Roses

There are few people in the world who do not love roses, whether growing in the garden or shedding fragrance within doors. These beautiful flowers of pink, white, and the lovely red roses, are neither so difficult nor so expensive to cultivate as many other plants.  Rose growers should determine not to be daunted by a few failures, which are inevitable at first.

Roses can give us many years of great beauty and pleasure if planted and tended properly.

This guide will show you how to:

                 Plant your roses     

                 Care for your roses

                 Prune your roses

                 Water your roses

                 Prevent diseases in your roses

                 Budding your roses

                 Finding the best roses for your garden 

Constant Attention            

Is needed to grow roses well, or as Dean Hole says, "love in your heart" is the great thing required and no outlay of money will make up for the absence of enthusiasm.

It is essential to do things at the right time and rose care is very important.  In this age of hurry it is so difficult to remember at the right time, or until another season is lost.

It is a good plan to turn over the pages of your diary and write, say, on the 1st October, "select rose trees", this jogs the memory, so that when that month is reached we know that the work must start at once.

A good rose grower should be humble, for there is always so much to learn, and one should never be ashamed to ask.  Walks and talks with gardening friends are of great value, so much can easily be explained when amongst the flowers that is troublesome to put down on paper.

There is nothing like gardening for teaching patience.  Nature will not be hurried, and this is specially true of rose growing.  Trees forced in high temperatures soon become exhausted, plainly showing that they resent the treatment.  We are more or less like children who dig up their primroses to see what is going on underground.  But after all, if we wait long enough we can see the result of our labor, if Nature is slow she is at least sure.

Many people seem afraid to cut their roses, while if they only knew it, there is nothing better for the health of the trees than constant cutting!  Generosity in this, as in so many other things, is repaid by a greater wealth of flowers, and by renewed vigor in the roots.

Another reason why gardeners fail is because they attempt too much.  Trying to grow rose trees from seeds, cuttings, and grafts, is the highest branch of the art, and should not be attempted until considerable experience has been gained.  Order good strong bushes from reliable garden centres, and these are sure to flower, if not the first, at any rate the second season.

It is hoped that this guide may assist a few, who have previously stood aside, to enter the ranks of those who grow successfully the veritable queen of flowers.