CHAPTER XIV

NOT every one who loves roses and fain would grow a few has a garden for them exclusively, nor even any plot of ground that might properly be termed a garden at all. Happily, some roses will grow almost anywhere, and one need not put trust in riches to secure them, for, beyond all other flowers, the rose rewards her devoted, faithful lovers, however humble, rather than the indifferent spendthrift, with her smiles. "He who would have beautiful roses," wrote Dean Hole -- than whom who should speak with greater authority? -- "must love them well and always. To win he must woo, as Jacob wooed Laban's daughter, though drought and frost consume. He must have not only the glowing admiration, the enthusiasm, and the passion, but the thoughtfulness, the reverence, the watchfulness of love. With no ephemeral caprice, like the fair young knight's who loves and who rides away when his sudden fire is gone from the cold white ashes, the cavalier of the rose has Semper fidelis upon his crest and shield." Which is a pretty way of saying that a devoted cottager may easily have more beautiful roses than the indifferent millionaire. Indeed, many of the most wonderful roses exhibited at the shows in English cities are grown by workingmen. The head-waiter in a famous London hotel grows roses in his suburban dooryard that would put to the blush the best products of many American money kings, whose vaunted executive ability relegates to unimpassioned eye-servers the complete control of their gardens. It is granted at the outset that a cool, moist climate is the principal factor of success with roses across the sea, but by a selection of varieties adapted to our hotter and colder and drier climate, and by a more intelligent care of them, we, too, may have roses of surpassing loveliness.

Ideals change from generation to generation, even in rose culture. We all know some old-fashioned rosarian who cuts for only a brief season hundreds of roses a day-mostly deep pink ones, shaped like cabbages and with finger-length stems lest a bud be sacrificed -- which he conscientiously distributes among surfeited, embarrassed neighbours, and sends to the nearest hospital where the patients risk an epidemic of rose cold every June. Then the meteoric shower of his roses ends for a year. If we were now obliged to grow bushes for eleven months to secure roses in the twelfth only, and then to have a surfeit of riches that would enslave us until their prodigality suddenly ceased, rose culture would have little foundation in reason, and would be confined to the ultra-enthusiasts popularly called cranks. Comparatively few devotees are now content to expend all their energies upon the hybrid "perpetuals" (woefully miscalled) that were once almost exclusively grown. Looking to the Orient as well as to Europe for our roses, the present-day amateur is satisfied with nothing less than roses every day from May until November under the open sky in the latitude of New York, and for a longer season south of it. Since 1893, when the Wichuraiana rose was introduced from Japan by Mr. Jackson Dawson, of the Arnold Arboretum, since the Japanese rugosa rose came to bless us, and vigorous constitutions and floriferous character were supplied to the crosses with perpetual and tea stock, our gardens have been wondrously enriched. Too long we looked to Europe exclusively for roses, as we did for evergreens and much other garden material quite unsuited to our climate. The present ideal is to girdle the year with roses as nearly as may be, to cut them every day from frost to frost, from vines on trellises, porches, pergolas, arches, fences, walls and trees; from banks and rocks cascaded with them, from hedges of rugosa and sweetbrier, from shrubbery roses naturalised along paths and drives, from the wild garden or the formal one, from any nook or corner that one may adorn with a rose.

Before the May tulips have extinguished their flames, the hardy, clean-leaved vermin-proof rugosas open and fill the air with the true rose odour. No taint of the steamy hothouse, reeking with tobacco fumes, such as the florist's winter roses have had, pollutes the pure, perfect perfume of these open-air flowers. There are single white rugosas and half-double ones which, like lovely Blanc Double de Coubert, bloom lavishly in May, intermittently through the summer and autumn, and in winter enliven the garden with their great red hips, which are almost as decorative as flowers. There are light-pink rugosas, too, and -- admit it I must -- deep-dyed, villainous magenta ones, that swear at almost every colour in the garden, but at none so violently as at their own seed vessels, for Nature, at least this once, surely has lost her colour sense. No apologist can reconcile reddish purple flowers and orange-red hips on the same bush. Even close by the sea, rugosas will thrive. For informal, unclipped hedges -- they resent severe pruning, and only the oldest, bark-bound canes should be removed -- for naturalising on banks, and along drives, where hybrids of the half-upright R. setigera make a most lovely effect in July, for longish plantations in the foreground of boundary belts of trees and shrubbery about a place, and for filling in considerable areas inexpensively, there are no roses to equal rugosas; but they make too many suckers for admission within the trimly kept rose garden. Some people reject the flowers for indoor decoration. Although the fragile petals of the single roses fall after a day, buds open continuously in water, just as our native wild rosebuds do, and the rugosa's value for cut flowers, each of which brings its own beautiful setting of dark green, glossy, crinkled foliage, free from insects and disease, is appreciated by the discerning.

These Japanese roses, wild and hybrid, have scarcely reached their high tide of bloom when the yellowbriers bring us their one meagre but precious offering of the year. Except in old-fashioned gardens, one rarely sees Persian yellow, Austrian copper and Scotch roses now; nevertheless, if only for sentiment's sake, the modern garden will not lack these charming little roses beloved by our grandmothers. After a warm, gentle rain, what delicious incense arises from another favourite of theirs, the sweetbrier! The small-flowered, fragrant-leaved, wild eglantine of Shakespeare's day has benefited by many modern improvements at the hands of the hybridiser, and of the sixteen varieties of Penzance sweetbriers all are good. Some are exquisitely tinted. None responds encouragingly to high cultivation, however. Once planted in rich, heavy soil, about ten feet apart, all they ask is the support of a trellis or fence, and to be let alone. Tied upon pillars or arches in an attempt to tame these more than half-wild revellers, they never look so well as when the long, vigorous canes are allowed to follow their own sweet will.

A LONG ISLAND GARDEN WHERE ROSES ARE GATHERED EVERY DAY FROM MAY
UNTIL THANKSGIVING, WITH A TIDAL WAVE OF BLOOM IN JUNE.

