Planting a Rose Garden involves the following: (a) Design; (b) Choice of varieties; (c) Preparation of the soil and planting.
Design will depend very much on available space and personal taste. It may vary from the simple bed of Hybrid Tea Roses surrounded by turf, to elaborate designs which include climbers and ramblers on walls or rustic arches and fences, together with uniform borders of Floribundas, standards and weeping standards, and several beds of Hybrid Teas. There is certainly more interest in a garden which contains several types as well as varieties of Roses.
Colour again is a matter of personal choice. Some prefer a galaxy of hues, but a few well chosen shades which blend well together are likely to create more pleasing effects.
As far as possible, choose an open, sunny site for the Rose garden and if a wall is to be used for climbers, make sure that new plants do not suffer from lack of water. A wall often effectively shields a plant from natural rain.
Before deciding on types and varieties, it is good policy to visit a Rose nursery and order plants when they are in flower. This is the only way to make quite certain that no mistake has been made when planning for specific colour effects.
Roses will grow succesfully on a wide range of soils if the following points are borne in mind:
1. They grow well above a clay subsoil, but resent roots planted in pure clay. In very clayey areas, growth will generally be
Polyantha Pompons
Prune in JulyAugust in the same way as for Hybrid Teas, but cut strongest stems to about half their length.
Floribundas
Weak and old stems are removed completely and the young growth shortened by about one-third. Good side shoots can be cut back to half their length. Some modern Floribundas have a growth habit similar to the Hybrid Teas, and pruning methods will closely approach those advocated for that class.
Ramblers
A true rambler is one which produces many strong new growths from the base every summer, as in the case of 'Dorothy Perkins'. Pruning is carried out in late summer when flowering is over and entails the complete removal of all the old flowering stems at ground level, the new young shoots of the current season's growth being tied in to take their place.
Climbers
Unlike ramblers, all climbers have a permanent framework of old wood, the new growth at the end of each branch being called a 'leader'. 'Emily Grey' is a typical example.
Pruning is done in Winter, when the leaders are shortened by two-thirds in the early life of the plant only. This induces strong young branches which are required when a wall has to be covered. Older climbers only need the leaders tipped by about one-third of their length. Lateral shoots are shortened to four or five buds. As with the vigorous Hybrid Perpetuals, climbers produce more flowers if their branches are trained obliquely, or even horizontally. Upright training tends to encourage much growth at the top, with long lengths of bare, unsightly wood towards the base.
Climbing Sports
These are really Hybrid Tea Roses, a variety of which will occasionally become extremely vigorous and adopt the habit of a climber. Pruning is the same as for ordinary climbers. A notorious example of an already vigorous Hybrid Tea adopting a climbing habit is that of 'Climbing Peace'. Flowering can become almost non-existent if nothing is done to curb excess vigour. Training shoots towards the horizontal position will increase flower production, but if this is still unsatisfactory, prune in December instead of July.
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