leaves silvered with finest gray fuzz; short-stemmed spikes with
shocking-pink bracts and blue-violet flowers.
CARE. Warm, humid, orchid-growing medium, wire to board with orchid
peat. Moist during spring and summer. Dry in dark winter months, when
plant is semidormant.
PROPAGATION. Offshoots.
SPECIAL USES. “Log” gardens, tree slabs.
=Tradescantia= _Commelinaceae_ Spiderwort, Inch Plant, Wandering Jew
Most varieties of the inch plants that cheerfully romp all over indoor
gardens are, of course, too rambunctious to be called miniature. But
there are two species of much more modest proportions and habit.
_multiflora_--Unmistakably an inch plant, but with stems
more threadlike than succulent; small, slim (even quite thin)
leaves plain dark green, tinted purple beneath; and clusters of
tiny white winking flowers. The effect is, believe it or not,
delicate and “ferny.”
_navicularis_--China plant--Curious succulent creeper
with very thick stems threaded through widely spaced pairs of
clasping leaves folded tightly down the center; rose-purple
flowers.
CARE. Easy culture, intermediate temperature, needs fresh air, loamy
soil, filtered sun, dry side.
PROPAGATION. Cuttings of growing shoots, seeds, division.
SPECIAL USES. Baskets.
_CHAPTER 7_
MINIATURE ROSES,
INDOORS AND OUT
Men, women, and children; gardeners, nongardeners, and the family
cat--everyone is captivated by a four-inch rosebush with precise little
leaves and thorns, studded with button-size buds and flowers, twinkling
in its pot on the window sill. On her weekly visit the cleaning woman
checks on its health and welfare. The baby-sitter has her boy friend
come in to see it. The milkman wants to know where he can get one like
it for his green-thumbed wife.
But if I had a dime for every eager buyer who has found these midgets
disappointingly difficult to grow indoors, I could start building
my dream greenhouse tomorrow. There are simply too many floriferous
pictures with thimbles to show how cute the flowers are, and too few
responsible growers who give specific cultural directions with every
sale.
In the garden there’s no problem. These are by nature outdoor plants,
mostly sturdier and more winter-hardy than the full-sized hybrid teas
and floribundas. For some reason, they even seem to be less subject
to the depredations of insects and disease. I can pick handfuls of
Japanese beetles from the regulars in the rose garden, but few from the
miniatures little more than a hundred feet away.
I’m not implying that miniature roses are impossible indoors. One of
the most perfect blooming bushlets I’ve ever seen came to our flower
show from a sparsely windowed, steam-heated Brooklyn apartment. I
simply want to spread the gospel that, to avoid risking disappointment,
everybody should know what kind of cultural conditions they need.
Potted miniature roses are positively precious in cool, sunny window
gardens, with rows of matching pots on glass shelves up and down the
window, or singles or small groups in mixed arrangements on the sill
or in a window greenhouse. Although they are not the most adaptable
subjects for growing under artificial light, I’ve known several people
who have been successful, particularly when the plants were started
under lights from seed.
In a harmonious decorative container, a flowering miniature rose
makes a small plant-and-container decoration to inspire the prettiest
compliments. With suitable environment a tiny bush can be used as a
center of interest in an indoor model landscape. A small greenhouse
should hardly be without one of these brightly blooming babies.
Miniature roses have many uses in sink or trough gardens, as single
specimens, pairs or quadruplets in formal plantings, even hedgerows
kept carefully trimmed. I don’t know whether anyone has ever tried them
for miniature bonsai. This would be a process of dwarfing a dwarf;
and my mental picture of the proper plant, artistically trained, is
enchanting. I must try this, before long.
Outdoors, miniature roses are delightful in all kinds of
containers--tubs, strawberry jars, window boxes, and other planters.
They’re often used as a low hedge to edge a path, driveway, or the beds
of a formal rose garden, or around the base of a birdbath or sundial.
In mixed flower borders they’re planted singly or in small groups
toward the front. In rock gardens they keep most safely cool and moist
when planted low, near the base of the garden; and they show off most
effectively with something like a dwarf evergreen as background.