June is and probably ever will be with us the month of roses, however much we may hasten and prolong their season. Then, and only then, are the hybrid "perpetuals" in their glory on American soil but in spite of their limitations, ignored in their name, they bid fair to remain for awhile the main stock of the rose garden and the dooryard. Who that has a little strip of land to spare would forego the superlative white, pink, and deep velvety crimson beauty of Frau Karl Druschki, Baroness Rothschild and Prince Camille de Rohan? Soft-petalled, pink damask roses that fill the old-fashioned garden with a delicious attar scent -- and no modern descendants have yet surpassed these ancient favorites - snowballs of Mme. Plantier, and French roses to dry for the potpourri jar, clouds of diminutive polyantha roses, pillar roses, bushes and trailers, intoxicate the senses with their varied loveliness in "June, dear June; now God be praised for June!"

In the South and in California tea roses abound in every favoured garden for many months, to the envy of rose lovers in colder climes, who are denied the charms of this lovely class except in hothouses. Occasionally an enthusiast in the North risks planting teas in the open, covers the plants completely in winter, coddles and coaxes them, only to find many of his precious pets lifeless after the ice thaws. But within a few years a wonderful new race of roses has been developed: roses with the hardiness of the hybrid perpetuals, the chaste form and the delicate, refined fragrance of teas, and, above all, their habit of blooming freely throughout the summer and autumn. Now, indeed, are rose gardens well worth while. Now is the long season of the rosarian's discontent made glorious with these peerless roses. Of the hundred and fifty varieties rapidly given by the hybridisers to a clamouring, grateful public, perhaps only a tenth are of permanent value to northern growers, but the chosen are roses of such surpassing loveliness that many an amateur fills his garden with them alone. Killarney's long-pointed, perfect pink buds that slowly expand and last for days indoors without dropping a petal on the mahogany that mirrors their satisfying beauty; Caroline Testout, of bluer pink and more rounded form, but a charmer none the less; and La France, for its rich, oily, attar perfume, if no other pink ones, he must have; Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, a superlatively lovely, large, robust white rose; Alice Grahame; Bessie Brown; Antoine Rivoire; Mme. Ravary and Mme. Abel Chatenay, of exquisite, soft apricot tint, suggesting the tender tea Safrano; the vivid Liberty red; and the bushy Gruss an Teplitz, whose crimson roses, unstintedly produced well above the deep-toned foliage tipped with maroon, keep the garden bright when all others fail - the little list may be amended or increased by every rose-grower who, in his particular section and under different conditions, has discovered the merits of roses better adapted to them; but he will certainly test these. From May till killing frost he may rely upon cutting from his garden such roses from these bushes as in former years came only from greenhouses in the North. Midsummer heat and drought, it is true, somewhat diminish their numbers, but never more should there be famine in the well-cared-for rose garden.

And where shall that be made, and how tended?

A tree may be said to spread its roots as many feet from the trunk as it is high; therefore the rosarian will not place his darlings where their rich repasts will tempt greedy thieves. But roses, like all other flowers in the garden picture, need a background and a frame; and trees at a safe distance, encircling the rose plot or acting as a shelter on its coldest, most windy side -- especially evergreen trees there -- add greatly to its beauty and comfort. Into some of the trees rambler roses may climb and toss into the air sprays of pink and crimson. But the trees should not be so dense as to interfere with a free circulation of air, or there will be mildew and other fungous troubles to fight continually; nor should protecting trees stand near enough to the roses to shade their wards. Red roses that fade unpleasantly bluish in strong sunlight would better take back seats in the lightly shaded places, if there be any such. An enclosing hedge of hemlock, arborvitae, or the ubiquitous privet about a rose garden protects it almost as well as a wall, and makes a far more effective foil for the flowers; but the roots of the evergreens should be kept from robbing the roses by partitions of concrete, boards or ashes, as explained in the perennial chapter.

A wonderfully beautiful garden has a rose entwined and canopied pergola running entirely around its four sides and within a breast-high hemlock hedge. Here are easy chairs and tea-table, sewing-baskets and books in plenty, sunshine and shade, the sound of splashing water in the central fountain, the companionship of birds that come to bathe and to drink in the pool, the fragrance of roses inhaled with every breath, colour to delight one, and an entrancing picture from every seat in the open-air living-room. What a delicious place to rest! After centuries of running after false notions of what constitute home comforts, shall we not return to the Roman's idea of living in a garden -- if not in the flower-filled courtyard of a house, as he did, then in a verdant enclosure near it?

The shape of the rose garden may depend upon the site available for it, but one that is formal in outline and the arrangement of its beds, yet with the curse of flatness and rigidity obliterated by arches, pillars and festoons of rose vines, has practical as well as artistic merits. It need not be large nor costly to make or to maintain. A fountain, an arbour, a sundial, a picturesque old tree with a circular seat around its trunk, a clump of big boxwood or a bed of especially beautiful roses, may be its central feature, and around that the remaining space should be divided off into beds that can be easily reached at every point from a box-edged path. The favourite parallelogram running north and south need not have its subdivisions follow straight lines. Semi-circular or crescent beds at its four corners imply the partial curves of all other beds and the paths lying between them and the central feature. Or the parallelogram may have curved ends or sides to admit recessed garden seats set close against the evergreen hedge. Geometric designs seem forbidding when talked about or drawn on paper, but a well-balanced and thought-out rose garden, so fully planted that its formal lines are nearly lost in the verdure of rose bushes or softened by sprays of flowers, its paths over-canopied by luscious vines at intersecting points, its arches draped, its pillars or rustic lattices twined with roses, every vista ending in a beautiful picture, can give pleasure beyond the dreams of the unimaginative. To come upon such a garden unexpectedly, through an entrance that gives no hint of what is hidden within, is like suddenly entering Paradise. If a rose garden be forbidding, it is because there is too much design in evidence, and not enough luxuriance of growth to subordinate it.

No rose garden should be situated in low ground that holds water: perfect drainage is essential to its health. Yet, where a house is perched on a bleak hill-top, the roses are happier a little distance below. There are few lovelier sights from a terrace than a thriving garden lying under the lee of a hill. But roses will never be lovely if they have wet feet, and a low-lying garden may require either tile draining, or an eight-inch layer of broken stone, bricks, or gravel laid under the rose beds at a depth of three feet.

THIS SECTION OF AN OLD AND OVER-LARGE VEGETABLE GARDEN WAS TRANSFORMED
INTO A HOME FOR HARDY ROSES, PARTICULARLY FOR HYBRID TEAS, WHICH FURNISH
A COMFORTABLE SUPPLY OF FLOWERS -- NOT A SURFEIT -- THROUGH A HALF YEAR. 
PANSIES AND ENGLISH DAISIES ARE USED TO CARPET THE BEDS.

