Qeorge H. Peterson, Inc., Fair <Qawn, 7\[ew Jersey 
3 
Footsteps to Success with Roses 
The requirements for success with Roses are simple, once they are understood: 
First: There must be a choice of the right varieties. 
Some are as fickle as a prima donna, requiring just the right kind of soil and 
climate to do their best; others will flourish almost anywhere, with only 
ordinary care. 
Second: You must have plants of inherent vigor and large size. 
We have demonstrated conclusively that there is a definite relation between 
the size of the plants set and the length of stems and the number of blooms 
produced. 
Third: For the very finest results, plant in the fall. 
Fall planting gives the plants a chance to establish themselves before winter 
sets in. They gain many weeks’ growth over spring-planted Roses. While 
many of our customers are getting very good results with spring-planted stock, 
our experience and observation lead us to favor fall planting in most parts 
of the country. 
WE URGED FALL PLANTING MANY YEARS AGO 
(Excerpts from an article written by George H. Peterson, now retired, and published in 
THE AMERICAN ROSE ANNUAL, 1927.) 
In Europe, the fall season is generally accepted for the bulk of rose-planting. 
Here, too, planters of wide experience invariably favor the fall. 
It is conceded by plant experts that a hardy plant established in the ground when 
spring opens will not only withstand the vicissitudes of spring weather better, but 
will make stronger growth and yield better bloom than a similar plant set out in the 
spring. Before growth is visible above ground, it is going on underground. A fall-set 
plant has a head start on the spring-set plant, and growth proceeds more naturally 
and with greater vigor. 
The main reason why many more Roses are not planted in fall throughout the 
northeastern states is because the average dealer, jobber, or nurserymen obtain their 
Roses from Texas and the Pacific Coast, where the plants are not dormant until 
December and therefore cannot be dug and shipped East until it is too late to plant; 
these Roses, therefore, must be offered and planted in spring. On the other hand, we 
who grow quality Roses in our own nursery here in northern New Jersey have the 
advantage of harvesting a superb crop beginning after early frost in October, so you 
may plant on through October, November, and early December. 
The fall planter therefore has a much longer time for his operation than the spring 
planter has, for planting may be safely done so long as the ground is open, but the 
spring season for properly planting dormant Roses is limited to a few weeks. 
NOTE By EDITOR OF AMERICAN ROSE ANNUAL 
These are good reasons and the Editor could give a dozen more! But it should be 
added that the next best thing to fall planting is the earliest possible purchase and 
planting in spring. The wise reader will get busy in February or earliest March with 
his order for shipment, so that he may chase the winter’s frost with his spring planting. 
