McKay Nursery Company 
CARE OF ROSES 
Hardiness—Planting 
Pruning — Spraying—Wintering 
McKAY STOCK 
McKay’s Roses bloom the first year. They represent the highest quality of sturdy 
two-year outdoor or field-grown plants that money can buy. (Note illustration to 
right.) They are strong, welbrooted, dormant plants that have been budded on the 
hardiest root stocks and should not be compared to hothouse Roses, forced from 
cuttings. We have given great care to the culture of our Roses and offer them to 
our customers with the assurance that they will grow and bloom profusely. 
We offer only the finest and most popular of the welbtried varieties as well as 
a few of the newer varieties that seem to merit more general planting. We can 
recommend our Roses heartily to all rose growers who want the best. 
SOIL 
Roses are heavy feeders and thrive best in a welbdrained clay loam soil, well 
enriched with fertiliser. They will do reasonably well in almost any soil (except 
sand) if well fertilised, drained, and cultivated. They like a sunny, open, airy situ- 
ation, away from large trees which are apt to rob them of the necessary nourishment. 
After selecting such a spot for your rose bed, dig the soil out to a depth of 12 or 
15 inches and replace about oneTourth of the bulk of the soil with welbrotted 
barnyard manure thoroughly mixed into soil. If this is not available, substitute a 
generous amount of commercial fertiliser like Bonemeal or Vigoro. 
McKay Roses are strong, healthy, field-grown 
plants that invariably bloom the first year. 
HARDINESS 
HYBRID TEA ROSES, while comparatively tender, can be wintered safely 
in Wisconsin if covered carefully in the fall as per our instructions on Winter¬ 
ing.” They give the most beautiful flowers over the longest season in a com¬ 
plete gamut of rose colors, so that they are worth the extra effort needed to 
protect them over winter and the cost of making occasional replacements. 
HYBRID PERPETUAL ROSES are hardier, sturdier, and more vigorous 
than the Teas; however, even they will benefit if protected in winter as per our 
“Wintering” instructions. This class of Roses blooms heavily in June and 
July with the largest and sweetest flowers. 
POLYANTHAS. Tender for winter like the Teas and require similar winter 
treatment. 
CLIMBING ROSES should be laid down on the ground and the _ canes 
covered with several inches of earth or 12 to 18 inches of straw or hay in the 
fall. 
RUGOSA and NATIVE Roses are all very hardy and need no winter pro¬ 
tection. The flowers are not of the quality of any of those above; however, 
they do bloom through the summer and lend themselves to be used like shrubs. 
PLANTING 
Roses should be planted so that the bud or graft is at least three inches in 
the ground. (See illustration.) Cut off any broken or bruised roots. Dig the holes 
deep and wide so the roots 
will spread out naturally 
without crowding. After 
sifting and working in fine 
soil between the fibrous 
roots, fill the hole two- 
thirds full of dirt, tramp it 
solid, and water several 
times. You can now finish 
filling your hole with soil, 
and also mound the earth 
up around the bush to a 
height of 4 to 6 inches. 
(See illustration.) This 
mound of earth prevents 
the canes from drying out 
by the sun and wind be¬ 
fore the roots become es¬ 
tablished. It should be re¬ 
moved in 10 to 14 days. 
PLANTING DISTANCES 
Hybrid Teas: 18 to 20 inches apart. Rugosas: 3 to 4 feet apart. 
Hybrid Perpetuals: 2 feet apart. Native Roses, etc.: 3 to 4 feet apart. 
Polvanthas: 12 to 18 inches apart. 
PRUNING 
HYBRID TEA and POLYANTHA ROSES bloom on new wood only and 
should be cut off at planting time to about 4 or 6 inches above ground, leaving 
only 3 or 4 buds per cane. (See illustration.) Likewise, every spring there¬ 
after cut off about three-fourths of the previous year’s growth. 
HYBRID PERPETUAL ROSES, like Teas, bloom on new wood only, but 
are usually cut somewhat higher at 6 to 10 inches above the ground. Again 
cut off three-fourths of the previous year’s wood in succeeding springs. 
CLIMBING ROSES. Cut to 6 inches above ground at planting time. (See 
illustration.) They probably won’t bloom the first year. Since these Roses 
blossom on last year's wood only, it is customary to prune them in July after 
they are through blooming. At that time cut out most of last year’s canes (that 
have just finished blooming) and let the strength of the roots go into the new 
shoots that are already coming up and that will make blooming wood for next 
year. These younger canes will also be easier to lay down in the fall to protect 
for winter. 
RUGOSAS. Cut off at 8 to 12 inches above ground at planting time and 
prune into shapely bushes in succeeding years. 
NATIVE ROSES. Cut off at 12 to 18 inches above ground at planting 
time and only as necessary to shape plant in later years. 
PICKING ROSES 
Picking roses by the armfull is one of the joys of good gardening. The 
more you pick, the more there will be to pick. Really when you cut the 
blossoms i ou are pruning the plant, and the removal of blossoms is a 
challenge for the production of more. Intelligent picking, like good pruning, 
should shape the plant, should encourage it to produce more and better 
bloom on longer stems. Don’t simply snip off the blossoms, leaving long 
swindling stems, cut them low so new growth will start well down on the 
plant. 
SPRAYING 
HOW TO KEEP ROSES HEALTHY: It is very important to keep your 
Tea, Perpetual, Polyantha and Climbing Roses healthy, vigorous and free from 
diseases and insects. Since prevention is better than ciye, we suggest that they 
be sprayed every 2 weeks from May 15th to August 1st. Either of the follow¬ 
ing methods is effective. 
Liquid Spray: To 1 gallon of water add 2 tablespoonfuls of “Black Leaf 40,” 
3 level tablespoonfuls of dry lime-sulphur, and 1 tablespoonful of dry arsenate 
of lead and apply with a liquid sprayer that can be bought for $1.00. 
Dust Spray: Make a dry powder mixture of 1 part arsenate of lead, 1 part 
tobacco dust, and 9 parts of fine dusting sulphur and apply with a dust sprayer 
which can be bought for $1.00. 
The two spraying mixtures recommended above can also be bought in already 
mixed and prepared forms, ready for use. 
WINTERING 
In our severe climate, TEA, PERPETUAL and POLYANTHA ROSES 
should be carefully protected for the winter. To do this, mound earth around 
the plant to a height of 6 or 8 
inches, late in fall and before the 
ground freezes. After the ground 
has frozen (probably in Decem¬ 
ber) , cover the entire rose bed 
with hay or straw from 18 to 24 
inches deep. This will protect 
the ground from alternate thaw¬ 
ing and freezing, and cut down 
evaporation of moisture from 
the rose canes. In the spring 
the mulch and mound of earth 
are removed and the roses 
pruned as per “Pruning Instruc¬ 
tions” above. (Protection of 
Climbing Roses has been treated 
under “Hardiness.”) 
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