVER EVER use any kind of plastic to cover any kind of plants. It can actually make the freeze worse."

Nope, I will never do that again. Seems like both the plastic and the sheets had similar results, the plastic may have been a bit worse. The plants that were left open, had some slight damage to the youngest leaves, but not much more. Lesson learned. I will see what will happen as spring goes on.  Not much else I can do anyway.