SB 411 .S3 Copy 1 i'"p '.' ^^. '^ Jill! M. J^ lifpljARfei ENRY .YLOR Class c^ £) y^/ / Book _ji_dJ_w_ . CopyiightN" COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. MAKING A ROSE GARDEN THE HOUSE & GARDEN MAKING BOOKS IT is the intention of the pubhshers to raake this series of little volumes, of which MaJcing a Rose Garden is one, a complete library of authoritative and well illustrated handbooks dealing with the activities of the home-maker and amateur gardener. Text, pictures and dia- grams will, in each respective book, aim to make perfectly clear the possibility of having, and the means of having, some of the more important features of a modern country or sub- urban home: Among the titles already issued or planned for early publication are the following : Making a Lawn; Making a Tennis Court; Making a Garden Bloom This Tear; Making a Fireplace; Making Roads and Paths; Making a Poultry Rouse; Making a Hotbed and Cold- frame; Making Built-in Bookcases, Shelves and Seats; Making a Rock Garden; Making a Water Garden; Making a Perennial Border; Making a Shrubbery Group; Making a Naturalized Bulb Garden; with others to be announced later, (t> u ■4J ti Ui m (U J3 •o -*-> u (li o CL, -. +j '§'2 (U "^ bO) en UJJ^ c o o MAKING A ROSE GARDEN By HENRY H. SAYLOR NEW YORK McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY 1912 COPTRIGHT, 1912, BY McBRIDE, NAST & CO. ^^ Published February, 1912 £C!.A305915 CONTENTS Introduction PAGB 1 Classification • o Location and Soil Preparation and Planting Fertilizing . Pruning Pests Propagation • • • • e • • . 11 . 20 . 25 . 30 33 . 40 Winter Protection . • • 44 Lists of Dependable Roses . . 46 Glossary of Terms . . . .51 THE ILLUSTRATIONS A Rose Garden with the Ideal Arrangement of Grass Paths Frontispiece FACING PAGE Ulrich Brunner, a Red Hybrid Per- petual Rose 4 Marechal Neil, a Tender Climbing Tea Rose 8 KiLLARNEY, OnE OF THE BeST HyBRID Teas . . . . . .12 A Garden for Roses Only . . 14 A Dormant Tea Rose as It Comes from the Grower . . .22 A Stock of Manetti Grafted with AN Improved Variety . . .42 A "Standard" Rose . . . .44 INTRODUCTION I WELL remember the caution given me by a noted horticulturist when, in the sudden awakening to the joys of garden- ing, I was about to attempt the cultivation of nearly everything named in the largest seed and plant catalogue I could find : " Leave the rose alone ; it is not worth fighting for." And leave it alone I did, until one day I was browsing about an old book shop and came upon a well-thumbed copy of good old Dean Hole's " A Book About Roses." Let me tell you that there is something radically wrong with the person who can read that book and then go on plodding along his dreary, roseless way. But why, if there is such a book as that to be had, do I presume to put forth what can at best be but a feeble ray in its predecessor's blaze of inspiration? Merely because Dean Hole's book, and a later vol- ume by the Rev. Andrew Foster-Melliar that is almost as inspiring, with perhaps 2 Introduction even more helpful guidance, are both writ- ten for the English rosarian and for a cool, moist climate that necessitates a somewhat different method of procedure throughout as compared with that which would bring success in growing roses here in America. Then too, there is to my mind something encouraging in a very small book, a book that will merely attempt to lay the foundations for the superstruc- ture that, after all, only experience can bring. Perhaps there are those who, like myself, are content with the bare essen- tials of classification, content to be told the basic rudiments of cultivation, and who are in haste to be done with all of these homely means to an end, that they may begin growing roses. Making a Rose Garden CLASSIFICATION WHEN one considers the fact that the majority of botanists recognize over a hundred species of the genus Rosa^ and that a French botanist lists and de- scribes 4,266 species from Europe and western Asia alone, it will readily be un- derstood that this chapter can give but a rough, working knowledge of groups and species. . Fortunately the amateur rosarian in the United States is concerned with very few of the species, largely for the reason that the efforts of our rosegrowers have natu- rally been confined to a few important groups where general merit is most strongly marked. Indeed, for the purposes of a modest rose garden, one would not go far wrong if he limited his choice of varieties to the Hybrid Teas, Hybrid Per- petuals and a few of the Teas, with sev- 3 4 Making a Rose Garden eral of the wichuraiana and rugosa hybrids for trellis and hedge. The name Hybrid Perpetual is borne by an enormous group of roses which have been derived from various species, crossed and recrossed until the parentage is in most cases hopelessly involved. The " Perpetual " half of the name signifies that the rose continues to bloom more or less frequently throughout the sum- mer. As a matter of fact, it is usually less. Teas or Tea-scented China roses form a distinct group that is readily recognized by the characteristic scent of the flowers and by the smoothness of its leaves. Teas are, in a way, the aristocrats of the rose garden. They bloom with no great blare of trumpets in June, like the Perpetuals, but they keep steadily at their work of producing exquisite blooms, one or two at a time, throughout the summer. Their one serious handicap is a lack of hardi- ness, which they possess only in a slight and very variable degree ; and they must be very carefully protected in the north to bring them safely through the winter, liven though I were forced tp buy new Uirich Brunner, a