YOU CAN GROW ROSES IF YOU WILL 
M. L. FULLER 
Landscape Designer 
Governing Factors in Successful Rose Growing Not so Much Climate or Region 
as Attention to the Few but Insistent Demands of this Queen of June Flowers 
K ^VEN in the trying climate of midsummer in the West 
and North as well as in the East and on the Coast one 
i may have Roses if one will work. “It is not so much 
the soil and climate, as the care and skill of the culti¬ 
vator that wins success.” These words of the Reverend 
Mr. Roberts, ex-president of the National Rose Society of 
England, have been an inspiration to many who would grow 
Roses. Experience proves them to be words of wisdom. Suc¬ 
cess, however, means knowledge of the “how” as well as the 
disposition to care for and the skill to perform. But the re¬ 
wards are certain and bounteous- beautiful blossoms from June 
to October. 
The circular rose garden in the illustration was photographed 
at the end of its first year. With its bordering beds it contains 
215 choice Roses. They were planted the last of April in an 
Illinois garden. In June they were in full bloom. All but five 
of the plants lived through that season, and the remainder 
finished their second season without loss. Two other rose 
gardens were planted that same summer, though on a somewhat 
smaller scale. In these gardens no plants were lost, though the 
second summer (that of 1923) was an especially trying season for 
Roses in this section. The planting and care of these and 
other gardens, through several years, seems to indicate that there 
are three mile posts on the road to success in rose gardening. 
1. Making the Rose Bed. It might not be amiss to emphasize 
anew the points to be observed, steps to be taken in making a 
rose bed. Choose a sunny spot that is well drained. Prepare a 
three-foot excavation, allow six inches at the bottom for broken 
tile for drainage, as our grandmothers did with their geranium 
pots; then nine inches of earth, nine inches of well-rotted stable 
manure, and lastly twelve inches of good black soil. This 
arrangement gives both drainage and plant food. It is a wise 
gardener who remembers the old saw, “A Rose likes its face wet 
but its feet dry.” The drainage provides the dry feet. 
2. The Choice of Plants. For outdoor planting, 2-year field- 
grown Roses are preferred. The field-grown are hardier and will 
give quicker and surer results than pot-grown stock. It is also 
wise to select the hardier types. The “ rose record ” and the four 
lists printed herewith, suggest dependable varieties. (See p. 24.) 
3. The Later Attention. In caring for Roses, cultivate often, 
never allowing the earth to crust; water in the early morning, 
but not in the sunshine. Keep your insect spray calendar 
handy and never let the aphis, rose beetle, red spider, mildew or 
black spot get the start of you. In late November after the 
Rose plants have been hardened by several freezes, bed them 
for the winter. Of the various ways of doing this the following 
has proven very successful. Hill the earth firmly around the 
Roses up to a height of 6 or 8 inches, but in doing this do not 
A I IRST SEASON ROSE GARDEN 
Of 215 Roses set out at the end of April in this Illinois garden all hut five survived, throve, and by June were in full 
bloom. The circular Rose garden (see opposite page for plan and details of planting) is in the center of a 54 ft. square 
formal garden; the perennial flower beds in the four corners have a curving inner edge filled with Polyantha Roses 
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