Chapter 15

Summer Treatment

In the long hot days of December and January we get fast growth and many blooms. In coastal areas the hotter the climate the greater will be the growth, provided there is ample water available to the plants. Most plants will be throwing up watershoots; they should be very carefully guarded. Try, if necessary, to train each of them to take up a good position in the structure of the plant. A stake should be driven in near the shoot and two or three ties placed round them. These can be tightened every few days, steadily drawing the shoot in the desired direction. Extremely hot, dry conditions accompanied by strong sunlight, unfiltered by atmospheric moisture, are apt to burn young growth. In cases such as this Nature halts growth in midsummen

Watershoots

Years ago it was common to see watershoots (or base-shoots) regularly cut out of every plant, because they allegedly took too much vigour from the rest of the plant. This method is quite sound in very cold climates, where immature wood dies from the effects of the cold. It was probably introduced to Australia by gardeners from these climates. Nowadays we regard watershoots as the foundation on which the future plant is to be built, and from which we expect our best blooms.

Never cut blooms from watershoots with stems, except the central part of the many-branched top. The other blooms may be gathered with very short stems by cutting just distal to a pair of small leaflets on each stem, in the same manner as winter pruning is done.

By about i oth January rose-growers in a large part of Australia and New Zealand must decide which of two courses they prefer to follow until winter pruning time. Their choice will depend on the result they desire: (a) do they want a continuance of steady blooming in moderate quantity, which will be of fairly good quality, in mid-March, decreasing in late March and very sparse by mid-April? (fc) do they want a big flush of bloom in April, realizing that to get it they must forgo roses from mid-February to late March? Those who make the first choice will almost certainly get some very lovely blooms of excellent colour, but they may lack substance, because the warmer weather makes for quick development. Those who make the second choice will get much better blooms, but for a shorter time and will lose some by cold-weather damage.

Fig. 12. Progressive stages in a watershoot. I. Newly grown water-shoot. 2. Six weeks later. 3. Some months later. Laterals grown. 4. Fifteen to eighteen months later. Upper part has weakened, and has been removed, together with badly placed lateral.

Dates mentioned in this chapter apply in particular to Melbourne and similar climates. Warmer climates have longer blooming periods, and so the decision can be delayed even as much as a month later in Perth and Brisbane. In colder climates activities must commence earlier.

Early decision is necessary because preliminary treatment for the second choice commences by withholding water for the last three weeks of January, except from first-year plants. Of course, Nature is apt to spoil plans with heavy rain; then subsequent treatment has to be slightly altered.

If you make the first choice you will not have intentions of exhibiting roses at any of the autumn shows. Regular waterings should be continued and blooms cut as they appear. Manure lightly in early February; beyond that there will be no set schedule.

Watering

To get an April flush of roses a fairly definite schedule must be followed. After withholding water, thoroughly soak the whole garden during the first four or five days of February. The lawns will have had light sprinklings all the time. It is an error at this time to believe that the lawns do not need further watering or that the roses will not benefit by the whole area being soaked. This is particularly so in lawns near roses. In Perth, rose-growers do not need to withhold water during any summer period; they keep the beds moist and do their summer trimming in March for their autumn display in May. Watering is the greatest factor in forcing roses into new growth in warm weather.

From Christmas to mid-February avoid cutting any blooms except with very short stems. If you cut with long stems you will be cutting back to an eye that you will want at summer trimming time. Your cutting will force it into growth before the desired date. Thus the timing of the autumn blooming will be spoilt. Simply break off the heads of faded flowers.

Manuring

After the soaking, manure should be applied. Whereas in the spring roses will be of good substance with very little feeding or other attention, in the autumn they need more. The ideal manure would be three inches of compost or of cow manure to which a little bone-dust and fowl-droppings have been added. Failing the bone-dust and fowl-droppings, blood-and-bone could be used. This should be followed by a very small quantity of one of the nitrogenous chemicals, such as nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia, about four weeks before the roses are due to bloom. It could be repeated fourteen to twenty days later.

To apply insoluble artificial fertilizers and blood-and-bone mix them intimately in the desired proportions and then, sparingly and evenly, scatter them round each plant. The radius of the circle will vary with the size of the plant. The roots of large plants spread more widely than those of young or small plants. Do not throw the chemicals, for not only will they probably burn foliage on contact, but the heavier ingredients, such as superphosphate, will fly a greater distance, while the light powdery types will fall short. The ground should always be thoroughly watered both before and after applying artificial fertilizers. Most of the chemicals used for this purpose are soluble, and it is better to use them in weak solution, for they will then spread more evenly and there will be no risk of damaging the foliage, let alone the more sensitive rootlets. In any case, the soil should be wet already, from rain or watering, before any chemical solution is applied.

