186 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Apkil, 1914 



A Rose Garden in Missouri 



I HAVE grown roses on my home grounds here 

 in Missouri for a number of years and have 

 tried ah the approved methods for propagating, 

 growing, and wintering them. My collection con- 

 sists of about 850 plants and includes fifteen botan- 

 ical and more than a hundred horticultural varieties 

 of all classes. The roses are grown in bush, espalier, 

 climbing, trailing and standard forms. 



It has often been said that roses cannot be culti- 

 vated successfully in the states of the Middle West, 

 owing to the extreme variations in temperature and 

 the hot drying winds during the summer months. 

 This is true with regard to the tender classes of roses, 

 but these adverse conditions can be obviated or over- 

 come by providing shade and moisture. When the 

 temperature rises to 95 and 100 degrees all roses will 

 suffer and their petals will dry and shrivel up before 

 the flowers are fully expanded, unless the plants 

 are shaded during the hottest hours of the day and 

 the ground around the plants well covered with a 

 heavy mulch. A lath screen overhead, or an open 

 pergola covered with climbing roses, would afford 

 the necessary partial shade. 



The growing of standard or tree roses has been 

 very much neglected, owing, probably, to the count- 

 less failures that have resulted from adhering too 

 closely to European methods of growing and win- 

 tering them. Tree roses are budded on hardy, 

 strong-growing wild roses to provide the high stems, 

 or trunks, which cannot be produced on the roots 

 of tender roses. The best wild roses for this pur- 

 pose are the dog rose (Rosa canina) and the Jap- 

 anese rose (Rosa rugosa). The former is mostly 

 used in Germany and France, while the latter is 

 used by Holland nurserymen. 



Wild roses are mostly grown from seed in nursery 

 rows and will attain a height of from five to eight 

 feet the first season. The following June the buds 

 of the tender roses are inserted or budded at the 

 proper height on the wild stems. The smaller 

 canes should be budded two feet high as half stand- 

 ards; the larger ones three to five feet high as 

 standards. The strongest and longest two-year 

 canes are budded seven to nine feet high with buds 

 of climbing roses and they form the weeping 

 standards. The Rosa rugosa rose is slightly hardier 

 than the Rosa canina, but its stems are crooked, 

 knotty and brittle and cannot be bent down easily 

 for wintering outdoors. The dog rose will with- 

 stand bending and is better suited for formal plant- 

 ing on account of its straight, smooth canes. 

 The thorns on both stems are generally removed 

 before the buds are inserted to permit of easier 

 handling. 



The weeping standards, budded with hardy 

 climbing roses, may be wintered outdoors without 

 protection, if fairly sheltered against strong winds. 

 Or they may be bent down to the ground, fastened 

 or tied to low stakes and covered with hay or straw 

 and soil, keeping the sides slanting to let the water 

 drain away. 



All other standards, budded with Teas, Hybrid 

 Teas, Polyanthas, etc., are best taken up every 

 fall after all leaves and buds are killed by frost, and 

 stored in a cool cellar or barn. 



Before taking them up, I cut back the wood of 

 the crown to about ten or twelve buds, strip off all 

 leaves, fill the centre of the crown with dry, short 

 hay or sphagnum moss, and tie the crown with 

 raffia into a compact bundle. Do not use string, 



for it will cut into the green bark of branches and 

 harm the buds. Now lift up the tree with a spade; 

 leave the soil on the roots, but cut off any suckers 

 that may be on the roots. Carry the tree without 

 delay into its winter quarters and, if a frost-proof 

 cellar, cover the roots with damp clay soil, packing 

 close to exclude all air from the root ball. 



If you wish to winter the rose trees in a barn, 

 make a bin large enough to receive them and, 

 after laying them close together, cover the roots, 

 stems and crowns with sandy soil free from manure 

 or other heating agents. Next spring, before plant- 

 ing time, set out all your rose stakes, which ought 

 to be of one-quarter-inch, round, iron rods, six to 

 seven feet long and painted a dark brown. After 

 having set the stakes in a straight line, dig holes 

 around them. Before planting the trees cut off 

 any broken roots and dip the root ball in a tub filled 

 with clay soil and water, moving the ball up and 

 down to have the clay adhere to the roots. 



