Town Garden Roses

People who wish to grow town roses must make up their minds to do battle against many hindrances.

Keep the plants clean

You must keep your rose trees clean.  Remember that they breathe through their leaves, and that if these are choked with dirt, no amount of manure at the roots will be of use to keep them healthy.  They must be frequently sprayed with clear water, and this must be done all the while their leaves are on unless there are plentiful showers of rain.  See that the spray is powerful enough to wash the dirt off, the water should dash against the foliage with considerable force.

Special treatment

So many people will look after their roses in a dilatory fashion for two or at the most three months of the year, and neglect them the rest of the time.  With town roses this is simply to court failure.  They are in an artificial position, and they must to a certain extent be kept going artificially.

Selection

Of course there is a good deal in the selection.  The smoother leaved varieties are preferable, and these should be noted down whenever one is noticed.

The less crinkly they are too the better, as even tiny furrows and creases serve to hold dirt.  If the soil is light and inclined to be sandy, Tea Roses will answer better than Hybrid Perpetuals, and where there is much dirt rose standards will often give finer blooms than bush roses.

Standards

If rose standards are chosen it is a good plan to look them carefully over every autumn, and stake all those which give evidence of being insufficiently supported.  It is an uncomfortable thought, when the wind is roaring during the night, that it is probably tearing down some of our cherished trees. 

Town gardens are generally more sheltered than those in the country, so our roses had better be placed fairly high up.  It is quite possible to have too much of a good thing, and lack of air produces mildew and all sorts of ills.  The surrounding houses, walls, and trees tend to make exotics of them, so that if a high piece of ground can be given them they are more likely to succeed.