Rose Planting Hints

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23995, 19 June 1941, Page 15

Rose Planting Hints

"UNDOUBTEDLY tire best results are obtained by planting newly bought roses in soil in which none of the rose family have been grown before, or at least for a number of years. Where the soil is rich and has been well manured the procedure is simplified. Planting can be clone at once, although it is always advisable to give the roses a good start by placing some well rotted manure several inches below the roots whore tlicy will not come into contact with it immediately after planting. Where a bed devoted to roses is to be remade, any old bushes to be mixed with the new ones should be heelod in some corner until (ho soil has settled down again. New soil for the bed should be taken from the vegetable garden, preferably from the potato patch, and the best possible foundation is a layer of well rotted turves. For this purpose the trimmings of the verges of the lawn are suitable. They should be heaped upside down and kept for some months, or even a year.

Under present conditions, however, we are more likely to be filling blanks in existing rose beds where plants have tailed or become worn out. This is by no means ideal, for established bushes are capable of taking all the nourishment and so starving the newcomers. After removing the discarded bush, a large hole should be dug out about two feet square and 1 inches deep and the soil from it wheeled away. A look out should be kept for the roots of other roses which sometimes reach out for a yard o r more, and those, if found, should he pruned. A good bottom of turf should now be laid in. then a generous allowance of well decayed manure, followed by two or three inches of soil. When one is working alone, it is a good plan to insert a light cane upright in the centre of the hole and set the plants against this. Fresh soil should then b.e shovelled in and distributed over and among the outspread roots. When filling in one should stop twice at least and tramp the soil firmly, then finish filling in and leave the surface soil a little rough. Tito cane may then be removed or it can he left as a support ; it, depends on the size of the plant. A handful of bonemeal can be shaken in with the soil with advantage or a spadeful of wood ash. Many roses suffer from mildew in their first year and wood ash is a great preventive.