red Hybrid Perpetual that has achieved an excellent reputation. The H. P. type is characterized by hardiness and great freedom of bloom in June. Thereafter throughout the summer the burden of display must be borne by the Teas and Hybrid Teas Classification 5 plants each spring, however, I would not have a rose garden without Teas. Hybrid Teas, as the name signifies, are successful crosses between the Tea and roses in the Hybrid Perpetual group. This class combines the persistence of the Tea with the sturdier growth of the Perpetu- als, and from it we shall probably get the great bulk of our garden roses for some years to come. The Moss Rose, of which you will surely want a representative in your garden, be- longs in the Provence group, as will be seen in the tabular classification at the end of this chapter. Who does not know its beautiful buds in their setting of mossy stems .f^ This rose, like many a one that has not gotten such a grip on our affec- tions, has refused steadfastly to mix its blood with another species, and has re- tained its good points and its bad ones for over three hundred years. It is quite hardy but is rather susceptible to mildew. There are other roses, too, outside the larger and best-known groups — roses that, because of some superlative merit in one direction or because of past associations, lay a strong hand on our heart-strings and 6 Making a Rose Garden plead for an obscure corner of the new rose garden: the bristling Scotch Rose, the fragrant Damasks, the sweetbrier or eglan- tine with its inimitable fragrant foliage, the Penzance Brier Hybrids, the White Banksian of southern gardens with its odor of violets, the Persian Yellow of our grand- mothers' gardens, and the hundred-petaled Cabbage Rose, parent of the Moss. Climbing roses are to be found in many of the groups — Wichuraiana, Ayrshire, Polyantha, Musk, Noisette and as sports in the Hybrid Perpetual, Tea and Hybrid Tea groups. It is in another class, however, that we may look for the ideal American roses of the future. Not many years ago, came to us three natives of Japan, Rosa wichu- raiana^ Rosa multiflora and Rosa rugosa. From the first two has been developed by our American hybridizers the race of Ram- blers, while from the tliird has come such sturdy children as Conrad F. Meyer, per- haps the ideal hedge rose for our northern climate. In the estimation of Professor Charles S. Sargent, the dean of American horticulture, it is along the line of rugosa hybrids that we shall succeed in filling our Classification 7 gardens with large, beautiful, hardy and continuously flowering roses. The climate of the South and California seems ideally suited to the Teas, producing a wealth of exquisite bloom that fills those of us that live in more trying surroundings with envy. In the South also they have the Cherokee Rose (Rosa laevigata or sinica)^ flourishing along roadsides and in great masses on the prairies, its long, arch- ing stems bearing a wealth of pure white, single flowers, four or five inches across, in a setting of brilliant, evergreen foliage. It is one of our American hybridizers' hopes and aims to cross, this with a hardy rose to gain sufficient stamina for the North. And out in Oregon, the Hybrid Per- petuals and Hybrid Teas grow to a size and beauty that is unsurpassed the world over. Practically every kind of rose can be grown in the Puget Sound district, and the amateurs of that locality seem to have as little trouble with rose pests as we do here with our hardy decorative shrubs. To sum up the whole matter of classi- fication and to show the relative positions of many groups that, for lack of space, 8 Making a Rose Garden have not even been mentioned above, the following tabular key is given — a .slightly modified form of the classification given in the Cyclopedia of American Horticulture : /. Summer-flowering Roses, blooming once only A. Large-flowered (double). 1. Grow^th branching or pen- dulous ; leaf wrinkled. Provence Moss Pompon Sulphurea 2. Growth firm and robust ; leaf downy. Damask and French Hybrid French Hybrid Provence Hybrid Bourbon Hybrid China 3. Growth free; leaf whitish above ; spineless. Alba B. Small-flowered (single and double). 1. Growth climbing; flowers pro- duced singly. Ayrshire 2. Growth short- jointed, gener- Marechal Neil, a tender climbing Tea rose, dark golden-yellow in color, requires winter protection in the North. The Tea is the aristocrat of the rose garden, unapproached for delicate fragrance, refined form of the individual blooms, and continued flowering throughout the summer Classification 9 ally, except in Alpine. Briei's Austrian Scotch Sweet Penzance Prairie Alpine 3, Growth climbing ; flowers in clusters. Multifiora Polyantha 4'. Growth free; foliage per- sistent (more or less shiny). Evergreen Sempervirens Wichuraiana Cherokee Banksian 5. Growth free ; foliage wrinkled. Pompon II. Summer- and Autumn-fiowering Roses, blooming more or less continuously A. Large-flowered. 1. Foliage very rough. Hybrid Perpetual Hybrid Tea Moss lo Making, a Rose Garden 2. Foliage rough. Bourbon Bourbon Perpetual S. Foliage smooth. China Tea Lawrenceana (Fairy) B. Smaller-flowered. 