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THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



ROSA. 



R. ACICULARIS (The Needle Rose] is a 

 beautiful Wild Rose, which when leafless 

 might well be mistaken for the Japan Rose, it 

 is so armed with the sharpest needle-pointed ! 

 spines, and it has the same stout, vigorous 

 bushy habit of growth as rugosa. In flower I 

 and fruit it is quite different, and is a bright 

 flowered kind, but early and long blooming ; 

 and it is always one of the first to open. Its 

 leaves are smaller than those of rugosa ; the 

 flower large, rich red, with a sweet scent. It 

 also has a showy fruit, which differs from that 

 of the Japan Rose, for, instead of being roundish 

 and smooth, it is long and Pear-shaped, of a 

 bright red colour, with its apex covered with 

 spiny bristles. It is a native of Siberia, as 

 hardy as any kind known, but as yet un- 

 common in gardens. 



R. ALPINA (Alpine Rose] is really more 

 worthy of a place in the garden than the 

 varieties of which it is the parent the Bour- 

 saults. It grows to a great size, with long, 

 thornless shoots ; does not make such a colour 

 display as most kinds, but t is welcome for its 

 earliness, and a bowl of its rosy-red flowers is 

 pretty in the house in May. 



R. BRACTEATA ( The Macartney Rose} is a 

 little tender, but it is so beautiful that it repays 

 a little extra care, and is pretty for a low wall, 

 which in a sunny aspect is needed to bring it 

 out in its full beauty. The plant is almost 

 evergreen ; leaves dark green and shining ; the 

 flowers large, milk-white, sweetly scented, of a 

 pretty cupped form. China. 



R. BRUNONIS ( White Indian Rose}, a very 

 handsome Rose and almost worth growing for 

 the sake of its foliage alone. It is perhaps a 

 little tender, but vigorous ; any injury that 

 happens from winter frosts is quickly effaced. 

 July is its month of blooming, the flowers in 

 clusters, pure white, with a yellow centre. 

 Alone it is capable of covering a house, and it 

 must have plenty of room. Better still to let 

 it ramble over trees or shrubs, as it does at Kew 

 near the Cactus house. A single Rose named 

 Pissardi also belongs to the Musk Rose type, 

 and has fragrant Dog Rose-like flowers. 

 Under this same name, however, comes one 

 from Germany with large rose-coloured blooms. 

 R. CAROLINA (Carolina Rose} is a very pretty 

 Wild Rose, somewhat resembling R. lucida, but 

 distinct, as it blooms during August, when 

 most kinds are over, and it keeps flowering 

 through September. It is a tall, upright 



f rower, established bushes being 6 ft. high, 

 ts wood is smooth, with few spines ; the 

 leaflets are long and narrow, and the flowers 

 come in clusters of a dozen or more among 

 plenty of foliage, the buds when opening being 

 rich crimson and the expanded flowers bright 

 rosy-red sweet-scented. The leaves when 

 handled have a distinct and pleasant fragrance. 

 R. INDICA (Indian Rose}. This species 

 appeals to all who love Roses, as a parent of the 

 best races. In it we see those excellent 

 qualities, and continuous bloom, that have 

 been kept through numerous generations, and 

 contribute so much to the charm of the Tea 

 and Monthly Roses of the present day. Of 



this species there are two or three forms in 

 cultivation. At Cheshunt, Mr. Paul grows a 

 lovely form, with flowers of a flesh-pink colour ; 

 another variety has a large crimson-red flower. 

 Like the Tea Roses, this species is ever 

 growing and blooming from early summer till 

 late autumn. 



R. LUCIDA (Glossy Rose}. One of the best 

 Wild Roses has leaves of a shining green colour, 

 and just when our native and other early single 

 Roses are passing away this comes into bloom 

 in July and goes on for several weeks. Its 

 flowers are large, opening flat, clear rosy-pink, 

 sweet-scented, in clusters of from five to 

 eight, but succeed one another, so that there is 

 not usually more than one flower open at a time 

 in a cluster. The heps are about as large as a 

 Hazel-nut, deep red, and make a bright effect 

 with the fading leaves, which assume autumn 

 tints. The heps hang all the winter, the leaf- 

 less wood becomes red, and through the dullest 

 time of the year large groups of this Rose are 

 pretty to see. A few plants soon spread into a 

 thick mass as it runs freely underground, and 

 it is so easily increased by its suckers, that it 

 offers every facility for free planting. 



R. LUTEA. This very distinct Rose is better 

 known through the forms derived from it than 

 in its wild form, pretty as that is, and it would 

 be charming to grow on warm banks. There 

 are two garden varieties, commonly called 

 Austrian Briers, one with yellow flowers, the 

 other orange red, both beautiful for a sunny 

 spot. 



R. MACRANTHA is one of the early bloomers 

 and a showy kind. The flowers are large and 

 beautiful, chiefly white, but flesh-tinted round 

 the edges and in the centre with a tuft of fine 

 yellow stamens. In the open ground it makes 

 a thick spreading bush, like R. arvensis of our 

 hedges. Europe. 



ROSA MOSCHATA NivEA. The old Musk 

 Rose is supposed to have been introduced 

 nearly 300 years ago, but the kind that bears 

 the above name is of garden origin. It has a 

 vigorous climbing habit, is hardy, not fastidious 

 as to soil, with shoots like Willow wands, and 

 sending up flowers in great clusters of thirty or 

 more, and it is not uncommon to see from nine 

 to twelve fully open at one time. The flowers 

 individually are large, opening wide and flat, 

 white, with a suffusion of pink towards the 

 edges of the petals and a cushion of yellow 

 anthers in the centre, which keep their colour 

 whilst the flower lasts. The leaves have seven 

 leaflets, are of a gray-green colour, and when 

 young scented. The wood is chiefly smooth, 

 but small spines are numerous towards the tips 

 of the shoots. For cutting it is delightful, as 

 the clusters have long stems, and in the house 

 every bud opens in due course. The buds are 

 of a lovely pink colour before they open. 



R. NUTKANA, according to the Garden and 

 Forest, is one of the most showy species of 

 Western America, having the largest flowers 

 and fruits. Its habit is described as stout, the 

 leaves ample and broad, the flowers large, 

 white, and the fruits bright scarlet, \ in. in 

 diameter. 



