286 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



A FEW WORDS ABOUT ROSES.^ 



By the Hon. Mrs. Lambart, Ottawa. 



OME years ago when I was invited to write a paper 

 on Roses, I readily consented. I was then enjoy- 

 ing my first success in cuhivating my favorite 

 flower, and felt possessed of such an unlimited 

 fund of information on the subject that I was 

 ready to instruct anyone who stood in need of 

 such knowledge. But since then years have put 

 to the test some of my pet theories, and, I must 

 confess, put many of them to flight, and now I 

 only feel capable of saying just a few words in the 

 matter. The wisdom of my reserve is all the more 

 evident from the fact that my friend Mr. MacGra- 

 dy's experience is almost directly contradictory to 

 my own, especially in the matter of pruning. 



It must be understood that whatever I now say 

 is intended for the novice only. I no longer aspire 

 to teach the experienced floriculturist. 

 r The first necessity for rose growing is morning sun. I do not believe that 

 any satisfaction can possibly be obtained without it, even though the sun should 

 beat on one's roses from midday to midnight. It is the early morning sun which 

 is the source of life and strength to them, and if, after midday, they are in shade, 

 so much the better. Rich soil, a shelter from north and east winds by shrubs, 

 or by a fence not too near, and plenty of room, of ventilation between the bushes 

 — under these conditions any rose, except standards, may be grown with perfect 

 success in Ottawa. 



Of course nearly all of them must be covered in winter — and the tea-roses 

 much more heavily than the others. Rosa Rugosa, all the briars (including the 

 two yellow roses) and all moss roses are better for being left quite unprotected. 

 All should be heavily mulched before the ist of July. 



The most important division, to the gardener, is that of remontant and non- 

 remontant of summer varieties. The former bloom on shoots of the same year's 

 growth, while the latter must have two-year-old wood before they will show us a 

 flower. As to pruning : if one's roses are all remontant, the experience of Canon 

 Hole, the well-known rosarian, will serve as a guide. He said that his roses had 

 never been so glorious as they were the year they had been pruned by a donkey, 

 when a donkey had broken into his garden and cropped his remontants to the 

 ground. According to this one should cut out, as one does with its cousin the 



* A paper read before the Ottawa (Canada) Agricultural Society, June 26, 1894. 



