146 MY GARDEN 



are out and once after, and watch carefully for signs of 

 mildew, so that sulphur may be given before it gets a 

 fair start. 



No discourse upon old-fashioned Roses would be com- 

 plete without mention of the Chinas, those Roses which 

 in English gardens grow in such sweet confusion among 

 the Lavender bushes. In this climate they are neither 

 so vigorous nor so hardy, but we have carried a bed of 

 China Roses safely through the past three winters with 

 only a blanket of stable litter. They are the first to 

 bloom in late May, and continue joyously until the heat 

 of mid-summer somewhat checks their ardour, but begin 

 again with the dew-bathed nights of late August, and 

 for the past two years we have had a bowl of China 

 Roses for the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day. 



Many lovely varieties have been raised from the 

 original two brought from China many years ago the 

 Old Blush Monthly and the Crimson China and none 

 is more beautiful than those displaying esthetic blend- 

 ings of pink and gold, rose and copper. Of these are 

 Laurette Messimy, Madame Eugene Resal, Comtesse 

 du Cayla, and Arethusa. Mrs. Bosanquet is tender 

 blush colour, Cramoisie Superieur a fine crimson and 

 prolific bloomer, Ducher beautiful pure white, and Her- 

 mosa a full-petalled pink. While Lavender in our cli- 

 mate does not grow with great vigour, we may get al- 

 most as charming an effect by using Nepeta Mussini 

 with the China Roses, in beds or long narrow borders. 



