ROSES 87 



Rose hedges must be pruned to promote an abundant flower display. 

 The way to prune will depend upon the variety. Avoid, of course, any 

 trimmed-up effect. The branches should droop with their flower burden. 

 Growths one and two years old produce the finest flowers, and on some 

 kinds laterals appear from three- and four-year-old wood. One or two 

 branches may be cut out of each plant so as to give those remaining 

 more space for development. This pruning may be carried out in the 

 autumn ; it is a better time than the spring. 



With regard to the stock, secure, if possible, strong own-root plants. 

 If this cannot be managed, then get them upon the seedling briar, the 

 roots of which go down deep, and the plant is then better able to resist 

 drought. 



The Sweet Briar is of course the hedge of hedges. Pleasant is it to 

 wander round the garden in the clear light of a June evening when the 

 air is saturated with the perfume of the Sweet Briar, fresher and sweeter 

 still when the day has been warm and moist. Many of the Penzance 

 briars are almost as sweet, and are now largely used as hedges. Unfor- 

 tunately the flowers are quickly over, but they welcome us in the early 

 summer, and in the autumn we have in their place a harvest of bright 

 fruits, especially upon the one named Amy Robsart. The Penzance 

 briars are remarkable for the brilliant colouring and profusion of their 

 heps. There are not many truly distinct kinds, as a family likeness 

 runs through them all ; but Anne of Gierstein, or Meg Merrilies, deep 

 crimson ; Amy Robsart, pinky-white ; and Lady Penzance, with copper 

 yellow flowers of great beauty, are the most useful. 



Several single Roses are of value, some for their richly coloured 

 bark in winter, others for their heps. R. lucida, R. polyantha Thunbergi, 

 and R. rubrifolia may be mentioned as the most suitable. 



The Japanese Roses are, perhaps, apart from the Sweet Briar, the 

 most useful of all Roses to make hedges of. The plants make a dense 

 prickly growth, and are beautiful practically the whole year, as the 

 fragrant flowers are followed by large crimson fruits. The plants are 

 apt to become bare at the base, but not so if pruned in the way 

 advised. 



Hedges round a Lawn or Flower Garden. When a dwarf hedge is 

 desired, and nothing can be sweeter than Roses round a tennis court or 

 lawn, choose first the Monthly or China Roses. When finer individual 

 flowers are preferred, place faith in the Tea and hybrid Tea Roses, 

 such as Mme. Abel Chatenay, Caroline Testout, Viscountess Folkstone, 

 Marie van Houtte, Gloire de Dijon, and Gruss an Teplitz, all Roses that 

 will grow between 4 feet and 5 feet in height. A dense hedge may be 

 formed with the early-flowering Scotch Roses and the single kinds of 

 the same race. 



Selection of Roses. As complete selections of Roses as possible 

 are given in the tables on p. 574, bearing in mind the readers for whom 

 this work is chiefly written. It is therefore needless to repeat them in 

 this chapter. 



