ROSES THAT CLIMB ARE ADAPTABLE 
SHERMAN DUFFY 
Conditions of Soil Mean Little to This Class, Wherefore 
They Will Never Fail You If You Give Them a Fair Start 
pT * W F 1 were about to start a garden absolutely new and 
without a plant in it, I believe I’d start with a Rose! 
" And should be a Climbing Rose — Climbing American 
li'KOCS Beauty, I think, if 1 could lay hands upon one; for this 
seems to be the most durable, weather-proof, sure-to-bloom, 
big-blossoms-wafting-fragrance-all-about-its-locality of all — and 
with a purer and better color than the famous cabbage-on-a-stick 
from which it takes its name. There are to be sure some 
two hundred odd things in the way of diseases and insects 
that can happen to a Rose; and if some of these do not 
transpire, it sometimes will just “up and die” for no apparent 
reason ! 
Nevertheless, as 1 was saying, I’d start with a Rose — a 
Climbing Rose. And the reason 1 would choose a Climbing Rose 
is because these are sure to grow in any soil in which they are 
placed, while other classes of Rose are by no means so certain. 
I have broken out with the Rose fever time and again despite 
hostile soil, struggled along for a season or so with Hybrid Teas 
— which were seized with pernicious anaemia as soon as they 
landed in said soil — only to give up at last; and then after a bit 
be tempted beyond my strength, and start all over again! For 
I have always wanted to grow Roses, but never have been fav- 
ored with friendly soil. Consequently I always had poor re- 
sults, until a curious chance set me going in the right direction 
— that is, with Climbers. 
The chance was a bargain in steel ! 1 grabbed at a dairy-barn 
fire-sale all that another bargain fiend didn’t of steel hay-carrier 
track and had it straightened and cut into lengths which made, 
when set in concrete, sixteen eight-foot posts and six ten-foot 
BY WAY OF EVIDENCE 
It takes a little time, of course, really to clothe a frame with Climbing 
Roses, and the first year’s growth is but an earnest of things to come 
posts. I placed two at each end of five long narrow flower beds 
running the length of my garden, the central bed having the 
ten-foot posts. The two extra ones of these served for an en- 
trance arch at the side. And there was the making of Rose 
arches for which 1 had yearned many a year — in fact every time 
I had seen any — at a total cost of $ 12 ! (I never expect to dupli- 
cate this bargain in steel, let me say right now.) 
It was reproductions of photographs in The Garden Maga- 
zine that gave me the inspiration to switch from the Clematis 
bower idea with which I had bought the steel posts, to Climbing 
Roses — or at least turned my strong inclination to make one 
more try at Roses into a resolve. For 1 had one Crimson Ram- 
bler that had persistently hung on in a bone-dry situation under 
the eaves, and another old-fashioned Prairie Queen that flour- 
ished because nobody particularly cared whether it did or not 
apparently. So, with pillars for twenty-two Roses, 1 already 
had two! 
1 promptly annexed the other twenty — ten pairs of Climbing 
American Beauty, American Pillar, Aviateur Bleriot, Thousand 
Beauties, Hiawatha, Excelsa, Christine Wright, Dorothy Per- 
kins, Dr. W. Van Fleet, and Silver Moon. 1 bought two-year- 
old plants — fine husky bushes cut back to about five feet — at 
sixty cents apiece. [Happy days ! — Ed.] Every one grew, and all 
gave a few blossoms the first season, so 1 had a chance to see 
what they were like. And American Beauty with its big, 
fragrant, rose-colored blooms, Dr. Van Fleet with delicate 
pink “regular” Roses, and the big semi-double creamy-white 
Silver Moon were my favorites of the lot at once. 
These Roses have averaged twelve foot canes a season, and 
one of the Silver Moons reached eighteen feet. The least ram- 
pant of the lot is Thousand Beauties and Dorothy Perkins is 
the most ambitious. They did not make this luxuriant growth 
unaided, however, by any means. The soil was in general a 
light sandy terrain and none too good, though one end of the 
garden is of fairly good texture. The other end is extra dry and 
inclined to be clayey. 1 dug in a liberal supply of pulverized 
sheep manure when they were planted, and after the buds showed 
gave them liquid manure once a week until the last of August, 
when it seemed desirable to ripen the growth rather than to 
encourage any more. I alternated liquid hen manure with 
sheep manure and an occasional balanced commercial liquid 
fertilizer. They all responded nobly. 
Their first winter was a test and 1 went to the trouble of 
laying down the canes and covering them. I have not done so 
since. There were some disappointments when spring rolled 
around. American Pillar was the worst. It made the sturdiest 
canes, as thick as a finger and looking vigorous enough to with- 
stand almost anything, but they killed back almost to the 
ground. It still continues to be disappointing to some degree, 
although it retains enough wood to give a fine show of its great 
clusters of single, wild-rose-pink white-centred blooms. 1 have 
an idea that it has not properly ripened its wood, as it seems 
later in making canes than some of the others. In this trying 
climate of northern Illinois where even the ubiquitous Dorothy 
Perkins and the omnipresent Crimson Rambler kill back, 
Climbing American Beauty is the one Rose that always comes 
through in fine style and I certainly am strong for it. Aviateur 
Bleriot has the finest foliage of the lot— waxy, dark green, with 
clusters of medium sized buff buds that open to creamy little 
double Roses. It has a tea scent, and is inclined to be tender 
unless the wood is thoroughly ripened. 
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