253 



The Rose Gardens 



OF 



THE BURBAGE NURSERIES, LTD. 



The most complete collection of Roses in the 

 world is " La Roseraie de I'Hay," situated a few 

 miles out of Paris, where the late M. Jules Graver- 

 eaux, after a quarter of a century of devoted labour, 

 got together an almost complete collection of 7,500 

 varieties, which in 1914 covered about five acres of 

 ground. An interesting account of this collection was 

 published in the National Rose Society's Annual of 

 1914. 



The Burbage collection of Roses is on a much 

 smaller scale, though in its own way it is unique. At 

 present it comprises about 2,500 varieties of old and 

 new Roses, and they are scientifically arranged and 

 systematically displaved in a series of Rose gardens. 

 I.— THE GARDEN OF WILD ROSES. 



First, there is a garden of wild Roses a quarter 

 of an acre in extent, in whidh about 500 species and 

 natural hybrids from different parts of the world are 

 planted. 



These are arranged in their natural sections, 

 groups, species and varieties, and at the same time 

 illustrate the geographical distribution of these forms 

 of the genus ROSA in the different countries and 

 continents. An interesting feature of this garden of 

 Wild Roses is the addition of each species-group of 

 representatives of the garden hybrids derived from 

 them. These are arranged in chronological order, so 

 that all the steps in the evolution of the modern 

 garden Rose from the wild species can be seen at 

 a glance. 



2.— THE GARDEN OF ROSE " SPORTS." 



The garden of Rose " Sports " also covers about 

 a quarter of an acre, and contains a fairly complete 

 collection of the recorded bud-variations or ** Sports " 

 in the genus ROSA that are still in existence. 



These ** Sports " are grouped and planted side 

 by side with their bud-parents. 



In addition to these are a large number of 



