CUT FLOWERS 53 



ROSES 



The Queen of Flowers has long occupied a prominent 

 position at Flower Shows, and there are not a few 

 Societies that devote the whole of their attention to 

 Roses, the chief being the National Rose Society, 

 strongest of all the special Floricultural Societies. 

 Notwithstanding the exquisite beauty of well-grown 

 Rose blooms, it must be conceded that Rose Shows have 

 been very formal affairs until recent years. Even such 

 famous florists as the late Dean Hole and the late Rev. 

 H. H. D'Ombrain, both keen and ardent rosarians, de- 

 lighted in the orthodox method of exhibiting Roses in 

 boxes, each bloom fixed stiffly in its tube, with a stout 

 wire to keep it in position. The growing taste for 

 elegant arrangements of cut flowers has, fortunately, led 

 the National Rose Society to make numerous alterations 

 in its Schedule, and now there are Classes for exhibition 

 blooms in vases, for bamboo stands filled with Roses, 

 for table decorations of Roses, for bowls and for 

 baskets of Roses, for arches of Roses, and for collec- 

 tions of Garden Roses. Still further, the Garden 

 Roses are being largely encouraged, and there is at least 

 one Flower Show annually held in the autumn, when the 

 value of certain roses for autumn flowering is demon- 

 strated, and the beauty of Rose hips and haws and 

 autumn-tinted Rose leafage is made obvious to the 

 general public. 



There are many groups or sections of Roses, but the 

 chief of those encouraged at Exhibitions are the HYBRID 

 PERPETUALS ; the TEA-SCENTED varieties ; HYBRID TEAS, 

 obtained by crossing Hybrid Perpetuals with Tea-scented 

 Roses ; GARDEN ROSES, i.e. those of free flowering 

 habit, including the RAMBLER section, and several of the 

 species, but not including the Roses classed as Exhibition 

 varieties 5 and SWEET BRIARS, including the charming 



