ROSES— SPRING PRUNING. 



73 



PRUNING AND PROTECTING ROSES. 



The mode and extent of pruning not only depends upon the class to which the 

 roses belong, but also to the peculiarities of each variety. It is obvious that with 

 varieties producing growths ranging from 1 to 15 feet in length, all cannot be pruned 

 upon the same lines. Many varieties commence growth as soon as mild weather pre- 

 vails, often giving the amateur an impression that he is behind in this most important 

 operation. Unless judicious pruning be attended to each season, many, in short almost 

 all our roses fail to give a good show of bloom. Not only is this the case, but plants 

 get unsightly in shape, and carry so much old and sere wood that few healthy growths 

 with their correspondingly good blooms are produced. 



Spring Peuning. — When to prune roses is a somewhat vexed 

 question with many growers, but experience points to March 

 for Hybrid Perpetuals, Bourbons, and other hardy classes, and 

 early April for Teas, Noisettes, Chinas, Banksians, and those of 

 a more tender constitution. The ideal time for spring pruning 

 is when growth is starting after the last frosts of any severity. 

 This is, of course, a difficult matter to judge, and much depends 

 upon the season, also whether the locality be north or south, and 

 the varieties early or late in commencing growth. Moreover, so 

 many varieties now grown have some peculiar characteristic of their 

 own that needs consideration if the best results are to follow, that '^^s- 85. Planting and 



Shoetening. 



pruning has become quite an art in the successful culture of the rose. 



We would warn against too early pruning in the spring. Eoses commence to grow 

 from the tip of their shoots first. Such growths seldom produce good blooms, being as 

 a rule checked by late frosts. If allowed to come on naturally for a short time they 

 induce a free start of new roots, and the little loss of sap caused by later pruning does 

 no material harm. In the warmest positions and under the most favourable conditions 

 we would not prune until early in March. It is very essential that the young growth 

 should come on without any checks, these, whether from frost or chilly weather, being 

 especially injurious to roses. A later break of new growth, free from checks, will 

 rapidly catch and pass any plants that were pruned early, and which at one time seemed 

 on the way to produce the earliest blooms. 



Eoses that were planted from nursery rows during the preceding autumn, should be 



