Time To Plant

Roses can be planted successfully at any time of the year provided suitable precautions and more trouble are taken in certain seasons. Early April to late June is the most favoured time in the tropical parts of Australia. This is because of the seasonal rainfall. Growth is so continuous in those areas that there is no dormant period. Even in our coldest climates, roses never become as dormant as in the colder parts of Europe, Canada, and the northern parts of the United States of America.

Early June has, in the past, been the most popular planting time in the temperate and cooler parts of Australia, but experience shows that later planting is better. In many seasons the plants are not yet defoliated and the wood is still soft and sappy. The ideal time to plant is when the plants have reached their greatest degree of dormancy and the soil is just beginning to warm. The two conditions are not always coexistent, but they certainly do not exist in early June. The old argument over early or late planting seems to resolve itself into a consideration whether it is better to plant immature roses in cold soil that is becoming colder, or mature plants in cold soil that is becoming warmer. The answer seems obvious.

If the garden already contains a large number of roses and it can be foreseen that time will be fully occupied in late June and July, planting should be done even early in June or, in cold climates, late August. In an average season roses reach their maximum dormancy about the first few days in July. In cold climates, such as the South Island of New Zealand, Cooma, Hobart, and Ballarat, late July or early August is the best time to plant, especially if the plants are to come from a nursery in a warmer part, in which case they will not have been hardened by the cold winter.

Ordering

Roses should have been ordered from the nurseryman well in advance of planting time. Otherwise often he will have sold his entire stock of one or more of the varieties desired. With the order, the required date of delivery should be stated. Early ordering will mean some degree of preference, for on receipt of each order the nurseryman usually labels plants in the ground. He selects the best plants for the earliest orders; they are dug just before dispatch.

Unpacking Rose Plants

Nurserymen become very skilful in packing plants, often so skilful as to make them difficult to unpack. The greatest care must be exercised in disentangling rose plants received in a bundle. Their thorns and branches can become unbelievably intertwined. The budding is often not very firmly united to the stock, especially in plants budded only a few months earlier, and dragging or twisting of one plant from amongst others can very easily tear out the budding. All ties should be carefully cut with scissors; a knife can be dangerous to both the plant and the person. Then very slowly and gently the branches should be untangled until all are clear; the roots will come apart much more easily.

After unpacking a bundle of roses they should be carefully examined individually. Should the plants appear shrivelled or dry, they can usually be quickly restored to good condition by burying them in damp soil for a few days. Do not have the soil very wet. Any damaged branches or roots should be cut off with sharp secateurs.

The roots of unplanted roses should never be allowed to become dry. If there are only a few to plant keep the roots immersed in water or covered with a wet bag. If there are many they should be "heeled in" and lifted one by one as required. There is no great hurry about this, but the sooner they are moved to permanent positions the better. Rose roots are never idle; they will very soon throw out small roots and so commence feeding.

Heeling in means digging a shallow trench, then laying the rose roots in it, covering them with soil, firming with light pressure, and watering.

Attention to drainage and preparation of the bed is more important than the actual planting.

Spacing

Planting should not be commenced until the scheme is carefully worked out. The position for each rose should be marked. Vigorous-growing varieties should be allowed four or even six feet of space, and be placed in back rows or in the centre of a bed that is to be seen from all sides. Standards can be allotted similar positions or, in a mixed garden, can be grown near the edges of beds with small annuals round them. Their spacing will depend on the vigour of the variety. Roses of average growth should be planted about three feet apart. Less vigorous sorts and some of the Floribundas, used for mass effects, can go two and a half feet apart.

Climbers or pillar roses should be placed six to eight inches out from the supports on which they are to grow, which will allow cultivation between the plant and the support, including the removal of weeds.

High Or Low Planting

Until fairly recently everyone planted dwarf roses and climbers with the budding just below the surface of the soil. It was generally claimed that by so doing a double rooting was ensured, rooting from the stock in the usual way and, in addition, rooting from the bud. Low planting is probably to be preferred in very cold, or hot, dry climates, since it gives protection from extreme cold or sunburn to the union and the stock.