If possible, prepare the soil for your rose beds that are to be planted in the spring five or six months previous. Save at one side the sod and best soil below it, removing the subsoil, if it be poor, to the depth of three feet, and loosening the floor of the bed with a pick. Mix about equal parts of good soil and thoroughly decomposed cow manure for a deep layer that is spread over the bottom of the bed, then the sod well broken, the top soil and more old manure thoroughly intermixed, and finally a top dressing of good garden soil, unenriched. All the fertiliser should be incorporated with the soil in the lower two-thirds of the bed. No rose, newly set out, should have its roots within striking distance of manure, however old it may be. After the plant begins to grow in its new home it draws the rich moisture from below and appropriates it readily enough as the need arises. Beds that are piled a little higher than the surrounding land in autumn when they are made have usually settled by spring to the desired level -- about an inch below the surrounding surface, which enables them to retain rainfall. They should never be so high as to dry out. Different roses like different soils: the hybrid perpetuals prefer heavy loam containing some clay and the humus furnished by well-rotted sod; hybrid teas, noisettes, Bourbons and ramblers a lighter, warmer soil, with sand and leaf-mould intermixed and added to the original compost in the proportion of one to four.

For practical as well as aesthetic reasons it is best to grow each kind of rose in a bed to itself -- some rosarians separate types, others give each colour a plot of its own. For hybrid perpetuals a bed four feet wide suffices, as a double row of roses can be set out in it, the plants not directly but diagonally opposite one another, two and a half feet apart, where they will not interfere with the air and light of their companions. Almost all hybrid teas may be grown in beds three feet wide inside the boxwood or sod borders, the plants set out eight inches from the edge and two feet apart; but an exception to the rule is the Gruss an Teplitz, for example, which quickly attains the size of a bush requiring a bed made on a more generous scale. Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, lovely creature, is a buxom beauty, vigorous and free. She, too, needs plenty of room to display her immaculate charms. Many rosarians set out pansies, English daisies, alyssum, mignonette or other low-growing plants between the roses to carpet the earth with bloom.

When buying roses, the general rule holds good: it is economy in the end to get only the best quality of stock from the most reliable dealer. The market is flooded with roses alleged to be cheap, but in reality they are very small, weak, inferior plants, not really worth half what is asked for them. A dozen such would not furnish the real joy contained in one large, healthy, superlatively fine plant that one need not sit up nights to coddle. Generally it is best to buy roses that have been budded on the vigorous Manetti stock. The brier stock, so popular in England, is not so well suited to our dryer, hotter climate. Only a few roses -- Caroline Testout, Ulrich Brunner and Magna Charta among them -- do so well on their own roots. Always plant the rose deep enough for the point where the bud was inserted to be well covered with soil -- with a good three inches of it -- otherwise Manetti suckers may develop. These wild shoots may be detected at once by the seven serrated leaflets instead of five to the leaf, and the minute prickles on the stem. Remove the earth around the shoot down to where it leaves the stock, pare it off close and so discourage any rare attempt that may be made to revert to the wild.

When the plants arrive from the dealer in the spring, as soon as severe frost is over, lay them flat in a hole and cover them entirely with soil for a day or two if they look shrivelled from long travel, or if you are not quite ready to set them out with that leisurely carefulness that so well repays the rosarian. Examine each plant, and cut off with a sharp knife or pruning-shears all broken roots, bruised stalks, weak growth, long canes that may be whipped by the wind, and any eyes that can be detected below the bud on the Manetti stock, lest they develop later. Take from the hole where the roses have been healed in, or from their protecting cover, only one plant at a time, and set it out immediately, lest its roots dry out in the wind and sun. Two pairs of hands are better than one when it comes to planting roses -- one is needed to hold the plant in position while the other pair spreads out the roots horizontally, in such a way that they do not cross one another, and covers them with the finely worked soil, which should be firmly pressed down with the boot. Stamping will pack it none too firmly, for air spaces around the roots are fatal. Pot-grown roses for late planting must be set out just as their cramped roots leave the terra cotta prisons: they cannot be spread without endangering the rose's life. If many roses are to be planted, in no other way can they be set out so quickly as in a trench of the proper depth and width.

Over the raked surface of the rose bed spread enough light stable litter, short hay, leaves, or grass cuttings from the lawn to screen the sun from the soil and prevent it from baking. In every newly planted garden this mulch should be left on all summer. It is not pretty; it is rather troublesome to lift off and replace when the surface of the soil needs stirring with a hoe once a month; but the mulch increases the vigour if it does not save the life of every rose you set out; moreover, it keeps down weeds. Hybrid teas and teas are especially dependent upon it if they are to bloom at midsummer. Only well-established, deep-rooted roses can safely do without it during drought. It prevents much loss of moisture.

However, it does not lessen the necessity for showering the roses frequently with a light spray from a hose, which also keeps the foliage clean and healthy.

To stimulate growth, coarse, medium, or fine bone-meal stirred into the soil about roses is excellent, and slow or rapid in its effects in proportion to the size of the grains. Frequent wettings of weak manure water after buds begin to form -- a pailful of old rotten manure from the cow barn or pigsty to a barrel of water supplies a tonic that looks like weak tea -- are preferable to stronger draughts, which either over-stimulate or burn the plants. "Weak and often" is the safe rule. A half-gallon to each plant produces effects that are noticeable within a week. Do not besmirch the foliage with it, but apply it directly to the soil about the roots. A top dressing of wood ashes in the spring restores potash to the soil if it has been depleted by old plants. Light refreshments during the summer, and the feeding that results from a three-inch covering of rough manure during the winter, suffice to produce splendid roses; but no roses will be splendid unless they are liberally fed and watered. Also they must be protected from their enemies.

