Gardening/Rose
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There are so many kinds and classes of roses that varieties may be found for almost any purpose, from climbing or pillar subjects to highly fragrant teas, great hybrid perpetuals, free-blooming bedders, and good foliage subjects for the shrubbery. There is no flower in the growing of which one so quickly develops the temper and taste of the connoisseur.
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[edit] Methods
Roses are essentially flower-garden subjects rather than lawn subjects, since flowers are their chief beauty. Yet the foliage of many of the highly developed roses is good and attractive when the plants are well grown. To secure the best results with roses, they should be placed in a bed by themselves, where they can be tilled and pruned and well taken care of, as other flower-garden plants are. The ordinary garden roses should rarely be grown in mixed borders of shrubbery. It is usually most satisfactory also to make beds of one variety rather than to mix them with several varieties.
If it is desired to have roses in mixed shrubbery borders, then the single and informal types should be chosen. The best of all these is Rosa rugosa. This has not only attractive flowers through the greater part of the season, but it also has very interesting foliage and a striking habit. The great profusion of bristles and spines gives it an individual and strong character. Even without the flowers, it is valuable to add character and cast to a foliage mass. The foliage is not attacked by insects or fungi, but remains green and glossy throughout the year. The fruit is also very large and showy, and persists on bushes well through the winter. Some of the wild roses are also very excellent for mixing into foliage masses, but, as a rule, their foliage characteristics are rather weak, and they are liable to be attacked by thrips.
There are so many classes of roses that the intending planter is likely to be confused unless he knows what they are. Different classes require different treatment. Some of them, as the teas and hybrid perpetuals (the latter also known as remontants), bloom from new canes; while the rugosa, the Austrian, Harrison's yellow, sweet briers, and some others are bushes and do not renew themselves each year from the crown or bases of the canes.
The outdoor roses may be divided into two great groups so far as their blooming habit is involved:
(1) The continuous or intermittent bloomers, as the hybrid perpetuals (blooming chiefly in June), bourbons, tea, rugosa, the teas and hybrid teas being the most continuous in bloom;
(2) Those that bloom once only, in summer, as Austrian, Ayrshire, sweet briers, prairie, Cherokee, Banksian, provence, most moss roses, damask, multiflora, polyantha, and memorial (Wichuraiana). "Perpetual" or recurrent-blooming races have been developed in the Ayrshire, moss, polyantha, and others.
While roses delight in a sunny exposure, nevertheless our dry atmosphere and hot summers are sometimes trying on the flowers, as are severe wintry winds on the plants. While, therefore, it is never advisable to plant roses near large trees, or where they will be overshadowed by buildings or surrounding shrubbery, some shade during the heat of the day will be a benefit. The best position is an eastern or northern slope, and where fences or other objects will break the force of strong winds, in those sections where such prevail.
Roses should be carefully taken up every four or five years, tops and roots cut in, and then reset, either in a new place or in the old, after enriching the soil with a fresh supply of manure, and deeply spading it over. In Holland, roses are allowed to stand about eight years. They are then taken out and their places filled with young plants.
[edit] Soil and planting
The best soil for roses is a deep and rich clay loam. If it is more or less of a fibrous character from the presence of grass roots, as is the case with newly plowed sod ground, so much the better. While such is desirable, any ordinary soil will answer, provided it is well manured. Cow manure is strong and lasting, and has no heating effect. It will cause no damage, even if not rotted. Horse manure, however, should be well rotted before mixing it with the soil. The manure may be mixed in the soil at the rate of one part in four. If well rotted, however, more will not do any damage, as the soil can scarcely be made too rich, especially for the everblooming (hybrid tea) roses. Care should be taken to mix the manure thoroughly with the earth, and not to plant the roses against the manure.
In planting, care must be taken to avoid exposing the roots to the drying of sun and air. If dormant field-grown plants have been purchased, all broken and bruised roots will need to be cut off smoothly and squarely. The tops also will need cutting back. The cut should always be made just above a bud, preferably on the outer side of the cane. Strong-growing sorts may be cut back one-fourth or one-half, according as they have good or bad roots. Weaker-growing kinds, as most of the everblooming roses, should be cut back-most severely. In both cases it is well to remove the weak growth first. Plants set out from pots will usually not need cutting back.
Hardy roses, especially the strong field-grown plants, should be set in the early fall if practicable. It is desirable to get them out just as soon as they have shed their foliage. If not then, they may be planted in the early spring. At that season it is advisable to plant them as early as the ground is dry enough, and before the buds have started to grow. Dormant pot-plants may also be set out early, but they should be perfectly inactive. Setting them out early in this condition is preferable to waiting till they are in foliage and full bloom, as is so often required by buyers. Growing pot-plants may be planted any time in spring after danger of frost is past, or even during the summer, if they are watered and shaded for a few days.
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 isdanger 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==_
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.
[edit] 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.
