Roses and Rose Growing

CHAPTER IV

Many are the races to which our summer gardens owe an almost endless variety of climbing roses; and each season adds to the bewildering number. The older types are the Ayrshire, the Evergreen, the Banksia, the Boursault, the Prairie rose, the Multiflora. And twenty-one years ago, the Wichuraiana from Japan was introduced, adding a totally new source from whence to derive precious and beautiful hybrids.

originated without doubt from the trailing white rose of our hedges and woodlands, Rosa arvensis. In the early years of last century many popular varieties were developed which are still welcome in our gardens, such as Alice Gray, Dundee Rambler, Ruga, Queen of the Belgians, Splendens or Myrrh-scented. And in 1835, the charming little double white rose, Bennett's Seedling or Thoresbyana, was discovered among some briars by Lord Manvers' gardener at Thoresby.

The parent of the Evergreen roses of our gardens was the climbing wild rose of Italy, Rosa Sempervirens. And the best known, and perhaps the most valuable of these, is the white Félicité et Perpétue, named after the saints and martyrs Felicitas and Perpetua. This rose and several other varieties were raised in 1827 by Monsieur Jacques, the head-gardener at the royal gardens of Neuilly. They bloom in large clusters of small, very full, double flowers. Myrianthes renoncule, Leopoldine d'Orleans, and Banksiæflora are white; Princesse Marie and Flora are pink, as is Williams' Evergreen. As all these keep their dark shining foliage until nearly the end of the winter, they are very valuable on screens and arches.

This persistent foliage is one of the great merits of the large white Banksian Fortunei, called in French catalogues Banks de Chine—a hybrid with the beautiful Rosa Sinica. Its handsome green leaves, as I write in mid-February, are as thick outside my window in spite of twenty degrees of frost a few weeks back, as they were in the autumn. It will throw shoots of immense length each year: clothing a wall summer and winter with its rich green foliage. It is much hardier than the Yellow and White Banksians. The flowers, large, full, white, and sweet-scented, grow singly, not in clusters, and are borne like those of the Yellow and White Banksians on the sub-laterals—i.e. the little flowering stems on the laterals of last year. This habit of growth is the reason of so many failures in getting the Banksian roses to flower. An old plant of the Yellow Banksian on the rectory at Strathfieldsaye had never been known to flower when the Rev. F. Page-Roberts came there. He, of course, discovered that it had been pruned hard in the usual way. And after proper attention for two years, it was last year a mass of bloom, to the surprise of all who saw it.[3]

The White Banksian was introduced by Mr. William Kerr in 1807, and named after Lady Banks. The yellow was discovered by Dr. Abel, in 1824, growing on the walls of Nankin. They are both natives of China: but require a warm position on a wall in most parts of England. The finest specimen I have ever seen was a very old plant of the yellow, growing some years ago inside the courtyard at Chillon. It was one of the most beautiful objects possible in summer, the grim walls being closely covered with a sheet of the delicate little blossoms.

This very beautiful class of summer-flowering climbing or pillar roses, is too often neglected in these days. They are the result of crosses between the Gallica, Centifolia, and Damask roses, and the China, Noisette and Bourbon. For size, form and colour, many of these roses are still unexcelled. And one regrets they are not more generally grown.

Whether the seed parent is the perpetual China, Bourbon, or Noisette, and the pollen parent the French or Provençe rose, or vice versâ, the result is that, though it grows vigorously, the hybrid does not flower in the autumn—with the one exception, the beautiful Gloire de Rosamènes. One of the grandest of this class is Blairii No. 2 (Blair 1845), blush with rose centre, a very vigorous climber: but it should be remembered that if pruned it will not flower. This is also the case with the fine crimson Brennus or Brutus. Coupe d'Hébé and Chenédolé are both good roses; while Charles Lawson for a brilliant crimson pillar rose, and the pure white Madame Plantier for bush or pillar, are not easily surpassed, as their flowers are borne in immense quantities. That very brilliant and effective single rose, Paul's Carmine Pillar, is also a hybrid; but its exact parentage is not known. Messrs. Paul & Son, of Cheshunt, write to me: "We believe it to be, as far as we can recollect, a hybrid with Boursault blood." This would explain its coming into flower so early.

This rose is so well known that, like good wine, it needs no bush of praise or description. And it was quickly followed by other Multifloras of varying types. In 1896 came Lambert's trio Euphrosyne, the so-called Pink rambler, Thalia, the White rambler, and Aglaia, the Yellow rambler; succeeded in 1897 by his Hélène, pale rose with yellowish white centre. In 1898 Dawson brought out the Dawson rose, with clusters of semi-double soft-rose flowers. In 1899 came two notable additions—Paul & Son's Psyche; and Schmidt's Leuchstern—one of the most beautiful of the race. The latter grower's invaluable Rubin; Veitch's Electra; Paul & Son's Lion followed in 1900; and their Wallflower in 1901.

