PRUNING DWARF ROSES.

Auckland Star, 2 September 1933, Page 6 (Supplement)

PRUNING DWARF ROSES.

WHY IT IS NECESSARY. In the rose grower's year there is nothing that equals the time when pruning has to-be done. Those who have never done the work, look upon it as something that will either make or mar the plant. This is true to a certain extent, but as long as a few simple directions are followed, there is not much chance of spoiling the plant. It is a fwioiis thing, but nevertheless true, that more plants are spoilt by being cut too little than by being cut too much. Cutting too hard is not a failing with amateur growers; they do not cut hard enough. The late FosterMelliar, in his "Book of the Rose," pointed out that the necessity of pruning arises in a great measure from the natural growth of the rose. "By watching,," he said, "an unpruned rose tree, either wild or cultivated, it will be found that the first strong shoots flower •well, the second season they will be -weaker. In a year or two another strong shoot starts considerably lower down, or even from the base of the plant, and this absorbs the majority of the sap, and will eventually starve the shoot, which will bo thus starved in succession by another. A roso in a natural stato has thus every year some branches which aro becoming weakened by the fresh young shoots growing out below them. This is one of the principal reasons why pruning is necessary. A rose is not a tree- to grow onwards and upwards, but a plant which in the natural course every year or two forms i'resh channels for the major portions of the sap and- thus causes the branches and twigs above the new shoots to tliminish in vitality." From this it will be seen that Nature's way of getting rid of the undesirable parts of the plant is the slow one of gradual starvation, and it is wasteful in that during the process even the strong shoots are likely to become weakened or diseased. The grower's aim is to have healthy well formed plants, and from them either to obtain large perfect blooms, or many beautiful ones. The only way to accomplish this is to prune. The art of pruning is the scientific cutting away of those parts of the plants which the study of Nature has shown to be useless for producing the best results, and thus to throw the- whole strength of the plant into the most satisfactory buds or shoots. There are two distinct operations in pruning, first, thinning out, which is the' complete removal of all dead, weak, misplaced, unripe, or otherwise useless shoots. Second, the shortening of those shoots which are left, so as to give what is required. The most frequent mistakes made in pruning are: Leaving too many shoots when thinning out, pruning hard when the plant requires only little if any cutting, pruning lightly when the variety requires heavy cutting, leaving the bushes crowded with shoots. In thinning out a shoot it should be cut clean away to its starting point. When a plant has been pruned the shoots should be left as nearly equidistant as possible, and regularly arranged to give a wellbalanced appearance on all sides. When pruning a shoot it should always be cut to a dormant leaf bud or eye, as it is called,, and it is important that this eye or bud should point outwards. To keep the plant in a healthy and vigorous condition, some of • the shoots which are more than two years old, should each year be removed to make room for the younger and more vigorous growths. It is often said that there is one pruning for exhibition and another for garden decoration, but this is not the case. The same pruning will do for either. Exhibition roses are got by disbudding and feeding. When a rose is grown for garden purposes it has all the buds left on it, and when it is intended for exhibition each shoot is only allowed to carry one flower, and this is carefully tended and fed and sheltered, so it opens as large as possible without losing colour. Whatever pruning is done should be done with a view to keeping up the strength of the plant. Newly planted roses should be cut hard the first year. When they leave the nursery they have a foot or 15 inches growth on them, which is left to facilitate handling. These growths should be reduced to three or four eyes in every case. In the case of planting roses now, they may be pruned before they are put into the ground.