ROSES IN COLD CLIMATES

Articles In This Section:

· CLIMATIC DIFFICULTIES

· ROSES IN COLD CLIMATES

· ROSES IN SUB-TROPICAL CLIMATES

· ROSES IN TROPICAL CLIMATES

· ROSES IN HOT, DRY CLIMATES

· GROWING ROSES IN SANDY SOILS

Cold conditions as we know them consist of three or four cold months in midwinter, with light falls of snow. The ground becomes very wet, but there is no real freezing. After all, roses like heavy winter rains. Possibly, in rather dry winters, in any area, we should give extra water, though the hose is a poor substitute for rain. The blooming season is shorter than average in cold parts, but the disadvantages are less and the rewards greater than those of many oversea growers. When we receive reports of nurseries in England, Canada, the northern United States of America, Germany, and Denmark losing many thousands of plants because of low temperatures in winter, we know that they are, of course, mostly young plants with a large proportion of young wood, but gardeners lose many established plants at the same time. The Pernetianas are most subject to loss by freezing. Any rose plant that, after winter pruning, consists entirely of young wood (usually watershoots) is apt to be cold-tender also.

In the cold parts of the United States of America many rose-growers protect their plants for over six months each year by elaborate and costly methods. Bushes are cut down to less than one foot and then completely covered with straw or brambles and with earth from a reserve pile kept for that purpose. Climbers are untied from their supports and soil is hilled round their bases, while the canes are laid flat on the ground and covered similarly to the bushes. Standards need to be bent right over into a horizontal position. A trench is dug along one side of them, cutting the roots; a spade is driven into the ground about a foot from the base of the trunk on the other side, the plant is untied from its stake and then gently turned down to the ground so that a half or a third of the head of the standard is below soil surface level. The trunk is pegged firmly and the whole plant is covered with straw, dead leaves, burlap, and soil.

These plants remain covered for from four to seven months according to the season and the climate of the particular area. The cold is so severe that even with all this care many branches are killed. We have no difficulties to compare with these, and mention of them is made only to stress, firstly, how favourable is our climate, and secondly, how ardent are these men in their determination to grow roses.

In our so-called cold areas the only necessary precaution is the selection of varieties that will open satisfactorily during six months of the year under outdoor conditions. Winter pruning should be done a little later than usual and summer trimming earlier than elsewhere. Planting should be done in late July or early August, and possibly the union of stock and scion is best placed below soil level.

So far, Tasmania, our coldest State, has no National Rose Society. The advent of such an organization would give a great impetus to rose-growing there. Roses are grown in large numbers in home gardens and, as elsewhere, are the most popular of all flowers. There are several branches of the National Rose Society of New Zealand in the South Island, as well as some well-known public rose gardens.