ROSES
The Rose asserts her right to the title of the "queen of flowers"
through her very exclusiveness. She insists upon being grown apart from
other plants; otherwise she sulks and is coy, refusing to yield more
than an occasional bloom. I speak from experience, having tried several
times to grow Roses in the front of wide borders, where soil and sun
and everything except the proximity of other plants was propitious. But
they scarcely bloomed at all. Now, the same bushes, planted in rows so
that a cultivator may be run between them, flourish satisfactorily.
Grow Roses, then, in beds by themselves or in rows.
If one has but half a dozen Roses, let them be grown apart from other
plants.
Pansies, however, can be grown in the Rose beds, as I have elsewhere
described; Gladioli can also be planted among them without detriment to
either. The reason for this is that the roots of these two flowers are
not deep and do not interfere with the nourishment of the Roses.
Roses on their own roots should live for years, if given proper
treatment. Witness the Rose bushes in gardens, where with but little
care they have flourished more than a generation.
[Illustration: Summer-house, covered with Clematis and Crimson Rambler
Roses
June twenty-first]
Budded stock must be planted very deep. The joint should be at least
three inches under ground. Roses grown on their own roots are more
expensive than the budded stock, but a far better investment. The
budded stock is apt to send up from the parent root suckers or shoots
of Sweetbrier, Buckthorn, Flowering Almond, or whatever it may be.
These shoots must be carefully cut off. A friend told me that, when
new to Rose growing, his bed of budded Roses sent up so many strange
shoots that, not knowing what to do, he dug them all up but one. This
he kept as a curiosity, and now it is a bush of Flowering Almond six
feet in circumference.
Everblooming Roses should be set out in the spring, about the middle of
April.
Hybrid Perpetual and Hardy Roses are best set out in autumn, about
October tenth. When planting, always cut the plants back to about a
foot in height.
All Roses should be lifted every three years, late in October, and
plenty of manure, with fresh earth and leaf-mould, mixed with sand if
the soil is heavy, dug in.
After five or six years I dig up my Roses about October tenth, cut the
tops down to about twelve inches, cut out some of the old wood, cut
off the roots considerably, trench the ground anew, and replant. The
following year the Roses may not bloom very profusely, but afterwards
for four or five years the yield will be great. My physician in the
country is a fine gardener, and particularly successful with Roses.
We have many delightful talks about gardening. When I told him of my
surgical operations upon the Roses he was horrified at such barbarity,
and seemed to listen with more or less incredulity. So I asked him if,
as a surgeon as well as physician, he approved, on occasion, of lopping
off a patient's limbs to prolong his life, why he should not also
sanction the same operation in the vegetable kingdom. He was silent.
I shall not say much about Roses, because there is so much to say.
They need a book by themselves, and many have already been written. In
my garden there are not more than five hundred Roses, including the
climbing varieties. They have done very well, and have not been given
more care than other plants.
[Illustration: Rose bed carpeted with Pansies
June twenty-first]
For years I did not grow Roses, fearing they would not be a success. I
had read about the beetles and spiders and other creatures that attack
them, and dreaded the spraying and insect-picking that all the books
said must be done. But, of course, I finally yielded to the temptation
of having the very flower of all flowers, in my garden, and have found
the trouble slight and the reward great. I have them in beds in a
little formal garden, and in rows in a picking garden.
The beds and the trenches for the rows are both made in the usual way,
and every fall, in late October, before the Pansies are set out as
already described, manure is dug in, and in the early spring, about the
tenth of April, a handful of finely ground fresh bone-meal is stirred
in around each plant with a trowel. They are sprayed with slug-shot
three times between April tenth and May fifteenth, when they get a
thorough spraying with kerosene emulsion, and, as a result, my Roses
are not troubled with the usual pests.
In November the hardy perpetuals are all cut back to about two feet
in height, and the old wood is thinned out. The everblooming Roses are
cut back to a foot in height. And Roses! well, really, no one could ask
better from a garden. I have not many varieties, but when I left the
country last fall, the tenth of November, although ice nearly an inch
in thickness had formed, there were Roses still in bloom in the garden.
The very hardy Roses, which, with a few exceptions, bloom only in June
and early July, with an occasional flower in the autumn, should be
planted together, as they need but slight covering. In late November
the hardy ones get about a foot of stable litter over the beds. The
everblooming kinds have six inches of manure, then a foot of leaves,
and then a good covering of cedar branches over all. But cover late and
uncover early (the very minute the frost is out of the ground), or your
Roses will die.
