CHAPTER VI 



PLANTING 



**/ have heard the mavis singing 

 Its love sons to the morn; 

 I've seeyi the deicdrop clinging 

 To the rose just newly born." 



— Charles Jefferys 



**\ T THEN is the best time for planting roses?" you ask. 

 y Y Tell us where you would grow roses, and we will tell 

 you when to plant them. The most carefully laid 

 down dates for New York state are "null and void" in New 

 Orleans. Proper planting-time, even in the same state, may 

 vary according to differences in altitude and latitude. Where 

 the winters are not too severe, as in our Gulf and Pacific Coast 

 States, and on the Atlantic seaboard as far north as Norfolk, 

 autumn-planting is to be preferred. 



Indeed, broadly speaking, after a plant has become dormant 

 and its wood fully matured, transplanting may be done when- 

 ever the weather is suitable and the soil fit, and the longer 

 time there is for the roots to become well settled in the ground 

 before they must start gro^^•th again, the better probably will 

 be that gro^^'th. A warning is here needed. Young, weak or 

 tender plants should be planted in the spring in localities where 

 the winters are severe — but Hardy Climbers, Hybrid Perpet- 

 uals, Rugosas, Mosses, and the hardiest of the Hybrid Teas may 

 be planted in the autumn, as soon as dormant, as far north as 

 properly ripened plants can be obtained before the ground 

 freezes. As a matter of general practice there are, doubtless, 

 ten times as many roses planted in the spring as in the autumn, 

 when few nurseries ha\'e more than a limited list of varieties 

 graded and ready for distribution. \\'herever you are, dormant 

 roses may be planted as soon in the spring as the soil is dry 

 enough to crumble and not cake in your hand, and as long after 

 that as good dormant plants can be obtained, usually up to 

 the end of April. After that, danger from frost is largely past, 

 and it will have become safe to set out roses grown in pots and 

 in leaf. If you live north of 40 degrees latitude, defer planting 

 from this date by one week for every hundred miles difference. 



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