Roses for English Gardens

 

CHAPTER II Old Garden Roses   The first Rose that comes to mind among the old favourites is the Cabbage or Provence (R. centifolia). No Rose surpasses it in excellence of scent; it stands alone as the sweetest of all its kind, as the type of the true Rose smell. The Moss Rose is a variety of the Cabbage Rose, with a mossy calyx having its own delicious scent, of a more aromatic or cordial character. They are so well known that one need say no more than that they should never be neglected or forgotten. There are several dwarf Roses--dwarf not in the nurseryman's sense, which only means a Rose that is not a standard--but actually dwarf in stature and correspondingly small in all their parts, that are derived from the Provence Rose. These are the neat little De Meaux and the still prettier Spong, and the charming Moss de Meaux, and their white varieties. Of the old Provins Roses (R. gallica) there are a number of catalogued varieties. They are mostly striped or splashed with rosy and purplish colour. I have grown them nearly all, but though certainly pretty things, they are of less value in the garden than the striped Damask Rosa Mundi. But there is an old garden Rose, the Blush gallica, much more double, and that grows into very strong bushes, that is a good Rose for all gardens. It will put up with any treatment. I have it on the top of a dry wall where it tumbles over in the prettiest way and blooms even more freely than the bushes on the level. These two names Provence and Provins, for two classes of garden Roses of the same kind of growth and use, are so much alike that they are one of the puzzles that the Rose amateur has to get clear in his mind in the earlier stages of his education. Provence is the Cabbage Rose (R. centifolia); Provins is Rosa gallica, the garden kinds being mostly striped; pretty, but not of the first importance ; the best as far as my own knowledge and judgment go being Reine Blanche (if it be a true gallica) and the full double Blush gallica. Near the Provence Rose, in sentiment as well as in a sort of natural garden classification, comes the Damask, charming also with its delicious though fainter scent and its wide-open crimson flowers. The Damask Rose, with some of the older Gallicas, may be considered the ancestors of many of our modern Roses, and though there is no record of the earlier pedigrees, those who are old enough to remember some of the first Hybrid Perpetuals will retain the recollection of some Roses such as Lee's Perpetual in which such parentage, probably passing through a Portland Rose, of which group there are a few named kinds, is fairly traceable. The particoloured form is a charming bush Rose that should be much more used; it is known by the names Rosa Mundi, Cottage Maid, and York and Lancaster. The latter name is also claimed for another striped Rose of much less value, but the name is so pretty and the Rose so charming that most of us think they ought to belong to each other, and that there is at least no harm in their association for gene- ral use. The newly found but really old garden Rose now called Hebe's Lip, otherwise Reine Blanche, seems to belong to the Provins group (gallica). There were formerly in old gardens some very dark-coloured Damask Roses called Velvet Roses, that are either lost or have become rare, as they are now seldom seen. An old Rose that used to be in nearly every garden and is now but rarely seen is the Cinnamon Rose (R. cinnamomea), in some parts of the southern counties called the Whitsuntide Rose. The small flat flowers are pretty and have a distinct scent. It makes a neat bush of rather upright habit. An equally old garden Rose is R. lucida, an American species. It is fairly common in old gardens, forming rounded bushes, and will grow anywhere even in the poorest soils, where the autumn tinted foliage, bright yellow and crimson, and the quantities of flat-shaped scarlet hips are very ornamental. The flower is single and of a full pink colour. It seems to like slight shade, as it shrivels in full sun. There is a strong growing garden variety, much more free in habit than the type, but it does not make such neat bushes. It is remarkable that a Rose so well known should have no English name. The double form that has been long in English gardens, but has never become common, and whose merit is only now be- coming recognised, is One of the loveliest of bush Roses. It has the pretty old name Rose d'Amour. How this Rose of American origin first came to be a plant of old English gardens is a question that I must leave to be answered by the botanist-antiquary ; what chiefly concerns us is that it is one of the most delightful things in the garden. The Scotch Briers are considered in the chapter on Brier Roses, and the newer Sweet Briers in that of New Garden Roses, though the old pink single Sweet Brier is, of course, in place here. Many are the ways in which it can be used. Planted in a double row and judiciously pruned, it makes a capital and most fragrant hedge from four to six feet high; but it is perhaps prettiest planted among shrubs, with its graceful arching stems shooting up through them, or in bushy brakes either by itself or among Thorn bushes in one of the regions where the garden joins wilder ground. It will also assume quite a climbing habit if it is led into some tree like a Holly, or encouraged to scramble through straggling Black or White Thorn of tallish growth in some old hedge. Important among the old garden Roses is R. alba. Though it is allowed to bear a botanical name, it is not thought to be a species, but is considered a cross between canina and gallica. This capital Rose is often seen in cottage gardens, where it is a great favourite. The double white form is the most frequent, but the delicate pink Maiden's Blush is a better flower. Lovelier still is the less double Cé1este, a Rose of wonderful beauty when the bud is half opened. When once known the albas may be recognised, even out of flower, by the bluish colouring and general look of the very broad leafleted leaves. The blue colouring is accentuated in Céleste, and is a charming accompaniment to the rosy tinting of the heart of the opening flower. The albas, as well as others of the garden Roses, make admirable standards, their