42—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. May 1. 1976 An arrangement of Rosy Gem roses creates a picturesque decoration for the home. Home decorating made easy with roses By SUSAN KAUFFMAN Feature Writer During the month of May many gardeners in this area finish planting their early vegetables then look to their lawns for areas needing improvement. A very popular flower for uplifting the spirits of the gardener and the eye appeal of a lawn is the colorful, fragrant rose. There are varieties of roses which can cure almost any eye-sore in a home’s landscape. If the yard calls for a dynamic center of attraction, then the hybrid tea roses offer a wide variety of colorr yeHowppink, - red, deep purple-red, and even a blue shade. These hybrid tea varieties are very fragrant and their long stems make them perfect for cutting and taking their beauty indoors in arrangements. If the lawn needs a slightly taller flowering plant, then the grandiflora Sts the need with its slightly taller height. The flowers of the grandiflora are somewhat smaller as a rule and appear in long-stemmed clusters. They are best suited where their height will be to an advantage, for instance behind other tall perennials. The floribunda roses, offering clusters of blooms for a continuous mass of color, are ideal for a border between neighbors or unattractive areas surrounding farm lawns. Blank, bare-walled buildings such as garages or machinery storage sheds can benefit from the chmbing roses. These climbers sometimes reach a height of eight to ten feet and bring forth large blooms in clusters con sisting of three to twenty buds. Once well established they will provide a great deal of colorful cover for buildings and offer a pleasant screen for a porch when given a strong trellis on which to grow. Shrub roses spread more and are much denser and shorterthan the tea rose making them extremely useful and attractive as a thick low hedge. They perk up bare banks along driveways and walks all summer long with their profuse blooming. If the lawn includes a dull looking rock garden or a narrow walk or only space for small beds of flowers, the miniature roses will suit all three circumstances well. These roses grown like any other kind of rose only grows in maturity to a height of ten to fifteen inches with fem like leaves and tiny flowers no larger than the size of a quarter. They are huggedly hardy outdoors and can also be forced to bloom indoors in the early spring. They are By MELISSA PIPER The clouds seemed to melt away from the wings of the plane and for the first time, I could see the midwest farm land far below. Pressing my nose against the window to get a better view, I realized that it was just a little different from the hills of Pa. where I had grown up. For instead of the un dulating topography covered with pine and hemlock evergreens, the fields spread out in flat strips much like a picture which lacked dimen sional qualities. I had often wondered how farmers could utilize such immense tractors as I had seen at equipment A g land Tiny roses planted in smaller pots can add zest to window decorations. Homestead Notes very adaptable and quite attractive'when planted in strawberry jars and set on a sunny porch or steps. Finally, if the lawn already has attractive specimen beds, flowering borders, trellises of climbing blooms, and blankets of buds stretching out over the rolling banks and yet it seems to lack something really spectacular, then the tree rose is the answer. Most tree roses are grown on a sturdy three foot high trunk. Any kind of rose can be budded to such a trunk and the flower will be exactly the same as the variety growing as a bush, be it the large - bloom of the tea rose or-the small, clustered bloom-of-tbe shrub rose. The tree rose makes an excellent accent in a bed of bush roses, at an entrance or beside a patio. This variety requires a stake as support and very little pruning. Its beauty belies its simplicity in care. The retail costs for these varieties, depending on the dealer, range from $2.50 for the miniatures, $4 to $7 for the climbing and hybrid tea varieties, $4 to $5 for the floribunda and grandiflora, and $12.50 for the tree roses. These prices reflect the time needed to successfully bud the root stock and develop hardy, healthy plants. After diagnosing the problem in your yard which you wish to correct with some type or combination of types of' roses, go to a reliable garden center, purchase sturdy, healthy-looking dormant plants, usually on sale by the thousands in May, and follow directions for planting, watering, fertilizing, spraying or dusting, pruning and mounding for winter protection. Perhaps you already have roses established m your lawn and have forgotten or lost instructions on. how to properly care for them. During a visit to Star Rose Gardens of West Grove, Pa., about 25 miles east of Penn sylvania Dutch Country, this feature writer, a long-time admirer of others’ flourishing roses, was told the basic care requirements for roses and reasons for such prac tices. The single most important factor when starting new bushes is to keep the canes from drying out. Many bushes are waxed when purchased. If they are not they must be placed in water before planting. Soak the roots for at least one hour and not more than six. Dig a hole at least 18 inches wide and 18 inches deep. A hole this size is necessary to provide the vigorous root system of the rose plenty of room to grow. The roots Country Comer varies, production high shows and now realized that to plow, till and harvest such wide expanses, the lumbering hulks of steel and rubber were quite necessary! Trips through West Virginia and Tennessee had shown yet another view of agricultural land and I mentally compared these miles of flat acres to the smaller patches of ground nestled close to sharp rising hills of the southern states. Such large pieces of equipment would never have even been able to turn arounchn the smaller fields but the land still stood productive and fertile with crops. How different are the many acres of productive farm land scattered across our nation. And with the Miniature roses potted in a jar adds sparkle porch of the home. should be spread out so that each root can com nourishing the p]ant. Add peat moss to the soil taken from the hole so thi 'a SO percent mixture in heavy clay-like soil and m than 25 percent peat moss in sandy soils. Peat mr fibrous, organic or humus material which lightens, soil, makes it easier for roots to stretch out and keeps moisture in light, sandy soil, and helps to' conditions in which beneficial organisms thrive. Incorporate a rose fertilizer into the soil" mixti .cordingto fertilizer jiirections,, One. brand suggests heaping tablespoons. Set the plant into the hole so that the bud onii knuckle is at ground level and fill in the soil mixture the hole is two-thirds full. A cone or mound at the y of the hole helps set the plant at the proper depth f( bud onion to be at ground level and the roots to sprei and down. Firm the soil gently by stepping on it with your fei fill the hole with water. Let the water soak in before the remainder of the hole with the soil mixture. Heap the soil in between and around the canes height of eight to ten inches above ground level, mound protects the canes from the drying action of sun andyrind while the root system is establishing its After leaves have started to grow, the mound can removed bit by bit as the weather warms. fin mid-July of the first year, feed each plant with o half cup garden fertilizer. Established roses should given one-fourth cup of fertilizer in late March, late A and mid-July. Place the fertilizer on the ground aroi the plant but away from the stem, cultivate lightly s add water. When planting and cultivating be sure to k( safely away, from the canes so as not to injure tt protective bark. Avoid fertilizing after mid-summer since this may 1 to winter injury to soft growth forced by the late plication of plant food. Fertilizer may be applied al frost to stimulate early spring root growth. Mulching the plants to a depth of two inches of orgi materials such as peat moss, peanut hulls, cocoa b hulls, ground corn cobs or weed seed-free hay or sti keeps the soil moist and loose, promotes growth beneficial bacteria and earthworms, lessens weedingi many differences in use of machinery, climat soils and growing condition, we still someh manage to produce an abundance of food, fiber a milk. The farm family is still the most product agricultural unit of labor and provides for people other than themselves whether located the deep south or midwest. The land might be different from our grace rolling hills, deep forest and wide acres of co grain and pasture, but with all the combinations acreage, we still have experienced an impressi and steady growth in agriculture over the past 2 1 years. [Continued on Page 44]
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