Do not set the plants too deep; they will settle a 

 little with the soil and should be tied only tempor- 

 arily for a few days until the soil has settled. Then 

 drive the stakes deep enough to reach about six 

 inches into the crown and tie the stem close to the 

 rod with raffia every fifteen or twenty inches, mak- 

 ing a loop-like knot to prevent cutting or chafing. 

 Five or six days after planting the pruning may be 

 done. Cut back all branches to two or four buds, 

 cutting about one-quarter inch above an outside 

 bud to permit the formation of an open, well- 

 shaped crown. The stem will soon freely push out 

 buds, do not rub these off until the crown has shown 

 signs of life. After this, cut out all wild growth 

 from item and roots as soon as it appears. The 

 soil should be cultivated about twice a week. 

 After July 1st, the soil should be covered three 

 inches deep with cattle manure, lawn clippings or 

 sphagnum moss. 



Do not cut off any of the blossoms until they 



have wilted. Every faded rose should be cut to the 

 third or fourth lower outside bud so as to maintain 

 the open headed crown. Roses that grow in clus- 

 ters of three or four are pinched out singly until the 

 last one is faded, then cut back three or four buds 

 lower. 



The best roses for half standards are the Poly- 

 anthas and a few of the Bengal and Noisette roses. 

 The varieties here mentioned are excellent iiloom- 

 ers: Aennchen Mueller, Bebe Leroux, Erna Tesch- 

 endorf!, Catharine Zeimet, Mme. Norbert Leva- 

 vasseur. Orleans Rose, Clothilde Soupert, Hermosa, 

 Souv. de la Malmaison, Zephirine Drouhin, 

 William Allen Richardson. 



The standards may be had in all classes, the 

 following being the best in each class: 



Hybrid Perpetuals: Baroness Rothschild, Cap- 

 tain Christy, Fisher Holmes, Francois Coppee, 

 Frau Karl Druschki, General Jacqueminot, Mad. 

 Gabriel Luizet, Mrs. John Laing, Prince Camille de 

 Rohan, Ulrich Brunner, Louis Van Houtte. 



Hybrid Teas: Belle Siebrecht, Chateau des Clos 

 Vougeot, Edu. Meyer, Etoile de France, Farben 

 Koenigin, Frau Lila Rautenstrauch, General Mc- 

 Arthur, Grass an Teplitz, Kaiserin Augusta Vic- 

 toria, Killarney, La France, La Tosca, Madame 

 Caroline Testout, Lyon Rose (Pernetiana), Mrs. 

 Aaron Ward, Madame Jules Grolez, Souvenir du 

 President Carnot, Viscountess Folkestone. 



Tea Roses: Blumenschmidt, Etoile de Lyon, 

 Gloire de Dijon, Grace Darling, Lady Roberts, 

 Mile. Jean Dupuy, Perle des Jardins. 



Rosa rugosa Hybrids: Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, 

 Carmen, Mad. Georges Bruant, New Century. 



Austrian Brier Hybrids: Austrian Yellow, Soleil 

 d' Or, Persian Yellow, Rayon d' Or. 



Climbing roses for weeping standards: Felicite 

 et Perpetue. (Semp.), Leuchstern (Mult.), Phila- 

 delphia Rambler (Mult.), Flower of Fairfield 

 (Mult.), Tausendschon (Mult.), Trier (Mult.), 

 Alberic Barbier (Wich.), Coquina Rambler (Wich.), 

 Dorothy Perkins (Wich.), Hiawatha (Wich), Lady 

 Gay (Wich.), Lady Godiva (Wich.), Minnehaha 

 (Wich.), Fraulein Octavia Hesse (Wich.). 



Missouri. Rud. Janicke. 



This is just the time to make a rose bed. Select 

 a good sunny location and trench the bed ther- 

 oughly from v\ to 3 feet deep, adding three layers 

 of manure. Good stock pays; try it with your roses. 

 Try some of the following H. P.'s: Frau Karl 

 Druschki, General Jacqueminot, Margaret Dickson, 

 Mrs. John Laing, Baroness Rothschild, Ulrich 

 Brunner, Paul Neyron, Prince Camille de Rohan. 



Do not use too many Crimson Ramblers; there 

 are a number of good climbers of the Wichuraiana 

 and Multiflora types such as Lady Gay, Tausend- 

 schon, Newport Fairy, Excelsa and American Pillar. 

 These are comparatively new. 



A small portion of a rose garden in Missouri in which 850 plants are grown 