I followed this rule for several years and was very disappointed with my results. I replaced most of my dwarfs with standards because I found that they grew better for me. I blamed my soil and my district. Later I was amazed at the wonderful growth of dwarfs in a garden less than one hun-dred yards from mine. They were all thriving and the only difference was that the union of scion and stock had been placed about one inch above the ground. It was hard for me to realize that what I had always been taught to be right had proved to be wrong, but I tried my neighbour's method the next year and got similarly good results. Since then I have found that practically everyone who plants in this way, either by ignorance, accident or design, has success. I have found too that almost all successful growers of roses on stocks of JR. multiflora and R. fortun-iana plant with the budding above soil level. Thus most rose-growers in Western Australia and north-eastern Australia, as well as in other parts, have ceased to use the old type of planting. In the last few years I have bought mostly dwarfs, on various stocks, and have always planted high. In Tasmania and south-eastern Australia, where R. indica major is used as a stock by most of the nurserymen, probably fifty per cent of rose-growers still plant the union below the soil surface. The root system should never be deeper than six inches below soil surface, even in low planting, and any stock longer than eight inches can consequently cause trouble. Unfortunately such plants are sometimes sold. The greatest fertility and best growing conditions are always in the uppermost four inches of soil. It is there that the greatest number of soil bacteria is to be found, and the rose roots should be placed in or immediately below this soil.

High planting is essentially a practice for hot or temperate climates, and would be quite unsuited to those of England, Canada, and the northern parts of the United States of America, whence reports come at times of the loss of tremendous numbers of rose plants from the effects of cold. Such calamities may occasionally occur in the South Island of New Zealand and in Australia's coldest mountain districts, but in a lesser degree. Roses in Australia mostly suffer from the effects of heat, not of cold. Hence we must not slavishly follow the routine treatment given in cold climates. This variation affects our work in planting, pruning, and general management. In Australia it is seldom necessary to protect the base of the plant with soil against cold, but it is necessary to protect it with abundant foliage against heat.

In sandy soil it is a common thing to find roses, when planted high, swaying about in the wind and working a conical hole in the soil. This increases in size with time and the intensity of the wind. No plant can thrive under such conditions. Movement in the soil wrenches the fibrous roots and prevents the plant from obtaining food. Such roses must be staked.

Perth growers have a practice of driving in a stake until only about three inches is left above soil level, beside the root stock. They tie the stock to the stake with several turns of binder twine. This will rot in a few months, necessitating retying. No tie should ever be very durable, for then it cuts into the bark. Growers in any light soil could well follow this example.

In bygone days rose planting was always preceded by heavy liming. Now this is deemed unnecessary and often harmful unless the soil is very acid, which is most common where land has been heavily fed with vegetable matter. In any such beds a little lime applied a month before planting is usually helpful.

Liming should never be done without first testing the acidity or alkalinity of the soil.

The hole in which a rose is to be planted should be about fifteen inches in diameter, sufficiently large to avoid having to bend any of the roots, and just deep enough to set the union at the required level. This depth will vary with the type of stock used. Roses budded on R. multiflora seedlings have very short stocks. No stock should exceed six inches in length. If it does exceed this limit it should be planted in a sloping position to avoid placing the roots too deeply in the soil, but buy roses with short stocks if at all possible.

A mound of soil should be formed in the centre of the hole. Place the base of the stock on this mound, arrange the roots in radial fashion, sloping downwards and outwards, cover them with friable virgin topsoil and press lightly. To do this use your foot with gentle steady pressure, your knuckles or the base of a small bottle held in your hand. Firm pressure is unnecessary and may even do harm. Add more soil until the hole is about half full. Fill the hole with water and allow it to soak away. Move on to the next planting, then to the next, and so on until it is finished. Then return and fill the holes with loose earth; neither water nor press them. The water applied when the hole was half filled with earth will have obliterated the air pockets from around the roots. This is the procedure for climbers and bushes, including Polyanthas, and Floribundas. No extensive planting of roses should ever be made without including at least a few climbers on pillars or tripods to relieve what would otherwise be a flat effect. The supports must be firmly fixed in the ground and must be made of material that is long-lasting and that will not twist or bend. Iron becomes too hot in summer; jarrah is the best timber.

