Roses and Rose Growing Part 3

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUGOSA.

ROSA ALBA.]

CHAPTER III

SUMMER-FLOWERING ROSES--OLD AND NEW.

LET us now consider those roses which, although their lovely season of blooming is but short, shed such fragrance and delight on the gardens of rich and poor. Our oldest favourites first--the Cabbage, sweetest of all; the Moss; the Maiden's Blush; the Crimson Damask; the Austrian, Scotch, and Sweet Briars; the tiny _Rose de Meaux_, so seldom seen now in England that when we find bunches of it on every barrow in the Paris streets, to be had for a few centimes, we fall upon it as on lost treasure.

Then the climbers, the Ayrshires, Banksias, Polyanthas and Evergreen.

And when to these we add all the novelties which j.a.pan has bestowed upon us in the Rugosas and the Wichuraianas, and those marvels which the hybridists are deriving from them and introducing every year in such numbers, we may well consider where best to make a place for these lovely roses, so that from April till August we can rejoice in their varied beauty.

Of the climbing roses I treat in a separate chapter. But if with regard to the dwarf or bush roses, some may raise objections to ma.s.sing them in by themselves, because they are so soon out of flower and leave the beds bare of bloom for the rest of the summer, the objection--a valid one--may be overcome in two ways. First, by planting China roses among them and an edging of the charming Dwarf Polyantha roses round them.

Secondly, by planting lilies and late-flowering perennials with them, which will be in bloom as soon as they are over.

But to my mind, the Cabbage, Moss, Provence and Damask roses look most thoroughly in place in the old-fashioned mixed border along the walk in the kitchen garden, where they flower after wallflowers, daffodils and polyanthus, with lilies and pinks, stocks and carnations, and all the delightful and fragrant odds and ends that, somehow, make it the spot in the whole garden to which all footsteps turn instinctively.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PROVENCE.

CABBAGE.]

THE PROVENCE OR CABBAGE ROSE, _R. centifolia_,

is perhaps the oldest favourite in English gardens; for it was introduced as far back as 1596. Said to have come originally from the Caucasus, it may well be, as its Latin and French names suggest, the Romans' favourite "hundred-leaved-rose" mentioned by Pliny. And as it was found in Southern France at a very early date, it became known as the "Provence Rose." In spite of all new comers, beautiful and attractive as they are, the "Old Cabbage Rose" holds its own to-day in the garden of every true rose-lover, as unsurpa.s.sed in fragrance and colour. Its pure white variety, the _Rose Unique_, discovered in a garden in Suffolk, in 1777, is far less common and less vigorous than the pink Cabbage rose. But if it can be induced to grow it is a very beautiful object in the summer garden, especially as a standard on the briar. The tiny _Rose de Meaux_ and _Spong_ are also miniature Provence roses--and as I have said, ought to be more widely grown in English gardens.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MOSS.

COMMON.]

THE MOSS ROSE, _R. Muscosa_,

originally a sport from the common Provence or Cabbage rose, was also introduced into England from Holland in 1596; and many varieties have since been derived from it, some of the newer ones having the additional merit of being perpetual flowering. The best are the common _Pink Moss_, _Comtesse Murinais_, _Celina_, _Crested_, _Gloire des Mousseuses_, _Laneii_, _White Bath_; while there is a delightful little pink, mossed _Rose de Meaux_. Of the perpetuals, _Blanche Moreau_, _Salet_, _Perpetual White Moss_, and _Mme. Wm. Paul_ are all good.

The Old Double Yellow Provence, _Rosa Hemisphaerica_ or _Sulphurea_ is somewhat rare now, and only found in one or two modern catalogues or in very old gardens.

THE FRENCH ROSE, _R. Gallica_, also called _Rose de Provins_,

as its name implies, is a native of France; but it is also found in Italy, Switzerland and Austria. A good deal of confusion reigns on the subject of this rose and _R. Damascena_; for varieties of both are often misplaced in each other's cla.s.ses. For instance, the common red _Gallica_, the "Apothecary's rose," is usually called the _Red Damask_, and its many striped varieties, especially _Rosa Mundi_, are mistaken for the true _York and Lancaster_, which is a true Damask rose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GALLICA.

RED DAMASK

(THE APOTHECARY'S ROSE.)]

_Rosa Gallica_, however, is easily distinguished from _Damascena_. Its flowering shoots are upright, with few p.r.i.c.kles, and rigid leaves. It seeds very freely; and this accounts for the innumerable varieties which were in vogue fifty or sixty years ago. It is said that one grower near London had two thousand different sorts. It is still largely grown in England for distilling purposes, on account of its delicious perfume; and a field of the "Apothecary's rose" in full flower is a lovely sight in July. But the chief centre of the industry used to be round Provins, the old capital of La Brie, about sixty miles from Paris, on the way to Chalons. Here vast fields were grown, the petals being used not only for scent, but for conserves and medicinal purposes.

