A SIMPLE ROSE GARDEN 121 



by some succulent annual that overgrows the limit we 

 mentally set for it, thereby stopping the circulation 

 of air about the rose roots, and lo ! the harm is done ! 



If you want good roses, you must be content to see a 

 little bare, brown earth between the bushes, only allow- 

 ing a narrow outside border of pansies, the horned 

 bedding violets (cornuta), or some equally compact and 

 clean- growing flower. To plant anything thickly be- 

 tween the roses themselves prevents stirring the soil and 

 the necessary seasonal mulchings, for if the ground- 

 covering plants flourish you will dislike to disturb 

 them. 



The first thing to secure for your rosary is sun 

 sun for all the morning. If the shadow of house, barn, 

 or of distant trees breaks the direct afternoon rays in 

 July and August, so much the better, but no overhead 

 shade at any time or season. This does not prevent 

 your protecting a particularly fine quantity of buds, 

 needed for some special occasion, with a tentlike um- 

 brella, such as one sees fastened to the seat in pedlers' 

 wagons. A pair of these same umbrellas are almost a 

 horticultural necessity for the gardener's comfort as 

 well, when she sits on her rubber mat to transplant and 

 weed. 



Given your location, consideration of soil comes next, 



