IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME XVI 



No. 190 



Editor-J- W. Besant. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



DECEMBER 

 1921 



LIBRAK^ 



Fragrant Roses. 



KfciW v< 

 BOTA" 



i\ 



ERE one asked to 

 name the most strik- 

 ing characteristic of 

 the newer Roses, the 

 answer must be in 

 one word — " colour." 

 Since M. Pernet- 

 Ducher introduced 

 Madame Edouard 



Herriot (the so-called 

 Daily Mail Rose) in 

 1912, Rose lovers 

 have enjoyed a won- 

 derful period of pro- 

 gress in this respect. 

 So much so that our French friends appear to 

 have relegated form and everything else to the 

 background in order to worship colour exclu- 

 sively. In our own countries the long-established 

 English standard of form in flowers has saved us 

 from this extreme; however one may admire, for 

 example, the saw-edged flowers of the American 

 carnations, it must be admitted that the smooth- 

 petalled flower beloved by the British florist has 

 an unequalled charm ancl tjeauty. The mainten- 

 ance of too close an adherence to any particular 

 convention of the kind would, however, be a bar 

 to progress. Twenty years ago no rose hybridiser 

 would have dreamt of retaining the Padres, Red 

 Letter Days, K. of Ks., Isobels or other semi- 

 single or single-flowered roses found amongst his 

 seedlings in the flowering .season. Such are dis- 

 appointing to those who cannot appreciate a rose 

 which is not full, but what would our gardens l)e 

 without the numerous modern " decorative " 

 hybrid teas which flower ahnost without cessation 

 from June till autumn, producing a profusion of 

 bloom quite unknown to nineteenth-century gar- 

 deners ? 



It would be interesting to hear what that great 

 rosarian, the late Dean Hole, would say were he 

 to pay a visit to one of our present-day National 

 Rose Shows. But perhaj)s he is now gardening 

 with roses beyond our ken in form and colour and 

 in fragrance. Ah ! there's the sting, for too many 

 of our new roses lack perfume, and in fancy one 

 imagines the Dean sorrowful as he goes round 

 the Show. But our rose misers are keenly aware 

 of the deficiency, and at no distant date there is 

 little doubt that the ranks of sweet roses will be 

 considerably strengthened. The sense of smell, 

 nevertheless, appears to have been dealt out in 



somewhat unequal proportions, and the writer is 

 afraid that raiseis of new roses at times find in 

 their own bantlings a fragrance, the detection of 

 which is denied to ordinary mortals. In any case, 

 it is difficult to obtain information of a fully satis- 

 factory character as to scented varieties; even the 

 list of fragrant roses given in the National Rose 

 Society's handbook does not to the present writer 

 appear to be infallible, and, as a guide to himself, 

 and as a possible help to others, notes have been 

 taken in successive recent summers respecting the 

 fragrance of some seven hundred varieties of 

 hybrid roses. 



Amongst the sweetest twenty-four hybrid roses 

 should be placed Mrs. Bryce Allen, Hugh Dickson, 

 General MacArthur, George Dickson, Crimson 

 Emblem, Edgar M. Burnett, Hadley (one of the 

 best of dark roses), H. E. Richardson, Madame 

 Abel Chatenay, Madame Maurice de Luze, Mary 

 Countess of Ilchester, Mrs. A. E. Coxhead, Lady 

 Greenall, W. E. Lippiatt, Mrs. Maud Dawson, 

 Zephyrine Drouhin, Duchess of Wellington, 

 Ulrich Brunner, Mrs. Richard Draper, Com- 

 mandant L. Bartre, Alfred Colomb, Mrs. J. Laing, 

 Beauty of Waltham, and the old favourite La 

 France. Of these, Duchess of Wellington possesses 

 so strong and sweet a tea fragrance as to re- 

 semble closely the scent of freesias; flowers of 

 Lady Greenall will scent an entire room with 

 delightful jjerfunie, as also will Madame Abel 

 Chatenay. In degree of sweetness the above set 

 of roses is closely followed in fragrance by 

 Admiral Ward, Chas. J. Graham, Captain F. 

 Bald, Chateau de Clos Vougeot, Cheerful, Colleen, 

 Duchess of Westminster, Edward Mawley, Flor- 

 ence H. Veitcli (one of our grandest crimson roses, 

 whether as a climber or large bush), Gustav 

 Grunnerwald, Gruss an Teplitz, Hoosier Beauty, 

 Jonkeer J. L. Mock, Laurent Carle, Lieut. Chaure, 

 Madame Meha Sebatier, Molly Bligh (a fine, large 

 new pink rose), Mrs. Forde, Mrs. Geo. Norwood, 

 Ophelia (soon to be in every garden), Walter C. 

 Clark; and, of coin-se, quite an extensive list 

 could be named of roses which possess tea per- 

 fume in varying degree. 



It will be ol)served that most of our sweetest 

 hybrid roses are of red or pink shades. Probably 

 the sweetest white rose is the rugosa Blanc 

 Double de Coubeit. which reminds one that the 

 large pink flow.MS of the hybrid rugosa Conrad F. 

 Mevcr arc also |io\verfully sweet. 



J. M. W 



