276 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE ' 



Polyantha Pompon Roses 



THE Polyantha Pompons may be said to be the chil- 

 dren of the Rose garden, for their chief charms 

 are their freshness, gaiety and hveliness of etTect. 

 Their dwarf growth and compact, brightly-colored little 

 blossoms seem to suggest youth and make for cheer- 

 fulness. They are specially useful in small gardens, 

 where the Ramblers, many of which have similar flow-ers, 

 but a very different habit, might take up too much space ; 

 and they do not require so much skill in cultivation as do 

 the Teas and Hybrid Teas. 



Like all Roses, the Polyantha Pompons need good soil 

 to start with ; good turfy loam for a depth of 2 feet at 

 least, preferably 3 feet, should be given them, and a cer- 

 tain amount of well-decayed manure may be added to 

 the lower stratum of soil. They should be planted in 

 October or November and firmly trodden in. They can 

 then look after themselves till the following March or 

 April, when they should be ])runed hard back. In after 

 years they can be merely thinned and allowed to grow 

 into good-sized bushes some 4 feet or 5 feet high, when 

 they can again be cut close to the ground. Treated in 

 the latter way these little Roses look very charming in 

 small beds on the lawn — such beds as are often filled 

 with Begonias or Zonal Geraniums. The Roses are in- 

 finitely less trouble than these tender plants, which have 

 to be dug up in October and wintered in a frame or 

 greenhouse : and often they will go on flowering till 

 Christmas. They are seldom much troubled with mildew 

 or black spot in the way so many of the Hybrid Teas 

 are apt to be. They may require a little syringing to 

 get rid of green fly during May and early June, and 

 after that w^e can just enjoy their beauty and marvel at 

 their profusion of bloom. Some of the best for beds are: 



Mrs. Ciitbush. — Pink: a very charming variety. 



Orleans Rose. — Bright rose, produced in large panicles. 



EIIcu Paulsen. — Deep rose: fragrant. 



Maman Titrbat. — Pale pink : light green foliage. 



Katharine Zeimet. — White : good early and late : honey 

 scented. 



Jessie. — Bright cherry red ; best in Autumn, generally 

 flowering well right on to Giristmas. 



These are all old and tried favorites which we have 

 grown for many years. Some newer ones also worth 

 growing are : 



Coronet. — Verv dwarf and distinct : flowers pink and 

 and pale yellow. 



Perle Orleanaise. — Pale salmon pink : neat-shaped 

 flowers. 



Triomphe d'Orleanaise. — Crimson with a shade of 

 magenta. The flowers are larger than those of Jessie, 

 and in the early Summer it is the more showy variety 

 of the two ;.but Jessie comes into her own in the Autumn, 

 and if only one of these crimsons is grown, I shall cer- 

 tainly prefer Jessie on account of its brighter coloring. 



Little A'leg. — A recent introduction. — The flowers are 

 larger than most of the Pompons and are a delicate milk- 

 white, showing up well against the glistening green 

 Wichuraiana-like foliage. In shape and size they re- 

 semble the China Roses, and are, to my mind, more grace- 

 ful for cutting purposes than the characteristic rosette- 

 like blooms of many of this family. The buds have 

 almost the beauty of form of a miniature Tea Rose. 

 Little Meg is certainly a good autumnal, for our bed of 

 this variety was full of bud and blossom last Autumn 

 right '""-o November. They have a slight Briar-like 



scent which is very pleasant. The Wichuraiana Shower 

 of Gold is one of Little Meg's parents : this accounts for 

 the beauty of foliage, and this variety might almost be 

 called a dwarf Wichuraiana. In many ways it is like 

 the dwarf Wichuraianas which were brought out some 

 years ago, of which Seashell and Iceberg were two of 

 the prettiest ; but Little Meg has larger flowers and is 

 altogether more vigorous and more showy than these 

 older kinds. 



The Polyantha Pompons when grown in beds look 

 very well if they are given an edging of some compact- 

 growing Viola, especially if the reds and pinks are sur- 

 rounded with white Violas, such as White Swan, and 

 the whites with pale mauve Violas, than which none is 

 better for the purpose than Kitty Bell. All who visited 

 the Chelsea Show in 1919 must recall with pleasure the 

 delightful effect produced by the clever grouping of 

 these Polyantha Pompons with Violas ; some of the 

 Roses were budded on dwarf standards : some were what 

 we call dwarf plants. They were arranged in a very 

 eft'ective manner and carpeted with mauve Violas ; both 

 Roses and \^iolas were charmingly fresh and attractive 

 in coloring, and the exhibit was a proof of what a de- 

 lightful little Rose garden could be made with the 

 Polyantha Pompons alone. 



Again at the Royal Horticultural Society's Show at 

 Chelsea on June 1 of this year was demonstrated the 

 exceedingly pretty eft'ect which may be obtained by a 

 free use of the Polyantha Pompons. The plants were all 

 in pots and were grouped on the ground ; at the corners 

 were well-grown specimens of the rambling Polyanthas. 

 Some of the Pompons were in standard form, and these 

 varying heights gave a gracefully undulating contour to 

 this delightful exhibit. 



Three new varieties attracted my attention at this 

 show. The first was Edith Cavell, a bright cherry-crim- 

 son color with a w-hite eye, but without the white streak 

 which detracts from Jessie's charms. The individual 

 'olossoms are also a little larger than those of Jessie, and 

 the trusses are larger and on longer stems, more in the 

 way of the Orleans Rose. 



I'erditii has an exceedingly neat and compact little 

 flower of rounded form and of a uniform tint of bright 

 cherry scarlet. The flowers grew closely together in the 

 clusters, which were erect and very freely produced. 



Eblaiissant looked almost more like China than a 

 Polyantha Pompon. The deep crimson flowers were 

 more loosely put together and had larger and more 

 pointed petals than is usual among the Pompons, and re- 

 minded me of the old favorite Cramoisie Superieure, 

 and perhaps even more of the less well known Princesse 

 de Sagan. Though perhaps not so brilliant in effect as 

 either Edith Cavell or Verdun, the rich coloring and 

 artistically shaped flowers of this variety were to me very 

 pleasing. 



All the Polyantha Pompons last well as cut flowers, 

 but their lack of fragrance detracts to my mind very con- 

 siderably from their value for this purpose. The deep 

 rose-colored Edith Poulsen is the only dwarf Polyantha 

 which has anything approaching a real Rose scent : and 

 raisers of new varieties should not rest content till they 

 have produced varieties in this group which possess in a 

 marked degree the most endearing of all the Rose"s at- 

 tributes, namely, fragrance. — The Garden. 



