Roses, and how to grow them; a manual for growing roses in the garden and under glass ...

Front matter

Class

Book JlkKi

Copyright N°

Preface

All that is really necessary for the amateur rose grower to know in order that he may intelligently make a rose garden, select his varieties and grow the harvest of bloom, is told in this volume. Many books on the rose are more bulky, but the additional matter is not of an essential character. In this volume everything not directly to the point of practical rose growing for the American amateur is omitted.

The writings of several expert amateur rosarians which have appeared in The Garden Magazine and Country Life in America, have been drawn upon freely in the preparation of the text; notably articles by Dr. Robert Huey and Mr. Aaron Ward for the outdoor cultivation. Mr. Leonard Barron provides the chapters on " Roses for Special Purposes" and "Roses Under Glass " — excepting the section dealing with American Beauties, which is by Mr. Henry Hentz, Jr.

VI

PREFACE

Acknowledgments are due to Prof. B. M. Watson for information on propagation; and to Professor Slingerland for information on insect pests; Prof. Byron D. Halsted is quoted on fungous diseases. Suggestions have also been received from Mr. L. B. Craw and from Mr. J. A. Payne, in regard to greenhouse construction.

Contents

CHAPTER

L

PAGE n.

CHAPTER I When, Where and How to Plant

The site — Best exposure — Making the best of other conditions — Why low ground is to be avoided — The soil — Must be well drained — Preparation of the soil — Manure — Laying out the beds — Preparing to plant on a lawn — Soils for different groups — Treatment of newly arrived plants — Spring planting best — How to plant — Budded or own-root plants — Planting from pots.

The ideal site for a rose garden is airy but sheltered (especially from the biting winds of winter), open to the sun some part of the day, quite free from the influence of large or growing trees, and preferably a little above the general level of the rest of the garden. It must not be the lowest spot. A southern exposure is desirable, and, if it is necessary to make a choice, the morning sun is best. Partial shade will do less harm to dark-red roses than to roses of other colours. Some protection from high winds is good, but not at the cost of having a close, stuffy location.

The beginner in rose growing will do well to weigh carefully the advantages and disadvantages of available sites. The soil may be poor and unsuitable. We can change that by taking away the present soil and filling in with soil from the meadow. Drainage and shelter can be provided, but if an error has been made in the site, all these accessories will avail little.

Low grounds are more subject to late spring frosts than adjacent places only a few feet higher, and late spring frosts are much to be dreaded after the tender shoots of the rose bushes have put forth. While shelter from high winds is very desirable, it must not be secured by trees whose roots can reach the beds. The roots of growing trees may be regarded as spreading from the trunk for at least a distance equal to the height of the tree. Thus if a tree is sixty feet high the rose bed should be at least that distance away; if nearer, the tree roots will revel in the enriched soil of the bed and appropriate the food needed for the roses. If the bed must be made nearer than this it may be protected

TO MAKE A ROSE BED

Dig three feet deep; throw away the bad soil; put in broken bricks or stones for drainage; then some inverted sods; then alternate layers of well-rotted manure and loam; finally a foot of loam. When planting spread the roots and work the soil thoroughly from encroachment of the tree root by sinking a four-and-one-half-inch brick wall below the bottom of the bed and building up to near the surface. But this is troublesome and expensive. A fence of hemlock plank will do well for some years, but the roots will eventually find their way through.

It is not to be inferred that roses will grow only under these ideal conditions. Reasonably good plants and blooms can be attained in much less favorable situations. Many village gardens containing only a few feet of ground, and shaded for at least half of the day, yield flowers that are a delight to the growers and their friends; but happy is he who has the opportunity of selecting the best place for a rose garden and does it.

THE SOIL AND WHEN TO PREPARE IT

The best soil is a deep loam. Well-drained ground is essential and the site should never before have been used for roses, unless fresh earth is substituted for the old.

Roses abhor wet feet, and if the soil is wet it must be thoroughly drained. This can usually be accomplished by digging out the bed to a depth of three feet and filling in one foot with broken stone, bricks, cinders, gravel, or anything that will permit a free passage of water.

If this is not sufficient and the water is not carried away quickly, provision must be made for this by tile draining, but except in very extreme cases, the drainage before mentioned will be sufficient.

At least three months before planting — to allow time for settling — the soil for the beds should be dug to the depth of two feet and liberally enriched with well-rotted manure; preferably with cow manure, though horse manure is good.

