Two kinds of people use the stars. The first romanticize their beauty and dream by them, the second use them to steer their course by. It is much the same with roses. There is much to be done in this world to beautify both the garden and spirit of our fellow man with roses.

We can devote our time to simple enjoyment of the joys we have found in roses or we can set about the vitally important task of bringing this pleasure to more people. With a new year unfolding before us we might well take stock and see which path we have followed in the past and if we are willing to enrich the lives of our fellow men by following the second course.

If we find the challenge of the latter course inspiring there is one factor which will help greatly in gaining successful results. That is the importance of retaining an affirmative attitude. I used to hate the fact that my garden soil is full of rocks until I found these came in mighty handy when I issued forth with my trusty sling-shot to ward off the innumerable rabbits which plagued our new rose plants.

Interest is reviving in the old shrub roses of our great-grandmothers gardens. To provide beauty with fragrance and nostalgic memories, no other flower has more distinction or appeal.

For all practical purposes, these roses are a necessary tonic for Midwest gardens. They thrive in spite of drought, below zero temperatures, weeds and hot winds. All grow without winter protection except those mentioned otherwise. Care is simplicity itself plant them as you would any other rose.

Feed each spring and water during periods of extreme drought. If blackspot or insects bother, use any good rose dust. Prune away only dead wood, as the new growth continually replenishes the plant. In this manner, the rose can live for 50 years or more.

There are types for all garden needs – tall shrubs for background or hedges, climbers and pillars for trellises, medium to low shrubs for foundation plantings, and ground creepers to hold soil on eroded banks.

These are the best-known groups with outstanding varieties of each: Rosa Centifolia (Cabbage rose) The original Provence rose is pale pink; Rose des Peintres has large deep rose flowers. ‘Vierge de Clery’ is white.

Let’s Face It

We may as well face it, almost a century has passed since we dipped into Rosa X odorata (tea) blood and the modern rose passed into a new phase. The genes have been wound so many different ways from an ever increasing number of species roses. (Should you call me a hybrid Irishman” just because a remote ancestor named Dennis” came to America some 200 years ago, and his offspring intermarried into French, English, German and Welsh families?)

Where do the modern large flowered bush garden roses get their robust stems? Not from tea! Where do the sturdy big flowers come from? Not from tea! From whence do they get some cold resistance? Not from tea!

If we must single out some ancestor common observation would move us to use the name “hybrid gallica.” But this leaves us with the current problems. For in addition to gallica the modern roses have a fair representation of seven other major species roses in their genetic makeup.

It’s Gone- Let It Die In Peace

Our town, is in an area heavily forested with pine trees, but my two lots and others to the north and south are what would be called a clearing in most forests. The reason, the soil too thin over an impervious underlayer for trees to grow, save one and its the problem in my story.

I have always been an enthusiastic gardener but I shied away from roses. They were more trouble than their worth, pruning, spraying, etc. After moving to Oregon I acquired by purchase a house, two lots and a few scraggly rose bushes. All I knew to do for them was to give them water (not enough though I later learned).

After a long period of neglect they responded so slowly that I said in disgust, “Im going to dig’em up and plant a lawn.” Next spring came and they suddenly took off and I found myself a rose grower.

Not many of the original planting remain. I learned by trial and error which would and would not grow (for me, let us say). White and most of the red varieties are best left alone.

When buying a rose bush, you may have sometimes thought that the price was pretty high. But suppose YOU were producing them. What would you want for a plant that had gone through these various stages of development and growth?

So join me for some armchair day dreaming. Let’s indulge in some flights of fancy; just suppose that YOU decide to become a rose grower.

You will find rose bushes produced over a wide area: Arizona, California, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas, to name some of the leading areas in alphabetical order.

While operations will vary some, here is about what you could expect if you followed your day dreams and became a rose grower.

You will first need substantial acreage of some desirable ground. Deep sandy loam would do, and just in case nature forgets you, it is desirable to have some way of irrigating your crop if necessary.