In a small garden, there is no need to provide a separate place for the roses. On the contrary, they may be freely associated with the other flowers in bed and border, as well as associated with any decorative materials within the garden. You could try having them creep along large fountains for a nice effect.

Just why it became the practice to give the roses a department to themselves is not clear, though there seems to have been some idea that the rose standard did not harmonize with plants of bushy habit. In the present day no such consideration prevails, and gardeners do not hesitate to admit the rose into every part of the garden.

You cannot have too many roses, and there is no place they will not fit in. The walls and fences deserve their share, and the walls of the house are never as beautiful as when dressed with healthy and prolific climbers. In the shrubbery, they help to take the monotony out of the masses of green foliage.

On the lawn, as standards or pillars, they add a welcome note of color, and in beds and borders they contribute to the general effect. Even as hedges, roses have their use, and as for arches, pergolas, and festoons, there is no better climber available. Pegged down or trained over the beams of a pergola, they make a glorious mass of flower and foliage.

Although the rose has no claim to be kept in a place by itself, this does not imply that the rose garden is necessarily a superfluity where ample space exists. There is something extremely attractive in a well-planned rose garden.

It is a practical token of homage to the queen of flowers, and it demonstrates that the rose, before all other flowers, can be grown in a place by itself without monotony. This is because of its great variety in form, color, and foliage.

A sunny area should be used for the rose garden, and you really should try to lay it out formally. Formality is not achieved by shape alone in the garden details; beds and borders of informal outline can be made quite formal in the planting and accessories.

You should not just plant roses all over the garden without having a plan in mind. Little is known of the rose in a state of nature; our garden roses are mostly a product of man's art. In fact they are probably the most artificial of all flowers.

It would not be a bad idea to grow your rose garden on formal lines, especially if you plan it on a symmetrical basis. The most common method is to cut the rose beds in grass; there is much to be said in favor of a grass setting for roses.

In building a design, it is good to remember that:

• The beds should not be too small or too elaborate in outline.

• The groups should show a geometrical relation between their component beds in the way that is advisable for groups of flower beds.

• Outlying borders give a sense of enclosure and sanctity to the whole arrangement, which may be enhanced by planting their outer lines with standards or pillars.

• The introduction of arches at suitable points is an excellent way to gain height.

• The necessary shelter in exposed sections may be created by the use of rose or sweet-brier hedges, or of roses trained upon a skeleton fence.

• It is not unusual to carry a path through the rose garden, or to set it where two paths intersect at right angles. The point of intersection is sometimes marked by a sundial or vase.

• When a path or paths lead into the rose garden, the beds may be separated by gravel, thereby excluding grass altogether.

You can make your rose garden dainty and tidy by using neatly clipped box edgings. However, the pleasant background of emerald turf would be lost.

There is no reason why the rose garden should be shaped with equal dimensions both ways. It may be long and narrow, but that is not necessarily the best design, especially when space is limited. You can bring the garden into harmony by planting roses in adjacent parts of the garden. This also makes it less tedious to walk among them.