What are they? In sandy soil the most formidable is the rose-beetle; elsewhere it is less troublesome and in some favoured places does not exist. Soft-petalled flowers like the damask and Mine. Plantier are its special favourites, but none, perhaps, does it wholly ignore, and with diabolical wickedness it goes straight to the heart of the rose. Picking off the villains by hand and dropping them into a can half-filled with kerosene is even more effective than spraying with arsenate of lead which, however, is discouraging to the pest's posterity and therefore should not be neglected. On tender new shoots the little aphides or green flies, in countless numbers, suck away the plant's vitality. Inasmuch as they, like the poor, are likely to be always with us, the rosarian will prepare half a barrelful of whale-oil-soap solution before their first appearance, and spray the pests regularly until they disappear. If the fight begin in time, a victory is easily won which, indeed, may be said of any warfare waged for roses. Enemies sometimes multiply a thousand-fold in a single day. For the slugs which skeletonise the rose leaves use powdered white hellebore. Dissolve one heaping tablespoonful of the poison in a pailful of boiling water and after the decoction has cooled, sprinkle it on the under side of the leaves from a whisk broom. To get at them properly bend over the top of the plant until the hiding-place of the slugs is exposed. One application usually discourages them for the season. Old wood may attract the bark louse or white scale, which is best treated during the winter. Fifteen grains of the deadly poison, corrosive sublimate, dissolved in a pint of water, make a wash that they cannot withstand. Brush it over the woody old canes. So much for insect pests.

Bordeaux, powdered or in solution, and potassium sulphide are our staunch allies in the eternal warfare waged against mildew, rust, and the lesser evils of a fungous nature resulting from a wet, hot season. The more energetically one fights these at the outset, the less need one do later. Thrifty, clean foliage, the lungs of the plant and the setting for the roses, contributes very greatly to their health and charm. The results of our efforts are cumulative: well-tended, vigorous rose bushes have very few troubles indeed. Let not the doubting heart of the novice be afraid. All the possible evils that have been enumerated never come, perhaps, to the same garden, but any one might appear. Emphasis of the strongest kind is laid on the joy of growing healthy roses.

Except for the cutting back of the longest canes, lest the wind whip them and thereby loosen the roots, it is best to defer the pruning of roses until early spring, and then to begin on the hardiest of them, the hybrid perpetuals. For flowers of superior quality, cut out all weak growth, retaining only the most vigorous canes which require shortening in proportion to the plant's development. If the bush be big and strong, leave eight or ten inches of cane; if it be young or delicate, half that height will be enough for the roots to support. Cut cleanly, sharply through the cane a little above a bud, so as not to injure it, and choose for the top one a bud that is on the outside of the cane; for, if a bud that points inward be left at the top, the lusty shoot which presently develops from it shuts out air and light from the centre of the bush, the very part that should be kept open. Encourage growth on the outside of the plant; cut off cleanly the shoots that would grow inward. If quantities of flowers are wanted for their effect in the garden, rather than fewer roses superlatively fine, prune less drastically. But be it observed that the generous gardener, who cuts roses with long stems and never hesitates to sacrifice a few buds to complete the beauty of a spray, is the one who is rewarded with the finest flowers. Plants invariably produce more flower buds than their strength allows them to develop well. They would merely exhaust themselves in an effort that the wise gardener does not permit. Therefore, cut the roses, with their attendant buds, as long as they last. Whenever in doubt, cut. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may," but as early in the morning as possible, before the sun softens the stems and petals. Roses that are laid in a bath of cold water for an hour before they are arranged in vases become firm and refreshed, which, of course, is as true of other flowers. From fifty bushes you should be able to half fill a bathtub every morning during the season.

MARIE VAN HOUTTE -- A TOO-TENDER TEA ROSE FOR SAFE CULTIVATION
IN NORTHERN GARDENS.

While it injures no rose bush or vine to cut its blossoms, there are some roses which it pays to ignore during the spring pruning. Bourbon roses will not bloom on new wood -- therefore the shears should be used very lightly on the old. Rugosas and briers, too, require little attention unless the old canes become bark bound. As for the pillar roses, their situation and use would best dictate their treatment, for on lattices their lateral shoots need encouragement to spread by shortening the top leaders, while on posts the laterals will be cut back to an eye or two as an inducement for the vine to lengthen and twine. Teas and hybrid teas resent hard pruning. Unless the shoots are very weak, do not remove them, but merely cut back their tops a little after the stems grow green and the dormant buds begin to swell in the spring. Not till then can one know how much dead wood needs to be cut away. Strong perpetuals need hard pruning.

There are those, perhaps, to whom the care that some roses require seems too great for the reward, but such captious critics can never have known the ineffable joy that comes to the amateur who grows to perfection the queen of flowers. 

 

The following dates are based on an average season in the neighbourhood of New York. Allow four days for every hundred miles of latitude.

Use no insecticides or fungicides unless there be need.  

March 15th -- Finish pruning hardy roses already planted.

March 25th -- Plant new hardy roses, pruning new plants rather more severely than those of the same varieties already established.

April 15th -- Finish pruning the tender varieties as far as possible without uncovering completely. Give to all the beds and to any neighbouring pear trees, grape vines, phlox, hollyhocks, or other plants subject to fungoid diseases, which are contagious, a thorough spraying of Bordeaux mixture as a preventive.

April 20th-25th -- Uncover tender varieties. Plant any new ones received, giving these a light, protecting mulch. Give final touches to pruning. Before roses are in leaf, toward the end of April, spray them with whale-oil soap (one pound to eight gallons of water) to discourage the first insect pests.

May 10th -- Leaves open. Spray with potassium sulphide (one-half ounce to one gallon of water) to prevent mildew. Repeat spraying a week later and perhaps again in a fortnight.

May 20th -- Buds forming. Apply weak manure water. Second spraying of whale-oil soap, if necessary, to annihilate aphis or other survivors.

May 25th -- Earliest roses bloom, rugosas, followed by the yellowbriers. Apply liquid manure to hybrid perpetuals.

June 1st -- Hybrid perpetuals begin to bloom.

June 7th -- Damask, Mme. Plantier, and perpetuals bloom in quantity. Watch for rose beetle and spray with arsenate of lead (five pounds to fifty gallons of water) if necessary, and at intervals of a week apply it again thrice. Three times apply liquid manure to hybrid teas and teas.

June 21st -- Hybrid perpetuals and hybrid teas and tea roses bloom in quantity.

July 4th -- As the hybrid perpetuals diminish, rambler and shrubbery roses, hybrid teas, and teas supply a wealth of bloom.

July 11th - Hybrid teas and teas in quantity. Spray with whale-oil soap if aphids persist. Rose bugs disappear. Commence regular weekly applications of sulphide of potassium for black spot (if a wet season) or dilute Bordeaux mixture every three weeks, until the twentieth of August, if appearance of foliage indicates fungoid troubles such as mildew, black spot, yellow leaf, etc., all depending on the season.

