232 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



June, 1908 



The Rose as a Summer Bedder 



By Eben E. Rexford 



HIS article is written for the benefit of the 

 & amateur gardener, therefore it will not apply 

 to the gardens of wealthy people who can 

 afford the services of a skilled man. It is 

 seldom that no roses are. to be found late in 

 the season, for the gardener knows how to 

 secure them. Roses the amateur may have 

 from June to November if he is willing to take a little trouble 

 for them. We have, in the tea, the 

 Bengal and the Bourbon sections of 

 the great rose family, the material 

 from which it is easy to secure a 

 constant supply of flowers through- 

 out the season. These are generally 

 catalogued as ever-bloomers. These 

 roses can be made to bloom at in- 

 tervals, after the first profuse crop 

 of June and July. They are not 

 perpetual in their habit of bloom. 

 Hybrid occasional would be a better 

 term to use in connection with them. 

 Neither are the so-called ever- 

 bloomers true to the term which the 

 florists have applied to them unless 

 given peculiar treatment. In order 

 to grow this class of roses well one 

 must understand something of their 

 habits. They send out new branches, 

 and these generally bear several 

 buds. When these buds have de- 

 veloped into flowers no more can be 

 expected from that branch, unless it 

 can be coaxed to send out other 

 branches. In order to keep up a 

 succession of bloom it is absolutely 

 necessary to keep the plant produc- 

 ing new branches, as the flowers are 



only borne on new growth. Therefore such treatment must 

 be given as will constantly keep it renewing itself. So long 

 as new branches are produced so long will there be flowers. 



These roses, like all other members of the family, are great 

 eaters. Therefore, it naturally follows that one of the im- 



Maman Cochet 



portant features of the treatment given consists in manuring 

 them liberally, not once in the season, but several times. 

 What should be aimed at is keeping them growing all the 

 time, and growing so vigorously that they will be able to pro- 

 duce large and perfect flowers. 



The second important item to be considered is this: When 

 a branch has developed all its flowers, most of it should be 

 cut away. Cut it back to a strong bud, or "eye." This will 



generally leave but two or three 

 inches of 'it, close to the base of the 

 plant. If the plant is stimulated to 

 active growth, as it should be, by 

 liberal feeding, a new branch will 

 soon develop from the bud left at the 

 base of the old branch, and this, in 

 its turn, will bear flowers. As soon 

 as these flowers have faded, apply 

 precisely the. same treatment to the 

 branch that bore them as was given 

 to the first branch. Keep up this 

 treatment during the entire season, 

 applying fertilizers to the soil at least 

 once a month. In this way the plant 

 is always renewing itself — always 

 going ahead — and the result is roses 

 in abundance up to the coming of 

 cold weather. Of course, plants so 

 treated never attain much size. But 

 who cares for large bushes if he can 

 have large flowers and plenty of 

 them? 



The flowers from the teas, Ben- 

 gals, and Bourbons are never as large 

 as those of the June and hybrid per- 

 petual classes, and, as a general 

 thing, they are not as brilliant in 

 coloring. 

 La France is one. of the best I have ever grown. 

 Duchesse de Brabant is an old variety, popular years and 

 years ago, but all the better for that, for its continued popu- 

 larity proves it the possessor of exceptional merit. It is of 

 free growth, with flowers of a silvery pink. 



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