Planting Roses In Your Garden
By Lee Dobbins, Fri Dec 9th
Roses are an old standby for any garden and one of the worldsfavorite flowers. There are over 5,000 varieties of roses in theUnited States and they can be used to enhance your garden inmany ways — as creepers, shrubs, vines, climbers, hedges or justas beds of pure colour.
When picking out roses for your garden, it is important to gethealthy plants. Make sure the stems are green and not shriveledand the roots are moist and partly fibrous. The most expensiverose is not always the best rose; it may be only a newcomer,much discussed and, therefore, a favorite.
In general, there are two types of roses: bush roses andclimbers. Bush roses are shrub like and climbers produce canesthat require some sort of support. The most commonly plantedtype of bush rose is the hybrid tea rose. Other types of bushroses include polyanthas (roses in large clusters), thefioribundas (large-flowered polyanthas), and the hybridperpetuals (vigorous growers with a great crop in June andcontinuous blooming throughout the summer).
The climbers include ramblers, whose long pliant canes havelarge clusters of small roses that can be used for coveringwalls, fences and banks. The climbers also are pillar roses,adapted to growing near buildings and on posts and the climbinghybrid tree.
If you are contemplating planting roses in your garden, makesure you pick out the proper spot and prepare the soilappropriately. You should use garden loam with organic matterthat contains peat moss, leaf mould, compost, rotted orcommercial manure. Prepare the soil in the rose beds well beforein order to allow for settling of the soil.
You can plant roses in fall or spring, but fall is actuallybest. When planting roses, inspect the roots to make sure theyhave not dried and if they have make
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