Gardeners in our area are becoming more and more rose-conscious. Roses have been grown and cherished in America since the early pioneers grew them from slips and carried them westward to furnish beauty to their new surroundings.
Roses have had some schooling for many years, but they have been to college in the last 20 years.
Gorgeous hybrid teas, floribundas, grandifloras, and climbers are making good in practically all country regions.
Various other kinds find uses in shrubbery borders, hedges, as backgrounds, and on walls and banks. We can grow almost any of them except the true tea roses, which are easy in colder regions.
Hybrid perpetuals survive year after year with little care and will accept their role in unfavorable locations. Hybrid teas, practically ever-blooming, are made by breeders to be more beautiful, vigorous, hardy, and disease resistant.
The floribundas have enjoyed almost sensational popularity in the last few years because of their hardiness and ability to stay in bloom.
Grandifloras, the newest rose type, have been produced from crosses of hybrid teas and floribundas and naturally have some of the characteristics of each parent.
Importance Of Rose Bed Location
The location of the rose bed is of vital importance. Don’t try to grow roses beneath trees. Sunshine is needed for proper growth and colors and plays a valuable role in preventing disease spread.
Roots of trees rob roses of moisture and plant food. An ideal site receives bright morning sun but is protected on the west from the hot afternoon sun after 3 o’clock. Early morning sun is needed to dry the dew from the foliage.
Air Circulation For Rose Bed
The rose bed needs free air circulation, but if it has some shielding from our strong southwest winds, the flowers and foliage will stay in better condition than when exposed to the full blast.
Roses prefer rich, heavy loam with plenty of humus and good drainage. Many soils in our area answer this description, but almost any can use more humus.
Proper water absorption to a depth of about 2’ feet is essential since roses thrive in moist soil but will not tolerate “wet feet.”
The bed should be spaded about 2’ feet deep, and plenty of well-rotted manure should be mixed in as the soil is turned.
Dehydrated, pulverized cow manure may be used if the barnyard manure is unavailable.
March is a good time to prepare a new rose bed.
Planting Purchased Roses
Roses should be planted as soon as they can be obtained from nursery workers. Two-year-old, No. 1, field-grown roses are the best plants and investment.
In this area, western-grown roses are usually preferred to southern-grown stock. If roses are bought as soon as stock is available, they can be obtained as dormant, bare-root plants and should be planted immediately.
Some nurserymen here do not attempt to sell bare-root roses but pot their entire stock about the middle of March and offer them about the first of April when they have made root growth in the pots and the buds have begun to grow.
In purchasing these roses, you are assured of good, live plants that are easy to handle in the garden.
The soil used for potting them is well fertilized and composted, giving the plants a strong start. Many of the roses planted in this area are now potted plants.
To get the varieties wanted, you must order by mail – these roses will always be bare roots. If planted early and carefully, they survive as well as the potted ones but may take a little longer to get started.
Greenhouse Grown Roses
Greenhouse-grown bench roses, which have out-Iived their usefulness as producers of cut flowers, are occasionally offered for sale to the unwary public.
Results with these in the garden usually could be better. One should cast an eye of suspicion on any rose offered at a low price – something is wrong.
Hybrid teas are usually planted about 18” inches apart here. Still, if you have the room, a 24” to 27” inches spacing will make it easier to walk among the plants when pruning, spraying, cutting flowers, or mounding up the soil for winter protection.
The wider spacing also permits better aeration and allows more sunshine to reach the lower leaves, aiding in disease control.
Plant roses in holes large enough to spread the roots and deep enough to set the crowns 1” to 2” inches below ground level.
Most growers in our area now are recommending a little deeper planting than the old standard of 1” inch.
Cut the pots and remove the plants without breaking the soil ball when planting potted roses.
Have the holes prepared before removing the pots? Set plants at the proper depth, fill in the soil and tamp it firmly around the potting soil.
Water newly set plants, and if the bushes are still dormant, mound soil about the tops to prevent drying before new root growth. When buds begin to break, remove the soil from around the tops.
Rose’s growth has been refined so that the subject fills many books. Later in the season, you will have to cultivate, mulch, water, spray, cut, and finally, winter protection to think about.
But for the planting you will do in the next few weeks, these are the methods followed by most growers in our area.
44659 by Stanley R. Mclane