Rambler roses

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Rambler Roses and Others from Cuttings

Q. Please tell me the correct time to take cuttings of Sweet Briar, climbing Polyantha, and Wichuraiana Roses. What kind of shoots should be taken *? I am told that some Roses besides Gloire de Dijon will flower with little or no sun. Could you kindly name them ? I have struck various Teas in water. Will the above kinds answer this ?

A. The best time to put in cuttings of the Rambler Roses and other hardy kinds is early in October. Good, well ripened growths are best. Those that have flowered the same year make up into very good cuttings. You could first take off the laterals that bore the blossom, if possible securing a heel or piece of the old wood, and cut this through with a sharp knife. The cuttings should be about 8 inches in length. Sometimes these laterals will make two or three cuttings. Use the strongest wood you can get, providing it is not soft and pithy. Plant them in the open garden on a piece of well dug soil, and let the rows be about 12 inches apart, and the cuttings if cuttings of roses are inserted in a flower pot filled with sandy soil in late summer or early autumn, they will form roots in a few weeks if placed under a handlight in a greenhouse about 4 inches apart in the rows. They should be put in almost their full depth, merely leaving about 1 inch above the soil, and be careful to tread them in very tightly. It is a good plan to put a little sandy soil for the ends of cuttings to rest on. Most Roses prefer sunshine, but the Scotch Roses will grow in the shade, also the Rugosa or Japanese tribe. We should not advise you to strike a rose cutting two months after insertion. It was taken in August and treated as described on the previous page. The roots may be seen of these Rambler Roses in water, as it would be too late in the year for this method of rooting them. They would strike very well in water the same as Tea Roses, but you would need to put the cuttings in in July in the greenhouse.

Rambler Rose Dying Off

Q. Would you tell me the reason for a Crimson Rambler dying off? The wood is going yellow and the leaves go yellow also and fall off. It was planted in clay on light soil against the root of an old dead Pear tree. I have other Ramblers in the garden 'which are doing well. I enclose one or two leaves.

A. It may be that the plant has cankered at the junction where it was budded, but we think most probably the cause could be traced to its roots being in uncongenial soil of insufficient depth. We advise you to have a larger hole dug out in autumn, taking care that the soil is moved 3 feet deep and as much in width and breadth. In returning soil mix with it some good manure, and after the soil has lain for about two or three weeks replant your Rose, or, better still, procure a new one on its own roots. These Roses are readily pro- curable in this way now, and they are much superior to budded plants.