If asked to name, from my own experience, the best dozen Roses,
I should say the following were the most satisfactory: General
Jacqueminot, Jubilee, Ulrich Brunner, Madame Plantier, Clothilde
Soupert, Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, La France, Mrs. Robert Garrett,
Princess Alice de Monaco, Soleil d'Or, Perle des Jardins, and Mrs. John
Laing or Baroness Rothschild. Paul Neyron and Prince Camille de Rohan
might also be added to the list.
Between Mrs. John Laing and Baroness Rothschild, it is a toss-up. Mrs.
John Laing is a healthy, strong Rose, and a most constant bloomer. But
none that grows is more beautiful than the Baroness Rothschild. Rather
a shy bloomer; still each Rose, on its long, strong stem, surrounded by
the very fine foliage that distinguishes this variety, makes a bouquet
in itself. Baroness Rothschild is also vigorous, and I have never seen
it attacked by the enemies of most Roses.
Climbing Roses have so much use, as well as beauty, in a garden, that
my advice is, wherever there is an excuse for having one, plant
it there. They do finely on the south side of a house, on arches,
summer-houses and trellises. I have a trellis along one side of a grass
walk three hundred and fifty feet long. At each post are planted two
Roses, a Crimson Rambler and a Wichuraiana. The Wichuraiana blossoms
when the Rambler is done. Imagine the beauty of this trellis when the
Roses are in bloom! On the other side of this walk there is a border
four feet wide, with shrubs at the back, filled, all of the three
hundred and fifty feet, with many varieties of perennials, also with
Lilies and annuals planted in wherever a foot of space can be found.
All of the Ramblers are good, but none blooms so luxuriantly as the
crimson. The Climbing Clothilde Soupert, Baltimore Belle and Climbing
Wootton are also fine. Of the Wichuraiana Hybrids, Jersey Beauty and
Evergreen Gem are the best. The foliage is lovely, and the perfume of
the flowers delicious.
[Illustration: Canterbury Bells blooming in a border
June twenty-first]
The Climbing Roses should be yearly enriched in the spring with manure
and bone-meal, and, after two years, some old wood should be cut out
every autumn. Many of the Crimson Ramblers and Wichuraiana in my garden
made growth last summer of splendid great canes, larger around than
one's thumb and from ten to fourteen feet long. Monday was the day for
tying and training the Roses, and often it seemed impossible for them
to grow so much in a week. It would have been incredible, had we not
the actual proof before our eyes.
LIST OF HYBRID PERPETUAL AND HARDY ROSES BLOOMING IN JUNE, WITH AN
OCCASIONAL BLOOM IN SEPTEMBER
_Red_
General Jacqueminot
Prince Camilla de Rohan, (darkest Rose of all).
Jubilee.
Baron Bonstetten.
General Washington.
John Hopper.
Ulrich Brunner.
Victor Verdier.
_Pink_
Mrs. John Laing (constant bloomer).
Anne de Diesbach.
La France (blooms all summer).
Magna Charta.
Mme. Gabriel Luizet.
Baroness Rothschild.
Paul Neyron.
_White_
Margaret Dickson.
Coquette des Alpes.
White Maman Cochet (blooms continually).
Madame Plantier (blooms continually).
Coquette des Blanches.
Mme. Alfred Carriere.
Marchioness of Londonderry.
_Yellow_
I know but two hardy yellow Roses:
The Persian Yellow.
Soleil d'Or.
The monthly or everblooming Roses, which need very heavy covering in
winter, should be planted together. The following are a few of the best
and most constant bloomers:
Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, white.
Bride, white.
Clothilde Soupert, white with faint blush center.
Madame Hoste, creamy white.
Perle des Jardins, yellow.
Sunset, yellow.
Mlle. Germaine Trochon, yellow.
American Beauty, rich crimson.
Marion Dingee, deep crimson.
Souvenir de Wootton, crimson.
Bridesmaid, pink.
Hermosa, pink.
Madame de Watteville, pink.
Burbank, pink.
Mrs. Robert Garrett, pink.
Princess Alice de Monaco, petals white, edged with blush-pink.
LILIES