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TIME TO PLANT |
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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 Zea-land, 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. |
