PROPAGATION

LAYERING ROSES A SIMPLE GUIDE TO LAYERING ROSES TO INCREASE PLANTS AND BLOOMS

Layering roses is one way to increase the number of your favorite rose plants without incurring any additional expense. Careful preparation, a few basic tools and couple of hours spent performing this once popular task will soon show rewards for your efforts.. The rewards of performing this easy to do task will be additional blooms of your favorite rose plants for you to enjoy for years to come. Some gardeners still  regard layering roses as a difficult time consuming process, but this is not the case read the full article and you will soon be layering roses likke an expert.

This method of propagation is reliable, though rather slow.  It is adopted in nurseries particularly with Hybrid roses and climbing roses. A plant from a layer is, of course, on its own roots, and such is very desirable when it is possible to obtain it, for every growth that develops is of the true rose; there can be no question of sucker growths from the stock as in the case of budded roses.  

Layering is best done in June, July, and August, It should be understood that only plants with growths close to the ground can be layered conveniently.

A rose bush is easily prepared for layering. The leaves are first removed from that part of the stem most readily brought to the ground.

The ground round about the plant to be layered should be well forked, and a liberal quantity of gritty soil mixed in with a trowel. A sharp knife and some pegs will be needed the pegs, are used to secure the layers in position. Take the shoot with the leaves removed in the left and hold the knife in the right hand. Cut the shoot close to a bud, choosing one that is on the upper side. Pass the knife upwards for about one and a half inches, and in the centre of the shoot. Place a little piece of matchwood in the middle part to keep it open; then take the trowel and drive it into the soil at a point to which the rose shoot may in bent down conveniently. Work the trowel a little too each side to widen the aperture, then press in the shoot, previously giving it a slight twist, and secure it in position in the soil about three inches below the surface. The part that is cut should then twisted too protrude like a tongue,

Hence its name; and this tongue should point down­ward when buried in the soil, for it is here that the roots are formed.

A little practice will soon enable the amateur to layer his own roses, and it is an excellent way to multiply the stock of any favorite roses. It is usually takes nine months before the layers become well rooted. The layers should not be taken off the parent plant in less than this time. Leaving the layer on the plant longer would increase the chances of the layering being successful. This in mind it is even be better to leave the layer for around fifteen months before transplanting the layered rose.

Climbing roses may be easily layered in the summer months when growth is active, and are regarded by many experts as the easiest of all roses to layer successfully.

If the weather continues dry after layering, it would be well advised to water them occasionally.

Quite fine masses of roses may be had by layering the shoots of an old plant and leaving them alone. I have seen as many as forty layers round about one old plant, and when the layers and the parent plant were in bloom together they made a gorgeous show. Layering roses takes care and patience, but the careful gardener will be rewarded for his efforts with healthy new plants bursting with blooms in the summer months at no extra cost.