MAKING BEDS

The size which the beds shall be made is governed by the certain considerations of convenience in after years. All the bushes must be readily reached without leaving the walks; the surface of the beds must be accessible in every part for frequent cultivation, and the expense and labour of cultivating unnecessary space should be avoided.

With the exception of the climbers and the Rugosas (which ought not to be planted in the beds at all), a space of twenty-one inches from plant to plant is sufficient to meet the above requirements. Accordingly rose gardens are usually laid out in parallelograms of any length, but with the width limited to five feet. Such a bed should contain three parallel rows, twenty-one inches apart, the outer rows twelve inches from the edge. The paths between beds should be not less than five feet in width, to admit of the passage of the water barrel. If more space is available, this width of path, as well as the space between the individual plants, could be increased to advantage. The paths look best if in grass, but well-rolled cinder paths are good and save troublesome weeding. They are the best for wet weather.

Beds for Hybrid Perpetuals made with a width of four feet will usually be found most satisfactory, as a double row can be planted at intervals of two and a half feet, which will be sufficient space for the strongest-growing varieties, and the beds can be worked and the blooms gathered without the necessity of trampling the soil.

Space may be economised by setting the plants not directly but diagonally opposite each other. They will then be one foot from the edge and thirty inches apart, and each plant will be fully exposed to the light and air and will not interfere with its neighbours.

For Teas and Hybrid Teas the width of the bed may profitably be reduced to even three feet. The plants can be set eight inches from the edge and two feet apart, which will be ample space.

MAKING A BED ON THE LAWN

In preparing a bed on a lawn the sod and soil should first be entirely removed and placed apart. The best of the subsoil should then be taken out and placed on the opposite side of the trench, and finally the portion to be discarded, making in all a depth of at least two feet. The floor should be loosened up to the full depth of a pick-head, the good subsoil replaced and mixed with a generous dressing of well-decomposed manure (preferably that from a cow stable). Lastly the sod should be well broken up and the top soil also thoroughly enriched with manure, and the bed filled with good unmanured top soil to about two or three inches above the adjoining surface, enough good soil being added to replace the discarded earth. When the bed has settled, the surface should be one inch below that of the adjoining sod, in order that all rainfall be retained. It is a grave error to make a rose bed higher than the adjacent surface, as in hot weather the soil dries out and the plants suffer for want of moisture. If possible, the bed should be made several weeks in advance of planting, to allow time for settling.

SPECIAL SOILS TO BE PROVIDED

The different classes of roses have different soil requirements, and wherever the best flowers are sought the beds should be prepared each for one class rather than mixing all classes indiscriminately. The Hybrid Perpetuals require a heavy soil containing some clay — what is known as a heavy loam answers admirably — and if this can be obtained from an old pasture where the growth has been luxuriant, nothing could be better. The top spit should be taken with the grass roots and chopped into very small pieces, care being taken to bury the grass roots several inches deep to prevent the possibility of growth. We want the humus they contain for the roses.

For Teas, Hybrid Teas, Noisettes and Bourbons a lighter, warmer soil is desirable. Three-fourths of the compost already described, into which about one-fourth of sand and leaf-mould has been thoroughly mixed, will be found entirely satisfactory. It is important to remember that all the manure should be incorporated w T ith the lower twothirds of the soil. The upper third should not contain any recently added manure, as this will rot the roots of the new plants, which should be covered with fine, friable soil. When growth begins the roots attract the rich moisture from beneath and appropriate it as it reaches them, without any danger of the roots being burned by fermenting manure

The beds or borders may be edged with either stone, terra-cotta, cement coping, or planted with a border of some close-growing herbaceous plants, such as funkia or some varieties of lychnis or dianthus. But still better, for edging rose borders and other flower beds in permanent flower gardens, is the oldfashioned boxwood. The stone edge, or anything related to it, will be avoided by the artistic gardener. The beds being prepared, we are ready for the planting.

KILLARNEY

The best Hybrid Tea rose. Blooms large, pale pink, shaded deeper

SUZANNE MARIE DE RHODO- CANACHI One of the best Hybrid Tea roses. Deep Trench pink, a unique colour

ETIENNE LEVET ULRICH BRUNNER

H. P. Fine carmine red, large and of good The most satisfactory H. P. Cherry crimson, form, but a shy bloomer large size, develops all blooms well

FOUR FIRST-CLASS GARDEN ROSES

WHEN, WHERE AND HOW TO PLANT II

WHEN TO PLANT

Hybrid Perpetuals and Rugosas may be planted in early November, and one need not hesitate to plant most of the Hybrid Teas and the hardier Teas at the same time if prepared to protect them properly after the first frost. But, as a rule, spring planting of roses gives the most satisfactory results in the end. The Hybrid Perpetuals and Rugosas should be planted just as soon as the soil is in suitable condition and the frost out of the ground, usually about March 25th in the vicinity of New York. All others are best planted after April 20th, when the danger of sharp frosts is past.

