8 THE ROSE BOOK 



miracles that are always happening somewhere to some 

 gardener, fair results have followed. A miracle may 

 happen to you, but then, it may not ; so it is not 

 wise to be too trustful. If you plant in April, nothing 

 but a miracle can save the face of your rose garden the 

 first summer ; but how delightfully easy to be mundane 

 in your aspirations, and — plant in November ! You 

 are then quite independent of miracles, and may safely 

 trust the roses to give a good account of themselves, 

 and, after all, is it not wisely said that " Heaven helps 

 those who help themselves " ? So much for the date 

 of planting. As to the details of spreading the roots, 

 planting at the proper depth, making the soil firm, 

 and so on, are they not fully described in a later 

 chapter that affects only to deal with such prosaic 

 details ? 



I want to convince the reader that in beginning with 

 varieties of wichuraiana, he begins with roses that are 

 in some ways the best of all. There are gardeners and 

 garden writers who decry them because they give of 

 their best in one glorious outburst of colour in mid- 

 summer, but how immeasurably finer are they in display 

 than anything else in the garden at the time ! They 

 are peerless, head and shoulders, both metaphorically 

 and actually, above all other roses, eclipsing them 

 totally in splendour and magnificence of blossom, in 

 sheer profusion of flower cascades. And because they 

 have but leaves to show after three or four weeks of the 

 most dazzling display, shall we describe them as wanting 

 in charm and garden value ? Ought we not rather then 



