Roses and Rose Growing Part 10

Minnehaha. _Walsh_, 1907. Satin pink, double, large cl.u.s.ters.

Paradise. _Walsh_, 1907. Single, pink and white.

Paul Transon. _Barbier_, 1902. Large panicles, double rose, tea rose scent.

Pink Pearl. Buds deep pink, changing to pearly pink.

Pink Roamer. _Manda_, 1899. Bright rose, white eye, semi-double.

Rene Andre. _Barbier_, 1901. Creamy white, yellow centre, tea scented.

Rubra. _Barbier_, 1900. Single, bright red, white centre.

Ruby Queen. Brilliant carmine, large cl.u.s.ters, double.

South Orange Perfection. _Manda_, 1899. Clear rose.

The Farquhar. _Farquhar_, 1904. Pale rose turning white.

Universal Favorite. _Manda_, 1899. Porcelain rose.

FOOTNOTE:

[3] See pruning, p. 26.

CHAPTER V

CLIMBING ROSES--AUTUMN FLOWERING

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

THE NOISETTE ROSE, _R. Noisettiana_.

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 cl.u.s.ters, 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 cl.u.s.ters characteristic of the Musk rose.

_Aimee 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 s.p.a.ce 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 cl.u.s.ter alone I have counted seventy-two blossoms, soft sulphur, salmon, and red. This variety, and the beautiful white _Lamarque_ (Marechal, 1830), both need the shelter of a wall in a warm, dry position.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NOISETTE.

WILLIAM ALLEN RICHARDSON.]

That singularly beautiful rose _Fortune's Yellow_ or _Beauty of Glazenwood_ (Fortune, 1845), which is cla.s.sed 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 p.r.i.c.kles, 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 _Celine 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 _Marechal Niel_, _L'Ideal_, _Wa.s.sily Chludoff_--an admirable rose, by the way--the invaluable _Reve d'Or_, which seldom bears a cl.u.s.ter 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. _Reve 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.

Among the Hybrid Noisettes--_i.e._ those crossed with the Hybrid perpetual--_Boule de Neige_, a dwarf, and _Madame Alfred Carriere_, a rampant climber, are the best. The latter is certainly one of the best white climbing roses we have, its white blossoms, which some liken to the porcelain roses manufactured abroad, are borne singly on the stalks, and last long in water, while it is never out of flower from June to November.

THE MUSK ROSE, _R. Moschata_,

seed parent of the Noisette, is perhaps more widely spread than any other rose over the face of the earth. From Madeira through Africa and Persia to Far Cathay it blooms, and sheds its delicious musky scent in the evening air. That it has been prized in the West for centuries we know--for Shakespeare's t.i.tania promises the a.s.s to "stick Musk roses in thy sleek smooth head." Hakluyt says that "Of later times was procured out of Italy the Muske rose plant." And Bacon declares that while the white double Violet is the sweetest of all, "next to that is the Musk rose."

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 Na.s.sau_, 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.

THE HIMALAYAN BRIAR, _Rosa Brunonis_,

is sometimes cla.s.sed with the Musk roses: but this is an error, as it is a distinct species, and is also only summer flowering. With its double variety, it is a beautiful rose for pillar, arch, or pergola; the white flowers are very sweet and borne in cl.u.s.ters. But it should be planted where it can get plenty of sun to ripen the wood.

THE MACARTNEY ROSE, _R. bracteata_,

was brought from China in 1795 by Lord Macartney. The handsome shiny evergreen foliage and large solitary white flowers with a ma.s.s of golden stamens, make it a beautiful object. It does best, as do its hybrids, on a wall in a warm dry position: but it will not flower until it is thoroughly established. _Maria Leonida_ is a hybrid of the early nineteenth century, very beautiful when its very full white flowers, slightly flushed in the centre with pink, open properly. But they need plenty of sun and a sheltered position to do so in perfection. _Rosa Lucida_ and _Lucida plena_ are two rose-coloured hybrids with handsome reddish foliage.

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

CLIMBING HYBRID PERPETUALS, TEAS, AND HYBRID TEAS.

Among the Hybrid Perpetuals there are several line climbing roses, as well as climbing sports of well-known dwarfs, which are valuable to this cla.s.s. While roses of specially vigorous growth, but not usually counted as climbers, such as _Magna Charta_, _Margaret d.i.c.kson_, _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 n.o.ble _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 s.p.a.ce round them.

_Gruss an Teplitz_, _Gustave Regis_, _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.

NOISETTE ROSES, _R. Noisettiana_.

Aimee Vibert. _Vibert_, 1828. White, climbing; there is also a dwarf form.

Alister Stella Gray. _Gray_, 1895. Pale yellow, orange centre.

Bouquet d'Or. _d.u.c.h.er_, 1873. Pale yellow, centre copper.