^ The Scented Qarden ^ 



which fall away quickly as they and others doe.' Andrews 

 calls the Virginian rose R. lucida and R. pennsylvanica. 

 This rose with its deeply-toothed leaves is still a treasure 

 in our gardens, and we have also the double-flowered 

 variety, Rose d'Amour, which was introduced by Philip 

 Miller in 1768. The leaves of both turn a brilliant yellow 

 in autumn and the fruit is bright red. R. foliolosa, dis- 

 covered by Nuttall about 181 8 in Arkansas, is very similar 

 in appearance to R. virginiana. It is dwarf er and pro- 

 duces its sweetly-scented pink flowers rather later. 



As early as the closing years of the seventeenth century 

 roses were sent from China. How much we are indebted 

 to the flower lovers in the old East India Company's ser- 

 vice. To them we owe the exquisite China Monthly rose 

 (R. indie a), cultivated in China from time immemorial. 

 The whole atmosphere of this rose is that of an ancient 

 civilization. What tales it could tell us of Chinese 

 gardens of possibly two and three thousand years ago ! 

 The Dutch East India Company introduced the rose to 

 Haarlem in 178 1. In 1789 Sir Joseph Banks introduced it 

 into England, and it is recorded to have flowered for the 

 first time in Mr. Parson's garden at Rickmansworth. The 

 wild species (discovered by Dr. Henry, in 1885, near 

 Ichang in Central China) have solitary flowers and usually 

 red. 



Of the China Monthly roses the pink is the best rain 

 resister, for as a class their petals are so fragile that they 

 suffer badly in a wet season. The widely popular R. 

 chinensis var. semper fiorens, which is rarely without 

 flowers the year round, was introduced into England in 

 1789 by Gilbert Slater of Knots Green. R. chinensis var. 

 grandiftora, with very large pink and white flowers, was 

 126 