July 20th -- Have mulch on hybrid teas and teas by this date at the very latest. Earlier, if season be hot and dry.

August 30th -- Second bloom of hybrid teas and teas begins, lasting until hard frost. Apply liquid manure as buds begin to form.

September 15th -- Sparse second bloom, never plentiful, of hybrid perpetuals begins.

October 15th -- Prepare new beds for next spring planting. Remove from old beds any of the mulch that cannot be forked in.

November 15th -- Commence placing manure protection around roots; tenderest roses first. After a nip or two of sharp frost, cover up tender roses for the winter. Increase depth of protection for other roses. Hybrid tea buds, if covered before hard frost with little paper bags, such as are placed over bunches of grapes, will unfold lovely roses for the Thanksgiving dinner-table. 

 

NOTE. -- The following selection embraces the most reliable kinds and the greatest range of colour for the region of New York, and is based on a close study of the best collections. The amateur who wants the smallest number of varieties to give a comprehensive survey of the rose family will find those marked (*) to include the best representatives of all the types and colours, and covering the longest season of bloom. They would form a perfect skeleton, as it were, for a representative rose garden, giving flowers from May to November, in diverse types. 

The classes are indicated in parentheses after the name, thus: (T.), tea; (H. P.), hybrid perpetual; (H. T.), hybrid tea, a blending of the T. and H. P.; Pol., Rosa polyantha of gardens, not of botanists; Hyb. Wich., a hybrid of which R. Wichuraiana is one parent, etc. Other class indications are sufficiently obvious. The species itself is indicated by R., for Rosa. 

FOR SHRUBBERY EFFECTS, ROSES THAT PRACTICALLY TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES,
THAT ARE SIGHTLY AT ALL SEASONS, AND THAT HAVE SINGLE FLOWERS OF THE WILD TYPE,
ARE BEST.  R. setigera IS CHARMING FOR MASS PLANTING ALONG DRIVES AND IN THE
FOREGROUND OF TALL SHRUBBERY BORDERS. RUGOSAS WOULD BE
EQUALLY EFFECTIVE THERE.

For planting in mixed borders, for hedges, edgings, and in the less-cared-for parts of the garden. 

*BLANC DOUBLE DE COUBERT (Hyb. rugosa). White. Large, double, with large, individual petals. Perfectly hardy. For hedges, town and country. Do not prune.

*CATHERINE ZIEMET (Pol.). White, double. Free flowering. Dwarf habit. Excellent companion to Madame N. Levavasseur. Sometimes called the White Baby Rambler.

*CLOTHILDE SOUPERT (Pol.). Flesh pink with darker centre. For bedding and massing. Profuse and continuous bloomer. Hardy. Erect habit. Prune by thinning. There is a climbing form of this.

*CONRAD FERDINAND MEYER (Hyb. rugosa). Silvery rose. Double. Very vigorous. Hardy. Early flowering. For hedges or specimens. One of the very best roses. Do not prune.

*DAMASK (R. Damascena). Rose pink. June. Extremely fragrant. Semi-double. One of the oldest and hardiest. Foliage pale green. Very prickly. Often confused with Rosa Gallica, pale pink flowers, dark green foliage and few prickles. Var. bicolor, white and rose, variegated. The old York and Lancaster, pink flowers and white flowers on the same bush, is a Damask rose.

*HARISON'S YELLOW (Brier). Golden Yellow. Double. Summer blooming. For garden specimens. Vigorous. Hardy. Flowering on old wood. Do not prune.

*LUCIDA (R. lucida). Light rose pink. For bush, hedge, and shrubbery. Foliage effective all summer. In garden borders should be cut down completely every year or two. Long fruits in winter. There is also a white variety.

*MADAME PLANTIER (Hyb. China). White. Medium size, in clusters. Faint aromatic odour. Leaves slightly glossy. Profuse early bloomer. One of the best roses for untended places.

*RUGOSA (R. rugosa), purplish rose, and var. alba, white. Best rose for ornamental hedges, and especially for the seaside. Low, dense bush. The large single flowers are followed by showy, large orange fruits. Not subject to disease or insect. Grows anywhere. Do not prune.

*SWEET BRIER (R. rubiginosa). Pale pink. Very vigorous. For bush, hedge, or pillar. Fragrant foliage. Flowers small in clusters. Do not prune. Hybrids of this are the Penzance Briers, which, although excellent for hedges in half wild places, are not as valuable as the Wichuraianas for pillars.

*W. C. EGAN (Hyb. Wich.). Light pink. Large. Double. In small clusters. Foliage slightly glossy. Nearly always in bloom. Excellent for garden and shrubbery. 

 

These are the "old-fashioned" or "garden" roses, and mostly really old varieties, producing clustered flowers in profusion; not of value for cutting, but highly decorative in the garden, and often specially fragrant. Flowers rather small, flat, and petals short. Prune by thinning and only moderate cutting back. 

AURORA (Bengal). Salmon yellow. Floriferous and pretty. Growth moderate.

ETOILE DE MAI (Pol.). Nankeen yellow in bud, yellowish white when open, fairly double. Dwarf.

EUGENE LAMESCH (Pol.). Little orange-yellow flowers in trusses of five

to ten blooms. Fragrant. Dwarf.

FLOCON DE NIEGE (Pol.). Pure white in trusses. Very free flowering. Rather stronger growing than most of the type.

FRAU SYNDICA ROELOFFS (Bengal). Bright yellow, shaded coppery red. Semi-double. Moderate.

LEONIE LAMESCH (Pol). Bright red, with golden centre. Blooms fairly freely. Very fragrant. Dwarf.

MADAME E. RESAL (Bengal). Bright rosy pink, shaded orange. Semi-double. Very floriferous. Moderate.

MADEMOISELLE CECILE BRUNNER (Pol.). Salmon-pink, becoming white. One of the "Fairy" roses, having miniature buds and flowers. Dwarf.

MARIE PAVIE (Pol.). White flowers with rosy centre. One of the largest of its class, and one of the best. Should occupy the central space if bedded with other varieties.

MIGNONETTE (Pol.). Soft rose, changing to white. Flowers in small clusters. Very pretty and one of the lowest growing.

PERLE D'OR (Pol.). Nankeen yellow, with orange centre. Small and full. Dwarf.

