GARDEN NOTES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 16216, 22 August 1918, Page 5

GARDEN NOTES.

PRUNING ROSES. (By D. Tancoek, in tho Otago Daily Times.) Roses can be primed now. Seldom hare 1 seen tho roses receive such a complete check as they -have this season. As a rule when pruning one has to cut away young leafy shoots and flower buds, but they arc now almost eutirelv deciduous. This ought to be a distinct advantage and should moan vigorous and more even growth later on. When pruning roses we follow to sorao extent tho same principles as when pruning fruit trees' and bushes. In tho first place it has to be distinctly understood that the crop of roses is homo on the young stems which grow up during the same season, or, as it is usually stated, on the young wood. Like every other stem the buds at tho top receive the first supplies of sap and grow out to form the flowering shoots. If the plants are not pruned a few roses will be found on tho ends of tho stems, and the most of the buds lower down will remain dormant. On an ordinary rose there are more buds than the plant can develop into flowering stems, and pruning consists of reducing these buds to such a number as we consider tbe plant can form into flowering shoots. It will be seen therefore that the capacity of the different plants will vary according to their vigour, and that a strong growing plant in good soil may be able to develop 24 buds into flowering shoots, whereas a weaker growing one may be able to develop only six buds. This explains why we are so often advised to prune stronger varieties lightly and weak growers {lard. Writers in various books on roses have tried to explain the treatment necessary for every different variety, but the way it grows is an indication, and though there is no doubt that to get tbe very best results from each they have to be treated as individuals; still there are general rules .which if followed will ensure reasonable success and by noting the treatment given to each plant and tho result later on, you will soon become quite expert. The object’ for which roses are grown has also to be taken into consideration. If they are grown in an ordinary way to provide a display in the garden and a reasonable number of blooms for cutting, then pruning should pot be too severe; and a certain amount of consideration can be given to the shape of the bush. If roses are grown to provide a number of blooms for the exhibition board then hard pruning must be practised, and the shape and appearance of the bush is a secondary consideration. At one time roses were grown almost entirely for the exhibition board, and if a rose garden was formed it was shut out from the ornamental and artistic part of the flower garden by high hedges, and the plants themselves wore set out in formal beds, which were often covered over with stable manure during tho flowering season. A great many of the newer roses are what are known as decorative or garden, roses, rather than exhibiting roses, and no amount of pruning or feeding will ever make them anything else. Before starting operations the necessary tools should bo got together, and these will consist of a pair of good, strong pruning shears, or secateurs, a small pruning saw, if there are any very old plants to tackle, a sharp knife to smoothe over all cuts and prune out snags which the shears cannot reach also a water-proof pad to kneel on. There are three types of plants—(l) Teas. (2) Hybrid Teas and Hybrid Perpetuals; and (3) decorative kinds, which are mostly hybrid teas, and either single or semi-double. Teas. —Many of these-are almost evergreen ; they do id t make any stiong shoots, but a great mass of twiggy growth, which has to be thinned out and the young wood shortened back to one or two buds on each stem. The stronger growing teas can receive the same treatment as hybrid teas—in fact it is often hard to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. The pruning of the majority of roses may be described as follows:—(1) Cut awav all dead wood and any snags, which shelter insect and other pests and spoil the appearance of the plants; (2) cut away all thin twiggy shoots which are incapable of producing flowering shoots and we do not grow roses for their foliage; (3) cut away the great, strong unripened pithy stems, which are not desirable, and if they are allowed to produce flowering stems the blooms are coarse and often have double centres; (4) tbe most desirable stems are those as thick ns a lead pencil or . perhaps a little thicker and those which spring from near the base of the plants are the best, for they enable us to cut the old stems which have flowered right out, and thereby renew the plant. If a sufficient number of these young stems are available the old shoots can he cut right out altogether, and the young stems, after being thinned ont to a, reasonable number shortened back to a foot or 18 inches, the top bud being one pointing away from the centre of the plant. Some varieties do not produce many strong shoots from near the base, but the old wood continues vigorous, and provides a sufficient number of flowering shoots. These are shortened hack to two or three buds on the loading stem, and the others are cut right out; (5) stems growing towards the centre of the plant have to bo removed, also those which cross and rub one another, ’ and those which are left should bo evenly placed so that tho shape pf the bush is well maintained. Very strong growing varieties such as Hugh Dickson, Juliet, and Mrs. IV. J. Grant, are better pegged down. If the stems are pruned back and left upright only a few buds will grow out and flower, but if they are pegged down in a horizontal position the sap is evenly distributed to all the buds along the stem, they all grow out, and the stem is wreathed in bloom from end to enct. The pruning of newly planted roses is very simple. They are all young wood, and simply require shortening hack to two or three buds on each stem., This usually means that they are cut back almost to tho ground. Some people think that when they get their roses from the nurseryman they are pruned, but they are not. They are simply shortened back for convenience of packing and handling, and require pruning this month like the established plants. Standards do not make any strong shoots as a rule, and they are simply shortened back to two or throe buds on the stem required to make a good head, usually five or seven, and tho side shoots pruned right off. Some people think that when they start pruning they are simply cutting off bloom, but they are doing nothing of the kind They are transferring the energy of the plants to selected buds, which in the ordinary course of events would not have a chance to develop. Unpruned rosea soon besoms n tangled mass of

thin, twiggy shoots, choking up the centre of the hush, preventing the sun and air from getting into it, and rendering spraying for either green fly or mildew difficult. . After pruning rake up all twigs and hum them, then give the beds a good dressing of bonemeal. and fork it in if bulbs are grown among the roses. If there is nothing planted among them spread a liberal dressing of well-decay-ed farmyard' manure on the surface and dig it in lightly. Don’t dig close up to the plants for fear of destroying the roots, scrape away the surface soil, and throw some fresh soil from ■ between the rows.