34 



IRISH GARDENING 



modification when vve come to deal with some 

 .such varieties as Hugh Dickson. Fran Karl 

 Druschki. Caroline Testout, &c. which are 

 better let " run "' a bit. All Roses, the first 

 year they are planted, must be cut down hard 

 to the ground. With Rambler Roses you must 

 harden your heart and cut within a foot of the 

 ground these long shoots as sent out by the 

 nurserymen, and from this class of Rose, though 

 it is hard to put up with it, you need not expect 

 any bloom the first year. You will, however, 

 be rewarded next year for your apparent harsh 

 treatment. If you do not cut down these long 

 shoots, your Rambler will never recover, will 

 never be healthy. The reason, of course, is 

 obvious — the roots have not got sufficient hold 

 of the ground to sustain these long shoots the 

 first year, and in addition carry blossoms on 

 them. Dwarf Roses must be similarly treated, 

 but you will get a certain amount of bloom off 

 them the first year, but you must not expect 

 very great results till the second year. 



1 will now assume that the reader, towards 

 the end of next month, ventures out into his 

 Rose garden to commence this delicate opera- 

 tion of pruning. Many matters have to be 

 decided before you actually commence work. 

 You have got to prune for shape, probably for 

 space, certainly to improve the quality of your 

 flowers, to encourage growth, and to renew and 

 prolong the life of your Rose tree. Then you 

 must ascertain the variety. If it is a strong 

 grower it must not be primed too hard ; if you 

 do you will get even stronger growth the coming 

 year and little flower. If a weak grower, then, 

 as a rule, that Rose must be pruned severely. 

 Having therefore made up your mind exact!} 

 how you are going to treat the individual Rose 

 tree in front of you, commence by cutting out all 

 the dead wood right hack, and all the unripe 

 sappy growth and small useless twigs. You will 

 then decide how many of the remaining ripened 

 healthy shoots you want to keep. If for exhibi- 

 tion probably only two or t hree. but if for garden 

 and decorative purposes, retain as many as you 

 think the plant can sustain, so long as they do 

 not cross one another, that you arc able to cul 

 to an outside dormant hud, and that the centre 

 of your plant is kept open. Cut hack to 

 within four to six eyes from the base from 

 whence the shoot starts, but the actual number 

 of eyes that you leave on the shoot is regulated 

 very much from the outside bud. You may get 

 a promising outside bud only three eyes from 

 the base, or it may be six. But never cut to an 

 inside bud. Also, do not cut all your shoots the 

 same length. Personally, when I have finished 

 my pruning, especially the plants in their 

 second year, I tie out each shoot to stout stakes 

 driven into the ground all round the bush. This 



will lay the foundation for a Hue, well-spread 

 Rose tree eventually, and I strongly recommend 

 this practice, even though it is somewhat 

 troublesome. By the end of dune the shoots 

 can be let go and the stakes taken up, and the 

 tree will retain its shape. 



The most frequent errors. 1 think, that the 

 amateur commits are leaving too many shoots 

 on his plant when thinning out ; pruning too 

 severely the shoots of varieties which require 

 little, if any. shortening : pruning varieties 

 lightly which really require severe pruning, and 

 leaving their Rose plants crowded with shoots 

 and cutting these to a uniform length, like a 

 clipped hedge. 



Now, as to the different varieties, 1 really 

 need not say much as to the pruning of Hybrid 

 Perpetuals. One has only to walk into the 

 nurseries of the leading Rose growers and see 

 how few are grown by them. The demand 

 nowadays, and rightly so, is all for Hybrid Teas 

 end Teas, still there are some Hybrid Perpetuals 

 that we cannot do without, such as Frau Karl 

 Druschki, Gloire de Chedane Guinoisseau, Hugh 

 Dickson, Mrs. John Laing, Captain Hayward, 

 &c. Personally, out of nearly 3,000 Roses 1 

 do not think I have more than 40 or 50 Hybrid 

 Perpetuals. 



Some rosarians prefer to prune their Hybrid 

 Perpetuals early in March, on the grounds that 

 the plants suffer less from bleeding, and the buds 

 which are left to develop, being in a. very hack- 

 ward condition, are not suddenly forced into 

 growth, and that better shaped flowers result 

 thereby. These early primers also cut their 

 Hybrid Perpetuals back very hard. Personally 

 1 do not recommend this, and I would advise 

 Hybrid Perpetuals being pinned at the same 

 tune as the Hybrid Teas, and not quite so 

 severely as this latter class, leaving from two to 

 six inches of old wood with from three to five 

 buds on them. By t his later pruning t here is less 

 risk of frost, and the roots being more active 

 growth starts more quickly. Some of the 

 varieties I have mentioned above I would prune 

 very lightly indeed. At least one Hybrid Tea, 

 ( 'aroline Testout . should be t reatcd the same way. 

 What liner sight can you have than a Hugh 

 Dickson climbing along a \ ft. trellis, with its 

 long rods t rained like a Rambler along it , or a big 

 tall bush of Frau Karl Drufchki or Caroline 

 Testout ! Poses grown thus, of course, are 

 essentially \er\ strong growers, and beyond 

 cutting out dead wood, little more is done with 

 the knife than tipping back the long healthy 

 shoots. Keep down, however, all twiggy 

 'MOW th. 



We now come to the pruning of the Hybrid 

 Teas. This is the most difficult class of all to 

 treat, because we have such a diversity of growth 



