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HORTICULTURE. 



April 27, 1907 



HARDY OUT-DOOR ROSES. 



(Paper read by David MeFarlaue before 

 the TaiT.vtown Hm-tknltm-al Society.) 



Hardy out door roses is a theme 

 which interests to some extent most 

 men in the profession, and I may 

 safely add and more of the flower- 

 loving public than any other flower 

 topic. 



George Nicholson says "The rose is 

 justly designated the Q eeu of Flow- 

 ers." We will concede that from 

 the most ancient period this Queen o( 

 Flowers has won all her laurels 

 meritoriously, and treat on her adapt- 

 ability to satisfy the whims and fan- 

 cies of this modern and fickle public. 

 The so-called hardy outdoor roses, 

 with but few exceptions, possess ex- 

 tremely poor qualities for the general 

 embellishment of the landscape from 

 an artistic point of view, consequently 

 we cultivate the majority because of 

 their excellence for house decoration 

 as a cut flower and their unique 

 colors, fragrance, purity and individu- 

 ality. So many are the varieties of 

 roses now in commerce that to make 

 a selection is no easy task, and as the 

 most have been hybridized in Prance, 

 Germany and Great Britain, many that 

 carry the highest honors in the lands 

 of their birth are a sad disappoint- 

 ment when grown under our more ex- 

 treme temperature. Yet, if a collec- 

 tion of, say, three hundred well 

 selected varieties were once estab- 

 lished on a place the chances are that 

 not one of them would ever be dis- 

 carded, for we might say, especially 

 of Hybrid Perpetual roses, that the 

 color and form of one variety is so 

 near in resemblance to another, and 

 yet so distinct, that we decide to keep 

 both because of their characteristic 

 individuality. 



The grandest of all rose blooms are 

 found in the class generally desig- 

 nated as Hybrid Perpetuals, but the 

 word Perpetual applied to the bloom- 

 ing of these roses, I regret to say, 

 Is very much in error in our climate. 

 While a bloom or so may be found 

 later in the season we have to con- 

 sole ourselves with the fact that the 

 flowering season for these roses Is 

 during three weeks in June. If this 

 fact alone were judiciously taken into 

 consideration it would eliminate many 

 a rose garden from such a prominent 

 position in the landscape, while at the 

 same time detract nothing from the 

 general interest displayed in the rose. 

 The best place for a rose garden is 

 one that cannot be seen from any 

 distant point, hut one where a host, 

 or hostess can guide his or her guests 

 and land them by surprise among 

 the rose beds or under the arbor in 

 the season of bloom, and while the 

 plants are at work preparing for nex' 

 June they will not be critically com- 

 mented upon for their rustic looks. 



The rose is a strong feeder and is 

 best suited in a heavy moist, but well 

 drained soil, and if they can be planted 

 with a shade from the ea.st — but by 

 no means an overhead one — so that 

 the dews will hang on imtil 9 or 10 

 A. M., so much the better, as I con- 

 sider this the best location for roses. 

 The best time to plant hardy roses i.s 

 in the fall, about the first or seeonil 

 week in November. In planting be 

 sure that the graft is well buried; in 

 strong growing varieties I recommend 

 a depth of seven or eight inches, and 



the weakest growers should not be 

 any less than four inches below the 

 normal surface of the soil. Ros;s 

 planted at this time should be laid 

 down at once and covered over with 

 three or four inches of soil; in that 

 way they will keep over the winte.' 

 and turn out plump and fresh iii 

 spring. 



If it is compulsory to plant roses in 

 spring have it done just as early as 

 the ground will permit, lor there is 

 Eo plant that I know of suffers from 

 late planting as much as the rose. 

 Should your plants show the least 

 signs of shrivelling when received in 

 spring, dig a trench and cover them 

 entirely with about eight Inches of soil 

 for three or four days and, unless they 

 have been all the more dried out. you 

 will generally find the wood and buds 

 quite plump when you lift them from 

 the trench. If any wrinkles remain 

 on the bark the chances are that these 

 plants will die, and should they sur- 

 vive the growth, will be extremely poor 

 for the first season. 



The last week in March or first 

 week in April is generally the best 

 time to prune Hybrid Perpetual roses, 

 as at this time all danger from damag- 

 ing frosts is past, so that we can 

 spread what covering has been used 

 for winter protection, and after the 

 pruning is done give a good loosening 

 up of the soil with a spading fork and 

 they are ready to start work. Few 

 gardeners prune their rose bushes close 

 enough; with but a very few excep- 

 tions I prune down to from one to 

 four inches of the soil and these ex- 

 ceptions are only such roses as Mar- 

 garet Dickson, General Jacqueminot 

 and Prince Camille de Rohan, which 

 are apt to run blind on the extra 

 strong shoots from the bottom. Even 

 with these varieties care should be 

 taken to cut out all two-year-old 

 wood close to the soil. 



