36 



IRISH GARDENING 



Sodum iwruloum is » (laiut\ giMu whiih 

 appeals to everyone. Urowu in an open sunny 

 spot it att-rtins six inehes or less in lieight. ami 

 bears abundanee of blue llowers, which arc 

 extremely ctYeetive. 



Speivilaria Sju'culuin, coniiuonly calleil X'cuus'^ 

 Lookiui; (.ilass. is j>n interest ini; Hclltlower growiui: 

 about nine inclics high. The typ(> has rcdiiisb 

 violet tlowei-s. while a white variety is also lovely. 



lonopsidimn aeaule. the Violet (.'ress, is justly 

 a favourite, sowing itself witli cliarniing lr<'edon». 

 suooessional colonies springing up and flowering 

 from early sjuing till autumn. It grows »Mdy 

 two or three inches liigh. and is very suitable fi>r 

 r»>cky walks and steps. .1. W. U. 



Rose Pruning. 



By IM;. D'HoNKi. Hkow.nk. 



Pruning should comnienee early in .March. 

 AS by this time most Hoses are awakening. 

 Commence with your wall varieties. In varieties 

 snch as l>orothy IVrkins, Crimson Hanxbler and 

 most of the lV>lyantha groujvs begin by removing 

 all old worn out wood and all which liave borne 

 llowers. If jtossible take the wood completely 

 away down to ground level. Now, carefidly study 

 the rods that remain. Do not be greedy and try 

 to retain ti>o n\any shoots, (io over the slun>ts 

 and remi>ve any tliat are unripe or those which 

 when cut across show a brown pitli. Remove the 

 frosted tips and cart>fully lay those rods ytni wish 

 to retain in against the wall or pillar on whiih you 

 intend growing the tree. Weeping standards art> 

 treated just the same way, but in tying in try and 

 so arrange that yt>u have a well-balanced head. 



When yo\i have finished your wall roses you 

 may get to work at your dwarf trees of 11. P. and 

 II. T. blood. Here, as I have explained above, 

 you remove all old wooil, also unripe ami frosted 

 growths. Look out also for suckers, whidi also 

 must be taken out from their origin. Now, there 

 are certain rules wlxich yon must prune by if you 

 wish to have siioeess : — 



(1) No matter what variety of Hose yo\i gi-i>w. 

 if it has been i>lanted lately in your garden, say 

 last autumn or this spring, exit it very hard back. 

 You can liardly be too severe. What y»ni want 

 to do is to promote growth, and the knife alone 

 can do this for you. 



(2) In tivating the several kinds of growei's you 

 purpose priming, you must riMnember that the 

 poorer the gi-ower the more yon must cut ! To 

 treat sueh varieties as MildriMl Cirant and Hxjgh 

 Dickson in the same way is to court failure. 



(3) To try and keep a well-balanced head on 

 your trees when they have made their spring 

 growths and not to have your trees like a I'igs 

 cheek. "' all on one side." This yon must do by 

 carefully seeing how the rods you ]>rojH>se to 

 leave are arranged an>\n\d the bole of the tree. 

 Try and select, if possible. rii>ened shoots which 

 are separated like the legs of an upside-down 

 stool — rods diverging and leaving a hollow 

 between them. This will admit light and air. 

 and is a small means of ]»reventing mildew. 

 Sometimes a trt»e will not lend itself to allow you 

 to do this at pruning time, but you get another 

 chance at disbudding time — i.r.. end of May. 



(4) To rtMuove all diseased and old and unrii>e 

 wood at prtming time is another golden ride, and 

 when you are pruning to put all the cut away 



wooil into a liii-. whereby you burn germs of 

 dist>ase. 



Now, let us see Ixow we must prune. 



Kirst. the vexed tiuestion arrives with what 

 shall w«' lilt — • sliears. s»'catenrs or a knife. 

 Personally 1 always use a good pair of secateurs ; 

 they are clean cutting and ipiick. Try when 

 pruning not to pull your tree about : you are 

 apt to do so witli a blunt knife and a hard shoot. 



Choose a cold ilay. as if pruning is d«>layed jind 

 yiui prune on a warm day, some forward varieties 

 may bleed — i.e., exude sap. 



.\ good ]>air of strong gloves are a great help, 

 and you may carry a snudl (ireeian saw for oUl 

 snags on your oUl ti*ees. These oUl snags will 

 ruin a good pair of secat<'urs in a .sh«>rt while. 



Now ti> get to the vexed quest ions. 



First »>f all you must remember the rules 1 

 have laid down. 



Scvondly. yon must once and for all make up 

 your mind Ji.s to whether you require quality or 

 quantity. 



Thirdly, you must use your eyes and bnuns and 

 study each tree and the difYerent varieties you 

 liave to ju'une. 



Let me enlarge for one minute on this last 

 IV mark. 



I will take three varieties as my example — 

 (I) Mildivd tirant : (2) La France: ('A) Hugh 

 I>iekson. Anyone can see that these varieties 

 ditTer in habit, gi'owth and flowering propensities. 

 Mildred is a i>oor grower, therefore ymi must cut 

 very hard to encourage ht>r to gi-ow. La France 

 wants less pruning than Mildred, and Hugh 

 IMckson wants less still. Note the great strong 

 nuls t>f Hugh as compared witli tlu- stunteil, 

 stubby growih of .Mildreil ami you will s<'e at once 

 that if you cut Hugli as liard as .Mildred that you 

 will get growth — rampant. 



Now bear these three varieties in your mind all 

 througli i>riining time, and wlien you come tt) any 

 tree try ami think to which of these varieties that 

 tree, by its gn>wth. Kn>ks to belong. 



Surely Horace \'ernet. tiu.stave Piganeau. 

 •Sultan of Zanzibar. Lyon Hose, The Bride. 

 Hridesmaid. .Mi's. Fdward Mawley. ite., \'c.. 

 belong Xo class No. 1. You shoulil not have 

 many of these varieties in your garden unless 

 you are an exliibitor. 



Most of tlie Hoses in yi>iir collection belong to 

 chusses 2 and o. To give y<ni a few examples 1 

 put l>ean Hole. Mi*s. Havid .M" Kee. Killarney. 

 tJeorge C. Wand. Betty in ilass 2. and Hr. 

 (VHonel Browne. William F. Lii>piatt. (ieorge 

 niikson. riricli lirunner. Laurent Carie. 

 Hiuhess of Westminster in ela,ss 3. 



.\gain bearing in miml what I have already said 

 about old or ymmg lU* diseased wood, let us get to 

 work. Here y»>u lind a young tree with but a 

 single rod. Cut this and all such hard back. .V 

 single nnl is a bad foundation. Here again you 

 liave a young tree with twi> or three rods, mostly 

 w«'akly. twiggy in iharacier. Cut away the very 

 weak tuies ami cut hard those that ivmain. 

 Heiv again is a tive with .several rods, some 

 cnvvsing each i>ther. Xricr allow roils to cross, 

 cut away the weaker and unripe ones. Hear in 

 mind what I liave .said about a well-balanced head 

 and divergent rods, and strive always to get this 

 result. 



Make another golden rule now for yourself. 

 Whenever you cut back a slioot which you wisli 

 to tlower. cut always just above an ouj-looking 



