SIDELIGHTS ON ROSE SUCCESS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19970, 11 December 1926, Page 3

SIDELIGHTS ON ROSE SUCCESS.

Written for the Otago Daily Times By J. Fleming, F.R.H.S. With the hot dry days o£ December and early January conies the great natural rose display which takes place in the open annually at about this period, and for three or four wonderful weeks this riotous flush of colour, this exhibition of the exquisite in form continues. Then its grandeur gradually fades and the more sober display of later summer and of early autumn takes its place, when roses, if not so numerous as before, are often individually more perfect in shape and colour, and diffuse a scent richer and stronger, if not more delicate, than that of the summer flowers. As the glorious pageant of summer passes along, we must keep pegging away at necessary work. Summer pruning, for instance, must not be neglected. Superfluous and useless wood should be cut out. It is a fallacy to imagine that all the pruning for the year must be done at one and the same time in spring, and that afterwards the trees and bushes must be left untrimrnod until the next spring conies round. No; judicious pruning and thinning should take place all the season through. Every time we cut a rose blossom we are helping on the work of pruning. Mildew also must be watched for and, as far as possible, prevented from gaining a foothold. January, February, and March are flowering months in which we reap more or less as we have sown. In January and February liquid or other manure should be given to backward climbing roses, those which have not already made sufficiently long shoots or. not enough of them to cover the desired space It is important to get a number of these of good length in time to allow of their maturing thoroughly before the winter. Wood that is made late is often “pithy,” and is then easily damaged by frost, and at the best is seldom worth keeping. Hoeing should be done regularly, at any rate until the end of March. It is difficult to over-value the good effect of hoeing, it assists growth and keeps down disease. As the season progresses it is well to watch for rose plants that for one reason or another are not doing well. These should bo labelled, any needful information, such as ‘transplant, “prune heavily,” needs a drier, shadier, or sunnier position,” as the case may be; being put on labels. This step is necessary only where there are many roses, and then labels are a great help later on in autumn, winter, or spring, when it might otherwise be impossible then to identify the rose bushes with any certainty. March is a beautiful month in the rose garden, and we appreciate it the more, inasmuch as we recognise that we have arrived at a period of the year when it behoves us to make the most of our gardens. Many autumnal flowering roses are then at their best, the cooler nights and shorter periods of sunlight permitting the flowers to open more slowly and so to develop the bettor. Often the loveliest blossoms of the whole year are gathered in the month of March. Then, for the first time in tho season, growth no longer is the great desideratum. Ripeness or maturity of wood takes its place. A sunny March and April generally means abundance of blossom in tho succeeding summer. A very wet period at this time induces the production of a lot of green sappy growth, imd if the wet be succeeded by dull, cold weather, tho sappy wood got® ho chance to ripen, ami this bodes ill for the rose crop in tho year to follow After February do not hesitate to cut, away old wood and leafage which obstruct i be free access of light and air to new growth. Attention must by that time be centred on the season to come, not on that which is on tho wane. One often see® fine bushy plants in gardens with innumerable small, but. leafy, shoots in tho eenn-c .-rowded into a tangled mass. Tho.si branches are invariably weak and useless, seldom e over bearing flowers, vet ofFerin.. an excellent chriter for nests of all descrip

tions. Thin them out as early as possible, and the bushes will benefit from the work, keep the centres clear and open, and the branches will ho hardy and strong. This thinning process ensures better blooms, also, and is really advisable even where exhibition flowers are not desired by the grower. There is some doubt among rosarians as to ‘whether “pegging down" is really wise, but there can be no doubt that, for a while at least, it largely increases the show of bloom on any rose which by its freedom of growth lends itself to this treatment. Such roses as Frau Karl Drushki, Hugh Dickson, May Alexandra. Dippiatt, George Dickson, Gustave Regis, Florence H. Vpitch, and Sunny South are best dealt with in this fashion. The method commonly adopted is to drive a notched peg well into the ground in the proper place, then to attach a piece of flax or cord (tarred for choice) to the upper part of the long growth, gradually to bend the tip l , earthwards, being very careful to do this gently and gradually otherwise the shoot may snap; then the tip, is carefully but firmlv tied to the notched peg. Of course, the extreme tip of the shoot will be too thin and weak to stand the strain and may have to bo cut off. Pegged down shoots will give a flower or spray of flowers at almost every bud, but the stalks will be short and most of the blossoms will be of little use for cutting. If pegging down be not adopted it is better to make those abnormally long stems into “natural standards" by cutting away all shoots from the lower part, and then attaching the tall stems to supports. If those vigorous roses are planted near a trellis or wall, several may be retained if there are more than one, and those may be spread out and tied out fan shape. If the plants are well fed new shoots are thrown up annually, taking the place of the old growths, which should bo cut out directly It is seen that their flowering period is over. This is done to assist the development of the new growths which will flower the following season; indeed, very often they will give some blooms late in the current season At pruning time in spring, shoots intended to be pegged down are shortened to a few inches if the tip is weak or soft. It is unnecessary to add. perhaps, that such roses do not. mix well with ordinary bedding roses of less rampant habits; they should be grouped separately,