If the manure used for protecting 

 during winter is dug in in spring no 

 additional fertilizer need be applied 

 until the 20th day of May, when lib- 

 eral application of some stimulant — 

 pure bone meal, a good grade of com- 

 mercial fertilizer, or liquid manure 

 from the barn yard, which ever is 

 convenient — is of great benefit, and 

 should the weather be dry from this 

 time until the fiowering period is well 

 over, the ground should be well satu- 

 rated with water, and where the soil 

 is very light a mulch of from four 

 to six inches of litter or cut grass is 

 good to retain moisture and also to 

 keep the roots cool, although it adds 

 nothing to the beauty of the beds. I 

 would prefer litter instead of the grass 

 as a mulch, as I have seen the grass 

 during a dull spell create a bad dose 

 of mildew. If a mulch has been 

 used up to and through the flowering 

 period it should be removed early in 

 July and the beds kept well cultivate 1 

 from then until October. 



The best way to grow Hybrid Per- 

 petual roses for cut bloom is in rows 

 in the garden, and I would advise 

 everyone to give them plenty of room 

 between the rows, three feet or more; 

 they may he set fifteen to eighteen 

 inches in the rows — this enables you 

 to draw up tlie soil to the heel of the 

 plants for winter protection before 

 placing the manure around them. An- 

 other advantage it lends in spring ii 

 that when you remove th? manure the 

 cavity in the centre will bold quite a 

 lot of it, where it can be deeply forked 



in; this will cause fresh root action 

 over a wide space. As the root is the 

 driving power for the top and our 

 aim is to produce a good bloom on a 

 long stem witli good foliage. I have 

 never seen this method fail even on 

 light sandy soil. 



Most men who have written on the 

 rose advocate the soil to-be left good 

 and arm and only forked up to a 

 depth of a few inches in the spring. 

 This is contrary to my experience for 

 good results, as I never hesitate to 

 put the fork as far in as the foot will 

 send it. seven or eight inches away 

 from the neck of the plant No doubt 

 by this operation a great many roots 

 are broken, but it is at a time when 

 the plant is dormant and we have just 

 cut all of its top away and I think 

 that the young roots will work through 

 the loose soil with a vigor that will 

 soon more than compensate for the 

 rough pruning they have received. 



Hybrid Perpetual roses should not 

 remain undisturbed more than seven or 

 eight years, after which they should 

 either l>e replaced with young two- 

 year-old stock or else- carefully lifted, 

 placed over a chopping block and all 

 the thick fiberless roots removed with 

 a .sharp hatchtt. Roses treated in 

 this way are in many oases as good 

 as younger stock. Care should be taken 

 not to treat all in one season as Hy- 

 brids give very poor results the first 

 season after being planted. Roses 

 grown for cutting or exhibition pur- 

 poses should be disbudded, leaving only 

 the strongest bud on each shoot, which 

 is generally the center one, and, where 

 roses are grown especially for exhibi- 

 tion, the small weakly shoots may be 

 removed at an early stage, although 

 the latter is seldom necessary where 

 the operation of pruning has been per- 

 fectly performed in early spring, for 

 in that operation no wood should be 

 left that is likely to throw up a weak 

 growth. 



The following are varieties that I 

 have found worthy of a place in any 

 collection. I will not try to describe 

 their colors in shades. I might here 

 make a suggestion for The American 

 Rose Society, of which one of our es- 

 teemed members is ex-vice-president, to 

 take up and see if a standard color 

 chart could not be produced. I think 

 it would aid compilers of catalogues in 

 describing varieties in a more satis- 

 factory form to their patrons: White — 

 Frau Karl Druschki, Margaret Dick- 

 son, Merville de I.yon, Mabel Morri- 

 son, Jules Finger, White Baroness. 

 Merville de Blanches, Helen Paul, and 

 Clio. Pink — Mrs. John Laing. Mrs. R. 

 G. Sharman Crawford, Mrs. Prank 

 Cant, Mme. Gabriel Luizet, Pride of 

 Waltham, Robt. Duncan, Paul Neyron. 

 Paul's Early Blush, Marguerite de $t. 

 Amande, Marchiones,^ of Dufferln. 

 Lawrence Allen, Jeannie Dickson, El- 

 len Drew, Magna Charta, Abel Grand, 

 Alphonse Soupert, Baronne Prevost, 

 Baroness Rothschild, Duchess of Edin- 

 burgh, Francois Michelon. Jules Mar- 

 gottin, Mme. Eugenie Verdier, Duchess 

 of Fife, Duchess de Vallombrosa, Du- 

 puy Jamain, Duchess of York, Mme. 

 Geo. Paul, Marquis de Castellane, Mrs. 

 Cocker, and Mrs. Harkness. Red and 

 other shades — Ulrich Brunner, .Jubilee, 

 John Hopper, Jean Liabaud, .lean Sou- 

 pert, John Bright. Lady Helen Stuart. 

 Longfellow, Lord Macaulay, Lord Fred- 

 rick Cavendish, Madam Ferdinand Ja- 

 main Eugenie Verdier, Louis Van 

 Houtte. Horace Vernet, Grand Mogul. 



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