A hedge of roses…Washington (D. C.) Star

The mistress of the flower garden was a rose enthusiast. Moreover, she had wide experience in growing flowers, so when she planned a rose hedge that was to border the south walk, and said it was to be a success, her friends expected it to be. But even “the lady of roses,” as someone called her, was astonished at the magnificent display that this same rose hedge made, when once well established. Travelers would check their horses and gaze at it, riotous in large blooms, white, pink, rose, crimson, and maroon, such a sight as they had never seen before.

This was the way this successful flower hedge was made. A strip of ground fifty feet long and two-and-a-half wide was prepared. The first step was to have this strip spaded deeply and thoroughly. It was done as soon as the ground was well enough dried out in the spring to pulverize nicely when worked. The spading made the entire strip a crumbled yellow mass, clear down to the under stratum of clay beneath. This clay subsoil in itself is exactly to a rose’s liking. The friable earth above gave every opportunity for the roots to make rapid growth, and find their way downward to the deep clay anchorage that their whole being delighted in. The next step was to enrich this spaded strip. Barnyard manure that had been piled in a heap six months or more to rot, and had become a soft, dark substance that pulverized at the touch of the spade or rake, was spread along the plot. It was put on thickly, a layer at least six inches deep. Then the soot that had been saved from the spring stove-pipe cleaning was added to the manure, and earth, manure and soot mixed thoroughly. Fine-blooded roses are hearty eaters. Rotted manure is rich in the very elements of plant food, and wood soot has the property of increasing the intensity of a rose’s coloring. In a mellow bed made rich by these aids all roses will grow as by magic. As a high-blooded rose grows it blooms, and its profusion of bloom is in direct ratio with the rapidity and luxuriance of its growth.

The mistress of the garden chose for her hedge upright-growing Hybrid Perpetuals and Hybrid Teas. These have stiff, straight-growing canes, and are the only roses suitable for hedges. Tea roses are too weak-stemmed, and Bourbon and China roses too dwarf-growing to be available. Moreover, the Hybrid Perpetuals and Hybrid Teas are hardy with slight protection, while the others are not. A hedge once made of hardy kinds is good for a lifetime, and improves year by year, if steadily well cared for. These hybrid roses have the largest and most grandly perfect blossoms of any of the rose family. Their blossoms have great substance also, and are particularly rich in deep rose, crimson and blackish maroon shades. Their one fault is that many of the varieties are perpetual in name only, blooming but once in the season. The two dozen rose plants that went to the making up of the hedge were carefully chosen one by one from those sorts that do bloom freely throughout the season—and really there is no lack of such varieties. The list embraced twenty sorts of roses, one of a kind, and two each of that royal white rose, Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, and of those rich red beauties, General Jacqueminot, Madame Charles Wood, and American Beauty. The full list embraces besides these, the following: Margaret Dickson and Ball of Snow, both pure white and of the most perfect shape; Belle Seibrecht, La France, Mrs. John Laing, Madame Schwaller, Madame Testout, Paul Neyron, Queen of Queens and Madame Masson, each a remarkably fine flower, and each a shade of fine clear pink; Souvenir de Wooton, Dinsmore and noteThis rose could be one of two roses available at the time: Meteor #1 and Meteor #2Meteor, all of which are dark glowing red shades, incontestably the richest colors found in roses; in addition were Viscountess Folkestone, a glossy, satiny flesh; Gloire Lyonnaise, chamois yellow white, unlike any other rose, and Prince Camille de Rohan, velvety purplish black. These odd-colored varieties are not all perpetual bloomers, but their rare gifts of color made and exception in their favor. This list is given because it has proved a good and reliable one, but it might be varied somewhat to suit individual taste. Two things, however, must be kept in mind to secure a pleasing hedge: Continuous blooming sorts must be largely chosen, and there should be a goodly proportion of white and deep red roses, as these are the most valued for cutting.

For this particular hedge, two-year old bushes were planted. The cost was about twice that of smaller rose plants, but the advantage was that they were of sufficient size to bloom at once. It is not advisable to allow young bushes of hybrid roses to bloom much the first year. Some of our best sorts bloom themselves to death if this is allowed. It is better to pay a little more and reap immediate advantage of the outlay of the money. Last of all, a mulching of fine, pulverized manure was spread all over the surface of the bed, after the roses were planted. This kept the weeds down, and the rose roots cool through the hot summer days, for this hedge faced the sun, as all plantings of roses should. Roses were freely cut with long stems, to encourage a new growth, and no rose was allowed to go to seed. Each spring the entire hedge was trimmed severely back, for hybrid roses bear on the new wood.