Roses for English Gardens

 

CHAPTER V Some of the Rose Species as Garden Roses   It is obvious that our garden Roses must have come originally from some wild kinds, and it adds immensely to the interest of our gardens to know something about these original types and the influence they have had in the making of our garden Roses; moreover some of the actual types are desirable in themselves. Like other classes of plants that are prime favourites, such as Daffodils and Irises, some prominent types have become the ancestors of a host of hybrids and garden varieties, and a close acquaintance with the character of the type plant will often give a very fair idea of the parentage of any garden Rose whose pedigree is unrecorded. Though Roses have been for many hundred years the most highly prized of garden flowers, yet their antiquity, as far as our modern gardens are concerned, cannot be compared, for instance, to that of wheat, whose origin, in direct association with any one wild grass, has never yet been satisfactorily determined. We can trace the descent of all our Roses, within a move or two, from their wild ancestry, and, by the aid of the eye alone, observe relationships. Botanical characters, such as the strongly serrated stipule in multiflora, are a sure guide, but as this book is for the amateur, and deals with the subject from the point of view of garden observation and garden enjoyment, it is well to acquire the more rul.-- o.-- thumb, if unscientific, method of noting the visible links. Thus we learn when we see a hybrid Rose whose leaves are bluish and of a dull surface, wide in the leaflet and strongly sa.-- edged, to at once suspect the influence of alba. One soon gets to know the characteristic leaf of a China, and the habit and leaf character of a centifolia (Cabbage) or a gallica. The leaf of rugosa, again, cannot be mistaken, and is strongly shown in its descendants, even though the other parent was some Rose of a very different nature. There are, of course, a great many species of Roses, and numbers of them are only plants for botanical collections. Only those that concern the garden in the type form, and those that are the parents of garden varieties, are here named and briefly described. Rosa acicularis.-- A Rose with bright pink bloom and glaucous foliage; a native of Siberia; it is pretty and interesting, flowering at the end of May. R. alba.-- Not considered a real species though the name is usually admitted in botanical classification. Sem.-- double white, with handsome bluish leaves. The double White Rose of cottage gardens, Maiden's Blush and Celeste are among its garden varieties. R. alpina.-- A native of Europe and parent of the Boursault Roses. The mature stems are red and without prickles. 'I'he bright red hips are very long in shape. R. altaica.-- The representative of our native Burnet Rose (R. spinosissima) in Northern Central Asia. A beautiful garden bush with lemo.-- white flowers. R. arvensis.-- One of our own hedge Roses; a large Singl.-- bloomed variety of extra rambling habit and some half double ones are good garden plants. R. Banksiae.-- A rambling Chinese Rose without prickles, best known in England by the double yellow form. R. beggeriana.-- From Central Asia; a bush with small glabrous leaves and small, white, unpleasant smelling flowers; an interesting kind though not showy. R. blanda.-- North American. Called also the Hudson's Bay or Labrador Rose; a good-sized bush with large pink flowers. R. bracteata.-- From China. The Macartney Rose, with large white blooms and handsome polished leaves. rhere is also a double variety called Marie L6onide which is stronger growing than the type. R. carolina.-- A North American species, not of the first importance, and yet of some value in that it blooms in late summer and autumn. R. centifolia.-- The type of the Cabbage or Provence Roses, of the Moss Roses and the small de Meaux. R. cinnamomea.-- The double form is the Cinnamon Rose of our older gardens. The flowers are rather few, pink or pale rose, and flattened. R. clynophylla.-- A white-flowered trailing Rose of scrambling habit; scarcely suitable for a garden, but good for a wild place. R. damascena.-- (Damask). A good old garden Rose of oriental origin, with several varieties, red, white and striped. R. Ecae.-- A tender Rose from Abyssinia, with yellow flowers the size of a shilling. It does well occasionally in the south of England. R. gallica.-- The type of most of the older garden Roses. This and the Damask Rose are no doubt the ancestors of the modern Hybrid Perpetuals. Pretty bushes in many varieties. R. humilis.-- A white Rose. R. humilis rugosa is an excellent bush garden Rose with pink flowers. R. indica.-- The type of the China Rose, but there are other forms of R. indica that are apparently the types of some ofthe Teas. R. lavigata.-- A native of China; it makes a good pillar or climbing Rose in the south of England, though it is better in France. It has shining leaves and large white flowers. R. lucida.-- A wel.-- known garden Rose from North America, with shining leaves and ros.-- coloured flowers. It grows into bushy masses. The double variety, though not common, is very beautiful. R. lutea.-- An oriental yellow Brier, the origin of the double Persian yellow, and of the Austrian Copper. R. macrantha.-- Single large rose coloured; a wild hybrid of canina and gallica. R. macrophylla.-- A handsome, tall growing Rose with many large, full-pink flowers. It makes a good pillar Rose and deserves to be more generally planted. R. microphylla.-- A Chinese Rose with buf.-- coloured wood and straight, sharp, gooseberry-like prickles. The bud is curious from the prickly calyx. The double variety is a handsome flat flower, light pink, with crimson centre. R. mollis pomifera.-- The Apple-bearing Rose of older gardens. The foliage is soft and bluish, the flowers pink and the hips large and handsome. R. moschata = R. Brunoni.-- A rambling Himalayan Rose of great beauty, bearing a quantity of clustered white bloom and having graceful bluish foliage. Best used to mmble through trees and bushes. R. multiflora = polyantha.-- Of eastern Asiatic origin. It makes large bushy brakes by itself and is the parent of many of our best rambling Roses. R. omissa.-- An erect bush with pink flowers and grey, softly pubescent leaves. A pretty and interesting Rose. R. pisocarpa.-- A rather straggling Californian bush, flowering in corymbs. The leaves are glabrous and the flowers pink or red. R. Pissardi.-- .k handsome Persian Rose with white bloom. R. rubiginosa.-- The native Swee.-- brier. In the type form an indispensable Rose. The beautiful Penzance hybrids derived from it should be in every garden. R. rugosa.-- The Japanese Ramanas Rose. One of the hardiest of Roses. There are good garden forms and hybrids. The hips are the showiest of any known Rose. R. rubrifolia.-- An European Rose with small red flowers and red stems and leaves; very near R. alpina. R. sempervirens.-- A wild Italian Rose, the parent of many of our older cluster and rambling Roses. The leaves are small and polished and endure through the greater part of the winter. R. setigera.-- The latest to bloom of the wild Roses. From North America. Flowers magent.-- rose. It makes a good pillar Rose. R. simplicifolia = berberifolia.-- A small and tender yellow Rose, requiring a sheltered place against a warm wall. R. spinosissima.-- The native Burnet Rose, type of the wel.-- known Scotch Briers. R. wichuriana..-- A trailing Japanese species with small, polished, deep green leaves and white flowers. Beautiful hybrids are now being derived from it.   Next Chapter: Roses on Their Own Roots Table of Contents Prints of Species Roses by Pierre-Joseph Redouté

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