180 
(Brower 
November, 1920 
The Rose 
Making a Rose Garden. 
Important Points about 
Varieties and Cultivation. 
T HE FOLLOWING article which has 
been prepared by the Missouri Botan- 
ical Garden for its monthly bulletin 
contains many important points : 
Location. 
Roses are entitled to the choicest location 
in a yard. Good exposure to the sun, and 
proper protection from prevailing winds will 
do much to make the Rose garden a success. 
While a location with a full-day sun exposure 
is much to be preferred, it is not absolutely 
essential, and where a choice must be made 
it is best to give Roses the morning sun. 
Beds should not be located near trees or 
shrubbery. Roses are heavy feeders and for 
their best development require an unusual 
amount of fertilizer ; when planted near 
trees or shrubbery, the roots of the latter 
deplete the soil of nourishment, with the re- 
sult that the Roses suffer. If, however, 
planting in close proximity to trees and 
shrubs is unavoidable, it is advisable each 
year to dig a trench (about a foot wide and 
two or three feet deep) around the Rose bed 
and fill with well-rotted cow manure. This 
procedure will tend to prevent the roots of 
shrubs from actually entering the Rose bed. 
Sometimes a concrete wall is constructed 
deep enough to prevent this encroachment. 
Soil. 
Roses usually do well in any good garden 
soil, but better results are obtained if con- 
siderable care is exercised in the preparation 
of the ground. Roses require a heavy, well- 
drained soil. To obtain this, the area to be 
used for a bed should be dug out to a depth 
of from eighteen inches to two feet, and if 
the drainage is not good another six inches 
should be removed and this space filled with 
fine broken stone, brick, or old flower-pots. 
Upon this porous stratum six inches of well- 
rotted cow manure should be placed, and 
finally sufficient heavy soil to finish the bed, 
raising it not more than three inches above 
the surrounding grade. This latter layer 
should, if possible, be topsoil (including sod) 
from an old pasture. After making the bed 
it should be allowed to settle for a week be- 
fore the planting is begun. 
Planting. 
Roses may be set out either in the fall or 
in the spring. The spacing depends very 
largely upon the variety ; tea and hybrid tea 
varieties may be planted about eighteen 
inches apart, but hybrid perpetuals, on ac- 
count of their more vigorous growth, should 
be spaced at least two and one-half feet, and 
ramblers eventually need about four feet. 
In any case an eight-inch margin from the 
edge of the bed should be allowed. Where 
potted stock is being planted, the ball of 
earth should be placed with its upper sur- 
face about two inches below the soil ; field- 
grown stock may be set two or three inches 
lower than its former position in the nursery. 
The holes for receiving the plants should be 
large enough to admit the stock without 
bending or crowding the roots, the soil should 
be firmly packed around the roots, and the 
plants thoroughly watered immediately after 
planting. All stock should be so pruned 
that but two or three buds remain on each 
shoot— the upper bud, in each case, pointing 
outward. 
Varieties to Plant. 
Rose stock may be either grown on its 
own roots, or grafted or budded. It may be 
well in this connection, however, to call at- 
tention to certain disadvantages which attach 
to budded stock. In general, budded stock 
is more easily killed in severe winters than 
is stock grown on its own roots, and in ad- 
dition the shoots which invariably spring 
from the parent stock frequently suppress 
the scion unless cut away. On the other 
hand, there are varieties of Roses which 
it is impossible to grow satisfactorily unless 
they are budded on to a hardier stock. 
Of the four or five thousand varieties of 
Roses at present on the market, some grow- 
ers list as many as eight hundred, but of 
these only a few grow to perfection in this 
latitude. As the result of tests from the 
standpoint of perfection of blooms, profuse 
flowering, and general hardiness, the follow- 
ing list of varieties has been prepared as be- 
ing particularly desirable : 
Hybrid Tea ( Ever-blooming ) - Gruss an Teplitz, 
scarlet crimson ; Lady Ashtoivn, pale rose ; Madame 
Jules Grolez, bright china-rose ; Indiana, red ; La 
Detroit, shell pink ; Ecarlate, scarlet ; Lady Ursula, 
flesh pink; La France, bright pink rose; Augustine 
Guinoisseau (white La France) ; Otto von Bismarck, 
bright rosy pink; Mrs. Aaron Ward, Indian yellow; 
Killarney, pink ; Killarney, white ; General McArthur, 
bright crimson ; Duchess of Wellington, deep coppery 
yellow. 
Hybrid Perpetual, "or Remontant (blooming period 
4-6 weeks)— Frau Karl Druschki, snow white ; General 
Jacqueminot, brilliant scarlet crimson ; Magna Charta, 
bright rose ; Ulrich Brunner, cherry crimson. 
Polyantha (Dwarf Hedge Rose)— Katherine Zeimet, 
(white baby rambler) ; Orleans, geranium-red (the 
best ever-blooming variety for hedges yet found) ; 
Clotilde Soupert, flesh. 
