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Outdoor Roses (Ception to this rule is the La)

ception to this rule is the La France variety which does not respond satisfactorily to much feeding. After the June crop of flowers has been gathered it is well to suspend the liquid manure feeding for two weeks in order to give the plants a brief rest before forcing the next blooms. An excellent final stimulant to give the end of July is 1 oz. nitrate of soda, 1 oz. sulphate of potash in 2 gallons of water. Never apply this later than the above-mentioned date.

Before the hot weather begins apply a mulch 3 or 4 inches thick of sphagnum moss. Spent manure or lawn clippings will aid quite a good deal in keeping the roots cool and the soil moist. This prevents the necessity of further cultivation and by conserving the soil moisture the need for artificial watering is reduced, except during prolonged dry spells. If at any time watering should be done the bed must be soaked, not merely sprinkled on the surface. It is better to water fewer times and thoroughly drench the bed each time the work is done. The time of day to do it is either early in the morning or in the cool of the afternoon; if watered in the afternoon care must be taken to wet the foliage as little as possible as the plants should go to sleep dry in order to prevent mildew.

Before the winter protection is applied this mulch [131] must be removed in order not to raise the permanent level of the bed. In the neighborhood of Philadelphia protection is given toward the end of November, in the average season. Hybrid perpetuals may be mulched with dry leaves, rough strawy manure or straw applied to a depth of about 3 inches. With teas and hybrid teas most authorities advise, first mounding up the soil 6 inches high around the base of each bush, then covering the whole bed generously after severe weather sets in, with old manure, straw or dry leaves weighted down with corn-stalks or evergreen boughs. Rugosa and wichuriana roses do not require any protection, in this locality, but a light covering of rotted cow manure around the roots conserves their energy and acts as a fertilizer; in the spring what remains may be forked into the soil.

Standard roses are difficult to winter and even when care is taken it is hard to bring them through the rigors of severe winters. Wrapping them in straw is sometimes practiced, but a better method is to bury them in a trench lined with straw or dry leaves covering them with one foot of soil. To accomplish this it is necessary to either dig up the entire plant or to loosen the roots at one end sufficiently to enable the bush to be bent down into the prepared trench and thoroughly covered. [132] Courtesy of J. Horace McFarland Company