In 1903, Wm. Paul & Son brought out Waltham Rambler; B. R. Cant, the exquisite Blush Rambler; and Walsh of Philadelphia the Philadelphia Rambler. In 1904 came Lambert's Gruss an Zabern and Trier. In 1905 Cutbush's Mrs. F. W. Flight, considered by some the Queen of ramblers. And in 1906 Weigand's Taunusblümchen; and Soupert et Notting's beautiful Stella. Last year a rich feast was provided for those who delight in Ramblers, with Soupert et Notting's fine new Bar-le-Duc, offspring of their famous tea rose Souv. de Pierre Notting and Crimson Rambler; Schmidt's Tausendschön, a cross between Crimson Rambler and a tea-polyantha; and Wm. Paul & Son's Kathleen, a single flower, rich carmine-rose with a white eye. And this year Soupert et Notting are sending out their new Bordeaux, a seedling from Crimson Rambler and the dwarf Polyantha Blanche Rebatel.

Meanwhile, in 1887, the parents of a new race of climbing roses had been brought to Europe. The Wichuraiana (Species) was introduced from Japan by Crépin, in 1887. Its small white single flowers with their quaint hay scent, borne late in the summer, its glossy evergreen leaves, and its vigorous creeping habit—for it will cover a large space on a bank in twelve months—proclaimed a new and valuable species. And in America, Manda was quick to see its value as the parent of a new race, by crossing it with tea roses. Ten years later, in 1897, he brought out Manda's Triumph; in 1899, the charming Gardenia, Jersey Beauty, May Queen, Pink Roamer, South Orange Perfection, Universal Favourite; and in 1900, Evergreen Gem, one of the very best. The next year Jackson and Perkins introduced the incomparable Dorothy Perkins. And Walsh, another American grower, followed in 1902 with Débutante, and in 1905 with Hiawatha and Lady Gay.

Meanwhile in France, M. Barbier had been devoting himself to these charming hybrids; and began his long list of beautiful varieties in 1900 with Albéric Barbier, René André, and the single Wichuraiana rubra; to be followed by numbers of others.

For every purpose they are of use. They may be planted to cover an unsightly bit of bank, or to climb over a stump, to wreath themselves into the branches of a tree, or to form a dense covering of shining leaves and innumerable flowers on fence or trellis or screen. They are even more charming on pillars and arches, when the full beauty of their blossoms can be seen from all sides; for while many have a pendant habit, the main flower heads, of Dorothy Perkins for instance, are carried erect above the pink foam of the laterals that clothe the graceful hanging shoots below.

A Wichuraiana hybrid—for choice the dainty rubra, Dorothy Perkins or Hiawatha—grown as a tall, weeping standard seven feet high, is an object of such beauty that if once seen it cannot be forgotten. Or these charming roses may be trained round a large balloon, in the same fashion as the Crimson Rambler in the Royal Gardens at Windsor, figured in "The Garden," December 30, 1905.

CHAPTER V

While many of the beautiful roses enumerated in the last chapter are indispensable in our gardens for covering pillars, arches, screens, walls, fences and pergolas, an end comes all too soon to their flowering season. And when it comes we feel the need of other climbers to carry on the succession of blossom until the frosts cut all off. A pergola, for instance, planted with nothing but summer flowering roses, is but a sorry sight in August and September. While if we have been wise, and have made a judicious mixture of these and perpetual roses, it remains a delight till November.

For vigorous climbers of this second section none excel

This invaluable race was originated by M. Philippe Noisette in America, by fertilizing the Musk rose, R. Moschata, with the Common Blush China, R. Indica (not the Blush Tea rose, R. Indica Odorata). In 1817 he sent the "Blush Noisette" to his brother M. Louis Noisette, a well-known nurseryman in Paris. And its advent was hailed with enthusiasm by all rose-lovers in France; for it was recognized as a new break in climbing roses. In this, and in many of the seedlings which were raised from it, the influence of its Musk rose parent was very strong, the flowers being borne in large clusters, and fragrant with its delicious musky scent. But as time went on, crossings with Tea roses somewhat changed one of the early characteristics of the Noisette, and it approached more closely to the Tea rose—bearing flowers singly—instead of in the large clusters characteristic of the Musk rose.

