CHOOSING THE LOCATION 



Where to Plant Roses 



Several available spaces for the rose-bed are usually to be 

 found on the average home-grounds. The author has had 

 the good fortune to visit a number of rose-gardens that are 

 famous — and others that deserve to be — and this may be 

 said of nearly all : that they lay on the genial, sunny side of a 

 generous group of trees or copse, but were open to the gentler 

 breezes, and were not shut in or shaded. 



When buying a new property, the selection of the 

 most suitable spot upon it for the house is scarcely more 

 important than the selection of a site for your rose-garden. 

 You will choose a sunny room, if possible, for the indoor 

 nursery, where "the little fairies" in your home may romp 

 and play on a wintry day; and so, too, will you wish to provide 

 for the happiness and well-being of your rose-children, because 

 only a few of them are prairie-born. Only a small section of 

 this large family has been reared to bear the rigors of gusty, 

 sweeping or whipping winds at any time of year, and from 

 such, for the best results, they must be protected. It is not 

 only the severe, cold winds of winter, or the raw, cutting 

 swish of spring, but the hot, withering winds of summer, too, 

 that may ruin the opening buds and spoil the almost ripe 

 fruits of your labor. 



Choose a place, therefore, or establish one, protected 

 either by trees, a hedge, a wall, a building, or by some other 

 windbreak. Even a hedge of roses, or climbers, upon a 

 substantial trellis will avail, although a more dense screen is 

 more effective. Choose, too, a place where the sun will shine 

 for not less than one-half of the day, preferably the morning. 

 By this you will see that a space opening away to the south 

 or southeast is to be preferred. We have noted equally suc- 

 cessful rose-gardens entirely surrounded by hedges. 



Avoid the too close shade of trees, or the proximity of 

 tree-roots; they are ravenous robbers. If the roots can pos- 

 sibly reach over to your rose-beds, they will do it and steal 

 away the nourishment you have provided. Therefore, either 

 keep entirely away from them or, if you must dig your bed 