HANDLING NEWLY ARRIVED PLANTS

If the plants arrive in a shrivelled condition, soak them thoroughly in water and bury them completely in a trench, again soaking them with water. Uncover after three days and they will usually be found revived. If the plants arrive in wet weather, or when the ground is frozen, do not open the box, but place it in a barn or other dry place where there is no artificial heat. Cover it with matting or blankets if the weather is cold.

When the weather is dry and conditions fit for planting, unpack the roses in a place sheltered from the wind and sun. From this time on it is absolutely necessary to avoid undue exposure of the roots. In sorting out the varieties while still under cover, use old mats or straw to keen the roots covered.

With the tender varieties, dormant planting out of doors is attended with much risk because of the inability of these plants to endure our rigorous winters before becoming established. Consequently, they need much more protection than the hardy sorts. Where the thermometer reaches 15 below zero it is better to defer planting until the early spring, provided the plants can be safely housed during the winter. This can be done by digging a pit about fifteen inches in depth in a dry, cold cellar or outhouse and packing the dormant plants in it, covering roots and tops with fine earth. After one good soaking with water they may be safely left until early spring unless they become very dry, in which case they may be watered again. After the plants become firmly established,, which will be in one season, there is much less likelihood of their being injured by the cold.

l 3

Tender roses, planted on or about April 20th, may have thrown over them a few loose handfuls of old hay, or other light covering, to protect from possible late frosts and from the glare of the sun. After about ten days this shelter may be removed. The hardy roses do not need even this.

HOW TO PLANT

It is best to unpack the plants under the cover of some convenient shed, and to take to the beds, at one time, no more than can be properly protected nearby or promptly planted. During this move some people protect the roots by dipping them in mud; others carry the plants about in pails with the roots immersed in water. All these precautions are taken to avoid the immediate and very harmful drying action of the sun, and especially of the wind, upon the fibrous roots of the plants. Hence the first rule for planting is to wait for dry soil and to select, if possible, a calm, cloudy day.

Too deep and too shallow planting are equally damaging; the first is certain to kill the plant by rotting the stem, and the second leads to spindly, unsatisfactory growth, besides exposing the roots to serious strain in high winds, which dry out the soil to a remarkable degree. The success of Mr. Prince in England with shallow planting should not govern us in the climate of America, where the trials of the winter are more rigorous. Moreover, in the case of budded stock, deep planting has this added advantage, that the upper part will develop robts of its own and in time become independent of the stock which carried it.

The planting can be done by one person, but two working together will accomplish relatively much more and do better work; one holding the plant and the other filling in. In planting a long row, it will save time to trench out the site with a wheel hoe to a depth slightly greater than is required. Measure off and stake out the rose places, plant, and fill in.

BUDDED VS. OWN-ROOT PLANTS

Garden roses can be obtained from the dealers grown in two ways, either on their own roots or budded on the Manetti or brier stock.

There is some difference of opinion as to the relative values of "budded" and "own-root" roses. The advocates of the latter declare that the wild wood will sooner or later choke and kill the budded growth. This point is well taken if we admit the necessity of permitting the wild growth to develop, but if planting has been correctly done wild wood rarely breaks out. If it does, as it happens in exceptional cases, it can be easily distinguished and readily removed. The Manetti suckers nearly always push up outside of the plant and are covered with minute prickly spines. Suckers of the brier stock bear seven serrated leaves instead of the usual number of five, and so are easily identified. If a shoot is suspected of being wild, positive proof is easy to get. Remove the earth carefully, and follow the shoot down to the point of union with the rest of the plant; if this is below the bud, the shoot is a sucker and must be removed. Cut it off close and rub the wound with a little moist earth. Perhaps 1 per cent, of the roses in a well-cared-for garden will push out wild wood in a year, but in a badly tended garden a much greater proportion will appear — the result of too i6 shallow planting. This is probably the only valid objection that can be urged against budded roses.