Gardens featuring miniature roses are most often formal in
design--round, square, rectangular, the beds divided with geometric
precision by narrow strips of grass or gravel paths. A small, formal
pool or piece of statuary may be the center of interest. In a sunken
garden outlined with an eight-inch brick or stone wall, the planting
pattern is particularly pleasing. In raised beds each individual
shrublet can be enjoyed at eye level. In a single or double row at the
base of a low retaining wall, the plants show off to advantage.
Beds of miniature roses can be carefully arranged strips, or groups of
separate colors, or mixtures. They can be edged with shrubs such as
dwarf box, perennials such as dwarf lavender, dainty annuals such as
lobelia or alyssum. In the center a tree or standard is often used as
accent. Or a bed may be backed by a wall, fence, trellis, or arch on
which miniature climbers are trained. If the soil is slanted slightly
up, toward the center, it is easier to see the plump perfection of each
little bush.
Dwarf evergreens, particularly junipers, are popular backgrounds for
miniature rose gardens. Upright types with symmetrical pyramid, column,
or cone shapes are often used as accent--for example, a matching
specimen of one of the dwarf varieties of _Juniperus communis_ in
the exact center of each formal bed.
Miniature or not, rose gardens are most often conceived in formal
design. But to me, the cheerful dwarfs are more friendly when planted
informally--popping up at the base of a tree stump or boulder, spotted
here and there in the rock garden, a few at the top of a flight of
small steps.
TYPES OF MINIATURE ROSES
The tight buds may be as big as the eraser on a pencil, or as tiny as a
grain of unpolished rice, and the flowers may be single, semidouble, or
double. The doubles may be formed like a hybrid tea or be full-petaled
and fluffy, in clusters like a rambler rose. Some varieties stay very
dwarf and bushy, from four to six inches tall; others are more robust,
with larger flowers, and may grow to ten inches.
Climbing miniature roses are usually sports of bush varieties, with
supple canes four or five feet long that can be trained on low fences,
walls, trellises, or arches. Otherwise, every part is in perfect
miniature scale.
All of these types are recognized by fanciers as authentic miniature
roses because they grow on their own roots. And so is the rare tree
or standard grown with a single trunk-like stem that is kept free of
side growth, then pinched at the top to form a crown and symmetrical
head. But standards that are budded or grafted onto the stems of other
root stocks (which most of our American miniature tree roses are) are
excluded by the experts, which is a matter of concern only to the
serious collector.
INDOOR PLANTING AND CARE
Since miniature roses seldom spend the summer indoors, they are usually
purchased in fall or winter from the local florist or greenhouse, or
by mail from house-plant or miniature-rose specialists. Pot-grown
plants are most likely to succeed indoors because their roots are not
disturbed unduly. Except in Hawaii and Arizona, mail-order plants
arrive with the soil ball complete about the roots, the stems cut back
to about two inches. They start growth almost immediately, and flower
within six to eight weeks.
If you have miniature roses in the garden, you can root cuttings in
early fall and force them into winter bloom indoors. Or you can dig the
plants, pot them, and give them their necessary dormant rest before you
bring them indoors for forcing. Sink the pots to the rim in soil, in
the cold frame or in some spot protected from severe winter weather.
When the temperature dips low, mulch with salt hay, straw, evergreen
branches, or the like. In late December or January, after six weeks or
more of dormancy, lift the pots and bring the plants indoors. Prune
back the leafless stems and water sparingly until new leaf buds appear.
After they have flowered indoors all winter and spring, I always
plant my miniature roses out in the garden and let them resume their
natural outdoor growth cycle. I may root cuttings, or I may bring
others indoors the following fall; but I have never tried to force a
plant a second time without letting it live at least one year in the
garden first. I have heard that some growers (probably city dwellers
or others who have no outdoor garden facilities) simply let the plants
rest outside in summer--on a shaded ledge or in a window box with moist
peat--prune them severely in fall, and grow them again. I haven’t heard
how many years a plant will take this unnatural treatment or how much
it suffers from missing its cool fall nap.
_Soil_
A fairly heavy potting soil packed quite firmly in the pot seems to
help keep the plants small without sacrificing foliage or flower.
One expert recommends a mixture of two parts garden soil, two parts
humus, one part moderately coarse sand, with a light sprinkling of
superphosphate or bone meal. When I use my ready-prepared potting soil,
I always add sand, and sometimes some humusy soil dug from immediately
under the leaf mold in the woods.
