6 THE ROSE BOOK 



by the botanist Wichur, who accompanied an expedition 

 to China in 1859-61. 



Rosa wichuraiana, to give its full style and title, is 

 a delightful rose for planting on top of a bank, trailing 

 over tree stumps, or for any such odd use in the less 

 formal parts of the garden. Of its intrinsic merits as a 

 garden flower there is little further to say, but as chief 

 factor in the production of an entirely new race of roses 

 that has revolutionised garden decoration — why, that is 

 another story, and one that might, if time allowed and 

 the printer were willing, take long to tell. But I have, 

 I hope, sufficiently apologised for wichuraiana, and, after 

 all, its sponsors, and not the rose, were responsible for 

 the name. 



Apropos of scaring the beginner, I once heard a 

 landscape gardener give a lecture on " Garden Design " 

 that was obviously very much above the heads of his 

 audience. He had discoursed freely on the Natural and 

 the Formal school of gardening, but his audience was 

 thinning. Finally, as the last few were leaving, in a 

 despairing appeal to their understanding or, at least, 

 their sympathy, he explained that if they made the 

 path from their front door to the garden gate lead straight 

 and direct from one to the other, they were of the Formal 

 school of gardening ; if, however, the path reached the 

 gate only after winding round a shrubbery, they were 

 of the Natural school ! So, in case my meaning is 

 still obscure, and wichuraiana creates distrust, I would 

 say to the beginner that if he knows the ubiquitous 

 Dorothy Perkins, which, of course, he does, then also 



