ROSE 



ROSE 



3011 



this region. The limited season of flower-production, 

 and the unattractive plant-display the remainder of the 

 year, places this group second to the Hybrid Teas in 

 usefulness for outdoor culture, even though little or no 

 winter covering is required with the one, while it is 

 important that some protection be provided for the 

 other in the more northerly section of this region: 

 General Jacqueminot, brilliant scarlet-crimson; 

 Coquette des Alpes, white; Ulrich Brunner, cherry-red; 

 Frau Karl Druschki, snow-white; Victor Verdier, crim- 

 son; Paul Xeyron, dark rose; Madame Charles Wood, 

 scarlet; Magna Charta, bright pink; Mrs. John Laing, 

 soft pink. 



Roses of the dwarf rambler class are as hardy as 

 Hybrid Perpetuals and as continuous as Hybrid 

 Teas. The dwarf compact habit, together with the clus- 

 tered masses of bloom, gives it a distinction all its own. 

 The class is very showy in the garden, but with rather 

 short stems, and therefore less valuable for cut-flowers. 

 Occasionally the blossoms bleach a little in conditions 

 following alternate rain and warm sunshine, but this 

 fault is more than outdone by the wealth of color pro- 

 duced over most of the period from beginning of bloom- 

 ing to frost: Clotilde Soupert, rosy white: Baby Ram- 

 bler, crimson; Baby Rambler, pink; Orleans, red; 

 Katherine Zeimet, white. 



The varieties and hybrids of Rosa rugosa are useful, 

 especially in landscape masses and usually make excel- 

 lent hedge-rows. (Figs. 3477-3480.) The single-flow- 

 ered forms produce bright red hips or seed-vessels 

 that remain on the bushes late in the winter. The 

 bright green leaves give these and similar varieties an 

 interesting and pleasing appearance a large part of the 

 season. Good varieties are: R. rugosa alba, white; R. 

 rugosa rosea, pink; R. rugosa rubra, red; Madame 

 Georges Bruant, double white; and others. 



Hybrids of the Sweetbrier type are most charming 

 when in bloom, though the flowers are only medium to 

 small in size, and endure for less than a fortnight. It 

 produces conspicuous fruits and fragrant foliage. The 

 plants are a little slow in making their growth, but 

 meet all weather conditions without injury and live to a 

 great age. The plants form a good shrubbery mass or 

 border group. Three good varieties are: Lord Penzance, 

 Lady Penzance, Brenda. 



Many of the native species of roses are well used for 

 mass planting, similar to the Sweetbriers. There are 

 several American species known to thrive and bear 

 abundant bloom at St. Louis: R. palustris, R. virginiana, 

 R. setigera. 



The most valuable climbing roses for this region fall 

 under two types, R. midiiflora and R. Wichwraiana. 

 Isolated examples have been reported of other forms 

 doing equally well, but the above are by far the most 

 common, and the varieties give so wide a range of 

 color as practically to make other forms unnecessary. 

 They grow rapidly in good soil, and when trained to 

 tree-stumps, trellises, walls or the sides of buildings, 

 quickly make a thorough covering. For covering solid 

 walls and sides of buildings it is better to provide lattice- 

 work a few inches from the building to give opportunity 

 for free circulation of air between the wall and the vines. 

 The Wichuraianas are especially adapted for trailing 

 over banks, mounds, and the like. Good varieties are: 

 Crimson Rambler, crimson; Dorothy Perkins, both 

 pink and white. 



After several years' experience with Moss roses, the 

 writer has never seen a plantation that was as satis- 

 factory as other types. At St. Louis they weie no more 

 hardy than Hybrid Teas and appear to be more subject 

 to mildew than any other roses. The blooms were not 

 superior to other roses and are rarely grown except by 

 persons maintaining collections of old-fashioned flowers, 

 from whom some good reports have been made. They 

 are more valuable here for then- associations than for 

 real horticultural merit. 



Soils. 



Roses take most kindly to a heavy clay loam 

 enriched with well-rotted cow-manure. Such a soil is 

 characteristically abundant in this region. Sand and 

 ground limestone are added to the average clay loam 

 unless it is known that the soil already contains enough 

 of one or more of these ingredients. Except for Tea 



5479. Rosa rugosa var. Kaiserin. 



roses, lighter soils are avoided as much as possible, and 

 even the Teas do better in ground moderately com- 

 pact. 



Great care must be exercised in the preparation of 

 the soil and providing perfect drainage. Ground for a 

 rose-bed should be excavated 2 to 2% feet deep and the 

 lower 6 inches filled with pieces of rock or broken brick. 

 The bottom should be connected with a drain-tile 

 to carry the surplus water quickly to a lower level. 

 About a foot of cow-manure, preferably rotted, should 

 be spread over the broken rock and brick, and the 

 excavation filled with heavy clay loam of sufficient 

 depth to keep the surface when settled slightly lower 

 than the surrounding level. To most soils in this 

 region some form of lime should be added to neutralize 

 any acidity that may occur. If there is a greater pro- 

 portion of clay than loam in the soil a little pulverized 

 sheep^manure, dried blood, or other quick-acting 

 chemical fertilizer will provide available plant-food 

 immediately and give the plants a better start. 



Planting. 



In starting a rose-plantation, the stock may be 

 dormant wood or growing plants in 3- or 4-inch pots. 

 The plants may have been grown from cuttings on their 

 own roots or budded or grafted on other stock. Plants 

 on their own roots are equally good, cheaper to buy, 

 and there is no danger of the stock plants making 

 growth from the roots in place of the desired land. 

 Most roses in this region are grown on their own roots. 

 Dormant roses may be set out either in fall or spring, 

 using preferably one- or two-year-old plants. Spring 

 is the most common season, but autumn-planting is 

 practised by some and considered equally good, or 

 even better by many successful growers. The plants 

 are set in the ground 2 or 3 inches deeper than 

 they originally grew, and if planted in autumn, earth 

 is drawn up around the stem and the ground mulched 

 with the most convenient material suitable for the pur- 



