140 



IRISH GARDENING. 



SKPIFMIU'R 



Roses. 



Hv On.'NKi. Hkownf.. M.n. 



w 



d ah 



of simsliino novcr 

 I'.isi- y l*"irst we yet a nice 

 .arm day wliicli puts our 

 owcv Iniils ill liu' moi'iii for 

 |ii'niiiL;-. aiul Iheii tlie rain 

 omes like a gliio-pot and 

 •,'i inetioally seals them up. 

 If there were a class for 

 i;iiinmed-up roses I believe 

 I should win a first prize at 

 a show. Shadinsj may help 

 to keep the rain off when we 

 c no wind, but when you 

 i^cl them coupled it is full 

 time to be vexed. Never 

 e I seen such splashed 

 flowers, especially the pen- 

 dant Teas, as we have had 

 this year. Things looked 

 very bad during- the first 

 ui'L'k in August. Nothing 

 hut continual rain for three 

 days is not calculated to 

 cheer a rose exhibitor, but 

 ere we held our show in 

 Naas a few redeeming rays 

 of sunshine changed all. From the north came the 

 wail, "no flowers," the same from Moyvalley, where 

 Mr. C. K. Douglas reigns supreme (why Mr. Knowldin 

 should have called this worthy rosarian a lion in the 

 Irish field I do not know), and the same from poor Naas. 

 But when the day— that eventful day the loth— came 

 what a wealth of roses came to gaol from the North. 

 Never, never have I seen the darks done so well, and 

 as if vieing with them came glorious Lyon. That 

 twenty-box of Lyon, flanked as it was by twenty-four 

 Hugh Dicksons, was a gem ; but why were they not 

 mixed alternately in the two boxes? Perched up on a 

 large tripod was Charles K. Douglas, a seedling not 

 yet permitted to go about by himself, and right well he 

 looked. Poor Charles ! to see him anchored up there 

 and ladies calling him a dote, whilst among those very 

 ladies stalked the same Charles K. Douglas in the 

 flesh, but no roaring was heard. He only roared in 

 Dublin ! Twelve new flowers of the new seedling 

 George Dickson came from Newtownards, and what 

 colour they had ! Dark velvety maroon after the Earl 

 of Dufferin and Horace Vernet about explains the 

 colour. The nicest flower in the show was Gloire de 

 Chedane Guinoisseau, a dark hybrid Tea in its perfect 

 beauty, shown by Alex Dickson. What it was that 

 made it always catch my eye I do not know, and I 

 had hoped to have that flower for my own study when 

 packing up time arrived. Alas! Mr. Hugh Dickson's 

 quick eye also was watching, and my flower was 

 actually carried back all the way to Belfast to be 

 shown there. I can never forget that flower. 



The pity of the show was that the crowd got so 



gri'.it thai hy llic tinu- pcojili' airi\od it w;is well nigh 

 impossible to got near those nurserymen's stands. 

 Messrs. Hugh Dickson again won the Countess of 

 Mayo's Cup with a grand stand. At the back stood 

 i'K'\en great tripods c.irrying flowers of Simplicitj-, 

 Hug-'i Dickson. Mrs. Stewart Clarke. Charles K. 

 Douglas, Atla I.ach- (.unilding, Miss Evelyn Moore 

 (these threi- last si'cdlings not yet in commerce), 

 Kathleen Heinlerson, Lyon Rose, Mme. Ravary. Then 

 in fiont were half a dozen twenty-four boxes, and not a 

 bad flower in the lot. Messrs. Alex. Dickson wore a 

 very close second, and were awarded a gold medal for a 

 highly meritorious display of glorious roses contained 

 in tripods and boxes. Their seedlings were much 

 admired, and rightly so. We will say nothing of the 

 amateurs' flowers beyond that they were good. A very 

 creditable lot came with Mr. Edward Cowdy. Not 

 content with taking the sweet pea cup and prizes he 

 annexed the six roses. What will become of us poor 

 southerners if Mr. Cowdy does roses like his sweet 

 peas? I leave it to other pens to tell of his sweet 

 peas. 



So as I am on what I have seen at the shows let me 

 tell you about the roses I saw at Stillorgan show. Mr. 

 Crozier was exceedingly strong at this show — perfect 

 flowers of Druschki and Dean Hole were his best. There 

 was a fault in some ones six Teas which I was sorry to 

 see. When will amateur exhibitors remember to 

 correctly label their flowers when they are planted ? I 

 forget now what the names were. Suflice it to say that 

 they were not in the official catalogue of the Natiotial 

 Rose Society, but there silling among the six Teas were 

 two fine flowers of Dean Hole. This box was marred 

 by this slip, and it was a pity, as had the exhibitor put 

 Teas instead of hybrid Teas she (I think I am right) 

 would have been a winner. Now, there is one more 

 fault I found there, and which I took the trouble to 

 correct, and let us hope the exhibitor will not trans- 

 gress again. A fine flower of L3-on rose was shown and 

 labelled "The Lion" (not Douglas). "The Lion" is a 

 climber, a single rose, and not of much use, but Lyon 

 Rose holds just the very opposite qualifications. There- 

 fore, when a raiser gives a rose a name let us keep to it, 

 and not have people who are not conversant with the 

 names of roses ordering the wrong varieties owing to 

 lazy exhibitors. I just managed to check one person 

 dotting down " The Lion " for Lyon Rose. What's in 

 a name? A good deal sometimes. 



Myrtus Luma. 



Tmsplantis not widely known or distributed, yet it is 

 perfectly hard}-, being quite immune from frost when 

 M. communis is frequently cut to the ground. In its 

 adult state it carries large, white, fragrant inflorescences 

 which are borne in great profusion, and in pretty con- 

 trast to the glossy, broad, oval-leaf foliage. The bark 

 is of an attractive nut-brown colour, which periodically 

 peels like the Oriental Plane. It is a remarkably 

 attractive plant, flowering at present at Pennick's 

 Nursery Gardens at Delganjs Co. Wicklow. It is 

 about twenty-five feet high, with a ten feet spread. It 

 is of handsome columnar habit, and comes from Chili. 



