Roses and Rose Growing

Among the yellow shades from palest lemon to deep orange, the choice is not so great; but there are many good roses to choose from, beginning with the two novelties, of 1907—Pernet-Ducher's great Indian yellow rose, Mrs. Aaron Ward, which promises well, and Alex. Dickson & Son's brilliant yellow Harry Kirk. Of older roses few are better than the noble Madame Ravary, Ferdinand Batel, the delightful Gustave Regis, Gloire Lyonnaise, Duchess of Portland, and Kaiserin Augusta Victoria. Mrs. Peter Blair, 1906, is one of the most effective yellows for the garden; and I cannot speak too highly of that little known but very beautiful rose Peace, raised by Piper in 1903, its pale lemon yellow flowers borne on long upright stalks are invaluable for cutting throughout the whole season.

White and blush hybrid Teas are many. And the famous Bessie Brown, Alice Grahame, Mildred Grant, Florence Pemberton, Alice Lindsell and White Lady are to be seen at every show: but they are all exhibition roses except Florence Pemberton.

Augustine Guinoisseau, however, is as good a white garden rose as heart can desire; so is Lady Quartus Ewart; and as Kaiserin Augusta Victoria and Peace are so faintly lemon as to be nearly white, there is no difficulty in making a bed of white Hybrid Teas.

CHAPTER VIII

Mr. Thomas Rivers, that father of scientific rose culture in England, gives a most interesting account in his famous book, The Rose Amateur's Guide, 1840, of the origin of the Hybrid Perpetual rose.

"The Crimson Perpetual, Rose du Roi, or Lee's Crimson Perpetual,[5] ... was raised from seed, in 1812, in the gardens of the Palace of St. Cloud, then under the direction of Le Comte Lelieur, and named by him Rose du Roi.... It is asserted it was raised from the Rosa Portlandica, a semi-double bright-coloured rose, much like the rose known in this country as the Scarlet Four-seasons or Rosa Pæstana.

"Every gentleman's garden ought to have a large bed of Crimson Perpetual Roses, to furnish bouquets during August, September, and October; their fragrance is so delightful, their colour so rich, and their form so perfect."

What would that great pioneer say to our Crimson Perpetuals of to-day?

But though this rose was the first, and probably the parent of many of the earlier Hybrid Perpetuals, the true development of this glorious race took place by other means. The Hybrid Chinas,[6] such as Blairii No. 2, Chenédolé, Brennus, and many others, now, as I have said, most unjustly neglected, were the offspring of the China rose, R. Indica, crossed with the Provence and other hardy summer flowering roses. These were not perpetual, with the notable exception of Gloire de Rosamènes. But several of them bore seed freely. These fertile varieties were again crossed with different kinds of China and Bourbon roses. And their seed produced the new race of strong, hardy roses, the Hybrid Perpetuals, flowering through the whole summer and autumn.

Of those early parents of this fine race but very few are known now. Gloire de Rosamènes (Vibert, 1823) is still in cultivation. But in vain I search English and French catalogues for those marked by my father in 1844 in Mr. Rivers' book. Where is Mme. Laffay, 1839, with its fine foliage and rosy-crimson, highly fragrant flowers; or Fulgorie; or Rivers, with its large red flowers "produced in clusters of great beauty"; or La Reine, 1843; or William Jesse? Probably they still exist as "old and nameless roses" in my own and many other gardens. Yet one would like to give them back the names and honourable places they possessed in one's childhood, and compare them with their splendid descendants. In fragrance they would certainly hold their own; for the fragrance of their Damask grandparent was stronger in them than in too many of the modern Hybrid Perpetuals.

