HOW TO HAVE SUCCESS WITH ROSES 



Some Things Which Roses Require 



There are a few details of diet and environment which 

 roses insist upon, and if the gardener won't or can't supply 

 them he might better leave the rose-bushes at the nursery, 

 for they "won't be happy till they get them." The first is 

 plenty of sunshine; the second is shelter from north or west 

 winds (the sturdy Crimson Rambler grown on a wire-netting 

 will often give protection enough); thirdly, roses like a place 

 to themselves and show little interest in blooming if they have 

 to be closely associated with other garden-folk; they are 

 aristocrats by nature, and very exclusive ones; for diet they 

 like rich food and plenty of it, enough water for drink, but 

 fresh water, not persistently moist ground — "roses abhor wet 

 feet," as one writer expresses it. Don't try to grow roses near 

 trees — there is Kttle nourishment for anything in such a place, 

 and roses will do nothing if starved. 



The best place for a real rose-garden is a southeastern 

 slope. Roses love the early morning sun. The next best 

 place is a southern or southwestern slope from which winds 

 are cut off. Though aristocrats in the matter of other flowers, 

 roses are perfectly happy in many situations which are not 

 in the least distinguished. They will grow luxuriantly over 

 the wire-netting of a hen-yard. The south side of a barn- 

 yard and the neighborhood of a compost-heap are places 

 they deUght in. In the country a congenial spot for cUmbing 

 roses is near a kitchen-porch, where, in spite of precept, the 

 water from the washing of hands is apt to be thrown. Not 

 only do they enjoy the diet but they also keep many a germ 

 from finding its way into the well. I am inclined to think that 

 the sixteenth-century notion that roses were pecuHarly health- 

 giving came from the unsanitary condition of the houses and 



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