Fancy a 'whole city where boundary hedges between lots, and even the roadside plantings along the curb, are ever-blooming roses! 



Where Roses Run Riot— By Frederick V. Holman, °oT 



A CORNER OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT WHICH IS IDEAL FOR ALL KINDS OF 

 ROSES, AND WHERE THEY EXCEL IN BEAUTY ANYTHING SEEN IN THE OLD WORLD 



[Editor's Note. — The writer of this article has for twenty-five years made a special hobby of growing roses in Portland, and has 

 been largely instrumental in popularizing their cultivation. It was he, indeed, who gave this, the "Rose City," its popidar title.] 



IT IS probably not known to many resi- 

 dents of the Eastern States that Port- 

 land, Ore., in the same latitude as Montreal, 

 Canada, is a place where roses grow as well 

 as, if not better than, in any other part of 

 the world! 



That roses grow so perfectly there is due 

 largely to the soil and the climate. The 

 soil is a rich, heavy, yellowish clay, one of 

 the best soils for roses; the climate is soft, 

 moist, mild and even. Roses ask no more 

 as natural conditions. Soil may be imported, 

 climate is as nature gives it. The annual 

 precipitation for the past twenty years is 

 about forty inches, about the same as at 

 Louisville, Ky., Washington, D. C, Boston, 

 Mass., and Buffalo and the City of New 

 York. But Portland does not have the cold 

 winters nor the hot summers of these other 

 cities. In the winter the variation is rarely 

 more than ten degrees in twenty-four hours; 

 often it is less than five degrees. This 

 gives the roses the best conditions to lie 

 dormant, and to awaken strong and vigorous 

 for their next spring and summer blooming. 

 Occasionally there is a short time of freezing 

 weather in the winter, but the thermometer 

 rarely goes lower than ten degrees above 

 zero; most winters it does not fall more 

 than six or seven degrees below freezing 

 point. In the last winter of 1909-1910, 

 which has been so cold and disagreeable in 

 the Eastern States, the lowest temperature in 

 Portland was 23 degrees above zero — figures 

 which I obtained from the United States 

 Weather Bureau at Portland. As the ground 

 was warm, very few roses were hurt below the 

 surface of the manure covering on the 

 ground, even the most delicate roses, such 

 as Niphetos, which grows and blooms to 



perfection in the open. I am writing of 

 roses which had no protection of boughs, 

 nor straw. Such protection is rarely used 

 because it is unnecessary. 



In May and June, which are the months 

 of the perfection of rose blooming in Port- 

 land, the climate is ideal for roses. It is 

 not alone that these are the months when 

 roses bloom in the latitude of the Northern 

 States, but it is the even and mild tempera- 

 ture, with the other favorable atmospheric 

 conditions, which might well be called 



Owing to the mild climate a wonderfully sturdy 

 growth is made, and that means large flowers 



228 



nature's greenhouse conditions in the open. 

 They are just right for the bushes, as well 

 as the flowers, This applies to all varieties 

 from the most tender teas to the hardiest 

 hybrid perpetuals. Roses dislike extremes 

 of temperature, of dryness and of moisture, 

 in the soil as well as in the air. They revel in 

 moderations of all these things. 



The evenness of the climate in Portland in 

 summer, as well as in winter, is due largely 

 to the mild south winds from the tropics 

 moisture-laden. In the summer the mild 

 northwest winds from the Pacific ocean 

 also have their part in cooling any tendency 

 to excessive heat. Its climate is similar to 

 that of the most favored parts of southern 

 England. While Portland is in the latitude 

 of Montreal, it is also in the latitude of 

 Bordeaux, France. 



In September, in October, and into 

 November the roses have another blooming 

 season. Not all varieties, but many are 

 more beautiful then than in May and June 

 — such varieties as Maman Cochet, White 

 Maman Cochet, Prince de Bulgarie, Sou- 

 venir de Pierre Notting, Papa Gontier, 

 and other varieties not so well known. But 

 many other varieties are as good, or nearly 

 as good, as in the spring and summer 

 blooming. 



The cold fogs near the coast and the hot, 

 dry winds, and the arid conditions of the 

 interior (as in the southern part of Cali- 

 fornia) in the rose-blooming season, preclude 

 it from producing roses such as may be grown 

 all over western Oregon. 



In Portland there are roses everywhere 

 in the residence districts. You may see 

 them in the front yards of the humblest 

 cottage, of the pretentious and costly houses, 