Aimée Vibert (Vibert, 1828) is one of those early Noisettes which holds its own everywhere. But how seldom do we see that most vigorous and most fragrant of all, Jaune Desprez (Desprez, 1828). Grown against a west wall here, it covered a space some 20 × 20 feet in three years, throwing laterals, five feet and more long every summer; and from the ends of these in late autumn the great heads of bloom hang down, filling the whole air with fragrance; in one cluster alone I have counted seventy-two blossoms, soft sulphur, salmon, and red. This variety, and the beautiful white Lamarque (Maréchal, 1830), both need the shelter of a wall in a warm, dry position.

That singularly beautiful rose Fortune's Yellow or Beauty of Glazenwood (Fortune, 1845), which is classed among the Noisettes, though it has nothing but its beauty in common with them—for it is not perpetual, and its foliage is quite different from theirs—also requires a very dry, warm situation, when, if it is never pruned, it will flower abundantly. I have a plant on a very dry border at the S.W. corner of my house, which has scrambled up to the eaves and is now making efforts to reach the chimneys. The reason that this rose so often fails to bear blossoms is, that being an untidy grower it is pruned. And any one who has once tried to do so should be glad to know that pruning is as fatal to the rose as to the unhappy pruner, for it is armed with the most cruel prickles, like small fish-hooks, of any member of the rose tribe. The flowers, like those of the Banksia roses, being borne on the small twigs growing from the laterals of the second year, any pruning which destroys these destroys all chance of blossom. And this rule holds good with most of the Noisettes.

Ophirie (Goubault, 1841), with its rather small nankeen and copper-red flowers and glossy leaves, is also glad of a little shelter. While the delightful Céline Forestier (Trouillard, 1842) will flourish in almost any situation, though it prefers a wall.

Later on, the influence of crossings between the Noisette and the pure Tea instead of the China rose, is very evident in such superb roses as Maréchal Niel, L'Idéal, Wassily Chludoff—an admirable rose, by the way—the invaluable Rêve d'Or, which seldom bears a cluster of more than three flowers, and others. But though that universal favourite, William Allen Richardson, is, alas! scentless, its habit has more in common with the Noisettes. Rêve d'Or is one of the most useful and hardy of the race, a rampant grower, with buff yellow blossoms borne in immense numbers both in summer and autumn, while its rich red shoots and reddish-green foliage make it a beautiful object before and after it blooms. It strongly resents any pruning beyond shortening its vigorous summer shoots.

The original Musk rose bearing large bunches of single white flowers, is now seldom seen except in very old gardens where it attains a great size. Mr. Rivers, in the Amateur's Rose Guide, 1843, says that "Olivier who travelled in the first six years of the French Republic, mentions a rose tree at Ispahan, called the 'Chinese Rose Tree,' fifteen feet high, formed by the union of several stems, each four or five inches in diameter. Seeds from this tree were sent to Paris, and produced the common Musk Rose." But wherever it can be found it should be cherished for the sake of its scent, which is strongest in the evening, especially after rain, filling the whole air with its fragrance.

Himalayica is a fine single white form of Moschata; and so is Nivea, a large single variety from Nepaul, white, tinged with pink. Of the double and semi-double hybrids, the Fringed Musk, a very old favourite still in cultivation, Rivers' Musk, pink, shaded buff, and the charming Princesse de Nassau, straw colour and very sweet, are all good roses, coming into flower very late in the season, and lasting on through the autumn. For pillars they are excellent subjects.

Madame d'Arblay and The Garland are hybrids of the Musk rose, which only bloom in summer.

With the Noisettes, Musk, and Macartney roses, we have only touched the fringe of autumn flowering climbers. And three most important classes remain to be noticed. These are—

Among the Hybrid Perpetuals there are several line climbing roses, as well as climbing sports of well-known dwarfs, which are valuable to this class. While roses of specially vigorous growth, but not usually counted as climbers, such as Magna Charta, Margaret Dickson, Pierre Notting, and others, make admirable pillars.

But it is among the Tea and Hybrid Tea roses that we find our richest harvest of autumn flowering climbers. Some of these are pure climbers, such as the noble Gloire de Dijon and its descendants; and Cheshunt Hybrid, Reine Marie Henriette, Reine Olga de Wurtemberg, Belle Lyonnaise, etc. Many of these and others do grandly as tall standards, making fine heads covered with bloom. And many more can be grown as isolated bush roses, planted out singly with plenty of space round them. Gruss an Teplitz, Gustave Régis, Mme. Jules Gravereaux, the exquisite Lady Waterlow, and Cooling's Apple Blossom, are specially suited to this form of growth.

In the following lists of these three groups of roses, I have, for convenience sake, placed Teas and Hybrid Teas together.