_Potting_
I’ve used both clay and plastic pots with equal success, always of
the shape with the greatest depth, as miniature roses are naturally
deep-rooted. Each pot has the usual layer of rocks or pebbles in the
bottom for drainage. Small, newly purchased plants usually start off
in three-inch pots, are shifted to four-inch pots before they become
severely root-bound. Some larger varieties may take larger sizes.
_Sun_
This is one of the three important cultural requirements. Miniature
roses must have sun if they are to bloom. A minimum of three hours is
sometimes set, but I should think this amount would be applicable only
to midsummer or to mild climates. In winter the plants need all the
sunshine they can possibly get.
_Temperature and Humidity_
Second in importance is a cool 65 degrees or even much lower (maximum,
70 degrees), and third is the humidity which keeps the plants at their
best. Leaves curl and dry, buds and flowers drop when the air is hot
and dry. Miniature roses should not be set anywhere near a heater or
radiator of any kind. Unless the air in the growing area is really cool
and moist, set the pots on moist gravel or make some other provision
for increasing humidity, as outlined on pages 76–77. It even helps
to cover the plants with a tent of plastic every night, and let them
emerge only for the day.
_Watering_
Keep the soil always moist, never soggy and muddy, never dry and caked.
As a humidifier and refresher, mist the foliage as often as you can.
_Fertilizing_
A balanced soluble house-plant fertilizer (never one with high nitrogen
content) can be fed in half-strength solution every three weeks
beginning about three weeks after a freshly potted plant begins active
growth. Or you can use any special rose food according to directions
and at half the strength recommended on the package. The idea is to
encourage the plant to grow and flower, but not stuff it with so much
nutrition that it gallops gaily up to nondwarf size with leaves only.
_Pruning and Grooming_
I seldom prune miniature roses indoors except to cut off cleanly
any stems that may have been accidentally broken or that may grow
unattractively long or misshapen. I do try to douse the plants in
slightly sudsy water, to clean the foliage, every few weeks; and I pick
off faded flowers promptly. Actually, instead of being in continual
bloom, these plants usually flower for a few weeks and then take a
short rest before they send up buds again.
_Insects and Disease_
Again, preventive spraying is all I’ve ever done. I use my handy
house-plant aerosol bomb almost every week. If disaster should strike,
I’d probably use the special rose spray or dust I use on the regular
garden roses.
OUTDOOR PLANTING AND CARE
In all except mild or warmer climates, bare-root plants bought by mail
from nurseries or garden-rose specialists should be planted in early
spring, when vigorous root action and growth are beginning. Potted
plants or any that come complete with a soil ball around the roots
can be planted almost any time the garden soil is not frozen. But in
sections where winters are severe, I think spring planting is always
safest. In fact, in Connecticut I like to give new plants a longer
growing season their first year by starting them a few weeks early, in
pots, indoors or in the greenhouse.
_Location_
Plant miniature roses where they will get at least half a day of
summer sun (a full day is best) but where it is possible to keep the
soil suitably moist. Avoid low, muggy pockets where air does not
circulate freely or where water can collect and make the soil muddy.
Good drainage is vital. In cold areas, select a spot sheltered from icy
winds by a wall or low shrubs.
_Soil_
To help keep them dwarf, miniature roses need a fairly heavy soil, but
not, of course, too clay-like. Dig down at least ten inches, to prepare
for the deep-growing roots, and improve the soil you remove with
whatever is needed before you replace it around the plant. Clay-type
soils will need the addition of sand, for drainage, and leaf mold needs
rotted or dry cow manure or other humus to lighten the texture. Sandy
soils need humus to help hold moisture. In even average fertile soil,
miniatures appreciate an extra ration of humus at planting time.
The ideal soil for miniature roses will pack firmly around the roots,
yet won’t cake and crack in the sun. It drains perfectly, so excess
water does not stand around the roots, particularly in winter. Yet
it holds enough moisture so that the roots don’t dry out so fast you
can’t keep up with the watering job. Soil should also test neutral
or slightly acid (_p_H 6.0), never extremely acid. In acid-soil
areas, apply a light sprinkling of horticultural lime each winter.
