ROSES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23529, 18 June 1938, Page 26

ROSES

PLANTING FOR QUALITY BLOOMS OLD, BUT GOOD For as many years as we care to remember roses have appeared which were to displace Caroline Testout. But this grand old favourite is still with us, and though it may not now be so extensively planted as a bush, it has a grace and habit as a standard which guts most modern varieties to shame, if form it has little, but the freedom with which its satin pink blooms are produced and the perfection of its habit give this close on fifty-year-old rose a place among the indispensables. By comparison. Mrs Henry Bowles is a modern rose, but it is a variety* which has successfully weathered the stringent test of time, and it has much of the same perfection of habit which is found in Caroline. A very much deeper and richer pink, it is, too, a rose of lovely form and abundant freedom. Many growers will no doubt disagree with the inclusion of Betty Uprichard, for it Is of upright growth. Nevertheless, with careful pruning, it will develop a well-snread head, and where is there a rose of more outstanding colouring? Lady Forteviot, too, tends to push up long and unbranched growths, but, as with Betty Uprichard, it is a fairly simple matter to cultivate a shapely head, and If, like that variety, its blooms have not the substance to endure, at least it can be said that there is an abundance of them, and their shadings of orange and apricot never fail to attract.

Another crimson must find a place, and there can be no hesitation in awarding it to Etoile de Hollande. Its unrivalled perfume is alone sufficient to tempt most amateurs, and it has the habit of growth which makes a shapely head a certainty, providing no mistakes are made in pruning. The same may be said of Barbara Richards and Madame Butterfly. Neither is showy in colouring, but the soft maize-yellow shadings of the former make a delightful contrast to the richer tones, and the form and fragrance of its large, full blooms cannot fail to please. Butterfly is preferred to Ophelia by reason of its deeper colourings. For a true yellow Mrs Wemyss Quin is first choice, but the pink-flushed Golden Dawn scores over it in point of size and form. Both are standards of the very highest merit. What is probably the most-talked-of and popular rose of recent years Is Mrs Sam McGredy, with its lovely coppery-orange blooms. The bright pink Mrs Barraclough and the salmon pink Rose Berkley are others with qualifications which demand consideration. As a dwarf Rose Berkley is almost sprawling in habit, but ag a standard It is superb. A word must be said, too, of the hybrid polyanthas, and, in particular, the Poulsen family. As half-standards they are truly delightful, and just a few plants in a bedding scheme composed of these varieties will do much to relieve any possibility of monotony of outline. PLANTING AND CULTURE NOTES Culturally, there Is one great point to bear in mind with standards, and that is the necessity for firm planting. Times without number it has been urged that loose planting with roses of any description is a fatal error. With standards the risk of mortality is correspondingly greater, for on account of the greater surface they present to winds their roots are the more easily tugged adrift. To plant them too firmly is wellnigh impossible, and, in addition, it must be seen that each one is firmly secured to a stout stake. This is something which is best put in position as soon as the holes are taken out and before the trees are actually planted, for by so doing the risk of damaging the roots when inserting the stakes is obviated. The safest rule to follow as to depth of planting is to be guided by the nursery soil mark, which will be plainly visible on the stem. There is no vulnerable bud to protect, and deep planting is an evil to be avoided. During the winter months opportunity should be taken two or three times, when the soil is comparatively dry. to go round all freshly-planted specimens and make quite sure that the roots are in actual contact with the soil by treading. So long as the ground is not wet there need be no fear of the soil being made too solid, , At the same time it is wise to inspect ties and stakes of new and old trees to make certain all is secure. A summer gale, when the plants are carrying a full head of growth, might easily bring disaster in its wake if old ties snap or the stakes break. Suckers from the stem or roots mu c t, of course, be removed just as soon as they are noted, for if allowed to remain for even a few weeks they will rob the head' of much-needed nourishment. There is only one rule to follow in regard to first-year pruning, and that is to cut hard back. Three or four stems cut back to two or three buds will, by the autumn, make a grand head, and what is even more important, the roots at the outset will be spared the strain of carrying more top growth than they can adequately support,—Lothian, in Amateur Gardening. SOME GOVERNING FACTORS We need never enter into explanations and apologies for devoting extra space and attention to matters concerning roses and their culture. They are such universal favourites and provide so many themes for discussion that a special rose number at the opening of the planting season is always justifiable and always welcomed with great enthusiasm. Among the many questions we are asked about roses a frequent one is, “ what is the usual length of the life of a rose? ” Like many other apparently simple questions concerning horticultural matters, this plain query is not easily answered in direct fashion. W° know certain bushes of gigantic proportions which were planted before the beginning of this century and which are still flourishing and producing sheaves of bloom every summer; on the other hand, it must be admitted that a considerable proportion of the roses propagated and sold every year

have but a short life. Were it not so, every garden in the land must have, ere this, been overloaded with rose bushes, for we believe it would not be an extravagant estimate to say that at least 20,000,000 of rose bushes change hands in Britain every planting season, and it requires but a school child’s arithmetical powers to visualise what our gardens would be like in five or six years’ time if the whole of these were to be found thriving in their new homes.

EQUAL CHANCES, EQUAL RESULTS Obviously, a great deal depends upon the treatment meted out to young rose trees. The character and condition of the soil and the situation of the garden are points which cannot fail to exert a decisive influence upon the welfare of rose trees introduced. Errors in planting, providing nourishment, and methods of pruning are further factors which have their effect. We do not consider that even a combination of the foregoing reasons can account completely for the extremes in ages to which roses attain It seems to be necessary to bring into consideration such points as the breeding of the rose, the stock upon which it is budded, and the possibilities of unhampered root development after planting. The oldest roses we know are bushes or climbers of such varieties as Boule de Neige, Gloire de Dijon, John Hopper, Ulrich Brunner, and the old pink moss rose, We may add that we knew a few standards of Homere, W. A. Richardson, and Souvenir de la Malmaison, which cannot be le,ss than 40 years old. Whether or not these are roses which can be credited with possessing quality is, after all, a matter of individual taste or preference, and it will probably be governed by the age of the critic. Those who are old enough to have been familiar with the old hybrid perpetuals, bourbons, teas, and noisettes are most likely to say such things as "Where are the roses to-day to compare with Gloire de Dijon, Her Majesty, and General Jacqueminot?” Those who knew no roses before the advent of the Pernetiana hybrids and the modern hybrid teas have not the patience to proffer replies to such a question. We ourselves are ready to agree that our present-day roses are more bewitchingly beautiful than the heavier, cabbagey blooms of the old-time favourites, but we are going to say that, having decided that the modern roses are most desirable, we must resign ourselves to the fact that we shall not see many of them make veteran specimens. We might keep them longer if we would pay the commercial growers prices that would enable them to guarantee us plants budded on the good old English dog ’ riar instead of the Japanese rugosa stock If we want good varieties at the cheapest price, we nave got to be content to have them on stocks that will produce big saleable plants in the shortest space of time. One other point is, we shall find if we observe closely that the biggest, oldest plants of roses grow in situations where they have been able to get their roots out of reach of interference. Root mutilation, resulting from periodical spade and fork work in rose beds, is undoubtedly a great factor in shortening the life of many a rose bush.— Amateur Gardening.