==Varieties==_
The selection of kinds should be made in reference to the locality and purpose for which the roses are wanted. For bedding roses, those that are of free-blooming habit, even though the individual flowers are not large, are the ones that should be chosen. For permanent beds, the so-called hybrid perpetual or remontant roses, blooming principally in June, will be found to be hardy at the North.--But if one can give them proper protection during the winter, then the Bengal, tea, bourbon, and hybrid teas or everblooming roses, may be selected.
In sections where the temperature does not fall below 20° above zero, any of the monthly roses will live without protection. At the South the remontants and other deciduous roses do not do as well as farther North. The tender climbers--Noisettes, climbing teas, bengals, and others--are excellent for pillars, arbors, and verandas at the South, but are fit only for the conservatory in those parts of the country where there is severe freezing. For the open air at the North we have to depend for climbing roses mainly on the prairie climbers, and the ramblers (polyanthas), with their recent pink and white varieties. The trailing _Rosa Wichuraiana_ is also a useful addition as an excellent hardy rose for banks.
For the northern states a choice small list is as follows: hybrid perpetuals, Mrs. John Laing, Wilder, Ulrich Brunner, Frau Karl Druschki, Paul Neyron; dwarf polyanthas, Clothilde Soupert, Madame Norbert Levavasseur (Baby Rambler), Mlle. Cecile Brunner; hybrid teas, Grus an Teplitz, La France, Caroline Testout, Kaiserin Victoria, Killarney; teas, Pink Maman Cochet, White Maman Cochet.
The following classified lists embrace some of the varieties of recognized merit for various purposes. There are many others, but it is desirable to limit the list to a few good kinds. The intending planter should consult recent catalogues.
_Free-blooming monthly roses for bedding._--These are recommended not for the individual beauty of the flower--although some are very fine--but because of their suitability for the purpose indicated. If to be carried over winter in the open ground, they need to be protected north of Washington. In beds, pegging down the branches will be found desirable. Those marked (A) have proved hardy in southern Indiana without protection, although they are more satisfactory with it. (The name of the class to which the variety belongs is indicated by the initial letter or letters of the class name: C., China; T., Tea; H.T., Hybrid Tea; B., Bourbon; Pol., Polyantha; N., Noisette; H.P., Hybrid Perpetual; Pr., Prairie Climber):--
_Red_--Sanguinea, C.
Agrippina, C.
Marion Dingee, T.
(A)Meteor, H.T.
_Pink_--(A)Hermosa, B.
Souvenir d'un Ami, T.
Pink Soupert, Pol.
(A)Gen. Tartas, T.
_Blush_--(A)Cels, C.
Mme. Joseph Schwartz, T.
(A)Souvenir de la Malmaison, B.
Mignonette, Pol.
_White_--(A)Clothilde Soupert, Pol.
(A)Sombreuil, B.
Snowflake, T.
Pacquerette, Pol.
_Yellow_--(A)Isabella Sprunt, T.
Mosella (Yellow Soupert), Pol.
La Pactole, T.
Marie van Houtte, T.
_Free-blooming monthly roses for summer cutting and beds._--These are somewhat less desirable for purely bedding purposes than the preceding; but they afford finer flowers and are useful for their fine buds. Those marked (A) are hardy in southern Indiana without protection:--
_Red_--(A)Meteor.
(A)Dinsmore, H.P.
(A)Pierre Guillot, H.T.
Papa Gontier, T.
_Light Pink_--(A)La France, H.T.
Countess de Labarthe, T.
(A)Appoline, B.
_White_--The Bride, T.
Senator McNaughton, T.
(A)Marie Guillot, T.
(A)Mme. Bavay, T.
Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, H.T.
_Dark Pink_--(A)American Beauty, H.T.
(A)Duchess of Albany, H.T.
Mme. C. Testout, H.T.
Adam, T.
(A)Marie Ducher, T.
_Yellow_--Perle des Jardins, T.
Mme. Welch, T.
Sunset, T.
Marie van Houtte, T.
_Hybrid perpetual, or remontant, roses,_--These do not flower as freely as the groups previously mentioned; but the individual flowers are very large and unequaled by any other roses. They flower chiefly in June. Those named are among the finest sorts, and some of them flower more or less continuously:--
_Red_--Alfred Colomb.
Earl of Dufferin.
Glorie de Margottin.
Anna de Diesbach.
Ulrich Brunner.
_Pink_--Mrs. John Laing.
Paul Neyron.
Queen of Queens.
Magna Charta.
Baroness Rothschild.
_White_--Margaret Dickson.
Merveille de Lyon.
_Hardy climbing, or pillar roses._--These bloom but once during the season. They come after the June roses, however,--a good season--and at that time are masses of flowers. They require only slight pruning.
_White_--Baltimore Belle, Pr.
Washington, N.
Rosa Wichuraiana (trailing).
_Pink_--Queen of the Prairies, Pr.
Tennessee Belle, Pr.
Climbing Jules Margotten, H.P.
_Crimson_--Crimson Rambler, Pol.
_Yellow_--Yellow Rambler, Pol.
_Tender climbing, or pillar roses. For conservatories, and the South as far north as Tennessee._--Those marked with (A)are half-hardy north of the Ohio River, or about as hardy as the hybrid teas. These need no pruning except a slight shortening-in of the shoots and a thinning out of the weak growth.
