276 Encyclopaedia of Gardening 



Planting Roses. Most rosarians plant in November, and those 

 who can get their ground ready then should follow the example of 

 the experts. They may, however, plant up to the end of March. 

 The most substantial soil of the garden should be given to the 

 Roses, for they love ground with plenty of body about it. One 

 finds that the annual growth is much stronger in heavy than in 

 light soil, and without abundant annual growth it is impossible to 

 get the best of flowers. Manure helps the light soil, and so does 

 deep working (see Bastard trenching under Kitchen Garden) ; still, 

 a heavy loam or friable clay is desirable. The roots should not be 

 buried deeply, but the soil should be trodden firmly round them. 



Pruning Roses. It is a good rule to prune all the varieties hard 

 in spring after planting, as it gives them a good start, but after- 

 wards the pruning should be regulated by the amount of annual 

 growth. A variety that is so naturally vigorous and well suited 

 by the soil as to make shoots 3 or 4 ft. long in a season need not be 

 shortened much at the annual pruning, the best time for which is 

 the end of March. Weak growers may be pruned to within 3 or 

 4 buds of the base. Most of the rambler Roses are best pruned 

 late in summer say September when as many of the old canes 

 as can be spared should be cut out. If there are plenty of strong 

 young canes springing up from the base, all the old wood may go; 

 but where basal canes are few it may be more desirable to shorten 

 old canes to the young wood on them than to remove them alto- 

 gether. The point is that there should be a nice lot of young wood 

 to get good bloom the following year. If this is tied up the arches 

 in September and exposed to the sun, it gets well ripened and 

 flowers well. See page 274. 



Wall Roses. The best of the pillar and arch Roses are not suit- 

 able for walls, but the following are good : 



Alister Stella Gray 

 Bardou Job 

 Cheshunt Hybrid 



Gloire de Dijon 

 Madame Alfred Carriere 

 Wm. Allen Richardson 



They may be pruned by thinning out old wood and nailing in new 

 to take its place. This may be done in late summer. 



Standard Roses. A standard Rose is one that is budded on to a 

 straight Brier stem in summer, the Briers being bought or taken 

 from the hedgerows the previous November and planted at once. 

 But such standards may, of course, be bought from the nurseries, 

 the same as dwarfs and climbers. Standards are not in general 

 favour, but they are useful for special positions. Dorothy Perkins 

 makes a beautiful standard, and when planted where it has plenty 

 of room it makes a lovely specimen, with its long, flower-laden 

 shoots drooping in profusion around the stem. The bare stem is a 

 drawback to standards, and where many are planted it is well to 

 carpet the ground with Violas, to take off the bareness. 



Budding Roses. An amateur cannot bud Roses properly without 

 practice, and the best way of learning is to ask to assist a rosarian 

 with his budding in the summer. The expert will show how the 

 bud is sliced out in the shape of a long, narrow shield, how the leaf 

 is cropped in to a stump, hew the pith is picked out without tearing 



