126 THE GARDEN BEAUTIFUL 



all plant life dormant for several months each year. 

 We seldom get good roses in summer for the reason 

 that the atmosphere is too hot and too dry, and after 

 the heavy flower crop of winter and spring the 

 plants need a period of rest in which to recuperate 

 their vitality. 



In the warmer parts of the state one may have 

 autumn and holiday roses if water is not given at 

 all from the last day of June to not later than the 

 first day of October, preferably pruning and water- 

 ing for the first time during the closing days of 

 September. If autumn roses are preferred it mat- 

 ters not if leaves turn yellow or fall and bark on 

 the smaller and younger growth becomes shriveled; 

 the plants are not necessarily distressed by such 

 treatment, for the growth manifesting such change 

 must all be cut away in any event. If rest is the 

 only end in view, the plants need not for so long be 

 deprived of water, or rest may be begun later, or a 

 little water be given every month. In this case 

 pruning is delayed until winter. 



All this presupposes that the rose beds are where 

 they may be kept under proper control. If the 

 plants are in the lawn, either singly or in beds, good 

 roses in large numbers will not result. Why anyone 

 will consider rose plants for fundamental landscape 

 embellishment is very hard to understand, for rose 

 bushes severely pruned and soil in constant cultiva- 

 tion or heavily mulched do not add to the finish 

 of the landscape. There are other and more fitting 

 places for growing rose bushes than may be found 

 in any lawn. After being driven through a couple 

 of years by almost daily watering of the surround- 

 ing grass, and allowed no periods of rest, that rose 

 plant is indeed hardy that will still return a boun- 

 tiful crop of flowers. If you need shrubs for the 