When well grown, namely well fed and well pruned by cutting out all the weak wood and shortening back the strong shoots to six or seven eyes, _Rosa gallica_ is worthy of a choice place as a decorative rose, whether in the house or on the exhibition bench, when the almost single flowers open and show their brilliant golden stamens. The best sorts grown at present are _Oeillet Parfait_, _Perle des Panachees_, _Rosa Mundi_, _Red Damask_ (the all-red form of this last), _Village Maid_, and _Tuscany_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CLIMBING DAMASK.

MRS. O. G. ORPEN.]

THE DAMASK ROSE, _R. Damascena_.

This rose was brought from Syria to Europe at the time of the Crusades.

The true _York and Lancaster_ is the best example of the old Damask rose, and grows into a vigorous bush when well established. _Madame Hardy_, a cross with the Cabbage rose, is an excellent pure white variety; and in the last few years some new and admirable Damask roses, _Lady Curzon_, _Lady Sarah Wilson_, _Lady White_, and the _Single Crimson Damask_, have been raised by Mr. Turner; while Mr. Orpen, of Colchester, introduced the beautiful pink climber, _Mrs. O. G. Orpen_, in 1906.

ROSA ALBA,

the white rose of central Europe, introduced into England about 1597, is now too often only to be seen in cottagers' gardens. But surely a corner may be found for the _Maiden's Blush_, for the fine old _Blanche Belgique_, or for _Celestial_--the roses that used to be seen in our childhood with a sprig of Southernwood in every village boy's b.u.t.tonhole on Sunday.

AUSTRIAN BRIAR ROSES, _R. lutea_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AUSTRIAN BRIAR.

AUSTRIAN COPPER.]

These are among the most brilliant of our early summer roses, and are distinguished also by their singular and aromatic scent. But their flowering season is as short as it is vivid.

The single Austrian Briars, mentioned by John Gerard in 1596, both the Yellow, and the Copper known in France as _Capucine_, should be found, if possible, in every garden. But both are of moderate growth; and the Copper is often troublesome to grow, showing itself as capricious as it is attractive. For instance, I have tried in vain for eight years to make it flourish in my garden, while in a cottage garden by the roadside a quarter of a mile away it flowers so profusely that during its short-lived season of beauty the pa.s.sers-by stop to gaze at its brilliant single blossoms of satiny-yellow lined with vivid copper red.

The double yellow _Harrisonii_ was raised in America in 1830; and in 1837 Willock introduced the beautiful and fragrant _Persian Yellow_, which grows so freely wherever it is planted.

All these Austrian briars have been utilized of late by the hybridists with most interesting results. In 1900 the famous house of Pernet-d.u.c.h.er, of Lyons, succeeded in developing a new race of roses, which they named _Rosa Pernetiana_, by crossing the _Persian Yellow_ with _Antoine d.u.c.h.er_, a hybrid perpetual. The first of these was _Soleil d'Or_, a large, full, flat flower, varying from gold and orange yellow to reddish gold shaded with nasturtium red. It is perfectly hardy, and perpetual flowering. And in 1907 they added a further seedling, far more amazing in colour, named the _Lyon Rose_--offspring of a cross between an unnamed seedling of _Soleil d'Or_ and the hybrid Tea _Mme. Melanie Soupert_. This, judging by the reports of those who have seen it, is destined to be a most valuable addition to our gardens.

Another Pernetiana, _Les Rosati_, has been raised by Gravereaux, from a cross between _Persian Yellow_ and a hybrid Tea. It is hardy, prolific, and when I saw it at the end of September, 1907, in MM. Soupert et Notting's ground, it was covered with brilliant cherry-red flowers on a yellow base--the outside of the petals pale salmon. _G.o.dfried Keller_, a cross with Austrian Copper, apricot with the outside of the petals dark yellow, semi-double and perpetual, and _Parkfeuer_, a shining scarlet hybrid briar, are both of the same type.

LORD PENZANCE'S HYBRID SWEET BRIARS,

_R. rubiginosa hybrida_.

These invaluable roses, the result of years of careful hybridizing of the common Sweet Briar, _R. rubiginosa_, with various old-fashioned roses, are amongst the greatest gifts of last century to the rosarian, the amateur, and the cottager.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LORD PENZANCE HYBRID SWEET BRIAR.

JEANNIE DEANS.]