WYANT Blue-Blood ROSES— 1943 
I 
When the Rose plants have been selected, the next step in the growing of successful Roses is the study of the 
proper methods of culture. Any Rose-lover knows that through attention to certain principles of cultivation better 
results can be obtained. Simple directions accompany every Wyant Rose, but the suggestions given below are 
intended to offer additional help to Rose-lovers. Feel free to write me at any time about your Rose problems. | 
want Wyant Roses to satisfy you. 
Selection of Location 
In selecting the location for your Rose-bed, it is not im- 
portant whether your Roses are to get morning or afternoon 
sunlight, but that they do get at least a half day of sun. Part 
shade is even preferable to a full day of sunlight. 
Tree Roots 
Select a location where tree roots cannot interfere with 
your Rose roots. It is surprising how quickly tree roots will 
find a Rose-bed and fill it, consuming food and moisture 
intended for the Roses. If tree roots are present, dig a 
trench around your Rose-bed as deep as the tree roots ex- 
tend, thereby cutting off all that might attempt to enter 
the Rose-bed. This trench may be filled in again imme- 
diately, and should be dug around the Rose-bed every year 
if the tree roots prove bothersome. 
Plant Early 
The best time in the Spring to plant Wyant Roses is just 
as soon as the soil is workable. The larger part of the 
gardening public wait until the warm, sunshiny days of 
Spring to start their planting. This is too late to plant to 
get good results. In this latitude late March is an ideal 
time in the Spring and planting as late as May seldom gives 
the results you anticipate. Fall planting is usually safer 
even than Spring planting, but if you can plant in early 
Spring it is no use losing a whole season of enjoyment by 
waiting until Fall, for early Spring planted Hybrid Teas 
start to bloom in June of the same year. 
Soils 
It is best to keep away from either extremely heavy or 
extremely light soil, for the loam soils will have more food 
in them. Any rotted vegetable matter (humus) mixed into 
the soil improves the texture and makes it better for the 
Roses. The best soil you can get is best soil for Roses. 
The pH of Soils 
The acidity and alkalinity of soils is designated by pH. 
It has been found that Roses are very tolerant. They will 
grow ina soil from 4.5 pH up to 8 pH, but the best growing 
conditions seem to be found in a soil that is neutral or 
slightly acid—that is, around 6 to 7 pH. Lime, in almost 
any form, can be used to make soils more alkaline and 
sulphur to make them more acid. 
Planting 
If you want successful Roses, plant the bushes close to- 
gether so that the foliage will keep the ground shaded and 
cool—12 to 15 inches is the rule for the Hybrid Teas, the 
taller varieties being placed for the best effect. 
Instead of waiting until the bushes arrive, it is better, 
several weeks in advance, to spade the soil down 15 to 18 
inches, adding plenty of peat or manure, if it is available. 
And if drainage is needed, the bed should be tiled and 
surplus water carried away. Guard against the roots drying 
out from exposure to sun, wind or freezing during planting. 
Do not use chemical fertilizer when planting Wyant Roses; 
bonemeal and rotted manure only may be used at planting- 
time. 
Watering 
If the soil around your Roses is kept cultivated, it will 
seldom be in need of watering. However, during an ex- 
tended drought, soak the ground thoroughly for hours and 
then do not repeat for a week. 
An application of peat put on in May and left the rest of 
the season helps to retain moisture and keeps the soil cooler 
and in better condition for Rose growing. It may also help 
in disease control. 
Pruning 
When a Rose is set in the Spring, shorten the strong 
branches to 6 to 8 inches, and the weaker even more. Heap 
the soil as high as the branches are pruned, to protect 
against drying out, until the roots become established. Re- 
move this bank of soil when the shoots start, so that the 
bud, or crown, is about level with the soil surface. 
The only Fall pruning recommended is shortening tall 
bushes down to about 2 feet, so that they will not wind- 
whip. The real pruning for established bushes is given in 
the Spring when the bank of soil is removed. At this time 
remove dead wood from the Hybrid Teas and cut the strong 
branches down to the highest big live bud. Shorten or re- 
move weak growths. After the big June bloom, if there is 
a lot of small twiggy growth on the top of the plant, it is 
well to cut it off, down to some good strong growth and 
just above some well developed eye. 
The weak branches of Polyanthas should be cut down 
and the strong ones shortened one-half. Hybrid Perpetuals 
can be shortened down about one-third and from Climbers 
the dead wood should be removed. In July, after the first 
big burst of bloom is over, you may prune Climbers, but 
pruning is not recommended unless the plant is too large 
for the trellis. 
Feeding 
Bonemeal is the only Fall fertilizer for Roses that is 
recommended. In the Spring, when the bank of soil is re- 
moved, apply Wyant Rose Food, or else a complete chem- 
ical fertilizer, to the established plants but not to newly set 
Roses. Wyant Rose Food is recommended, because it is of 
organic composition rather than chemical, and even after 
long usage does not make the soil toxic, nor burn, as a 
chemical fertilizer will. Much fertilizing will produce much 
bloom, so during June or early July make another applica- 
tion to new as well as to established Roses, and then again 
in the latter part of August, not after September 1. Each 
time, apply about a handful to medium strong bushes, less 
to weaker, and more to stronger bushes. 
Suckers 
Suckers are the wild shoots that occasionally spring up 
from below the bud. They can be distinguished from 
flowering shoots by the small heavily veined leaves and 
often by the thorns on the stems, being entirely different 
from those on the blooming stems. Do not call every stem 
with seven leaflets wild, as many of the flowering stems also 
have seven leaflets. A sucker only comes from below the 
bud. As soon as a sucker is discovered cut it off clean from 
the main plant below the ground, right where it originates, 
without leaving a stub which would send up more shoots. 
Disease and Insect Control 
A little attention and care will remedy the few diseases 
and insects that attack Rose plants. Dusting is preferable 
to spraying, for it is easier and quicker. 
Spray or dust aphids, the small green lice that appear 
about the tips of the shoots, with insecticides containing 
nicotine or rotenone. Spray or dust worms and insects that 
eat leaves, with rotenone or with a poison, such as arsenate 
of lead, one of the ingredients of Wyant’s Massey Dust. 
Both above pests can be controlled with Wyant Rose Dust. 
Knock Rose chafers, the large grayish bugs with long 
legs and snouts, into a pan of water covered with coal-oil. 
Place a drop of shellac or thick white lead on all cut ends 
in the Spring, when pruning is done, to keep out the 
carpenter bee, which makes a hole in the exposed pith. 
Prevent black-spot and mildew by dusting with any of 
Wyant’s Dusts, beginning as soon as the leaves come out 
and continuing about every week, and more often in rainy 
weather. Apply a light, even coat with a gun on a calm 
evening before the dew, if possible, thereby protecting the 
foliage so that it will be retained until frost. 

