First, choose a sunny, airy exposure for growing your roses, far from encroaching tree and shrub roots and shade.
Give your beauties adequate spacing so they will have ample room to spread themselves during development.
Prepare The Soil
Try to give them a good, rich loam that is always well-drained. Keep in mind that plants breathe by their leaves and roots. Therefore, the rose soil must have porosity to supply oxygen.
Although the soil should have a moisture-retention capacity, it should never remain soggy. When air spaces between roots stay waterlogged, the capillary action that sets plants growing is hampered.
Meilland likes to prepare the soil for his roses a full month before planting, allowing them to settle.
He spreads the future planting site with a 3” inch layer of manure—horse, cow, or sheep. (When manure is not easy to obtain, use peat moss, compost, or any other humusy material available, mixing with it your favorite fertilizer.)
For hybrid teas, floribundas, etc., dig a planting hole to a depth of 2’ feet and the same distance wide. Then Meilland says: Turn your soil “upside-down,” replacing the topsoil with the subsoil.
Bury the manure or other humus material at a depth of 1’ foot, beyond direct contact with the roots but close enough for them to reach it as they grow.
More Plant Food
Long-lived ramblers, climber roses, and shrub roses require more plant food and soil preparation than bush roses.
If manure is unavailable, give them a wider and deeper planting hole, mixing chemical plant foods with peat moss.
Plant As Soon As Possible
As soon as your plants arrive, unpack them and plant as soon as possible. Cut off only the parts of the roots and branches injured in transit.
Rose-planting time, for dormant bushes, that is, extends from fall to spring. (Of course, plants can only be set out in spring in regions where the ground is frozen over winter.)
One caution: Should your plants have been frozen in transit, don’t unpack them but place them in a cool, dark, draft-free basement. Let them thaw slowly, and after three or four days, open and wrap them in moist burlap.
If the shrubs seem very dry, condition them by placing them at an angle in the garden in a 20” inch deep, V-slit trench, then fill in with earth.
Mound the soil 8” to 10” inches over the stems, then water thoroughly every fourth day or so for eight days before planting.
Meilland believes in soaking each rose bush in a pail of water and soil just before planting. To combat the inward-growing tendency of the roots induced by packing, spread them apart in a natural position.
Mr. Average Gardener often needs to improve regarding the depth at which the plants should be set. The union of bud and rootstock should be only 1” inch below the soil level.
Mulching
Pack the earth around the roots as the soil is filled into the hole. Then water thoroughly, and your beauties are well on their way.
Meilland believes in mulching with straw or rotted manure only for the summer—to check weeds, conserve soil moisture, and keep the soil loose and friable.
Mounding Standard Roses
Meilland does advocate mounding newly planted bushes with soil after planting, leaving it over their heads for a full month to shield them from the drying effects of the sun. Very harmful to their welfare at this delicate stage.
As for trees or standard roses, Meilland recommends bending them down and mounding them with soil in the fall.
This covering should be removed in mid-spring after heavy frost time has passed. In mild winter climates, wrapping the heads of standards with straw or dry moss and burlap or tar paper should suffice.
Branches may be slightly shortened to facilitate the operation. Stems should also be protected with straw, held in place with netting, or tied with twine.
Every gardener knows that roses need regular spraying. Meilland gives a tip that can be applied to all plants, not just roses.
He says spray or dust in the early evening rather than in the hottest part of the day. Many good complete rose dust or sprays are now available that control insects and such rose diseases as blackspots. Follow faithfully the directions that come with the product.
Rose Pruning
Pruning, a necessary part of rose growing, depends greatly on the varieties involved and climatic conditions.
In the South, rose pruning can be done as early as February and—lightly at that. In more Northern areas, pruning is delayed until cold weather has wrought its worst.
Thus, in mid-March, cut back any injured or dead growth to healthy wood recognized by its ivory-green pith.
Remember, Meilland cautions, the object of pruning is to remove old wood, the only vegetation that the plant cannot feed properly, and to encourage the growth of new wood from the base.
Meilland recommends that most hybrid teas, polyantha and floribunda roses, and standard or tree roses be pruned from four to six buds.
The last cut should be made just above an outward-pointing bud to keep the bush’s center open and free.
When pruning shrub roses, cut back branches to about a third of their length. Also, remove tangled growth from the center and branches that chafe against each other.
Small-flowered miniature types should be lightly tampered with, removing only old wood and shortening the tips of new growth slightly.
Newly planted ramblers and climbers only bloom sometimes the first year, so it is advisable to wait until they have flowered, then cut back all dead wood and the canes that have flowered, pruning laterals and sub-laterals to about six buds.
Use good, sharp pruning shears to keep the cuts clean and sharp, never ragged. Meilland likes to paint the cuts with tar to prevent sap loss.
44659 by Maurice Moyal