130 
t5l)£ ^flower (Brower August, 1920 
THE 
Hardy Roses and Their Culture. 
By Geo. Norris in Southern Florist. 
T HERE is no flower more popular or better 
known than the Rose. A garden without 
Roses would be incomplete at the present 
day. The most important considerations in 
the formation of a Rose garden are those of soil 
and position. In choosing a location for Roses 
outside, an open spot with an east or southern 
exposure, and sheltered from the northwest 
by tall trees or buildings is best. There the 
Roses would get the full benefit of the sun, 
and at the same time would be sheltered from 
strong winds. The soil should be a rich, deep 
loam, well drained. Light sandy or gravelly 
soil, or cold, wet, heavy clay soils are not suit- 
able. For light soils a good dressing of heavy 
loam and cow-dung would be beneficial. For 
heavy soils leaf mold, horse manure and wood 
ashes should be added. For ordinary soils 
nothing is better than a mulching of cow 
manure in the winter. The best time for 
planting is early in the spring as it is possible 
to get the ground ready, although Roses grow- 
ing in pots can be transplanted almost at any 
time. September and October are two good 
months for planting Roses before the winter 
sets in. I have often planted Roses from the 
greenhouse benches in June and had very 
good results from them in the fall. No 
manure should come in direct contact with 
the roots. In planting the strong growing 
varieties a space of about 2 feet 6 inches be- 
tween the rows and 2 feet apart in the rows 
will give plenty of room. The weaker grow- 
ing kinds can be planted closer, 15 to 18 
inches apart being about the right distance. 
All Roses should be pruned when they are 
planted. 
In pruning we cut away certain portions 
of the wood to allow room for the better 
development of shoots which will produce 
flowers. This work is done early in spring, 
just before the plants start into growth. The 
weak growing varieties may be pruned to 
three or four eyes from the ground, but the 
stronger growing kinds should be left much 
longer, 6 to 10 inches of the previous year’s 
wood could be left. Always prune to an out- 
side eye or bud. The more tender varieties 
of Tea Roses should be left until the last ; 
about the middle of April is a good time to 
prune them. In pruning climbing Roses all 
that is necessary is to cut out the old and use- 
less wood in summer just after they have 
finished flowering. This will help the plant 
to make good, strong growths which will pro- 
duce an abundance of flowers the following 
season. In the spring the shoots or laterals 
can be cut back and the long growths shorted 
also. After the work of pruning is done, the 
ground should be cleaned up, all prunings 
raked up and burned. Keep the surface of 
the soil stirred up and cultivated. The Rose 
is propagated by seeds, cuttings, budding and 
grafting, but I am not going into details as 
regards propagating in this paper. I will 
merely say that the best way to grow Roses 
from cuttings is to select partly ripened wood 
early in the fall, say September, and insert the 
cuttings in sand in a frame or in the green- 
house. When the cuttings are rooted they 
should be potted up into two and a quarter 
inch pots and kept in the greenhouse. 
When these pots are filled with roots a 
further shift into 4-inch pots will be neces- 
sary. Many varieties of Hybrid Tea Roses 
do well on their own roots. Others are better 
when they are budded on briar and manetti 
stock. Roses are subject to a great many 
diseases and insect pests. For greenfly a 
good spray of whale oil soap, about one pound 
to eight gallons of water, to which about an 
ounce of nicotine has been added, Aphine 
ROSE 
and X. L. All are all very good insecticides 
for keeping down greenfly, thrips, red spider, 
etc. For caterpillars, dust powdered helebore 
on early in the morning when the leaves are 
wet with dew. If there are any Rose bugs, 
nothing is better than to cover the plants 
every day and pick them off, putting in 
a can or jar containing some kerosene or 
gasoline. For mildew dust with grape dust, 
when the foliage is wet, or spray with Fungine 
or copper solution. The above fungicides 
are also good for preventing black spots, rust, 
etc. To get extra fine blooms of Tea, Hybrid 
Tea and Hybrid Perpetual Roses, disbudding 
should be done as early as possible, retain- 
ing only the center bud on each shoot. Some 
varieties are liable to burn when growing in 
the full sun, especially the dark red varieties. 
If these are planted where they will get a 
little shade during the hottest part of the day 
they will be all the better. During the sum- 
mer Roses will need watering often when the 
weather is hot and dry. The plants should 
be gone over in July and all dead flowers re- 
moved, and also any suckers that come up 
from the root. Keep the ground well cul- 
tivated at this time, so as to conserve the 
moisture. 