_Yellow_--Maréchal Niel, N. Solfaterre, N. (A)Gloire de Dijon,
T. Yellow Banksia (Banksiana).
_White_--(A)Aimée Vibert, N. Bennett's Seedling (Ayrshire).
White Banksia (Banksiana).
_Red_--(A)Reine Marie Henriette, T. James Sprunt, C.
_Roses in winter_ (by C.E. Hunn).
Although the growing of roses under glass must be left chiefly to florists, advice may be useful to those who have conservatories:--
When growing forcing roses for winter flowers, florists usually provide raised beds, in the best-lighted houses they have. The bottom of the bed or bench is left with cracks between the boards for drainage; the cracks are covered with inverted strips of sod, and the bench is then covered with 4 or 5 inches of fresh, fibrous loam. This is made from rotted sods, with decayed manure incorporated at the rate of about one part in four. Sod from any drained pasture-land makes good soil. The plants are set on the bed in the spring or early summer, from 12 to 18 inches apart, and are grown there all summer.
During the winter they are kept at a temperature of 58° to 60° at night, and from 5° to 10° warmer during the day. The heating pipes are often run under the benches, not because the rose likes bottom heat, but to economize space and to assist in drying out the beds in case of their becoming too wet. The greatest care is required in watering, in guarding the temperature, and in ventilation. Draughts result in checks to the growth and in mildewed foliage.
Dryness of the air, especially from fire heat, is followed by the appearance of the minute red spider on the leaves. The aphis, or green plant louse, appears under all conditions, and must be kept down by the use of some of the tobacco preparations (several of which are on the market).
For the red spider, the chief means of control is syringing with either clear or soapy water. If the plants are intelligently ventilated and given, at all times, as much fresh air as possible, the red spider is less likely to appear. For mildew, which is easily recognized by its white, powdery appearance on the foliage, accompanied with more or less distortion of the leaves, the remedy is sulfur in some form or other. The flowers of sulfur may be dusted thinly over the foliage; enough merely slightly to whiten the foliage is sufficient. It may be dusted on from the hand in a broadcast way, or applied with a powder-bellows, which is a better and less wasteful method. Again, a paint composed of sulfur and linseed oil may be applied to a part of one of the steam or hot-water heating pipes. The fumes arising from this are not agreeable to breathe, but fatal to mildew. Again, a little sulfur may be sprinkled here and there on the cooler parts of the greenhouse flue. Under no circumstances, however, ignite any sulfur in a greenhouse. The vapor of burning sulfur is death to plants.
_Propagation of house roses._--The writer has known women who could root roses with the greatest ease. They would simply break off a branch of the rose, insert it in the flower-bed, cover it with a bell-jar, and in a few weeks they would have a strong plant. Again they would resort to layering; in which case a branch, notched halfway through on the lower side, was bent to the ground and pegged down so that the notched part was covered with a few inches of soil. The layered spot was watered from time to time. After three or four weeks roots were sent forth from the notch and the branch or buds began to grow, when it was known that the layer had formed roots.
Several years ago a friend took a cheese-box, filled it with sharp sand to the brim, supported it in a tub of water so that the lower half-inch of the box was immersed. The sand was packed down, sprinkled, and single-joint rose cuttings, with a bud and a leaf near the top, were inserted almost their whole length in the sand. This was in July, a hot month, when it is usually difficult to root any kind of cutting; moreover, the box stood on a southern slope, facing the hot sun, without a particle of shade. The only attention given the box was to keep the water high enough in the tub to touch the bottom of the cheese-box. In about three weeks he took out three or four dozen of as nicely rooted cuttings as could have been grown in a greenhouse.
The "saucer system," in which cuttings are inserted in wet sand contained in a saucer an inch or two deep, to be exposed at all times to the full sunshine, is of a similar nature. The essentials are, to give the cuttings the "full sun" and to keep the sand saturated with water.
Whatever method is used, if cuttings are to be transplanted after rooting, it is important to pot them off in small pots as soon as they have a cluster of roots one-half inch or an inch long. Leaving them too long in the sand weakens the cutting.
[edit] Diseases of the rose
Black leaf-spot is one of the commonest diseases of the rose. It causes the leaves to fall prematurely. Spray with bordeaux, 5-5-50, beginning as soon as the first spots appear on the leaves. Two or three applications at intervals of ten days will very largely control the disease. Ammoniacal copper carbonate may be used on roses grown under glass. Apply once a week until disease is under control.
[edit] Insects
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.
[edit] Mildew
For mildew on greenhouse roses, keep the steam pipes painted with a paste made of equal parts lime and sulfur mixed up with water. The mildew is a surface-feeding fungus and is killed by the fumes of the sulfur. Outdoor roses that become infested with the mildew may be dusted with sulfur, or sprayed with a solution of potassium sulfide, 1 oz. to 3 gal. water. Spray or dust with the sulfur two or three times at intervals of a week or ten days.