PERLE DES ROUGES (Pol.). Velvety crimson, reflex of petals cerise. Very floriferous. Quite dwarf.

*MADAME NORBERT LEVAVASSEUR (Pol.). Popularly known as Baby Rambler. Cerise. Profuse flowering, in clusters. Very dwarf. Hardy. Continuous bloomer. Flowers on rooted cuttings. Prune very lightly. Moderate. 

 

*AGLAIA (Pol.). Yellow in bud, becoming white. Double. Slightly fragrant. The nearest to yellow among the ramblers. This, and all roses of similar habit, should be pruned merely by thinning out the old flowering canes.

*ALBERIC BARBIER (Hyb. Wich.). Creamy white, yellow in the bud. Semi-double. Medium sized. Fragrant. The best white pillar rose for size of flowers.

ARD's ROVER (H. P.). Crimson, shaded maroon. Flowers equal to many of the regular H. P. varieties. Large. Fragrant. Blooms middle of June and early July.

BALTIMORE BELLE (Hyb. setigera). Double. Creamy white. Foliage light green. Blooms July. Also good for shrubbery.

*CARMINE PILLAR (H. P.). Carmine. Single. Three inches across. Early. The largest-flowered and deepest-coloured climber. Vigorous. Do not prune.

*CRIMSON RAMBLER (Pol.). Trusses of bright crimson flowers in profusion. For walls, pillars, trellises, etc. The most popular climbing rose. Very vigorous. Philadelphia is very like this, but flowers earlier, and not so liable to disease. Cut out old canes.

*DOROTHY PERKINS (Hyb. Wich.). Shell pink. Double. In many-flowered, loose trusses. Best pink climber. Closely resembling Crimson Rambler, but more elegant, and with glossy foliage. *FARQUHAR (Hyb. Wich). Bright pink. Double. In clusters. Trailing. For banks, walls, pillars, etc. Cut out old canes. Similar to Dorothy Perkins in habit.

*HIAWATHA (Hyb. Wich.). Bright crimson. Single, with showy yellow stamens. Free flowering in clusters.

*LEUCHTSTERN (Pol.). Bright rose with white eye. Single in large clusters. Resembles Crimson Rambler in habit. The most effective bright-coloured single for pillar and trellis.

*MEMORIAL (R. Wichuraiana). Climbing. Small white flowers. Very vigorous. Shining, almost evergreen foliage. For draping walls, banks, rocks, etc. Do not prune. Will self sow.

*MULTIFLORA (R. multiflora). Pure white. Single, in many-flowered clusters. Very vigorous. The most showy white climber. Pillar, arch, hedge, and shrubbery. Do not prune.

*PINK ROAMER (Hyb. Wich.). Bright pink. Fragrant. Single. 1 inch diameter. In large, dense clusters. Rampant, free-growing climber. Excellent for naturalising. Do not prune.

*PRAIRIE ROSE (R. setigera). Dull rose. Single. Large. In many-flowered clusters. Very late, end of July. Hardy. The only late single climber. Leaf is characteristic, hairy, and dull light green.

*QUEEN OF THE PRAIRIE (Hyb. setigera). Rosy red, usually with white stripe. Large, light foliage. Later flowering than most other climbers, end of July. Unsurpassed for arbours.

*SINGLE MUSK (R. moschata, var. alba). Pure white: Single. Large, in few-flowered clusters. For trellises, pillars, etc. 

 

Unsurpassed for delicacy of colours and fascinating shadings in pink, yellow, and coppery bronze; there are no really dark reds in the true teas. These are the tenderest of the family, and, except in the South and California, need protection. They are worth the effort, because of their continuous blooming quality. If heavily mulched like herbaceous plants they can be grown around New York. 

ANNA OLLIVIER (T.). Rosy flesh and buff, vigorous grower. Prune sparingly, that is, thin out, reducing the remaining canes slightly. MADAME CHEDDANNE GUINIOSSEAU (T.). Canary yellow. Medium-sized flower. Beautiful in bud. Growth moderate. Prune well. MADAME JEAN DUPUY (T.). Reddish yellow, centre rosy yellow, beautiful form. An abundant autumn bloomer. Strong-growing. Vigorous. The buds are long and carried on single stems. Prune sparingly.

MADAME JULES GRAVEREAUX (T.). Chamois-yellow, with rosy centre. Disbud freely. A cross between Reve d'Or and Viscountess Folkestone; semi-climbing in habit. Vigorous grower; bud very long and pointed. Thin only; don't cut back.

MADAME WAGRAM, COMTESSE DE TOURENNE (T.). Satiny shaded flesh pink. Of marked beauty and vigorous, semi-climbing habit. Blooms very large. Very good on a low trellis.

*MAMAN COCHET (T.). Pink. Most profuse blooming, and the hardiest of all the teas. Best formed bud of any rose. Growth spreading and rather low. Free flowering. Excellent for cutting. Prune sparingly. There is a white form which is tinged with yellow and pink; equally as good as the pink.

MARIE VAN HOUTTE (T.). Canary yellow; external petals and borders pencilled with bright rose. Free and continuous bloomer. Hardier than most teas. Growth vigorous. Prune sparingly.

NABONNAND (T.). Also known as GEORGE NABONNAND. Tender pink, shaded yellow. Blooms mostly singly. First rate, especially in autumn. Prune lightly.

REICHSGRAF VON KESSELSTADT (T.). White, distinctly edged and pencilled with bright pink. Medium size. Especially effective in autumn, as the growth is thin earlier in the season. Protect carefully. Growth moderate. Prune well.

SOUVENIR DE CATHERINE GUILLOT (T.). Orange-red, tinted carmine. One of the most striking flowers in appearance and colour. Floriferous, but thin, and not absolutely trustworthy in winter.

SOUVENIR DE PIERRE NOTTING (T.). Apricot yellow, mingled with golden yellow. A cross between Marechal Niel and Maman Cochet. A fairly vigorous grower. Prune moderately.

WHITE MAMAN COCHET (T.). A sport from Maman Cochet, which it resembles except in colour. (See above.) 

 

PERGOLAS ARE INDEBTED TO THE HARDY, CLEAN, VIGOROUS RAMBLER ROSES FOR
MUCH OF THEIR CHARM. WILD GRAPE AND CLEMATIS HELP THE ROSE VINES TO DRAPE
THESE COLUMNS AND THE CROSSBEAMS OVERHEAD
WITH LIGHTNESS, GRACE AND SPRAYS OF VIVID COLOUR.

