Planting out Roses!

When planting roses, you must take care to avoid exposing the roots to the
drying effect of sun and air. If you have bought dormant field-grown plants
make sure that all broken and bruised roots are cut off smoothly
and squarely. The tops also will need to be cut back. The cut should
always be made just above a bud, preferably on the outer side of the
cane.

Strong-growing varieties may be cut back about one-fourth or one-half,
depending on whether they have good or bad roots. Weaker-growing kinds, as most
of the everblooming roses, should be cut back-most severely. In both
cases it is well to remove the weak growth first. Plants set out from
pots will usually not need cutting back.



Hardy roses, especially the strong field-grown plants, should be set in
the early Autumn. It is better to get them out just as
soon as they have shed their foliage. If not in Autumn, they may be planted
in the early Spring. At that season it is advisable to plant them as
early as the ground is dry enough, and before the buds have started to
grow.

Dormant pot-plants may also be set out early, but they should be
perfectly inactive. Setting them out early in this condition is
preferable to waiting till they are in foliage and full bloom.
Growing pot-plants may be planted any time in Spring after danger of frost is past, or even during the summer, if they are watered and shaded for a few days.

Open-ground plants should be set about as deep as they stood
previously, other than budded or grafted plants, which should be set so
that the union of the stock and graft is 2 to 4 inches below the
surface of the ground.



Plants from pots may also be set an inch deeper than they stood in the pots.
The soil should be in a friable condition. Roses should have the soil
compacted immediately about their roots. As a general rule the
dryer the soil the more firmly it may be pressed.

Generally, roses on their own roots will prove more satisfactory than budded
stock. On own-rooted stock, the suckers or shoots from below the surface
of the soil will be of the same kind, whereas with budded roses there is
danger of the stock (usually Manetti or dog rose) starting into growth
and, not being discovered, outgrowing the bud, taking possession, and
finally killing out the weaker growth.

Still, if the plants are set deep enough to prevent buds of the stock from
starting at all, this can be avoided.