Chapter 3

Rose Garden

Although roses will adapt themselves to most conditions of soil, climate, and environment, they will not give their best results unless their needs are met in some degree. In any rose garden there are certain general requirements, such as availability of water, adequate exposure to sun, and avoidance of long narrow funnels for draughts between buildings, fences, or hedges. Further, the roses must be kept away from hungry surface-rooting trees, among the worst of which are wattles (acacias) and privet (ligustrum). If a wind-break is considered advisable, deep-rooting trees are to be preferred.

Size And Shape Of Beds

Often it is said that rose-beds must not be so wide as to prevent their being tilled without standing on the bed itself. Such beds against fences and hedges would never exceed five feet in width, for there would be only one side from which to work. With a path on each side of a bed it would be no more than ten feet in width. Those beds may be wide enough for most people, and I may be greedy, but I always feel that the paths get the best of conditions plenty of sunlight and farthest from trees and hedges. I have reduced my paths to a minimum, leaving just sufficient room to work comfortably with hoses, tools, and barrow. Many more plants can be grown and the garden effect improved. Beds should not be more than ten feet wide for working from one side or twenty or thirty feet wide for working from both sides, because dragging hoses between plants entails a risk of damage

There should be plenty of water-taps. Short hoses are cheaper and easier to handle than long ones. Be sure that the plants on the edges of the beds get sufficient water.

Rose gardens may be of many kinds, such as the home garden, the public garden, the memorial garden, and the test garden. Each type must be considered in its own sphere.

The Home Rose Garden

A rose garden is the fond hope of most householders, for there is nothing so expressive of home, of permanency, as a garden of roses. While no garden is complete without roses, a rose garden is complete in itself. It needs no floral intruders, though it will tolerate small plants of other types.

In a small garden some parts are unavoidably shaded for at least half of the day. Roses need sunlight, and so the most shaded parts must be regarded as unsuitable for them. By planting full or three-quarter standards in the slightly less shaded positions, one can often lift the main part of the plant into more prolonged sunlight. Roses do not grow well in driveways and similar narrow parts that produce draughts.

It is easy to keep trees out of one's own garden, but one's neighbour may choose to grow them. They may create excessive shade, and are apt to cause worry, for their roots will be attracted by food and water given to the roses.

Sometimes the home garden is big enough to allow whole beds, each of one variety. This is very effective and gives the best results, for each variety can be treated in the manner best suited to it. Some like copious watering and some very little; some like more manure than others.

In beds of mixed roses, tall-growing varieties must always be placed at the back. Alternatively, climbers can be planted along the fences, then standards or tall-growing bushes, and then average-growing sorts. Keep roses well back from paths.

The purpose of a home garden of roses will vary according to whether the owner wishes to have, as his prime objective, a garden display, cut flowers for the home, or specimen blooms for exhibition. The number of plants will be governed by the garden design and the area available. The garden should be small enough to be well cared for, with or without paid assistance, depending on how much the owner wishes to spend on upkeep. In a big garden there should be pillars, pergolas, and arches to relieve any sense of flatness.

If a man is to enjoy his roses fully he must work amongst them. Once he allows his garden to become his master, either by excessive work or expense, it ceases to be a place of enjoyment, and defeats its main purpose. Far better to grow fifty plants well than to grow five hundred and either neglect them or regard them as a drudgery. The smaller number will give him better plants, better blooms, and possibly more blooms.

With display as his chief aim, he must have a free-blooming rose hedge; he must fill his beds with Floribundas and Hybrid Teas; he must cover his fences with climbers and have Hybrid Wichuraianas over arches. He will, of course, want cut flowers, but plenty will be available from these plants. If cut flowers be his main interest and goal he will concentrate on Hybrid Teas, not forgetting those that give winter blooms. He may be among the few who have learnt the decorative value and lasting properties of blooms of the Floribunda group. Unless he is interested in watching the performance of many kinds, he will do well to plant several of each variety rather than one of each of many sorts. This will give him large bunches and bowls of one variety during seasonal flushes; they are easier to arrange and probably look better than mixed colours.

