A FEW NOTES ABOURT ROSE GROWING.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19009, 3 November 1923, Page 3

A FEW NOTES ABOURT ROSE GROWING.

By J. Fleming, F.R.H.S. As the rose is a universal favourite with everyone it is always interesting to learn the cultural methods of different growers. Personally, 1 am fortunate in having an employer who has the love of the queen of flowers at heart, and who is not afraid to keep his stock (which comprises about a thousand plants) up-to-date with the latest novelties. Roses are really very straightforward subjects, and their needs are few and simple, unless one is involved with the special preparation of roses for show. The first thing to know is what kind of soil the trees like best. Without exception, roses favour heavy soil with clay for preference, but if they like the soil heavy they like it well drained and consequently it is advisable to trench the ground deeply for rose trees. True, the soil has to be well consolidated again before the tree is planted, but the impression is mainly on the surface, while underneath, the soil remains able to carry any superfluous moisture ayay from the roots. In the process of planting keep an eye to firmness all the time. Having covered the roots with soil (provided it is not sodden) tread it down firmly and continue to tread in every spadeful ”f sod you use. Firm planting is one of the indispensable things to success with rose trees. There is nothing they like less than an insecure hold on the soil. Never use .armyard manure for newly-planted rose trees. Until such time as they have established themselves in their new position, and they are able to assimilate freely, manure is very nearly poison to them. Manure taay hoivever, be used as a top dressing in the spring, subsequent to autumn planting, and oven then it must he well-rotted. Bono dust can bo used at planting time, ano a little of this sprinkled in the soil is an advantage; Roses* are fond of phosphate of lime which bone dust contains in considerable quantity. The bone dust is slow in dissolving, and consequently the phosphates are only just available for assimilation by the tree when it commences to grow in the following spring. Ono other course that can be adoptedwith advantage at planting time is to chop old turf into the bottom of the hole into which the trees are to bo planted, and immediately under nealh the roots. The newly forming roots take to this as readily as anything. The commencement of growth m the trees is a signal for bringing the hoe into use. You mav take it as essential to success in rose growing that the soil must ho solidly tight round the roots and loose on the surface. As to everything else, hoeing to roses is as beneficial as watering. In consequence, the ho© should be busily employed all the summer through. Unfortunately, where rosea are budded on the briar stock, this stock is not always content to remain in obscurity. At times it will assert itself by throwing up wild shoots which will quickly take the strength that should really go to the rose. These shoots should be looked for, and when they are found should bo immediately cut down right to the point on the root from which they originate. In most, kinds of roses the briar shoot is clearly different from the rose shoot, so that the beginner will soon learn to recognise it. ... Pruning is the greatest trouble the amateur rose grower has to contend with. He knows it has to be done, but not always whv and rarely how and when it should be done. If a rose tree were allowed to grow on year after year without any pruning of its wood, all' its energy would go into timber at the expense of the (lower, and year alter year the blooms would become poorer until in time they would lose all individuality and character. We, therefore, cut out all the old rose wood each year to induce the plants to express their renewed life in new and flowerfni shoots. The cutting is done in the spring. In the case of moderate growers, the cutting goes very nearly to the ground; in the case of strong growers from one to two feet: and in the case of standards to within two or three inches of the main breaks. Too many of us are timid primers, because we fail to realise how quickly the tree will renew itself. In short we lack faith in nature. In the case of climbers a certain quantity of the least promising of the old wood should be cut out, lock, stock, and barrel, right down to the base every year until such time as the stems or canes that are left have achieved the girth of a walking-stick, when they themselves will give all the growth required. Any stems that are selected to remain should be left , intact, excepting for a slight cut baok_ to the tip. It is well to prune climbers immediately after they have Finished. flowering, in order , that they may be given an opportunity of throwing up young shoots to ripen_ during the autumn. It is a: fallacy, to imagine that all the pruning for the, year must be done at one and the same moment in spring, and that afterwards the trees must be left unpruned_until the next spring comes round. No; judicious priming and thinning should take place all the season through. Every time we cut a rose blossom we are helping on the work of pruning. In disbudding the aim should bo to allow only such shoots to grow as are well placed and as will develop in an upward and outward direction, so making a shapely and well-balanced bush with plenty of space between the branches, so that sun and air may bo allowed to have full play in and around them. Whore a number of buds are gathered at one point some must be sacrificed. A bush treated in this way is much less likely to suffer from mildew or to ho infested with insects., and gives pleasure to the eye even when it is not in bloom. Manuring or feeding is largely a matter of common sense. Newly-planted roses should not be fed until their roots are well established. Once the roots are in a condition to make use of it. rose trees will gladly respond to a large amount of good fertilising manure. They are gross feeders, and while they are in a good growth and good health they will assimilate manure and show their gratitude for the treatment. During the flowering season liquid manure should bo applied every 10 to 14 days. When you come to know roses, the growing of them is simple, and is goes without saying it is very delightful. As a final word of advice I should eav. Do not be afraid of roses. A few people put them in a branch of cultivation above everything else, and the seeming amount of specialisation required for successful growing positively frightens people with less general gardening experience. The selection of varieties need not be so difficult as it may at first appear to the beginner when he is presented with a list from which to make his choice. Most of the roses catalogued by nurserymen arc worth growing, but the beginner in rose growing has usually made inquiries of his more experienced friends, and he knows before, lie consults the list a few varieties which he certainly must have. One way and another the newcomer to rose growing need not go far wrong. Ho may not got all he would line to start with, but he will got the beauty, anti in time (and in a very short time, too) he will learn what is what in roses to the last letter if his love of them is deep enough.