_Planting_
Plant miniature roses about a half-inch deeper than they were before,
and far enough apart so that they will have room to spread as wide as
they will be tall. Crowded plants have no individual beauty, but they
are prime targets for mildew. If the weather turns sharply cold or dry
and windy after planting, protect the plants by mounding up soil around
the stems. Remove it gradually as spring days grow balmier.
_Watering_
Miniature roses suffer seriously from drought, and will drop their buds
and flowers after only a few days of hot, dry weather. Keep the soil
constantly moist, and spray or mist the foliage once or twice a day.
A mulch of pebbles, a mixture of half soil and half peat (peat alone
packs down too heavily), or something similarly porous, will help keep
the soil cool and moist.
_Fertilizing_
Light feedings of organic fertilizers such as bone meal or cow manure
once a year, in early summer, are usually recommended. Or supply small
amounts of a balanced garden fertilizer, or special rose food, in late
spring and again in early July. A weak solution of liquid manure is
also good and can be fed about twice as often.
_Pruning and Training_
In early spring, when new growth is first beginning to show on bush
types, shorten all stems severely. I usually cut mine back to a uniform
four inches. And of course, cut out cleanly any dead or mutilated
branches. Make every cut just above a new shoot or leaf bud. Otherwise,
pruning is limited to keeping the bushes shapely, removing faded
flowers, and occasionally thinning the growth of old plants to admit
air to the center.
Miniature climbers bloom on last year’s wood. They can be cut back to
six inches when first planted, but are otherwise not pruned except to
control ungainly canes or remove dead ones. Train the climbing canes
into an attractive, open pattern as they grow, by tying them to the
arch, fence, or other support they are to climb on.
Miniature tree roses can be cut back to a small but symmetrical head in
spring and all dead wood should be removed. To keep them shapely, prune
as needed during the growing season.
_Insects and Disease_
I protect my miniature roses, as I do the others, with an all-purpose
rose spray or dust applied first when leaves begin to unfold,
and repeated every week or ten days until the plants go dormant.
Occasionally, during a long spell of hot, humid weather, I see signs
that mildew threatens. If the all-purpose spray contains a fungicide
(which most of them do), I use it immediately. If not, I may resort to
dusting sulfur (which does mar the beauty of the flowers) or whatever
sterilant is on hand.
_Winter Protection_
What you do to protect miniature roses in winter, or whether you do
anything at all, depends not only on your climate but also on the
health of the plants. If they’ve been growing well, they’ll take lots
of abuse; if they’re weak and ailing, their chances of survival are
reduced.
Sometimes, a flower pot inverted over the leafless stems is all
that’s needed. Or you may mulch with salt hay or evergreen boughs.
In Connecticut we mound up soil so it covers the first three or four
inches of the stems, and remove it gradually in spring. It is most
important to make sure that water does not stand around the roots in
winter, next most important that alternate freezing and thawing don’t
heave the roots out of the ground and break them.
If they are likely to be whipped by wind or covered with ice, the canes
of climbing varieties are removed from their support and laid flat on
the ground, where they can be covered with either soil or mulch. Since
tree roses are inclined to be touchy, we wrap ours in burlap, with an
extra layer or two around the graft and crown.
PROPAGATING MINIATURE ROSES
I’ve grown many miniature roses from seed, and had a lot of fun doing
it. They usually germinate in about three weeks (best temperature about
60 degrees), quickly send out tiniest true rose leaves, and are ready
for transplanting into small pots in another two or three weeks. I
usually pinch the tip growth at least once, when the plant is about
five inches tall. The flowers can appear within three months after
sowing.
Of course, seedling plants are not named varieties. Most of them, in
fact, have small single flowers in pale shades of pink or white. Your
chances of double, more brightly colored flowers increase if you can
get seeds of a good strain.
For new plants of named varieties, take cuttings in August or
September--three-or four-inch pieces of healthy wood produced in the
current season. If the stem can be pulled off gently with a sliver of
the main stem still attached (a heel), rooting may be faster and is
surer. Dipping the cut ends in hormone rooting powder is also helpful.
Make the moist propagating material firm around the base of the
cutting, and make sure the air is kept humid in the propagating box or
plastic tent, or invert a glass jar over the cutting. New growth is the
signal that roots have formed and the cutting is ready for potting.
These plants, too, will grow more compact and bushy if the tips are
pinched out when the stems are about five inches tall.
