CHAPTER XIV 



PENZANCE SWEET BRIERS 



Some twenty-four years ago, the late Lord Penzance 

 conceived the happy idea of making use of the common 

 Sweet Brier, which, as everyone knows, has fragrant 

 foliage, in his cross-fertilising experiments, which he 

 had taken up as a hobby. He endeavoured to create 

 roses having the rich colours to be found in the old- 

 fashioned Hybrid Chinese, Hybrid Bourbon, and Austrian 

 Brier roses, and having also sweet-scented leaves. He 

 was singularly successful in blending the colour of the 

 wonderful Austrian Copper rose with the Sweet Brier 

 fragrance of leaf in the lovely Penzance Brier, Lady 

 Penzance. The rich scarlets and pinks among the Pen- 

 zance Briers were derived from the Hybrid Chinese and 

 Hybrid Bourbons, roses that are now rarely grown. 

 Even though in his eightieth year, Lord Penzance has 

 described how fascinating the work was to him in an 

 article which appeared in " The Rosarian's Year-Book " 

 of 1896. 



Penzance Briers are well adapted for forming hedges 

 six or eight feet high. If desired, they may be kept 

 about five feet high, by pruning and training. They 

 are well suited to shrubbery planting, providing they 



are not overcrowded or placed in the shade, I love to 



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