With fall liere and uinter in the ofTing, a few 

 things remain for tlie rose gardener to do before 

 putting his shears and sprayer away for the season. 

 Al! are preventiNe in nature. 



It is wise to continue your spray program as 

 long as there are leaves on >our plants. This will 

 help to pre\ ent the carrying o\ er of disease spores 



What to do 

 J ft the Ml Kose 



Qatden 



by George JM. Hart 



and insect ^'^^^'^s from fall to spring. To make this 

 action even more effective, it is also wise to collect 

 fallen rose leaves from under the plants after frost 

 knocks them off, and to dispose of them, l^his is 

 especially true if your roses have been affected by 

 blackspot. 



Hilling up your bushes is recommended as a 

 protective measure if in your locality winter tem- 

 ]jeratures are in the hal)it of getting down to 10 

 degrees or below . If the roses are pretty far apart, 

 you caii draw the soil from between the plants and 



mound it into and around the canes up to 8 to 10 

 inches. Otherwise, the best thing to do is to bring 

 in some soil from elsewhere in your garden. This 

 sliould be done after frost has hit hard enough to 

 make dormancy certain. Roses protected like this 

 have Tittle fear of winter weather. 



A third thing to do involves your shears. Prun- 

 ing in the fall should be concerned 

 only with two purposes: to remove 

 any obviously dead or diseased wood: 

 and to shorten especially long canes to 

 prevent undue whipping in the wind, 

 or possible breakage from heavy snow. 

 In dealing with Climbers, remember 

 that next spring's flowers will be 

 borne on canes which were produced 

 this year, as well as on older canes: 

 and that, therefore, they should not be 

 primed away except in cases where 

 they are over-long and need to be 

 kept in l)ounds. 



It will not hurt at all — in fact, will 

 help — if you gi\e each plant at this time a iiood 

 handful of fertilizer to tide it over the winter. 

 \\ liile it is true that the |)lant is not now actively 

 growing.it is also true tliat a final feeding in October 

 is beneficial because the root system can still 

 absorb nutrients nnIucIi will fortify it now and give 

 it a grand start in spring. 



That's about all that your rose garden needs in 

 fall; and if you take care of these simi)le chores, 

 your rose garden \^ill be nmch better off in the 

 springtime. 



It's Kood practice in the fall to snip off all last remainin^^. withered blooms, and to clean 

 up the beds underneath. This helps to prevent disease from bein^; carried over to spring- 

 time. The faded "last rose of summer" is never the most beautiful anyway. 



