THE GROWING OF THE ORNAMENTAL PLANTS
INSTRUCTIONS ON PARTICULAR KINDS - Continued
Open-ground plants should be set about as deep as they stood
previously, excepting budded or grafted plants, which should be set so
that the union of the stock and graft will be 2 to 4 inches below the
surface of the ground. Plants from pots may also be set an inch deeper
than they stood in the pots. The soil should be in a friable condition.
Roses should have the soil compact immediately about their roots; but we
should distinguish between planting roses and setting fence posts. The
dryer the soil the more firmly it may be pressed.
As a general statement, it may be said that roses on their own roots
will prove more satisfactory for the general run of planters than budded
stock. On own-rooted stock, the suckers or shoots from below the surface
of the soil will be of the same kind, whereas with budded roses there is
danger of the stock (usually Manetti or dog rose) starting into growth
and, not being discovered, outgrowing the bud, taking possession, and
finally killing out the weaker growth. Still, if the plants are set deep
enough to prevent adventitious buds of the stock from starting and the
grower is alert, this difficulty is reduced to a minimum. There is no
question but that finer roses may be grown than from plants on their own
roots, withstanding the heat of the American summer, if the grower takes
the proper precautions.
Pruning roses.
In pruning roses, determine whether they bloom on canes arising each
year from the ground or near the ground, or whether they make perennial
tops; also form a clear idea whether an abundance of flowers is wanted
for garden effects, or whether large specimen blooms are desired.
If one is pruning the hybrid perpetual or remontant roses (which are now
the common garden roses), he cuts back all very vigorous canes perhaps
one-half their length immediately after the June bloom is past in order
to produce new, strong shoots for fall flowering, and also to make good
bottoms for the next year's bloom. Very severe summer pruning, however,
is likely to produce too much leafy growth. In the fall, all canes may
be shortened to 3 feet, four or five of the best canes being left to
each plant. In spring, these canes are again cut back to fresh wood,
leaving perhaps four or five good buds on each cane; from these buds
the flowering canes of the year are to come. If it is desired to secure
fewer blooms, but of the best size and quality, fewer canes may be left
and only two or three new shoots be allowed to spring from each one the
next spring.
The rule in trimming all cane-bearing roses is, cut back weak growing
kinds severely; strong growers moderately.
Climbing and pillar roses need only the weak branches and the tips
shortened in. Other hardy kinds will usually need cutting back about
one-fourth or one-third, according to the vigor of the branches, either
in the spring or fall.
The everblooming or hybrid tea roses will need to have all dead wood
removed at the time of uncovering them in spring. Some pruning during
the summer is also useful in encouraging growth and flowers. The
stronger branches that have flowered may be cut back one-half or more.
The sweet briers, Austrian and rugosas may be kept in bush form; but the
trunks may be cut out at the ground every two or three years, new shoots
having been allowed to come up in the meantime. All rampant growths
should be cut back or taken out.
Insects and diseases of roses.
Most of the summer insects that trouble the rose are best treated by a
forceful spray of clear water. This should be done early in the day and
again at evening. Those having city water or good spray pumps will find
this an easy method of keeping rose pests in check. Those without these
facilities may use whale-oil soap, fir-tree oil, good soap suds, the
tobacco preparations, or Persian insect powder.
The rose-bug or chafer should be hand-picked or knocked off early in the
morning into a pan of coal oil. The leaf-roller must be crushed.
The mildews are controlled by the various sulfur sprays.
Winter protection of roses.
All garden roses should be well mulched with leaves or coarse manure in
the fall. Mounding earth about the root also affords excellent
protection. Bending over the tops and covering with grass or evergreen
boughs is also to be recommended for such kinds as are suspected to be
injured by winter; the boughs are preferable because they do not
attract mice.
North of the Ohio River all the everblooming roses, even if they will
endure the winter unprotected, will be better for protection. This may
be slight southward, but should be thorough northward. The soil,
location, and surroundings often determine the extent of protection. If
the situation is not so favorable, more protection will be necessary.
Along the Ohio, a heap of stable manure, or light soil that does not
become packed and water-logged, placed about the base of the plants,
will carry over many of the tea roses. The tops are killed back; but the
plants sprout from the base of the old branches in the spring. Bon
Silene, Etoile de Lyon, Perle des Jardins, Mme. Camille, and others are
readily wintered there in this way.
About Chicago (American Florist, x., No. 358, p. 929, 1895) beds have
been successfully protected by bending down the tops, fastening them,
and then placing over and among the plants a layer of dead leaves to the
depth of a foot. The leaves must be dry, and the soil also, before
applying them; this is very essential. After the leaves, a layer of
lawn-clippings, highest at the middle, and 4 or 5 inches thick, placed
over the leaves, holds them in place and sheds water. This protection
carries over the hardiest sorts of everblooming roses, including the
teas. The tops are killed back when not bent down, but this protection
saves the roots and crowns; when bent down, the tops went through
without damage. Even the climbing rose Gloire de Dijon was carried
through the winter of 1894-1895 at Chicago without the slightest injury
to the branches.
Strong plants of the everblooming or hybrid tea roses can now be had at
very reasonable rates, and rather than go to the trouble of protecting
them in the fall, many persons buy such as they need for bedding
purposes each spring. If the soil of the beds is well enriched, the
plants make a rapid and luxuriant growth, blooming freely throughout
the summer.
If one desires to go to the trouble, he may protect these and also the
tea roses even in the northern states by mounding earth about the plants
and then building a little shed or house about them (or inverting a
large box over them) and packing about the plants with leaves or straw.
Some persons make boxes that can be knocked down in the spring and
stored. The roof should shed water. This method is better than tying the
plants up in straw and burlaps. Some of the hybrid teas do not need so
much protection as this, even in central New York.
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