NAMED VARIETIES OF MINIATURE ROSES
Although new varieties of this popular plant are constantly being
introduced, and most likely will have a wide appeal eventually, it
may be some time before they appear in plant and seed catalogues. In
compiling this modest list I have thought chiefly of what is available
at the moment, miniature roses I have either grown, seen in friends’
gardens, or admired vicariously on the printed pages of magazines,
books, and booklets. If you are interested, I am sure these bushes are
readily available. If I am old-hat and you feel avant-garde, there are
many persons propagating new varieties. Talk to some of them, or try it
yourself, a most gratifying hobby:
‘Baby Bunting’--A delightful, small rose with red flowers of
a deep, startling shade. This variety is an inch or so taller
than some, but many of my friends think it ideal in that they
like to make miniature flower arrangements and appreciate
slightly longer stems. Among its other charms, the rose is most
delightfully fragrant.
‘Baby Crimson’--I’ve never had this one grow taller than six
inches. Since I have maternal instinct for the wee ones, I love
it. Under the right conditions it will bear tiny crimson flowers
and exquisite buds up until frost time.
‘Bo-Peep’--This one has a charm in its name, and is one of the
more popular miniature roses. It has double pink blooms, forms
a bush with a neat conformation, and is another favorite with
those who make miniature arrangements. You needn’t worry about
cutting its blooms. It is always growing more.
‘Cinderella’--This one fits beautifully into the legend
about the girl with the glass slipper. It has dainty white
blooms touched with pink and is in the true tradition of rose
shapeliness. Seemingly, it loves to bloom.
‘Granada’--In some listings I find the name spelled ‘Granata.’
Regardless of the spelling, I love the bushes I have grown, for
the lovely, semidouble, red flowers which the bush bears so
profusely. A tiny vase filled with them makes one wish to build
a doll house in which to display it.
[Illustration:
Days in the life of a miniature rose:
a. Leafed out]
[Illustration:
b. A growing bush]
[Illustration:
c. First bud]
[Illustration:
d. Full bloom]
‘Little Princess’--So many of my small roses are either pink
or red, I always try to find white ones for contrast. This
is a variety I have often depended on. Sometimes the blooms
are alone, but then again they may be in clusters. A cluster,
snipped from the bush and wrapped in foil, looks very lovely
when pinned on a little girl’s pink dress as she leaves for a
party.
‘Mon Petite’ (sometimes spelled ‘Mon Petit’)--This one is truly
petite, not once in a dozen times over five inches tall. But
those five inches never seem to stop flowering with cherry-red
blooms. And then, to make themselves even more fascinating, they
often have a delicate haze of purple.
‘Patty Lou’ (patented)--This one is so delicate I imagine its
creator must have had some particularly sweet little girl in
mind when he named it. In bloom it is a pink bicolor, and it
always seems to be blooming. A truly lovely little rose.
‘Perle d’Alcanada’ (sometimes spelled ‘Perle d’Alconada’)--May
I warn you, this is a real charmer. Being somewhat on the
stately side, it may grow to nine inches. It makes a neat and
most attractive bush and then comes forth with pink blooms that
slowly change to a white pearl-like effect.
‘Pixie Gold’--This is another dainty one, a yellow miniature
with a lovely soft color to add to its beauty. It is really a
miniature, and would consider itself a giant if it topped five
inches. It has an attractive bush, but that is only part of it,
the blooms follow a perfect pattern from the time they are buds
until they are full-blown. It follows all rose traditions.
‘Red Imp’--Many persons consider this beauty the most perfect
of all miniature roses. Certainly, with its deep-red blooms, it
is one of the best known. Such a feeling of affection must be
deserved. I think the first miniature I ever owned was a ‘Red
Imp.’ If for no other reason, that would make me love it.
‘Rosa Oakington Ruby’--Some years back the English Royal
Horticultural Society thought so much of this rose they gave it
the Award of Merit, and well they might. The blooms are a rich
ruby-carmine, are double, and are around all summer. In planting
this variety, remember it tends to be an inch or so taller than
the wee ones.
‘Rosata’--I love this one for its fragrant, pinkish flowers,
which also have a touch of salmon. The blooms are delightful
when made into corsages or miniature bouquets.