hardiness and strong constitution enabling them to be grown into quite large-headed bushes. It is no uncommon thing to see standards with heads a yard through in the gardens of cottagers, who also grow some of the Ayrshires in this way. Rosa alpina has given us the class of free-growing Roses known as Boursault. Of late years so many more and better climbing kinds have been raised, that the Botirsaults will probably be less and less used, especially as the crimson varieties of the Amadis type have a rather unpleasant colour. One of this race, the Blush Boursault, would be worthy of a place in every garden if it were not that the flowers are seldom perfect. Every now and then there is a good one, and then it is the loveliest thing in the garden, with its almost matchless tinting of tender milk-white deepening to a wonderfully pure rose colour in the centre. Of the others, Morletti, of rather deep pink colouring, is the best. The alpinas may be known by their smooth red-barked stems, the mature ones being without prickles. R. rubrifolia, with pale pink flowers, red stems and red foliage, is also an alpina. In fruit they are conspi- cuous because of their long-shaped hips. The field Rose (R. arvensis), one of the two of our commonest native hedge Roses (the one with the white, rather clustered flowers), has some good garden varieties. One with large single flowers and strong rambling habit is an old favourite of mine, and another, half double, is equally good and still more free of bloom. The Banksian Roses (natives of China) are a little tender in England, and are thankful for a place on a warm wall; just such a place as also suits the Persian Briers. The double yellow is the best for growing in England, and lovely it is, with its rich clusters of tiny butter-coloured bloom. In many gardens it is a failure, absolutely refusing to flower, but often does well on chalk soils. The old Pink China Rose is always welcome, with its pretty clear pink colouring, its dainty scent and neat foliage. It makes compact, low hedges, but I like it best grown with Rosemary bushes. They look just right together and seem to enjoy each other's company. I like to plant them in some place at the foot of a rather warm wall and to train some of the Rosemary to run right up the wall, with other Rosemary bushes free of it in front, and to have it in plenty, and the China Roses sometimes in groups of three or four, sometimes singly and some also trained up the wall among and between the Rose- mary bushes. The crimson China, Cramoisi Supérieur, has long been with us, and also the climbing variety; both capital Roses in their places. There are one or two others of intermediate colouring. But of the old Chinas (garden varieties, not hybrids) the pink and the Cramoisi are the best. The beautiful Fortune's Yellow has been with us long enough to take its place among the older garden Roses. It is also from China and tender, liking a hot wall; but I have observed that it also likes to be led through some other thin wall shrub that will protect the leaves in May when the late frosts come; this seems to prevent that falling of the leaves in May which so often happens to the unprotected shoots. But it is a Rose that cannot always be trusted to bloom well. We have to consider it a capricious flower. Sometimes it is loaded with its glorious loose copper-coloured bloom, and sometimes it is almost bare. We have to remember that it is from a climate very different from our own, and that we cannot expect to have it in such complete control as we may be fairly sure of assuming in the case of hardier Roses; so that when it does do well we must be all the more thankful. Coupe d'Hébé, a pretty and sweet Rose of a good full pink colour, is of uncertain origin ; it makes a capital pillar Rose. There are also some old Roses of free growth of which Lady Einily Peel and Emilie Plantier are good representatives. Both are of tender colouring and have an interesting, old-world appearance; they bloom in loose bunches--not short-stalked enough to call clusters--but of admirable freedom for cutting in long branches and arranging in water. of the recreation of his last years of failing strength.   Some of the Best Old Garden Roses CABBAGE OR PROVENCE ROSES (R. centifolia). Other varieties. MOSS ROSES (R. centifolia muscosa)-- Common Pink Other varieties. POMPONS of the centifolia class-- De Meaux; pink, and white variety. Moss de Meaux; pink. Spong; pink. Burgundy; pink, and white variety. PROVINS ROSES (R. gallica)-- Mécène; white and rose striped. Perle des Panachées; white, striped lilac-rose. Gros Provins Panaché; red and white striped. Other varieties. DAMASK (R. damascena)-- Common Red. Cottage Maid, Rosa Mundi, or York and Lancaster; red and white. One or two other varieties. CINNAMON ROSE (R. cinnamomea); pink. R. LUCIDA; rose. Rose d'Amour, its double variety. SCOTCH BRIERS ncluding the type Burnet Rose (R. spinosissima), and the double kinds in several colourings. SWEET BRIER, the old single pink. THE WHITE ROSE (R. alba)-- Double White. Maiden's Blush; blush. Celeste; blush. BOURSAULT (R. alpina)-- Several varieties, the best being-- Morletti; rose. Blush Boursault; blush white, clear rose to centre. FIELD ROSE (R. arvensis)-- Single and half-double garden kinds. BANKSIAN ROSE (R. Banksiæ)-- Double Yellow; the best, nankeen yellow. CHINA (R. indica)-- Common Pink. Cramoisi Supérieur and its climbing variety; deep crimson. Other varieties. FORTUNE'S YELLOW (R. Fortunei); tender, orange and copper. MISCELLANEOUS-- Coupe d'Hébé; pink pillar rose. Madame Plantier; white, large bush or pillar. Emilie Plantier; free, pink white. Lady Emily Peel; free, warm white. There are other varieties in this class. There are other varieties in this class. PORTLAND ROSES-- Rose du Roi and others; rose and red. CLIMBING CLUSTER ROSES; known as Ayrshire, Hybrids of sempervirens, Musk, &c. Dundee Rambler; warm white. Garland; warm white. Bennett's Seedling; white. Ruga; flesh. F61icit6-Perp6tue; cream white. Flora; pink. Splendens; warm white. Queen of the Belgians; white. Some others. Others in the chapter on Species as Garden Roses.   Next Chapter: The Brier Roses Table of Contents Prints of Rosa gallica by Pierre-Joseph Redouté

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