122 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



Perhaps it may be worth while to tell the story of a trial that 

 succeeded as it may be of more use to the beginner. My idea was 



to get the best of the Roses into the flower garden 

 My Rose garden, instead of bedding plants or coarse perennials, 



and show at the same time the error of the common 

 ways of growing Roses. Another point was to help to get the flower 

 garden more permanently planted instead of the eternal ups and 

 downs of the beds in spring and autumn and the ugly bareness of the 

 earth at those seasons, and to see if one could not make a step 

 towards the beautiful permanent planting of beds near the house and 

 always in view. Tea Roses only were used for the sake of their 

 great freedom of bloom, and these were all planted in large groups, 

 so that one might judge of their effect and character much better than 

 by the usual ineffective mixed planting. The success of the plan 

 was remarkable both for length of bloom and beauty of flower and 

 foliage, variety of kind and charming range of colour, and also 

 curious and unlocked for variety in each kind. Each Tea Rose 

 varied as the weather varied, and the days passed on : the buds of 

 Anna Olivier in June were not the same as the buds of the same 

 Rose in September, and all kinds showed ceaseless changes in the 

 beauty of bud or bloom from week to week. 



It was easy to abolish the standard as hopelessly diseased and 

 ugly in effect, but not so easy to get out of the way of grafting on 



something else, which is the routine in nurseries, 

 No standards. and here I had to follow the usual way of getting 



all the Tea Roses grafted on the common Dog 

 Rose, but always getting the plants " worked " low either on the base 

 of the stock or on the root, so that it is easy in planting to cover the 

 union of the stock with the more precious thing which is grafted 

 on to it, and so protect the Rose from intense cold. There is also a 

 chance in this way of letting the plant so grafted free itself by 

 rooting above the union. Certainly it is so in my garden in a cool 

 and upland district. For ten years or so, of the many kinds we 

 have planted we have had no losses from cold. Some kinds flower, 

 do well for a year or two, and then rapidly diminish in size 

 and beauty ; some are very vigorous the first year but die off 

 wholly in the second. The Wild Rose stock has the power to 

 push the Rose into great growth the first year, and then, owing to 

 the stock and graft being of a wholly different origin and nature, 

 there is a conflict in the flows of the sap, and death often ensues. 

 Some Roses that grew freely did not open their buds in our 

 country, and others broke away into small heads and buds which 

 made them useless. However, out of the thousands planted some 

 kinds did admirably, and quite enough of them to make a true 