The base of each piece should be well strutted. When pillars are made of one vertical length of wood, it should be three inches square in cross-section and at least nine feet long so that about three feet may be sunk underground. When only one vertical support is used the climbing branches have to be bent at rather sharp angles when tying them to it. A group of two, three, or even four supports spaced two or three feet apart and joined together by horizontal slats nailed to them to form a straight line or a triangle or a square, will not only be easier to use as a support but will be firmer and give a better decorative effect, for the display will be more widespread. Tripods are better than pillars, for the three lengths of timber afford mutual support for one another. The jarrah for them should be three inches by two inches in cross-section and at least nine feet long. The three pieces should be bolted together at the top as shown in the accompanying diagram. Thin wedges of wood should be cut from the tops of the legs of the tripod, as shown. The wider the angle of the wedges, the farther apart will the feet be spread. Capping the top with galvanized iron will prolong the life of the wood. The rose should be planted in the middle of the area formed by the feet of the tripod or the multiple supports of a pillar and later trained spirally upwards.

The planting of standards should be done similarly to bushes, except that the stake should be driven in before digging commences, and the mound, instead of being in the centre of the hole, is formed against the stake. Standard stocks- R. canina in most cases so far-have roots on only three sides The side without roots is placed against the stake.

The stakes for standards should be durable and provide support and protection to the stock from sunburn. For each purpose a good heavy stake is desirable.. Red gum is inferior to harrah, for it hends and twist badly. Stakes should be one and a half or two inches square and three feet long. Placing the stakes in position is easier while the bed is still level.. Having chosen the exact spot for the stake, drive it into the ground so that one surface faces south-south-east. Against this surface the standard should be planted. Then it is shaded by the stake at the hottest time of the day, when the sun is in the north-north-west. Standard stocks can be badly damaged by sunburn, particularly if the weather is not only hot but dry, and the sap is flowing too slowly, due to inadequate watering.

The hole should be dug on the appropriate side of the stake and the mound formed so that the base of the stock of the plant will be three or four inches below soil level. Drive the stake farther into the ground until its top is about one inch lower than the budding. If the stake is higher than the budding it is not only unsightly but is apt to damage the rose.

Loosely tie the standard to the top of the stake immediately after planting. The looseness will allow the plant to sink a little with the soil. In a few days untie and retie. The material used for ties should never be very durable. The trunk of the standard increases fairly quickly in diameter and long-lasting ties become too tight. They then cut into the bark on the side of the stock farthest from the stake, with consequent interference with plant-feeding. It is best to choose leather or thin rope, which will rot before they have a chance to cause damage. Use only one tie. If a second is used at a lower level and the upper tie breaks in a strong wind, the stem of the standard is apt to break at the lower tie.

Soil Replacement

Sometimes when digging holes for roses, trees, or shrubs, even in well-prepared beds, the subsoil comes up in lumps that will not easily crumble. It is better to discard this soil and cover the roots with friable surface loam. If the roots are covered with puddled clay, air will be too strictly excluded and air is necessary for root-growth. Later, when the puddled clay becomes dry, it will crack away from the roots, often taking delicate rootlets with it.

Virgin topsoil is the best round the roots. It is abundant, of course, in new beds. Otherwise it should be bought or dug from nearby vacant allotments or from under a lawn after lifting turfs, replacing the soil with some that is being discarded, and then replacing the grass sods. This procedure will also help the lawns, for the soil from the rose bed contains a lot of plant food even though it has become more or less "crop-sick" for roses.

The new soil can be stored and will be improved by the addition of a little bone-meal. Allow the mixture to stand in a heap for at least two months. During this time it will improve as a result of aeration from disturbance and from impregnation and growth of soil bacteria from the underlying garden soil and the bone-meal.

Roses never thrive to the same extent when replaced one by one, year by year, as when a whole bed is replaced at the one time. The use of good virgin topsoil is doubly important when replacing a rose in an already established bed. Then, too, dig out as wide an area as possible. This subject is dealt with more fully in a later chapter.

Position

Avoid draughty positions and undue shade when planting roses. If placed a few feet away from very young shrubs, roses will do well and develop their own root systems at the same time as the shrubs are growing, but they will fail if planted near well-established trees or shrubs. The roots will already be too extensive and so hungry as not to give the roses a chance. Do not plant climbers against a brick wall or corrugated iron unless they are to be kept well out from it by a trellis. Too much heat will be radiated in summer and branches will be killed by it

Never, in any circumstances, use manure of any kind at planting time or even near any newly planted rose until, at least, November, and then in only very small quantities.

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