These are the mainstay and delight of the American rose amateur. A combination of the Hybrid Perpetuals and the Teas, they present the hardiness and colours of the one (to a large degree), and the beauty of flower and continuous blooming quality of the other. New varieties are continually being added, and any selection of varieties is likely to be largely superseded in a few years. As a group they will grow and flower without any special pruning. Attention need be given to the necessities of the individual case only. 

ADMIRAL DEWEY (H. T.). Silvery pink. A sport from Caroline Testout.

AMATEUR TEYSSIER (H. T.). Creamy white in the early season, light saffron yellow in autumn. An abundant bloomer and of excellent form. A sport from Souvenir de Mme. E. Verdier. A vigorous grower, and one of the very best of its class.

ANTOINE RIVOIRE (H. T.). Good grower, and very fine variety, especially in the early season. Rosy flesh. Cross between Doctor Grill and Lady Mary Fitzwilliam. Prune by moderate thinning and shortening the remainder.

BELLE SIEBRECHT (H. T.). An unusual shade of bright, light pink; strikingly beautiful. Long bud. Moderate grower. Known in England as Mrs. W. J. Grant. Too delicate to be seen at its best in our climate, except in the early season and sometimes in autumn. Unsurpassed by any rose of its colour. Prune fairly hard. The so-called Climbing Siebrecht is not a real climber, but is more vigorous, and will give better results generally than the parent.

*CAROLINE TESTOUT (H. T.). Pink, large, globular. Profuse bloomer.

Slightly fragrant. Excellent for bedding. Hardier than La France. Free growing. Very thorny. Prune sparingly. One of the best known H. T.'s.

CLARA WATSON (H. T.). Creamy white, tinted rose. First-rate as a cut rose. Growth moderate. Prune sparingly.

ELLEN WILMOT (H. T.). Flesh white, with centre of rosy white. Fine long bud. Vigorous growth. Prune hard.

*ETOILE DE FRANCE (H. T.). Velvety crimson, centre cerise; blooms cupped in form and very large. Continuous and free flowering. Fragrant. The brightest-coloured of all the very dark roses. Cross between Mme. Abel Chatenay and Fisher Holmes. Stiff, vigorous growth. Prune moderately.

FRANZ DEEGAN (H. T.). Pale yellow, centre deep yellow. Buds long and pointed, on single stems. A moderate grower and good rose. Prune sparingly.

GRACE DARLING (H. T.). Creamy white, shaded peach. Especially good early in the season. Very distinct in colour. Growth good. Prune moderately.

GUSTAVE SOBRY (H. T.). Beautiful bright yellow flowers. Very floriferous. A moderate grower. Prune moderately.

*GRUSS AN TEPLITZ (H. T.). Deep bright crimson. The best of all the dark red roses for continuous and profuse bloom. Garden, bush, or hedge. Prune by thinning. This is a Bengal hybrid, of a growth altogether too vigorous to find place in the ordinary rose bed. Planted in groups with the individual bushes about four feet apart, it produces a telling effect with its continuous bloom of bright clusters. As a contrast the equally vigorous Frau Karl Druschki (H. P.) is fine, with its unsurpassed beauty of white blossoms.

INNOCENCE (H. T.). White, medium full and globular. Very floriferous. A good grower, and one of the best white H. Ts. Prune lightly.

*KAISERIN AUGUSTA VICTORIA (H. T.). Yellowish white. Fragrant. Excellent form, and most lovely. Hardy. A splendid companion to Killarney. Prune moderately.

*KILLARNEY (H. T.). Pure pink. The best rose of its colour; but thin, especially in mid-season. Long, pointed buds. Excellent for cutting. Free flowering. Growth vigorous. Prune moderately. There is a white form of this rose which is in every way the counterpart of its parent except in colour.

KOENIGIN CAROLA (H. T.). Silvery rose, upright in growth, on long, single stems; very large. One of the very best novelties. Cross between Caroline Testout and Viscountess Folkestone. Growth vigorous. Prune sparingly.

LA DETROITE (H. T.). Light pink, back of petals lighter. Of the distinct Testout type. A good constant bloomer. A very promising vigorous variety of American origin; a cross between Caroline Testout and Bridesmaid. Prune fairly hard.

*LA FRANCE (H. T.). Silvery pink, with paler reflex. Very fragrant. Has a tendency toward a bluish tinge. Excellent form. Large flower. Few thorns. Prune sparingly. This is the original " Hybrid Tea," and is still holding its own.

LADY CLANMORRIS (H. T.). Creamy white with pink centre. A fine variety, but requiring good weather to open properly. Vigorous grower. Prune lightly.

MADAME ABEL CHATENAY (H. T.). Salmon-shaded rose. One of the best roses for cutting. Flowers full and of good size. Prune slightly.

MADAME J. GROLEZ (H. T.). Bright rose; very distinct colour. Excellent bloomer both early and late. One of the best. Good grower. Prune lightly.

MADAME J. P. SOUPERT (H. T.). White with yellow tints. Very large. Bud beautiful in form. Excellent for cutting. Cross between Caroline Testout and Alice Furon. Vigorous growth. Prune lightly.

MADAME MELANIE SOUPERT (H. T.). Golden yellow, shaded carmine. Very large; about half full; petals broad. Buds of remarkable beauty. Floriferous. Upright, vigorous growth. Prune sparingly.

*MADAME RAVARY (H. T.). Deep apricot yellow. Large, globular, and nearly full. A decorative rose of great merit. Moderate growth. Prune moderately hard.

MILDRED GRANT (H. T.). Silvery white, edges bordered with pink. Probably the largest in the class. A very distinct rose. Plants slow to establish, but merit extra care. Moderate grower. Prune very lightly.

MONSIEUR JOSEPH HILL (H. T.). Pink, shaded salmon. Flowers very large. A floriferous and beautiful variety. Vigorous growth. Prune but little.

MRS. THEODORE ROOSEVELT (H. T.). Creamy white, centre rose. Bud long and of excellent shape. Flower fine in form. Growth vigorous. An American rose, first-class in every respect. Prune little.

*PRINCE DE BULGARIE (H. T.). Rosy flesh, shaded salmon and orange. Continuous bloomer both early and late. Good foliage One of the best all-round roses in the class. Prune lightly.