The most experienced amateurs, as exemplified by Dr. Huey, put their faith in budded roses, in whose favour much can be said. They are much more vigorous, produce finer blooms, come into bearing sooner, and last just as long, if not longer. Budded roses give a fair amount of bloom the first season after planting, and each subsequent year adds to their vigour and beauty. Dr. Huey in 1887 made a bed of budded roses, and eighteen years after he reported in Country Life in America (March, 1905) that four had died, the others being still vigorous and healthy, although the soil had not been changed. Adjoining this bed, twenty-four strong own-root plants of Ulrich Brunner were planted ten years later, and at the time of the report, nine of them had died, while of the twelve budded Brunners immediately adjacent all were still flourishing. From this it is reasonable to infer that budded roses are at least as hardy as those grown on their own roots.

It must be admitted, however, that some of the stronger-growing varieties do very well on their own roots, notably Ulrich Brunner, Magna Charta and Caroline Testout, but many fine varieties are utterly worthless unless budded, such as Viscountess Folkesstone and Reine Marie Henriette.

There is a question as to which stock is most suited to our hot, dry climate. So far the Manetti has proven the best for most varieties, and the Messrs. Dickson bud most of their plants for export to America on this stock.

The English growers favour the brier, and the great majority of roses budded in England are grown on this stock. This is quite right and proper for the moist, temperate English climate, but not so suitable for ours. It is very probable that the best stock for our use has not yet been introduced, and equally probable that when found it will be a seedling of Crimson Rambler. The hardiness and great vigour of this variety, which does well almost everywhere, commend it highly.

The budded plants grown in Europe are taken up as soon as the wood is ripened in the autumn and shipped to us in the dormant state in time for planting before the ground i8 is frozen. They are usually received in such excellent condition that rarely one in a hundred of the hardy sorts fails to make good growth and a fair bloom in the following season.

PLANTING BUDDED ROSES

Before planting, each plant should be examined, all broken roots cut off cleanly with a sharp knife, and all eyes that can be detected on the stock — i. e., the portion below the bud — should be removed. If this is not done, the eyes will push out and suckers will develop from them. One difference in appearance between a sucker and a root is this: the sucker swells the farther it is from the stem, and the root tapers the farther it is from the stem.

A hole large enough to accommodate all its roots without crowding should be made for each plant. The collar or point where the bud was inserted and from which the new growth starts should be placed not less than two inches nor more than three inches below the surface of the soil, the roots spread out carefully, nearly horizontally, but inclining downward, taking care that no two roots cross each other on the same level. If two have grown so that one must lie above the other, the earth must be carefully packed between; all the roots having been covered with fine soil free from fresh manure, the hole should be almost filled up and the soil firmly packed. This is very important, and the foot of a man of ordinary weight is not too heavy to accomplish the work well. Water the roots freely, and when the water is absorbed fill up to the bed level, and see that the union of the stock is where it belongs, two inches below the surface.

When all the plants have been placed, level the surface with a rake, cover with a topdressing of about three inches of rough manure, and if planting is done in autumn, cut the long wood back to about one foot to prevent the plant being whipped and loosened by high winds. This extra wood is left to encourage root action, and should be cut back to two or three eyes as soon as the dormant eyes begin to show in the spring.

PLANTING ROSES FROM POTS

Several American dealers start a large number of imported budded plants in pots for sale in the spring, thus obviating with the tender varieties the damage of winter killing.

An objection to this is the crowding of the large roots that cannot be spread out in planting without endangering the life of the plant, but good plants may be obtained in this way, although the bloom is not so fine nor the growth so strong during the first year. In setting out pot-grown plants, either budded or on their own roots, it is important to get them into the beds as soon as all danger of severe frost is over, in order that the plants may be firmly established before the heat of summer. Roses planted late in the season never do well, as they cannot attain sufficient vigour to withstand the burning heat of our summer sun.

The holes need only be made a little larger than the pot in which the plant is growing. Choose a cloudy day, in the afternoon, and after making the hole, knock the pot off by inverting the plant and striking the edge sharply on a firm substance. The handle of a spade, which has been fixed in the ground in an upright position, will answer the purpose. Fill the hole with water, press the ball of earth between the hands to loosen the particles, and insert to the required depth, budded plants as previously directed, and own-root plants about half an inch deeper than when in the pot. Fill in with soil and pack the earth around firmly. Pot-grown plants will require staking if the varieties are of upright growth.

Chapter II

Cultivation in spring — Suckers and how to know them — Feeding — How to cut — Advantages of disbudding — The summer mulch — Making snug for winter — Fertilisers and manure — Propagation.

The beds once properly made and planted, constant and regular cultivation is the secret of successful rose culture. Just before growth begins in the spring (about April 15th in New York), the surplus rough manure should be removed from the beds, and all the remaining fine particles forked in. Deep cultivation is not desirable, as the roots are likely to be injured or broken. Three inches in depth is quite sufficient to cultivate a bed that has not been trampled upon. Use a four-tine digging fork, as it is less apt to cause injury than a spade. The beds should then be edged and raked.

