28 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral Edition. 



The KardMi of one who loves birds as well as flowers. 



toirdhouse used. 



Note the simply constructed type of 



A Chat About Roses' 



Percival H. Mitchell, Toronto, Ont. 



THE qualities which are essential to 

 a good garden rose may be read- 

 ily stated; their order of merit, 

 however, being of personal preference. 

 For myself I would choose form as the 

 first requirement; second would be 

 color; third, continuity of bloom; 

 fourth, hardiness and vigor; fifth, frag- 

 rance, and sixth, freedom from inherent 

 diseases. 



The form of a rose varies greatly 

 from the massive flattish blooms gen- 

 erally found in hybrid perpetuals, 

 through the globular shapes to the more 

 or less pointed blooms. They all have 

 their charms, although personally I do 

 not take kindly to the globular shape 

 such as the rose Caroline Testout pos- 

 sesses. In fact in the list to follow the 

 shape is my main reason for disqualify- 

 ing Caroline Testout from among the 

 first choice in the color, pink. 



Rose colors are marvelous and very 

 often are quite as gorgeous as painted 

 by the raisers. Let me quote the color 

 description of Irish Pireflame, a recent 

 development in the single roses: — "In 

 the spiral bud state it is deep maddery 

 orange, splashed with crimson, which 

 as the bud develops becomes fiery 

 orange-crimson, changing to solid deli- 

 cate orange which becomes, as the 

 flower fully opens, rich, satiny, ochrey- 

 old-gold delicately sheened and veinat- 

 ed, crimson and pure lemonzone. Its 

 gorgeous superimposing intense color 

 gradations spontaneously convey the 

 idea of a flame. The handsome, grace- 

 ful wood is shiny purple chocolate, and 

 is festooned with varnished, deep, 

 bronzy, green, ovate foliage." 



This is rather conjuring with the 

 spectrum , but the delicacy of the shad- 



*Eztracts from a paper read at the recent annual 

 conTention In Toronto of the Ontario Hortienltural 

 Astooiation. 



ings of many of the newer roses is 

 really beyond description. 



The majority of the newer roses are 

 capable of producing four or five sets 

 of blooms within a period lasting from 

 June until November. While a number 

 of the hybrid perpetuals have really a 

 good second blooming period, the ma- 

 jority make a wonderful display in 

 June and are extremely shy during the 

 balance of the season. So far there are 

 but few climbing roses which flower 

 more than once during the summer. 

 Several of the roses with most pleasing 

 form and color are deficient in vigor 

 and the bush hardly aspires beyond the 

 straggling stage; two indispensible 

 roses, Madame Ravary and Arthur 

 Goodwin, are of this nature ; the bal- 

 ance of the roses, however, which I list 

 have good growth in the plant. 



Fragrance. 



One cannot think of roses without 

 associating fragrance. It is unfortun- 

 ate that quite a number of our best 

 roses are deficient, and the best white 

 rose, Frau Karl Druschki, is absolutely 

 lacking in perfume; the many other 

 representatives of the hybrid perpet- 

 uals, however, quite make up for this, 

 but it is one of the greatest aims of the 

 hybridizers to produce a fragrant Frau 

 Karl Druschki. The hybrid teas are in 

 general fragrant, but after several 

 years, when fragrance was not one of 

 the aims in the hybridizing, the demand 

 has come that the modern rose shall be 

 fragrant, and it is notable that several 

 of the best perfumed roses have been 

 among the most recent productions. 

 The teas as a class have a delicate odor, 

 and while they are described as tea- 

 scented, the fragrance is of widely 

 varied character. One of the sweetest 



scented roses is Conrad Meyer, one of 

 the hybrid Rugosa roses. 



The greatest ills we have to contend 

 with here in roses are mildew and black 

 spot. Many roses are specially subject 

 to mildew, and the naturally vigorous 

 rose is not immune, for Frau Karl 

 Druschki and Conrad Meyer, two of the 

 strongest roses, are quite addicted. 

 Black spot seems to have been imported 

 and is particularly noticeable on the 

 Pernatiana roses. Thus some of our 

 .strongest and finest roses are peculiarly 

 susceptable to such diseases, and we 

 must accept such roses and combat 

 their ills as they occur. 



The development of new roses is now 

 followed along scientific lines. In Eng- 

 land and Ireland, especially in Ireland, 

 the production of novelties reaches 

 large numbers yearly. The catalogues 

 of such noted Irish raisers as Alex. 

 Dickson & Sons, Hugh Dickson, and 

 McGredy & Sons, all in the neighbor- 

 hood of Belfast, continually show won- 

 derful new roses. The raisers in Eng- 

 land, such a^Paul, Cant, Merryweather 

 & Sons, and the noted amateur. Rev. J. 

 H. Pemberton, also produce many, but 

 the most striking are of Irish origin 

 from the companies named. In France 

 there are many noted raisers, the most 

 important productions from France to- 

 day being from Pernet-Ducher, of 

 Lyons. 



In purchasing roses it is essential to 

 secure the bushes from the most reliable 

 growers. The roses which are the most 

 satisfactory have generally been 

 budded on seedling briar stocks, and 

 thus a vigor of growth is attained which 

 could only be produced by many years 

 of growth of the rose on its own roots. 

 Moreover, the hybrid teas and several 

 of the hybrid perpetuals will bloom the 

 same season as when transplanted when 

 on the briar, so that the rose garden 

 may be realized soon after planting. In 

 some cases the own-root roses are to be 

 preferred, and again some are better on 

 the manetti stock than on the briar, and 

 the choice may lie further with the soil. 

 Most of the reliable growers, however, 

 have determined the proper stock 

 which is most suitable for garden 

 growth and furnish them in accord- 

 ance. 



Bird houses may be made and put in 

 convenient trees. The birds seem to 

 prefer boxes that have weathered a 

 little. 



Lobelia, snapdragon^ forget-me-not, 

 salvia and verbena may be sown in the 

 greenhouse late this month for early 

 plants. 



The old-fashioned bleeding heart 

 makes a good plant at a corner of the 

 shrubbery and as it is a perennial will 

 return each year. 