The roses must be watered fairly heavily at regular intervals. The frequency will depend on the soil and, to a lesser extent, on the weather, particularly temperature, wind, and rain. Do not be misled by light showers; they do not soak the ground. Supplement them with artificial watering. The subject of watering is more fully discussed in Chapter 14.

Summer Trimming

In Melbourne, roses trimmed about 14th February will usually be in full bloom in mid-April, about eight weeks later. This trimming is commonly called "summer pruning", "summer trimming", or "autumn timing". Roses grown in very light soils respond to the stimulation of watering and manuring more quickly than those in heavy soils. Consequently they should be trimmed a day or so later say 17th February instead of 14th February. The accuracy of the timing will depend on the date of the trimming and on the season. In an average season, pruning done four or five days earlier will cause blooming about a week earlier, and pruning done four or five days later will correspondingly delay the blooming. If the season is warmer than the average, the blooming will be earlier than expected, and vice versa, but one can never forsee such variations.

The heavier types of roses, such as Frau Karl Druschki, Molly Bligh, Crimson Glory, Sir Henry Segrave, Mrs Charles Lamplough, and Mother's Day, mature and open more slowly than average types. They should be trimmed two to four days earlier than the others. On the contrary most Pernetianas and very light-petalled varieties mature quickly, and so should be trimmed two to four days later than the others. If you have several plants of the one variety it is well to attempt to spread the blooming period by pruning some of them two or three days earlier than the time appropriate to the variety, some on the normal day, and some two or three days later still.

If you desire your main crop of blooms between : 2th April and 19th April you should prune on or about 14th February; a day or two on either side is of no great consequence. If the blooming is to be planned for 5th to 12th April, the pruning day should be about 10th or nth February. If the flush is desired between 19th and 26th April, the pruning should be done about 19th or 20th February. In climates warmer than that of Melbourne, the interval between the trimming and the blooming will be shorter, or the dates chosen for shows will be later, and vice versa. Melbourne's autumn rose show is held near mid-April and Perth's is held near the middle of May.

Many people are afraid to summer-trim their roses because they have never seen it done. They should not attempt the process without fully realizing that it is vastly different from winter pruning. The whole thing is very simple if people would only curb their desire to cut, and cut, and still cut. It is hard enough to curb them in July, which is pruning time. This is only trimming time, and the term summer pruning is very misleading. All the cutting required is that each shoot be treated as if it had a bloom on it, and one were gathering a bunch of roses.

Each branch will terminate in a bloom or a stalk from which a faded flower has been broken or a thin part left after the cutting of a bloom at an earlier date. That bloom will have been cut with a short stem. One or more of the uppermost growth-buds may have broken into growth, especially if rain has fallen in January. In any case, the heavy watering in the first week of February will have caused these and even lower growth-buds to swell.

Cut each branch back to a plump bud pointing outwards. Conserve all the foliage possible, leaving little leafy twigs in the centre of the plant, but try to induce the inner branches of the current year's growth to shoot in directions that will ensure their not damaging one another. Treat watershoots in the same manner as at any other time of the year.

Gather all trimmings and fallen leaves as thoroughly as possible and burn them. Later spread the ashes on the garden. This is one of the few instances where organic matter should be burnt, for one should aim at making as much compost as possible at all times of the year. Admittedly the ashes are spread on the garden, but they do not improve the physical condition of the soil, and in burning the rose clippings a lot of useful constituents are lost, while others are converted from freely available organic compounds to less available inorganic compounds. The sole reason for advising this burning is that the trimmings, and, even more so, leaves that have fallen beforehand, carry great numbers of spores of mildew and black spot. Spores are very resistant to forces of destruction, and burning is the only safe way of dealing with them. If one's compost heap were very big and could be left undisturbed for two or three years, it might be safe to incorporate them in the heap, but otherwise one would be merely breaking down the organic matter and steadily increasing the numbers of disease spores, year by year, in the garden. Very few gardens are big enough to allow space for large compost heaps to stand for long periods.

Care Of Climbers

During summer and autumn, climbers will throw out their long new climbing canes. Some will come from the bases of the plants; many will come as secondary or lateral growths from existing canes. The former are usually the better in that they form entirely new sections of the plant. Sometimes, they are so vigorous that they carry no mature growth-buds for many feet of their length often twelve or fifteen feet before there is any likelihood of any bloom-bearing or climbing laterals.

These climbing canes are very soft, brittle, and easily damaged by wind. They must be secured to supports. They should be tied in an almost vertical position, for if they are drawn down to near the horizontal, in the manner adopted at winter pruning time, they are apt to produce many lateral climbing growths that will give spring blooms in great numbers but of poor size. If the same canes are tied vertically in summer and autumn but almost horizontally in midwinter, they will produce strong bloom-bearing laterals in spring.

Watering, disease control, disbudding, manuring, and possibly covering of blooms for exhibition will complete the treatment for the remainder of the late summer and autumn.

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