Throughout the entire season until the middle of July frequent stirring of the surface with a hoe and a sharp steel rake is absolutely necessary for all the rose beds. The soil should never be permitted to become baked. After a hard rain, when the surface has been beaten down, it should be loosened as soon as it is dry enough to work, and should be kept loosened. This is one of the most important points in the cultivation of the rose.

SUCKERS

During this cultivation, and at all convenient times, keep a sharp lookout for suckers, which are growths shooting up from the roots from below the graft. Where the rose is budded on the brier, as is usually the case, the difference of foliage is so marked as to attract attention at once, the brier having very light green and small leaves as compared to the rose leaf, and also a gross reddish-white stem when young. The brier leaf has seven leaflets instead of only five as the garden roses have. The suckers should be carefully broken off at their point of junction with the root, if this can be done without disturbing the plant. Otherwise they should be cut off as low in the ground as the shears will reach. If this detail is neglected, the result may be a choice crop of briers with corresponding shyness of rose bloom. Manetti stock is more difficult to detect, as it resembles the rose in leaf. It should not be used as a stock for out-of-door plants.

LIQUID MANURE

As soon as the flower buds begin to form, about half a gallon of weak liquid manure should be poured around each plant weekly as long as the plant continues to bloom. A good time to apply this is just before a rain, as it will thus be washed down to the tender, feeding roots and eagerly appropriated. The liquid manure should not be too strong. "Weak and often" is the gardener's motto. Half a bushel of cow manure to a barrel of water is about the proper strength. The liquids collected from the barn and stable, diluted to the colour of ale, may be used in the same quantities.

Frequent syringing with clean water, or spraying with a hose, when that is accessible, will do much to keep the leaves in a healthy condition. This is especially necessary near a large city, a factory, or a railway where soft coal is burned. The floating particles lodging on the leaves fill up the pores, which are the lungs of the plant, and unless the foliage is kept clean the plant will speedily sicken and the leaves drop prematurely. In extreme cases in towns it is necessary to sponge the leaves in order to open the pores, but frequent syringing under ordinary circumstances will be sufficient. The frequent showering with water will also keep insect pests in check, especially aphis and red spider.

CUT THE FLOWERS FOR MORE BLOOM

When the roses are in bloom, be generous to your friends. Cut as many as possible each day. On the plant they soon attain their full development and fall away. They endure longer when cut and put into water indoors. Cut in the early morning before the flowers are fully open. It is better for the plant to have the flowers picked as freely as possible, and with as long stems as the growth will permit, merely observing the precaution of leaving an outward-growing eye, or perhaps two for safety, on the stem below the cut.

Where it has been found impossible to pick all the roses for use, then the plants should be gone over daily and all faded flowers removed to a point at least two eyes below the flowers. A regular practice of this precaution is the only means of insuring some autumnal bloom from the Hybrid Perpetuals.

DISBUDDING

For large flowers disbud freely on all free bloomers and a very much finer effect will be obtained than in the effort to mature all that are formed.

Some varieties form large clusters of buds at the terminal point of the leading shoots, and if all these buds are allowed to remain the vigour of the plant is distributed among the group, so that the best results cannot be obtained unless one is striving for general effect. If fine single specimens are desired, the best bud only should be retained and all the others removed as soon as they can be pinched oft. The centre bud is usually the strongest, but as it may possibly be malformed, the most promising bud should be selected. Rodocanachi, Prince Camille, La France, Magna Charta, Rosslyn, Clio, Jubilee,

KILLED BY A SUCKER

Beginners either do not know or neglect the fact that almost all their roses are budded. Their choice varieties are overgrown or killed like this and Madame Isaac Pereire have this tendency markedly developed.

In the case of the multiflora and polyantha roses — all the cluster roses, indeed, including the Noisettes — the object to be attained is quantity of bloom rather than the large development of individuals, so disbudding is not advocated in those cases. Everything depends upon the desire of the gardener.

WHY AND HOW TO MULCH

When the great heats are on and after the last cultivation has been given, apply a liberal mulch of cow manure, or well-spent stable manure. The object is not to enrich the soil, but to retain the moisture. Generally this will suffice until autumn, but in some situations it may be necessary to water in spite of this assistance. Remove the surplus mulch in autumn before putting on the winter protection, so that the level of the beds may not be raised too high.