The rose exhibitor is in a different category: he needs blooms of quality rather than quantity. He wants them particularly at the time of the shows at which he desires to compete. He has no use for the early-blooming or late-blooming sorts, for show dates are fixed to catch the seasonal flush of blooms. To the really hardened specimen-bloom grower, garden display or home decoration is of little interest, despite his love of the beauty in flowers, and his garden is apt to be drab and devoid of colour even at the height of the season. Many of his varieties will be poor growers, shy bloomers, and have "weak-necked" blooms. These types are worth while to him, for their blooms are so perfect. Fortunately such roses and such men are becoming less numerous.

Most modern roses are said to be of the dual-purpose type, for they produce large numbers of blooms fit for garden and home decoration, while a good proportion of them is up to specimen-bloom standard. Consequently the modern rose exhibitor's garden has become a much more interesting and beautiful place than that of his earlier prototype.

Public Rose Gardens

In America the cost of maintaining a city-owned rose garden has been proved to be less per square foot of area than any other park feature when the cost is apportioned among the number who actually use it.

The main consideration in planning a public rose garden must be its pictorial effect; and this should be the only consideration in a small scheme, for it must be remembered that it is for public use and pleasure. Only roses capable of producing good displays should be grown, except in big gardens where others will have an educational value.

Provision should always be made for expansion. It is wise to plan a large scheme developing from a smaller lay-out. The smaller garden can be constructed and then added to from time to time. The people will flock to a well-kept public rose garden in such thousands as quickly to show the civic authorities their wisdom in planting it. Queen Mary's Rose Garden at Regent's Park, London, the Bagatelle Gardens in Paris, the Sangerhausen Garden in Germany, the seven-acre rose garden in Portland, Oregon, the Brooklyn Rose Gardens, the rose garden of seven and a half acres in Exposition Park, Los Angeles these and hundreds of lesser schemes are only the forerunners of vast public rose gardens in every large town with civic pride.

Where are Australia's public rose gardens? Why not begin with gardens of, say, one acre or thereabouts?

I have recently read of the following good planning: the garden area is three acres and contains about three thousand roses in about six hundred and fifty species and varieties. It is bounded by a Doric pergola at one end and by a wooden trellis or concrete posts on the sides. Towards one end is a large rectangular mound providing a vantage point from which to view the garden as a whole. The pergola and lattice-work are covered by climbers of many types, especially climbing Hybrid Teas, Hybrid Giganteas, and Hybrid Wichuraianas. Inside these is a row of species, interesting for their blooms, foliage, and hips, as well as for their historical relationship to their more highly developed descendants. All the beds towards the centre of the scheme are filled with Hybrid Poly-anthas (Floribundas), one variety to each bed. The remaining beds are mostly devoted to Hybrid Teas, again one variety to each bed. The walks are spanned by ten double arches for climbers. Pillars and tripods are scattered throughout the beds to support suitable varieties and take away any sense of flatness. A pool is the central feature. The rose garden in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens is probably the best of its kind in Australia. There are nearly twenty-five thousand roses in New Farm Park, Brisbane. Commonwealth Avenue and Parliament House Gardens, Canberra, contain large plantings of roses.

New Zealand has done well in planting extensive public rose gardens in Parnell Park, Auckland, and in the Botanic Gardens, Christchurch, as well as the large Rose Trial Ground conducted by the National Rose Society of New Zealand at the Massey Agricultural College, Palmerston North. Parnell Park contains over five thousand rose plants. Morrinsville is only a small town but it has, by a fine spirit of co-operation between local organizations, converted an unsightly area into a now well-known civic garden composed entirely of roses. A magnificent planting of Floribundas has been made along the Bruce Highway, leading into Brisbane from the north. It is a mile in length and contains many thousands of rose plants arranged in beds of one variety. Floribundas are ideal for wayside schemes such as this.

