Starting a Rose Garden — By N. M. Moran, JJJUi; 
JUST WHAT THE BEGINNER NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT ROSES— HOW 
TO PLANT AND HOW TO PRUNE FOR FLOWERS OF QUALITY 
ence . 
Each 
grower 
has his 
own 
particular the- 
ories and foi- 
bles, all having 
some merit, but 
methods by 
which another 
person reaches 
success will 
not necessarily 
lead to success 
for you. 
The selection 
of the bushes is 
of the utmost 
importance — 
the variety, the age, and the shape. 
Choose only the well-known and hardy 
lands and no teas unless they are to 
be placed in a very sunny, sheltered 
position and not exposed to cold drying 
winters. Keep the varieties down to one 
of each color and make up quantity by 
getting dozens of each kind. The time 
for wide selection and trying out of novel- 
ties will be later, when personal acquain- 
tance has been made with roses. I name 
here only a very few of the reliable standby 
lands; with which it is almost impossible 
to have a failure; they are all hardy, free 
bloomers, and possess good foliage. 
Ulrich Brunner. Bright red, large 
flower, and long stemmed. (Hybrid Per- 
petual) 
Frau Karl Druschki. Snow white, well 
shaped buds, large, very double flowers. 
Blooms the whole summer. (Hybrid Per- 
petual) 
Caroline Testout. Bright clear pink, 
free and constant bloomer. This is a 
Hybrid Tea, more hardy than a Tea and 
will stand very cold weather. A very 
satisfactory rose. 
Kaiserin Augusta Victoria. Creamy 
white, perfect buds. Another Hybrid Tea 
and a very strong grower. 
The Lyon. Shrimp pink, shading to 
Three popular roses: Ulrich 
Brunner, Mrs. John Laing, and 
Hugh Dickson 
I AM writing this not for a knowing 
amateur, but simply for one who knows 
nothing at all about raising roses, but 
loves them and wants them to grace 
his garden and house. Rose culture, like 
anything else, must be learned, slowly, 
from the ground 
up and usually 
through ex- 
peri- 
lemon. A comparatively new rose, a strong 
grower and very beautiful, needs a heavy 
soil. (Pernettiana) 
Strong, two-year old plants cost more 
than the smaller ones, but I consider them 
vastly more satisfactory for the beginner. 
They will adapt themselves readily to their 
new home and produce more and better 
flowers the first season. I also prefer 
plants on their own roots because in my 
garden budded stock has not stood cold 
weather very well without protection and 
unless constant watchfulness is maintained, 
the suckers from the brier stock will choke 
out the more delicate child (Of course 
there will be differences of opinion on these 
two points — I am merely giving my own.) 
Plants from a well known dealer or grower 
are apt to be more healthy, better shaped, 
and have better root systems than those 
from some untried house. And it pays to 
buy good stock for rapid success depends 
largely on this factor. 
Planting is best done early in the spring 
as soon as frost is out of the ground; or 
it may be done in the late fall. The plot 
selected should be sunny, protected from 
winds, and well drained. Roses abhor 
“wet feet.” A good loam is the best soil. 
Deep spading and fertilizing, at the time 
the bed is made, will insure good roses and 
do away with the necessity for transplant- 
ing the bushes after a few years. Thev 
are gross feeders and if they are not put 
into a well prepared bed will soon exhaust 
the nourishment in the soil and require 
transplanting. A good way to plant is in 
a double row, alternating the bushes. 
They should be about thirty inches apart 
and one foot from the edge of the bed. 
Rose bushes are usually cut back when 
they are sent out from the nursery and 
require no further pruning when planting. 
But pruning must be done the following 
spring. Before attacking a bush, stop to 
consider what needs to be done and what 
is the best way to do it. Weak wood or 
old wood does not bear good roses; there- 
fore, cut it out without mutilating the bush. 
First select the strong shoots and cut them 
back to fourteen or sixteen inches from the 
ground, always cutting just above a strong 
outside bud and as close as possible to it 
without injuring it. If the cutting is made 
above an eye opening inward, the young 
growth will shoot inward and choke the 
inside of the plant. The centre of the bush 
should be kept as open as possible, so that 
light and air may enter. Now select the 
weak and tiny twigs and cut them off close 
to the parent limb. They will not bear 
fine roses and only sap the strength of the 
bush. Always cut so that no stump is left 
to rot, for rot runs down into healthy wood. 
Stand away from the bush and regard it 
very thoughtfully and carefully. The more 
old wood that is cut out the better, so take 
off just as much as you think the plant will 
stand and then a little more. The tendency 
usually is not to cut enough rather than 
too much and it is the severe pruning in 
early spring that produces fine roses in 
summer. Do not prune at all in the fall 
except to shorten the long canes, so that the 
wind will not thrash the plant and loosen 
it in the ground. 
The soil must not be permitted to dry 
out as hot weather comes on. Soaking the 
soil around the roots twice or thrice a week 
is vastly better than surface watering 
every day. Surface watering injures the 
plant by drawing the roots to the surface 
of the ground, where they are baked by the 
hot sun. Water applied by way of the 
top of the plant blights the "buds and pro- 
duces mildew. 
Pests that prey on the rose bush are with 
us always and careful work is the only 
thing that will defeat them. After the 
plants are fully in leaf and are looking their 
very healthiest, keep them so by giving 
them a sprinkling of Ivory soap mixture. 
This is made by shaving a large cake of 
Ivory soap and dissolving it in a gallon of 
boiling water. Put one half a pint of this 
paste into a gallon watering pot and fill up 
with cold water. Then apply carefully 
so that each leaf receives a drop or two. 
Soapy wash water is excellent to put 
around the base of the bushes. If bugs 
are particularly bad in July and August, a 
tea made of tobacco stems will be found 
beneficial. 
Go over each bush as soon as the buds 
have formed and nip off all but one on the 
end of each stalk. This takes courage, 
but you will feel amply repaid when the 
blooms begin to come forth. The result 
will be large, perfectly formed roses on long 
straight stems. If all buds are permitted 
to mature the bush is overburdened, and 
able only to produce a quantity of mediocre 
flowers unfit for cutting. 
The early part of July finds the roses 
past their first glory. Now is the time to 
prune again, slightly, if you would have 
roses lasting on through the summer. 
Remove all dead flowers and cut back the 
long canes four eyes. New shoots and 
buds will soon appear and August will find 
you with a second crop of roses almost as 
good as the first. If left to themselves 
after the first blooming the bushes will 
continue to produce flowers spasmodically, 
throughout the summer, but these will be 
lacking in color, length of stem and healthy 
foliage. The midsummer pruning gives the 
plant a new lease on life and repays the work 
by giving beautiful flowers. Be very severe 
in bud nipping after this summer pruning. 
The bushes appreciate weak liquid man- 
ure while forming buds. Sifted wood 
ashes may be applied with benefit any time, 
but especially after the first cultivating in 
early spring. In the fall cover the bed 
with manure and fork it in in the spring. 
Cow manure is the very best for roses, but 
horse manure will answer. 
Do not be discouraged if at first you 
don’t succeed. 
150 
