HIGH OR LOW PLANTING - Part 3

Articles In This Section:

· TIME TO PLANT

· ORDERING

· UNPACKING ROSE PLANTS

· SPACING

· HIGH OR LOW PLANTING - Part 1

· HIGH OR LOW PLANTING - Part 2

· HIGH OR LOW PLANTING - Part 3

· HIGH OR LOW PLANTING - Part 4

· SOIL REPLACEMENT

· POSITION

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.

Fig. 9. 1. Heeling in. 2. Mound for planting a bush (cutting stock). 3. Mound for planting a standard.

Fig. 10. Assembling the head of a tripod. The three wooden parts should be of 3" X 2" jarrah and at least nine feet in length to allow for eighteen inches to two feet of each to be underground.