Memorial Rose Gardens

The decadence already obvious in so many memorials erected relatively recently with reverence, pride and enthusiasm makes one ponder over their unsuitability and lack of permanence. In any case, few memorials of any kind have much sentimental value after two generations. Then let us be sensible and have memorials that are permanent, useful, and beautiful, whether they commemorate one individual, or numbers of men and women as do war memorials. Let us have a type that provides a sustained incentive to keep it in good order as part of the life and spirit of the community. Any memorial should express a historical or sentimental purpose in its name.

What can excel a well-kept garden, and, above all, a rose garden, in fulfilling these requirements of beauty and peaceful environment? It must be commensurate with its importance, reasonably inexpensive to maintain, easy of access to large numbers of people, and certain of attractiveness when the interest of newness has somewhat slackened. Most visitors will view it as a composite spectacle, but some will come to learn varieties and cultural methods. Both should be considered, and roses grown in as many forms as practicable.

VINCENT STREET Fig. 2. Plan of Peace Memorial Rose Garden, Nedlands, Perth.

As in the case of civic rose gardens, size and design will vary with the available space and funds for maintenance. The whole scheme should be planned and, as nearly as possible, completed the first year, when the commemorative incentive is keenest. Parts may be added year by year.

The rose garden around the Nellie Stewart Memorial in Sydney Botanic Gardens is the best known of this type in Australia. An interesting way of using climbing roses is to be seen in this garden. They are trained on almost horizontal frames that cover a terraced slope. Plate 8 shows this method of treatment, photographed after pruning had been carried out. Since 1950 Melbourne has had its Alister Clark Memorial Rose Garden, honouring Australia's greatest rose hybridist. Perth has its memorial rose garden as a tribute to deceased servicemen and servicewomen. A few small towns, for example Te Rore, New Zealand, have planted similar but less ambitious schemes. It is time we had many more.

There is, too, a different type of memorial rose garden to be found at all our large crematoriums, where each plant serves as a memorial token. Each rose is marked in honour of the person whom it commemorates. These gardens are becoming extensive and are well cared for.

Rose Test Gardens

Rose test gardens were conducted at Haywards Heath, England, until recently, when a new trial ground was established at St Albans. For many years similar gardens have been kept at Bagatelle, France, and more recently America has done likewise. Still more recently, New Zealand, with the Massey National Rose Trial Ground at Palmerston North, has followed suit. They all aim at cultural trials, manurial demonstrations and experiments, disease control, and trials of new varieties. Reports are issued on work done, and awards are made to approved novelties. A gold medal or an award of merit from one of these test gardens is keenly sought by hybridists for their latest creations.

The American system appears to be the most thorough. It was not commenced until 1938. Any new variety may be sent by any hybridist. All entries are planted in test gardens in twenty-two scattered parts of the United States, so that most rose-growing climates are included. Resident judges inspect and score the entries on a uniform point basis. At the end of each two-year testing period the scores are collected from all areas and added. The top-scoring rose or roses are named as the All-America Rose Selections. These tests will prove a wonderful asset, for hybridists from all countries are now sending their novelties for trial and judgment.

In Australia the National Rose Society of each State makes its own award of a gold medal or certificate of merit for worthy roses submitted. In the case of the National Rose Society of Victoria, the plants must be seen growing, and then at least six blooms must be submitted at the one time to at least six judges. The variety may be classed by the raiser as exhibition or decorative type, and is judged accordingly. Points are awarded for colour, form, substance of petal, size, perfume, and stem. A variety scoring eighty per cent or more is awarded a gold medal. A variety scoring between seventy and eighty per cent is awarded a certificate of merit. This does not amount to the same thing as a test garden, but is the nearest approach to one in Australia. The other National Rose Societies make similar awards in the same way.

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