Manual of Gardening Part 56

The sweet briers, Austrian and rugosas may be kept in bush form; but the trunks may be cut out at the ground every two or three years, new shoots having been allowed to come up in the meantime. All rampant growths should be cut back or taken out.

_Insects and diseases of roses._

Most of the summer insects that trouble the rose are best treated by a forceful spray of clear water. This should be done early in the day and again at evening. Those having city water or good spray pumps will find this an easy method of keeping rose pests in check. Those without these facilities may use whale-oil soap, fir-tree oil, good soap suds, the tobacco preparations, or Persian insect powder.

The rose-bug or chafer should be hand-picked or knocked off early in the morning into a pan of coal oil. The leaf-roller must be crushed.

The mildews are controlled by the various sulfur sprays.

_Winter protection of roses._

All garden roses should be well mulched with leaves or coa.r.s.e manure in the fall. Mounding earth about the root also affords excellent protection. Bending over the tops and covering with gra.s.s or evergreen boughs is also to be recommended for such kinds as are suspected to be injured by winter; the boughs are preferable because they do not attract mice.

North of the Ohio River all the everblooming roses, even if they will endure the winter unprotected, will be better for protection. This may be slight southward, but should be thorough northward. The soil, location, and surroundings often determine the extent of protection. If the situation is not so favorable, more protection will be necessary.

Along the Ohio, a heap of stable manure, or light soil that does not become packed and water-logged, placed about the base of the plants, will carry over many of the tea roses. The tops are killed back; but the plants sprout from the base of the old branches in the spring. Bon Silene, Etoile de Lyon, Perle des Jardins, Mme. Camille, and others are readily wintered there in this way.

About Chicago (_American Florist,_ x., No. 358, p. 929, 1895) beds have been successfully protected by bending down the tops, fastening them, and then placing over and among the plants a layer of dead leaves to the depth of a foot. The leaves must be dry, and the soil also, before applying them; this is very essential. After the leaves, a layer of lawn-clippings, highest at the middle, and 4 or 5 inches thick, placed over the leaves, holds them in place and sheds water. This protection carries over the hardiest sorts of everblooming roses, including the teas. The tops are killed back when not bent down, but this protection saves the roots and crowns; when bent down, the tops went through without damage. Even the climbing rose Gloire de Dijon was carried through the winter of 1894-1895 at Chicago without the slightest injury to the branches.

Strong plants of the everblooming or hybrid tea roses can now be had at very reasonable rates, and rather than go to the trouble of protecting them in the fall, many persons buy such as they need for bedding purposes each spring. If the soil of the beds is well enriched, the plants make a rapid and luxuriant growth, blooming freely throughout the summer.

If one desires to go to the trouble, he may protect these and also the tea roses even in the northern states by mounding earth about the plants and then building a little shed or house about them (or inverting a large box over them) and packing about the plants with leaves or straw.

Some persons make boxes that can be knocked down in the spring and stored. The roof should shed water. This method is better than tying the plants up in straw and burlaps. Some of the hybrid teas do not need so much protection as this, even in central New York.

_Varieties of roses._

The selection of kinds should be made in reference to the locality and purpose for which the roses are wanted. For bedding roses, those that are of free-blooming habit, even though the individual flowers are not large, are the ones that should be chosen. For permanent beds, the so-called hybrid perpetual or remontant roses, blooming princ.i.p.ally in June, will be found to be hardy at the North.--But if one can give them proper protection during the winter, then the Bengal, tea, bourbon, and hybrid teas or everblooming roses, may be selected.

In sections where the temperature does not fall below 20 above zero, any of the monthly roses will live without protection. At the South the remontants and other deciduous roses do not do as well as farther North.

The tender climbers--Noisettes, climbing teas, bengals, and others--are excellent for pillars, arbors, and verandas at the South, but are fit only for the conservatory in those parts of the country where there is severe freezing. For the open air at the North we have to depend for climbing roses mainly on the prairie climbers, and the ramblers (polyanthas), with their recent pink and white varieties. The trailing _Rosa Wichuraiana_ is also a useful addition as an excellent hardy rose for banks.

For the northern states a choice small list is as follows: hybrid perpetuals, Mrs. John Laing, Wilder, Ulrich Brunner, Frau Karl Druschki, Paul Neyron; dwarf polyanthas, Clothilde Soupert, Madame Norbert Levava.s.seur (Baby Rambler), Mlle. Cecile Brunner; hybrid teas, Grus an Teplitz, La France, Caroline Testout, Kaiserin Victoria, Killarney; teas, Pink Maman Cochet, White Maman Cochet.

The following cla.s.sified lists embrace some of the varieties of recognized merit for various purposes. There are many others, but it is desirable to limit the list to a few good kinds. The intending planter should consult recent catalogues.

_Free-blooming monthly roses for bedding._--These are recommended not for the individual beauty of the flower--although some are very fine--but because of their suitability for the purpose indicated. If to be carried over winter in the open ground, they need to be protected north of Washington. In beds, pegging down the branches will be found desirable. Those marked (A) have proved hardy in southern Indiana without protection, although they are more satisfactory with it. (The name of the cla.s.s to which the variety belongs is indicated by the initial letter or letters of the cla.s.s name: C., China; T., Tea; H.T., Hybrid Tea; B., Bourbon; Pol., Polyantha; N., Noisette; H.P., Hybrid Perpetual; Pr., Prairie Climber):--

_Red_--Sanguinea, C.

Agrippina, C.

Marion Dingee, T.

(A)Meteor, H.T.

_Pink_--(A)Hermosa, B.

Souvenir d'un Ami, T.

Pink Soupert, Pol.

(A)Gen. Tartas, T.

_Blush_--(A)Cels, C.

Mme. Joseph Schwartz, T.

(A)Souvenir de la Malmaison, B.

Mignonette, Pol.

_White_--(A)Clothilde Soupert, Pol.

(A)Sombreuil, B.

Snowflake, T.

Pacquerette, Pol.

_Yellow_--(A)Isabella Sprunt, T.

Mosella (Yellow Soupert), Pol.

La Pactole, T.

Marie van Houtte, T.

_Free-blooming monthly roses for summer cutting and beds._--These are somewhat less desirable for purely bedding purposes than the preceding; but they afford finer flowers and are useful for their fine buds. Those marked (A) are hardy in southern Indiana without protection:--

_Red_--(A)Meteor.

(A)Dinsmore, H.P.

(A)Pierre Guillot, H.T.

Papa Gontier, T.

_Light Pink_--(A)La France, H.T.

Countess de Labarthe, T.

(A)Appoline, B.

_White_--The Bride, T.

Senator McNaughton, T.

(A)Marie Guillot, T.

(A)Mme. Bavay, T.

Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, H.T.

_Dark Pink_--(A)American Beauty, H.T.

(A)d.u.c.h.ess of Albany, H.T.

Mme. C. Testout, H.T.

Adam, T.

(A)Marie d.u.c.h.er, T.

_Yellow_--Perle des Jardins, T.

Mme. Welch, T.

Sunset, T.

Marie van Houtte, T.

_Hybrid perpetual, or remontant, roses,_--These do not flower as freely as the groups previously mentioned; but the individual flowers are very large and unequaled by any other roses. They flower chiefly in June.

Those named are among the finest sorts, and some of them flower more or less continuously:--

_Red_--Alfred Colomb.

Earl of Dufferin.

Glorie de Margottin.

Anna de Diesbach.

Ulrich Brunner.