VISCOUNTESS FOLKESTONE (H. T.). Light rose with darker centre. Floriferous. Useful as a "garden" rose. Good perfume. An old favourite. Very good if freely disbudded. Growth moderate. Prune moderately. 

 

These embrace the great bulk of the most showy and gorgeous flowers of June, and are the hardiest and the largest-flowered roses. With few exceptions, however, they are not "Perpetual" bloomers in America, flowering, as a rule, only in the early summer.

The special exceptions are noted below by the (µ) sign. The group is a nondescript one, embracing many sections, but conveniently considered as one culturally. All will stand severe pruning. For the (*) sign see Note. 

ALFRED COLOMB (H. P.). Bright red. Flowers large, full and semi-globular, with high centre. Blooms rather late in Tune. Fragrant. A first-rate rose. Good grower. Prune back hard.

µANNA DE DIESBACH (H. P.). Synonym, Gloire de Paris. Beautiful shade of carmine. Very large and full. Growth vigorous and upright. Fragrant. Perpetual flowering. Prune hard.

BARONESS ROTHSCHILD (H. P.). Pale pink. Flowers and foliage exceptionally fine. Globular. Scentless. Growth stocky. Prune fairly hard.

*CABBAGE (R. centifolia). The hundred-leaf or common Provence rose. Strong, rosy pink. Vigorous growing. Very fragrant. For bush or shrubbery. An old-time favourite. Prune very hard.

COUNTESS OF OXFORD (H. P.). Bright carmine. Bud very fine. Scentless. Smooth wood, and very handsome foliage. Flower cup-shaped, and one of the largest in this class. Growth vigorous.

ECLAIR (H. P.). Of the Jacqueminot type, but fiery red. Very distinct in colour. Globular in form. Fragrant. Growth vigorous.

EUGENE FURST (H. P.). Jacqueminot race. Velvety crimson, shaded deeper crimson. Flowers late. Fragrant. Needs watching for mildew, but is one of the finest, if not the very finest, of the dark roses for New York.

FISHER HOLMES (H. P.). Deep crimson-scarlet. Moderately full. Very floriferous. Fine imbricated form. Fragrant. This rose lasts longer under our hot suns of June than the majority of its colour. Growth medium. Prune moderately.

*FRAU KARL DRUSCHKI (H. P.). Snow white. A cross between Merveille de Lyon and Caroline Testout, so hardly an H. P., though so classed. Growth remarkably vigorous, and for that reason unsuitable for ordinary rose beds. The plants should be at least three feet apart. They readily attain to a height of over five feet the first year. Flowers fairly full, very large, inclined to flat. Buds often 3 to 4 inches long. Opens well, and blooms off and on throughout the season. The very finest rose of its colour in the class. Look out for a tendency to mildew in continued damp weather. Prune moderately.

GRACILIS (Moss). Pink; with characteristic mossy sepals enclosing the bud. The best of all the moss roses. Treat like any ordinary

H. P. JEAN LIABAUD (H. P.). Crimson-maroon, with gleams of scarlet. Full and large. Fragrant. Moderate growth. Prune fairly hard.

µLOUIS VAN HOUTTE (H. P.). Once fairly established, the deep red velvety blooms, shaded deeper crimson, are unique among the dark roses. Small foliage. If the plants do not get a good start it is useless to waste time over them. Very fragrant. Remarkably free from mildew for a dark rose. One of the best. Growth moderate. Prune fairly hard.

MARIE BAUMANN (H. P.). Bright red, resembling very closely the later-blooming Alfred Colomb. Very fragrant. Reliable mid-June bloomer. Floriferous. Flowers well-shaped, semi-globular. Vigorous growth. Prune hard.

µMARIE FINGER (H. P.). Synonym Mlle. Eugenic Verdict. Bright silvery pink, deeper in centre. Not very fragrant. Good autumnal. Smooth wood. Handsome foliage. Growth moderate. Prune lightly.

µMARQUISE DE CASTELLANE (H. P.). Carmine-rose; not fading in the sun. Flowers full. Not fragrant. One of the most effective pinkish roses and a reliable autumn bloomer. Growth moderate, stocky. Prune moderately.

* µMRS. JOHN LAING (H. P.). Silvery pink. Continuous bloomer. Long stem. Fragrant. For groups, masses and cutting. The best quite hardy pink rose. Vigorous grower. Prune hard.

*MRS. R. G. SHARMAN-CRAWFORD (H. P.). Deep rosy pink; outer petals shaded pale flesh. Quite distinct from all other H. P. roses. Almost a continuous bloomer, and reliable in autumn. One of the best roses grown. Vigorous. Prune hard.

*PAUL NEYRON (H. P.). Pink, with purplish tinge. Not specially pleasing in colour, but strong growing and the largest-flowered of all roses; almost equals a peony in size and form. Effective in masses, and useful in spite of its coarseness. Prune hard.

µPRIDE OF WALTHAM (H. P.). Delicate flesh, shaded bright rose. Flowers opening well, and of good shape. A sport from Countess of Oxford. Very attractive. Vigorous. Prune moderately.

PRINCE CAMILLE DE ROHAN (H. P.). Synonym, La Rosiere. Deep, velvety crimson. Fragrant. A remarkably floriferous cool-weather rose, but liable to burn in the sun. Grow this rose in a bed where it will have some shade during the hot afternoons. Growth vigorous. Prune moderately hard.

µSOUVENIR DE LA MALMAISON (Bourbon). Clear flesh, with flushed centre. Large and double. Most beautiful in bud. Growth rather low and spreading. Fine autumn bloomer. Prune lightly and by thinning.

SOUVENIR DE WILLIAM WOOD (H. P.). Dark, blackish purple with reflections of red. Unsurpassed in intensity of colour. Fragrant. Must be watched for mildew (which applies to nearly all dark roses). Growth vigorous. Prune moderately.

*ULRICH BRUNNER (H. P.). Cherry red. Very large flower on long smooth stem. Vigorous grower. Perfectly hardy. Splendid form, Fragrant. Prune moderately. A seedling from Paul Neyron, and in every way, except size, superior to its parent. Not subject to disease. First class in every respect.

VICTOR HUGO (H. P.). Brilliant crimson. Floriferous. Fragrant. Most attractive. It well repays extra care and cultivation. Vigorous. Prune hard.