IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME VIII. 



No. 88 



Edited by C F. Ball. 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



JUNE 

 '9'3 



Hints on Rose Exhibiting* 





Bv Rev. J. H. Pemberton. 



Exhibiting Roses is a delightful and fascinating 

 pursuit. Delightful by reason of the exceeding 

 beauty of the flower, and fascinating because it 

 is the most difficult of all flowers to exhibit in 

 perfection. A Rose bloom is never stationary ; 

 it is either coming on or going off, and it taxes 

 the skill of the exhibitor to place it before the 

 judges at the exact moment when it is at its 

 best, when it is a <; good Rose." The definition 

 of a good Rose, as laid down by the National 

 Rose Society, runs thus : — " The highest type 

 of bloom is one which has form, size, brightness, 

 substance, and good foliage, and which is, at the 

 time of judging, in the most perfect }}hase of its 

 possible beauty." The aim. of the exhibitor 

 therefore is to set his Roses before the judges 

 '' in the most perfect phase of their possible 

 beauty," and to assist him in so doing it is 

 hoped the following hints may prove useful. 

 For the present we must confine our remarks 

 to " exhibition " Roses ; specimen blooms usually 

 staged in boxes. Exhibiting " decorative " 

 Roses is another subject which we may possibly 

 deal with later. 



I. Some of the Best Roses for Exhibition. 



Take care to grow the best sorts ; not too 

 many varieties at first, but just those that are 

 the most reliable. As a foundation the following 

 we have found indispensable : — Bessie Brown, 

 Earl of Warwick, Frau Karl Druschki, Mrs. John 

 Laing, Mrs. T. Roosevelt, Ulrich Brunner. 

 Caroline Testout, Florence Pemberton, Mildred 

 Grant, and William Shean. To these may be 



added : — Charles Lefebvre, Dean Hole, Hugh 

 Dickson, Lyon-Rose, Dr. O'Donel Browne, 

 Mrs. A. Coxhead, Claudius, Lohengrin, Leslie 

 Holland, and Mme. Melanie Soupert. 



II. Exhibition Boxes, Tubes and Supports. 

 At all exhibitions of the National Rose Society 

 and the affiliated societies Rose boxes are to be 

 of a regulation size. These dimensions are given 

 in all exhibition schedides. Consult a pro- 

 fessional Rose-grower as to the style of box, 

 tubes and wire supports. Note the boxes at 

 the show and examine how the Roses are staged. 



III. Preparing for the Exhibition. 



At least two days before the day of the show 

 we must begin to select and prepare the Roses 

 we propose to exhibit. In cool weather four 

 days before will not be too long, as the blooms 

 in cool weather take longer to develop. Roses 

 develop more quickly at certain hours of the day 

 than at others. Speaking generally, the growing- 

 period is from 7 to 9 a.m. The object of selecting 

 blooms two days before the show is to keep 

 them from coming on too fast. Quick develop- 

 ment is made at the sacrifice of substance. We 

 therefore endeavour to plump up the flowers by 

 keeping them from opening. This we do in 

 three ways : — 



( 1 ) Tying up the Petals. — To tie a Rose bloom, 

 take a piece of Berlin wool (some growers use 

 raffia), pass it round the middle of the bud inside 

 the last row of petals, and tie it. Some varieties 

 are improved by the tie : it plumps them up and 



