HOUSE AND GARDEN 
214 
O 
CTOBER, I9IO 
begins again. So the ground around 
roots needs protecting as well as the 
tops of plants- — indeed this shielding 
over the roots is all that many very 
tender things require. Some of the 
most disastrous winters have demon¬ 
strated this beyond question. 
Nature's own protection is leaves 
—and these are scattered on the 
ground where the roots get the 
benefit of them. Nature groups her 
vegetation too, so that one plant af¬ 
fords defense for its neighbor; and 
large trees shelter smaller ones and 
these in turn shelter lower growing 
shrubs — and creeping things wander 
in and out beneath these, and all are 
snug and shaded and suitably pro¬ 
tected, without a single straw jacket 
or chicken-wire cage. Thus we see 
that it is first a matter of arrangement. 
Roses are perhaps the most diffi¬ 
cult things to deal with in winter as 
well as in summer — that is, if one 
cares to have them attractively placed 
in the landscape. That they should 
grow in an enclosure set apart for 
them—a rose garden—I have al¬ 
ways urged. But even when so placed, they are ghostly and 
forlorn-looking when jacketed in straw. Locate the rose gar¬ 
den, in the first place, with the idea of its winter exposure in 
mind, and see that this exposure is such that the roses are pro¬ 
tected by some growth of shrubbery or evergreens — a hedge or 
a border — from the prevailing winds, if these are severe. Make 
the beds from six to eight inches lower than the surface of the 
ground around them. This is a vast improvement over beds 
level with the walks in summer as well as winter, especially if 
the walks themselves are grassed; the view across the rose- 
garden will be uninterrupted by bare and unattractive earth 
patches showing around the plants if this method is followed, 
and when winter approaches, the bushes may be bent down, tied 
each to its neighbor’s base, or to a stake, and the space filled 
around and above them until it is a little more than level with 
the general surface. Leaves of the oak are unsurpassed for this 
filling, but straw is perhaps easier 
to get, in most instances. With 
this a rough thatch that will help 
in shedding water is formed—and 
some brances of evergreens or any 
tree laid over, to hold it from 
blowing away. This work should 
not be done, however, until there 
has been a freeze which will have 
driven the field-mice into winter 
quarters, else they may take up 
their abode among the straw and 
dine on the roses, as living goes 
up under the season's advance. 
Such a covering for roses is 
unobtrusive and inoffensive ; it does 
not suggest the dismal side of win¬ 
ter, and it is quite as effective as 
boarded-over shelters, providing 
the shelter belt of shrubs or ever¬ 
greens is properly placed. Both, 
however, must be resorted to, if 
the work is to be assuredly well 
done. 
Usually branches of hemlock 
may be used to clothe almost any¬ 
thing requiring it, in such a way 
that the objectionable features at¬ 
tending the use of straw are entirely done away with and the 
appearance of a small evergreen tree results. Where a shrub 
must be bound up, I should advise always using such material. 
Personally, I would have nothing in a garden which required 
elaborate winter cover. Some of the tenderest things are grown 
in chilly northern sections with simply a suitable arrangement 
of windbreaks and shelter belts. For instance, a specimen of 
the giant tree of California has been raised from a tiny seedling 
until it has reached a height of probably forty feet on a Long 
Island estate by placing it in such a position that winter’s fury 
is tempered by hardier native trees that do guard duty on every 
side. These are not close to it, but they are so placed that what 
one fails to intercept in the way of winter wind, the next one 
catches — and protection is very complete without in the least 
obscuring the Sequoia. 
A large garden should have provision for its tender plants — 
Plan an all-the-year-round garden so that you will have 
no weaklings that have to be jacketed for protection 
The necessity for such unsightly and ludicrous protection is an imaginary one. Windbreaks and hedges will protect everything but weak¬ 
lings, and the latter may well be left out of the garden 