Rugosa or Japan Rose — Any variety that is suitable 
(the single or semi-double only produce the scarlet 
hips or seed pods). 
Sweetbrier— Any Lord Penzance variety that is 
suitable (do well in partial shade and shrubbery 
borders). 
Moss Roses— Any variety that is suitable. 
Wichuraiana and Climbers— Hiawatha, brilliant 
scarlet ; La Fiamma, crimson and white ; Dorothy 
Perkins, light pink ; Dorothy Perkins, white ; Ameri- 
can Pillar, pink with a clear white eye ; Lady Gay, 
cherry-pink. 
Spring and Summer Care. 
Before growth commences in the spring, 
the surplus coarse manure should be re- 
moved from the beds and the remaining fine 
portion turned under. Deep cultivation is 
not desirable— three inches being quite suf- 
ficient in beds which have not been trampled 
on— as the roots are likely to be injured or 
broken. For this purpose it is desirable to 
use a four-pronged digging fork, as it is less 
likely to injure the roots than a spade. After- 
wards, and until the buds begin to develop, 
nothing more is necessary except frequent 
stirring of the surface with a sharp-pointed 
rake. As the flowering season approaches, 
feeding with liquid cow manure should begin 
and should continue until the blooming sea- 
son is over, after which all stimulation should 
cease. The liquid cow manure is conven- 
iently prepared by adding about six pails of 
fresh cow manure to a barrel of water (fifty 
gallons) and allowing the mixture to stand a 
day or two before using. If a half bushel of 
soot contained in a burlap bag is hung over 
night in the barrel of liquid manure, the 
beneficial properties of the fertilizer will be 
greatly increased. About one-half gallon of 
this infusion should be used for each plant 
and the application may be repeated once a 
week. It is safe to say that this is one of 
the most efficient fertilizers for Roses. Dur- 
ing July a light top dressing of finely crushed 
bone is also of advantage. 
Although it is generally believed that 
magnesium in excess is the most poisonous 
of all the plant nutrients or fertilizers, Tonk, 
as early as 1889, recommended a manure for 
Roses containing sulphate of magnesium 
with, however, an excess of lime. Here the 
matter rested for twenty years. In 1909, 
Truffant noted the large proportion of 
magnesium found in the analysis of Roses, 
and stated that soils deficient in this element 
produced but a weak growth of Roses, 
but that the addition of magnesium salts 
brought about a marked increase of vigor 
and growth. The following year at the In- 
ternational Rose Conference, in Paris, the 
particular value of magnesium for Roses 
was one of the subjects for discussion. It 
was declared to be indispensable and it was 
stated that it should always be given in the 
form of sulphate in doses of about five ounces 
to the square yard. 
As the result of recent experiments and 
the experience of at least one practical Rose 
grower of national reputation, it is believed 
that the following practice is correct : At- 
tention should be called to the fact that all 
Roses do not react alike, and some varie- 
ties not yet tested may not respond satisfac- 
torily or may even be slightly injured by the 
magnesium. One should, therefore, proceed 
cautiously. If plants are to be watered with 
a solution, use nitrate of magnesium at the 
rate of one ounce to the gallon. This may 
be used once a week through the season, 
but if any ill effects are noted, the applica- 
tion should be discontinued. If the magne- 
sium is to be applied dry, it is better to use 
finely powdered commercial carbonate of 
magnesium which contains a certain amount 
of lime. This should be applied at the rate 
of one-third of a pound to the square yard. 
No immediate effect will be noticed from the 
application, but, later, increased sturdiness 
and consequent richness of foliage and blos- 
som should result. 
Insects. 
Half starved and otherwise neglected 
Roses are quite susceptible to insect attacks, 
which, however, is not the case if the plants 
are properly cared for. The most serious 
insect enemy of the Rose is probably the 
green fly, well known to all who have grown 
Roses. It is a small, green plant-louse, or 
aphid, about one-eighth of an inch in length 
when full-grown and usually wingless. The 
body is oval and soft and secretes a sweet 
fluid of which ants are particularly fond. 
The presence of ants on Rose bushes is good 
evidence that the aphids are at work. The 
latter usually work on the young shoots, 
sucking the juices with their long, slender 
beaks, and if unmolested quickly destroy the 
vigor and vitality of the Rose plant. The 
most effective agent with which to combat the 
aphid is tobacco smoke, but its use out of 
doors is obviously connected with serious 
difficulties. In its place, however, a solution 
made from tobacco stems and whale-oil 
soap will be found effective. To make this 
solution one pound of tobacco stems should 
be soaked in a gallon of water over night, 
after which one ounce of whale-oil soap 
which has first been dissolved in a small 
quantity of hot water, should be added (it 
will require three or four hours for the soap 
to thoroughly dissolve). The solution so 
prepared should be thoroughly stirred before 
using and may be applied either with a 
sprayer or with a whisk broom. This quantity 
is sufficient for about twenty-five plants. 
Where a sufficient water ; pressure is avail- 