The great development in the race began in the fifties, and was at its height in the sixties and seventies: but for the last fifteen years and more the tide has turned in favour of the Hybrid Teas; and comparatively few new Hybrid Perpetuals are raised each year. In 1853, Margottin gave the enchanted rose-world Jules Margottin, parent of many most excellent roses. And in the same year the delightful General Jacqueminot was raised by Roussel, and became the parent of many of our finest deep reds. Then in 1859 came Lacharme's famous Victor Verdier, a rose still in favour, and one to which the class owes, perhaps, more than any other as a parent. And in 1861 came Charles Lefebvre; also raised by Lacharme.

From that date new and magnificent roses were sent out in numbers every year by the well-known French and Continental houses of Lacharme, Verdier, Pernet, Gautreau, Liabaud, Guillot, Postans, Levet, Margottin, Rambaud, Levêque, Jamain, Schwartz, Soupert et Notting. And in England by Messrs. Wm. Paul & Son, B. R. Cant & Sons, Bennett, Laxton, Paul & Son, Cocker, Alex. Dickson & Sons, Turner, Hugh Dickson, Cooling, Harkness, Ward, etc. While, in 1901, Lambert produced that grandest of white roses, Frau Karl Druschki.

As with the Teas and Hybrid Teas, these roses create their finest effect in the garden when grouped together in beds of one colour. And if we wish to specialize yet further in the matter of colours, they may be graduated from dark to light, or light to dark, with admirable success. A magnificent bed may be filled with such crimsons, scarlets, and cherry reds as the following, beginning with dark and medium crimsons, A. K. Williams, Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Wellington, Dr. Andry, Charles Lefebvre, Countess of Oxford, Fisher Holmes, Louis Van Houtte, Mrs. Harry Turner, Victor Hugo; and the lighter crimsons, Alfred Colomb, Beauty of Waltham, Captain Hayward, Duchess of Bedford, Duke of Teck, Dupuy Jamain, General Jacgueminot, Gloire de Margottin, Hugh Dickson, Marie Baumann, Senateur Vaisse, Star of Waltham, Ulrich Brunner.

For a white and pale blush bed we have the pure white Boule de Neige, Coquette des Blanches (both Dwarf Hybrid Noisettes), Frau Karl Druschki, and Marchioness of Londonderry, which is very beautiful when it does well, though this is not always the case.

And for white with a faint blush, Margaret Dickson and Merveille de Lyon, though these are sadly given to mildew. But for sheer effect and mass of bloom, a bed of Frau Karl Druschki is unequalled. If the long shoots are pegged down every bud upon them will throw a flower-shoot, producing a sheet of blossom throughout the whole season.

Another very effective arrangement may be made by gradating a broad border from a white centre, through clear pinks on either side to bright scarlets, and ending at each extremity with deepest crimsons. This I have seen carried out successfully with a central group of Frau Karl Druschki, flanked on either side by the clear pinks of Mrs. Sharman Crawford and Mrs. John Laing, and beyond them, right and left, General Jacqueminot, François Michelon, Prince Camille de Rohan, Fisher Holmes, Duke of Edinburgh, Mrs. Harry Turner, Dr. Andry, Duke of Wellington, Victor Hugo, Captain Hayward, Duke of Teck, Horace Vernet.

As standards many of the Hybrid Perpetuals make grand heads, their sturdy constitution being particularly suitable to this form of growth.

Among the best for this purpose are, Captain Hayward, Charles Lefebvre, Clio, Dr. Andry, Duke of Edinburgh, Dupuy Jamain, Ferdinand de Lesseps, Fisher Holmes, Frau Karl Druschki, General Jacqueminot, Gloire de Margottin, Heinrich Schultheis, Hugh Dickson, Mme. Gabriel Luizet, Mme. Victor Verdier, Margaret Dickson, Marie Baumann, Mrs. Cocker, Mrs. John Laing, Mrs. R. G. Sharman Crawford, Paul Jamain, Pride of Waltham, Prince Arthur, Prince Camille de Rohan, Senateur Vaisse, Suzanne Marie Rodocanachi, Ulrich Brunner.

Besides those dwarfs I have enumerated as particularly good for massing in colour, many other excellent roses for general use will be found in the following lists.