About the end of November or early De- 
cember, before the ground freezes up, I go 
over my Roses and any long growths I shorten 
back to about three or four feet from the 
ground, then I see that the ground is clean 
and all dead leaves are raked up. The more 
tender varieties are pegged down in the rows 
and the soil drawn up over them so as to com- 
pletely cover the stems, The hardier kinds 
are not pegged down as it is not necessary, 
but the soil is drawn up around the stems, 
covering them to a depth of six to eight 
inches. Then between the rows I put a mulch- 
ing of good manure and on top of that a cov- 
ering of litter and leaves, putting it well 
around the plants. With that protection ten- 
der varieties come through our winters in 
good condition. The strong sun in the months 
of February and March, with the temperature 
going down to zero at nights, does a lot of 
damage to Roses if they are not properly pro- 
tected. In a Rose garden where the Roses 
are planted too close together to allow the 
earth to be drawn up around the stems, give 
a good covering of leaves and litter or salt 
hay, putting some branches or boughs on top 
to keep the leaves from blowing away. As 
soon as the warm weather comes in spring, 
the coverings should be removed and the soil 
leveled or dug over, burying the manure that 
was put on in the fall. The plants can then 
be pruned and put in shape for another year 
in the way I have already mentioned. Below 
I give a few of the best varieties of Roses to 
grow. Among the Hybrid Teas we have 
Killarney, a beautiful pink Rose, a fine bed- 
ding variety and a free bloomer. White Kil- 
larney is one of the best white Roses for bed- 
ding or for cut flowers. Killarney Brilliant 
should also have a place in the garden. 
Madam Abel Chatenay is a beautiful carmine 
Rose, shaded with salmon, and a good free 
bloomer. Madame Caroline Testout is a fine 
satiny pink and a free bloomer. Lady Pirrie 
is a splendid Rose, the color is a deep coppery 
yellow and a free grower. The Lyon Rose is 
one of the best yellows grown. Sunburst is 
another good yellow Rose. Willomere, Mrs. 
Aaron Ward Radiance, Ophelia, Lady Alice 
Stanley, Laurent Carle, My Maryland. Some 
of the best hardy Hybrid Perpetual Roses are 
Mrs. John Laing, Captain Christy, Frau Karl 
Druschki, Paul Neyron, Clio, Alfred Colomb, 
Ulrich Brunner, Baroness Rothschild, Gloire 
Lyonnaise, and George Arends the pink, Frau 
Karl Druschki. 
Among the hardy climbing Roses, Americna 
Pillar is one of great beauty. The flowers 
are of enormous size, single, three to four 
inches across, deep pink, with a clear white 
eye, and borne in great profusion on strong 
stems. The flowers are followed by bright 
red hips or berries which are very attractive 
in the autumn. Crimson Rambler needs no 
description as it is well known to everybody. 
Paul’s Carmine Pillar is a beautiful single 
Rose with large, showy flowers. Dorothy Per- 
kins is a soft pink Rose, lasts a long time in 
bloom and is one of the best. Hiawatha is a 
brilliant climbing Rose. The deep carmine 
flowers are 1§ inches across, with a clear 
white eye; in the center is a mass of yellow 
stamens. The flowers are produced in large 
clusters, which make a great show. Climbing 
American Beauty is a Rose that should not be 
forgotten, as its perfectly double blooms are 
very fragrant and last along time. The foli- 
age is a rich deep green and free from mildew. 
The plant is a strong grower and very hardy. 
Silver Moon is a Rose with large pure white 
flowers 4§ inches across. The yellow stamens 
in the center make it extremely attractive. 
The plant is a strong grower with beautiful 
glossy foliage. Ramanas or Rugosa Roses are 
in a class by themselves. They are very 
hardy and form nice bushes. Apart from 
their beautiful foliage they are very attract- 
ive in the autumn, when they are covered 
with bright red seedpods. 
Fragrance in Roses. 
From an article by Dr. Van Fleet in the 
American Rose Annual for 1919. 
Agreeable fragrance is one of the most val- 
ued attributes of the perfect Rose, though 
many indispensable species and varieties do 
not possess it in marked degree, and not a 
few are either odorless or even distasteful to 
the sense of smell. 
The Wild Roses of North Europe mostly 
have faint fragrance or are scentless and the 
same may be said of our Middle West and 
Pacific Coast species, though there are a few 
exceptions in the extreme Northwest. R. set- 
igera, the scentless Prairie Rose, is a charac- 
teristic example of the lack of fragrance of 
the Rose species of our interior country. 
The violet-like odor of R. Banksiae may be 
mentioned. It is faint, but it will be recog- 
nized when thousands of blooms are expanded 
at the same time. The cinnamon odor as- 
cribed to R. cinnamomea and kindred species 
has never materialized in the blooms or foli- 
age of any of the plants I am familiar with. 
The cinnamon idea is rather associated with 
the color of the twigs. 
The Rose varieties used for the purpose in 
all the countries concerned in perfume pro- 
duction are, mostly hybrids of R. centifolia and 
R. gallica, the former predominating where 
quality, and the latter where quantity is most 
highly appreciated. 
The fragrance of our garden and exhibition 
Roses, comes from the hybridization of R. 
chinensis, a species naturally of faint fra- 
grance, with R. gallica, of Europe, giving rise 
to the deliciously scented Hybrid Perpetuals 
of old gardens, and, by the crossing of these 
with R. odorata, to the immensely popular 
Hybrid Teas, some of which are intensely 
fragrant. Tea Roses themselves have their 
own characteristic fragrance, and this blends 
well with heavier centifolia odor, rising occa- 
sionally to the highest pitch of pungent sweet- 
ness. The blend of tea-scent with muskiness 
in some of the dwarf Polyanthas is agreeable, 
but the centifolia fragrance is rarely brought 
out in hybrids between R. multiflora and 
those carrying centifolia odors. 
An experienced nurseryman in the 
north recommends June-grass sod for 
covering Roses and tender plants dur- 
ing winter. The covering should be 
put on when everything is quite dry. 