1. Foliage deciduous a. Habit climbing. Musk Noisette Ayrshii'e Polijantha Wichuraiana Hybrids b. Habit dwarf, bushy. Perpetual Briers Rugosa Lucida Microphylla Berberidifolia Scotch 2. Foliage more or less per- sistent. Evergreen Macartney Wichuraiana LOCATION AND SOIL IF there is any secret in connection with the growing of beautiful roses in abundance, it hes in the strict observance of a few fundamental principles through which the rose plants, or bushes if you will, are given a location and soil which they will find congenial and nourishing. If for one moment you may have thought that success depends upon some particular insecticide for the annihilation of the aphis, or some hard-and-fast rule for pruning, or the use of- a fertilizer having magical at- tributes, dismiss that thought from your mind, once and for all time. Insecticides, judicious pruning and suitable manuring have each an important part in the cam- paign, but transcending all of these is the first choice of location and the prepara- tion of the garden in which the roses are to grow. Warfare against the rose's ene- mies can be but a one-sided, hopeless strug- gle if we are working against nature all the way through. Far easier and more II 12 Making a Rose Garden certain in effect will be our first efTorts to establish the rose plants themselves so firmly in healthful, congenial surroundings that they, rather than we, will bear the brunt of the battle against the insect pests. In China I am told that a custom once prevailed whereby the emperor paid his physician a good salary as long as the ruler kept his good health. If he fell ill the physician's pay stopped ; if he died, off came the practitioner's head. Be generous in the amount of thought and care you give in providing health, food and strength for your rose plants, and as a result you will have to give very little thought and care to curing disease and killing off the rose-bugs and slugs. In the first place let us take up the mat- ter of situation. Unfortunately most of us will have little leeway in this, for the average suburban place is not one that will offer hill and valley, windswept open space and warm shelter. The ideal location is to be found neither on a hilltop where the winter winds would play havoc with our winter protection, nor in a low hollow where frosts are always more frequent. A gentle slope to the south, well above nearby Killarney, the comparatively new Hybrid Tea rose, having a beautiful shell-pirk color, has achieved a wide popularity. The Hybrid Tea combines in a measure the hardiness of the Hybrid Perpetual with the continuous flower- ing habit of the Tea Location and Soil 13 low spots into which the cold air will drain, sheltered in some way from the north, would be all that we could ask. In the matter of this shelter, however, we meet a further difficulty, for our rose garden must be kept well away from any trees. It is a matter of common knowledge that the root system of a tree will, as a rule, extend as far out from the base as the tree rises about the ground. Obviously it would be merely a waste of time and effort to locate the rose garden where the hungry roots of trees would rob it of the food supply furnished the roses. In general, therefore, we shall have to use the wall of a house or a gar- den wall for our needed protection, though in case of necessity we could sink a ma- sonry wall or an iron plate as a barrier be- tween the upper rich soil of our rose beds and the roots of the sheltering trees. Sun, it is perhaps unnecessary to say, is essential, though it will be found that if the beds are in shade for the first part of the morning one will have greater oppor- tunity of enjoying the roses at their best — before the dew has been drunk from their petals by the thirsty midsummer rays. The matter of the size and design of the 14 Making a Rose Garden rose bed is of comparatively little im- portance ; what really is vital, however, is that the roses be permitted to have the beds to themselves — absolutely. But re- cently I read a magazine article purport- ing to be good advice for the rose-grow- ing amateur. Therein appeared words of regret that the rose must needs have such barcj, gaunt stalks, and suggesting as a remedy the growing of some vine about the base of the bush — I am not sure, indeed, that the honeysuckle was not specifically named for the place. I can well imagine that the result might be a very beautiful honeysuckle, but we should look there for the rose in vain. The Queen of Flowers will brook no lib- erties of this kind. She insists upon reigning alone in her glory, and anyone who dares presume to introduce even a low-growing, shallow-rooted ground cover with the intention of making the rose bed seem less bare, will never see his roses at their best. Personally I have never felt that a rose garden need be in the least un- attractive. There is one type of beauty that might be represented by a carpet of creeping phlox ; there is another that be- 3 0) 5 en XI o ^ O Jv CO 1^ ^ (n "^ •^ en ^> s g ^ J3 Location and Soil 15 longs to the rose garden, bearing its single blooms here and there, sparsely, among the green foliage and thorny stems. In the former instance one looks at the mass effect without a thought of the beauty of individual flowers ; in the latter case one's glance seeks out instinctively the single bloom to drink in its beauty and fragrance. Ah, but you say, how about the time when there is not a single rose in sight.'' There need be no such time between spring and fall if you plant your rose garden to best advantage. There is no need nor reason to put all the June-blooming roses to- gether, with the Teas and Hybrid Teas off by themselves in another place. If the re- montant types are interspersed through- out your garden you need never, between May and October, look for a rose in vain. The shape of the beds, too, may be such as to avoid an appearance of " too much dirt " in the rose garden. For my own part I would have a rectangular garden and simple parallelograms for the beds, although the rose garden about a central feature has its strong attractions. But if vou