ROSES IN THE TEMPERAMENTAL ZONES 



C. L. MELLER 



Superintendent of Parks, Fargo, N. D. 



Proving Themselves More Reliable Than Some of the Most Common 

 Things They May Provide the Entire Planting of the Garden 



rHERE the winter is long and weeks of zero weather are 

 a certainty, where spring comes with a rush, where late 

 frost nips the early buds and early frost the late ones, 

 and where July and August are very apt to be hot and 

 dry, as in the great Northwest, Roses are available nevertheless 

 for almost every need of a well balanced planting design. 



To begin with, there are the Wild Roses, ready at hand 

 almost everywhere and willing and able to bloom almost any- 

 where, from the Wild Rose of the prairies, low and almost her- 

 baceous with shoots seldom reaching a height of more than two 

 feet from a spreading woody rhizome, to the taller woodland 

 Roses which are just the shrubs for poor soil on which only the 

 meanest weeds endure. I have grown these on a bank that is 

 nothing more than a conglomerate of old Cedar blocks and man- 

 ure with less than two feet of clay covering. Here, planted 

 thickly, they fought and hid the weeds, and gave it a very tidy 

 — and while in bloom, very joyous — appearance, as well. 

 Warm and bright too in winter against the sparkling snow are 

 the heps of the Wild Rose while in spring some of the early mi- 

 grants among the birds, hard pressed for food, are glad of them. 

 Wild Roses can be transplanted at any season of the year pro- 

 viding the bushes are cut back about one half if they are in leaf. 

 It is well also to take as much soil as possible with the roots, the 

 one essential to success being that the roots do not dry out. 



In the Austrian Briars, such as Harison's and Persian Yellow, 

 we have foliage of a darker green with the vigor and hardiness 

 of the Wild Rose. These likewise require no protection. The 

 Moss Roses, too, are hardy and though their foliage is more or 

 less subject to mildew, their exquisite buds seem to justify the 

 use of a few bushes at least in every planting. They are the 

 better for pruning and because of this they can be used for a low 

 clipped hedge. 



THE Rose par excellence for a hedge in a severe climate 

 however is Rosa rugosa. How hardy it is surely every gar- 

 dener knows and happily some of the newer double forms appear 

 to equal the old-fashioned single type in this respect. Being of 

 comparatively low growth it can be planted in front of the taller 

 Rose bushes and further held down as low as desired by pruning. 

 The old-fashioned Blush Rose, or Maiden's Blush to give it 

 its proper title — the double pink form of Rosa alba — has distinct 

 value as a shrub and is very satisfactory as well. The Cinna- 

 mon Rose also is available, and that "most spiny," as the botan- 

 ists have dubbed it, the Scotch, Rosa spinosissima, should also 

 be added to the list of shrubby Roses. The fragrant foliaged 

 Sweetbriar may be included, too, if some killing back of the bushes 

 be not considered too great a fault, for actually it is hardy at 

 root. 



These are for the background, or the framework so to speak 

 of the Rose planting. But the planter even in a most hostile 

 climate need not confine the scheme of his garden to these alone. 

 For among the Hybrid Perpetuals there are a great many and 

 as a start I would suggest Paul Neyron, Marshall P. Wilder, 

 Anne de Diesbach, Gen. Jacqueminot, John Hopper, Magna 

 Charta, Fisher Holmes, Mme. Gabrielle Luizet, Clio, Margaret 

 Dickson, Frau Karl Druschki, and Marchioness of London- 

 derry. This list includes red, crimson, pink and white — and 

 there is no reason, obviously why one should not add newcomers 

 as they meet one's fancy. The American Beauty Rose even 

 can be carried through our severest winter, though it is not 

 ordinarily grown in the garden as it is much finer under glass. 



OPINION still is current that the most a garden in colder 

 regions can hope for is a few Hybrid Perpetuals; but the 

 writer's experience with Gruss an Teplitz points to the Hybrid 

 Tea as the Rose for climates where some of the "hardy" Lilies 

 are not hardy; where "hardy" herbaceous perennials fail to 

 reappear in spring; and where so rugged a shrub as Spiraea Van 

 Houttei is killed back extensively in many a winter. The 

 Hybrid Perpetuals are a little the hardier sure enough, yet to 

 make them a safe investment they require winter protection ; 

 and as the Hybrid Teas ask no more, why give the former any 

 preference? 1 find that two-year dormant field-grown stock 

 set out in spring gives the best results. 



As to Cultural Attentions 



DURING the dry weather of summer, if there be small chance 

 to water copiously, a constant stirring of the surface into a 

 dust mulch will serve perfectly. For winter protection the 

 bushes should be hilled up as one would hill up potatoes, cover- 

 ing the branches to a little higher than they are to be pruned 

 back in the spring. This should be done just before the ground 

 freezes in the fall; and it is well to bring the soil for making the 

 hills from other parts of the garden and fill it on about each 

 bush. The bushes may be brought indoors through the winter, 

 if extraordinary precaution seems advisable, and laid down under 

 about a foot of soil, or another way is to prune back in the 

 fall to about a foot in height and cover completely with earth. 



One may also have Climbing Roses in a severe climate in 

 spite of the cold — not perhaps in that same profusion that 

 milder climates are favored with, since they must be so grown 

 that the canes can be laid down and covered in fall. The full 

 length of each season's growth can be carried through each suc- 

 ceeding winter however underneath a foot of soil firmly packed 

 over the canes. So do not hesitate to plant any climber that 

 in vigor and hardihood approaches the Crimson Rambler, the 

 Memorial Rose, or the Climbing American Beauty. 



s * 



A 



WILD ROSES MAKE AN IDEAL SHRUBBERY WHEN MASSED 



Sure to grow in the climate to which they are native, 

 here is a class that furnishes great delicacy of bloom in 

 summer, and rich color of fruit and branch in winter 



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