Qeorge H. "Peterson, Inc., Fair Qawn, ls[ew Jersey 
21 
available in the form of small tablets that 
may be used on Roses according to directions. 
Never use a quick, active fertilizer high in 
nitrogen content. This usually produces a lot 
of soft shoots producing small flowers and 
these shoots are subject to fungous attack. 
DISTANCE APART TO PLANT. Hybrid 
Teas require about 14 to 18 inches apart; 
distance will often depend on the plant habit 
of the variety. You can usually tell the com¬ 
parative plant habits of certain varieties by 
the size and number of canes on the plants as 
you receive them. Close planting is always 
recommended for Hybrid Teas. 
Hybrid Perpetuals should be planted 2 to 
3 feet apart, depending on the space at 
one’s disposal. 
Climbing Roses on a fence or trellis may be 
spaced 7 to 8 feet apart in a straight row. 
Polyanthas, used either as a hedge or for 
border planting or as bedding Roses, should 
be spaced 15 to 18 inches apart. 
PLANTING INSTRUCTIONS. Detailed 
information about how to plant Roses 
properly is sent with each order. 
PRUNING. Before shipping we cut the 
bush plants back to about 1 foot high. 
Climbers and Perpetuals are left a little 
longer. 
SPRING PRUNING. Both the newly 
planted Hybrid Teas and older 
plants will need pruning in March 
or April, soon after frost leaves 
the ground and before very active 
growth begins. Even if the wood 
is live to the ends, which is not 
likely where the winters are 
severe, the canes should be prun¬ 
ed back rather severely. A gen¬ 
eral rule is to cut the weakest 
canes the shortest, and where 
these are numerous, some of the 
smallest ones may be cut out en¬ 
tirely. The stoutest canes should 
be cut back to about 6 inches 
and the weaker ones to 3 inches, 
but this depends somewhat on 
the individual habit and vigor 
of the variety. Cutting away 
about two-thirds of the previous 
season’s growth is a safe rule to 
follow in pruning the main strong 
canes. The severer the pruning, 
the larger the flowers to follow. 
A moderate pruning will yield 
more flowers of less size. When 
in doubt, prune hard because 
rarely if ever is a Rose bush in¬ 
jured by severe pruning. On the 
other hand, lack of proper prun¬ 
ing is responsible for many Rose- 
failures. 
Both old and new Hybrid Per¬ 
petuals may well be cut back to 
a foot of the surface if large, 
typical flowers are to be expect¬ 
ed. It is true that where Perpet¬ 
ual Roses are allowed to grow tall. 
say 4 to 5 feet, they will 
continue to flower. But 
if they are pruned severe¬ 
ly once in a while, and 
the plant is thus rejuve¬ 
nated, the size of the 
flowers is greatly increas¬ 
ed, and furthermore, there 
will be recurrent blooms 
during the summer, if the 
flowers in June are cut 
with long stems. We feel 
that one of the reasons 
that the popularity of the 
Hybrid Perpetual has 
waned is because the er¬ 
roneous impression has 
gone around that they do 
not need pruning; conse¬ 
quently, the plant be¬ 
comes straggly, blooms 
mediocre and unattrac¬ 
tive. Therefore, our rec¬ 
ommendation is to make 
better use of the pruning-shears on this highly 
desirable type of Rose. 
Climbing Roses—and here we refer to the 
Wichuraianas and the new Australian climbers 
that produce their large flowers singly or in 
clusters on long stems—need very little 
pruning the first few years, except to see that 
CRIMSON GLORY. Described on page 6 
A Hybrid Tea Rose 
bush thinned out and 
pruned back to the 
black lines in spring. 
This also shows the 
proper depth to plant 
below the soil-line. 
