-i3-"{«---j!r«c7l?^7 



q»-'Wy3W«l|i»" |f^'l,^.J^ /{»■ 



June 29, 1911, 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



18 



THE ROSE AMERICAN PILLAR. 



The June number of Country Life in 

 America had an article describing the 

 leading varieties of climbing roses, such 

 as Crimson Eambler, Lady Gay, Doro- 

 thy Perkins, Tausendschon and Hiawa- 

 tha, but nothing was said about Amer 

 ican Pillar. 



This beautiful climbing rose is a 

 seedling of Dr. Van Fleet's. Its exact 

 parentage is unknown. One of the 

 jiarents is believed to be the Michigan 

 rose; there are evidences that American 

 Pillar has some of the sturdy blood of 

 Prairie Queen. While American Pillar 

 was sent out some years ago, it is little 

 known in this country; in England it is 

 better known and is. highly prized as 

 one of the best climbing roses. 



It is a wonderfully vigorous grower, 

 plants in their second year throwing 

 up heavy canes to a height of four to 

 six feet — canes that are densely clothed 

 with luxuriant, glossy green foliage, 

 seven to nine leaflets to each leaf. This 

 foliage seems absolutely free from 

 mildew, a virtue that will recommend 

 American Pillar to many who have 

 found Crimson Rambler wanting in 

 this respect. 



The fnost striking feature of Amer- 

 ican Pillar is its wonderful flowers. 

 Many of the trusses on the young plants 

 that have been outside little more than 

 a year measure from six to nine inches 

 in diameter and bear nearly 100 indi- 

 vidual flowers. The flowers resemble 

 the wild rose in size and appearance 

 and are an unending source of beauty. 

 They open early in June in the latitude 

 of Philadelphia, when the petals, five 

 or six in number, may be described as 

 carmine, shading to white at the base. 

 The effect in the earlier stages is of 

 carmine and gold, the number and size 

 of the stamens giving a yellow hue. 

 Later, as the flowers develop, the car- 

 mine changes to a beautiful shade of 

 Killarney pink; as the stamens dry, the 

 white center lends softness; during the 

 third and fourth week the color becomes 

 that of a soft peach blossom, only a 

 thought less beautiful than before. 



The effect of a row of American 

 Pillar roses, covered with immense 

 trusses of pink flowers, is one long to 

 be remembered. The rich, dark greefn 

 foliage is a perfect background for the 

 glowing pink blossoms. 



The constitution, coloring, vigor and 

 freedom from disease of American Pil- 

 lar lead to the belief that this rose, 

 when well known, will be considered 

 the best in its class. Nay, more than 



that; when Crimson Rambler first ap- 

 peared it was heralded as ushering in 

 a new floral era; American Pillar is as 

 far superior to Crimson Rambler as the 

 latter variety is to the older climbing 

 roses. 



This description is the fruit of a 

 happy hour spent with Antoine Wintzer 

 at West Grove, Pa. Phil. 



ROSEBUDS NOT OPENING. 



What causes hardy rosebuds, such as 

 Cochets, to blight? They turn black 

 and fail to open. The foliage is ap- 

 parently in good condition, but the 

 petals turn black when the bud is ready 

 to open and the blighted petals seem to 

 glue the bud shut and it dries up in this 

 shape. F. M. R. 



The Cochets and some other tea roses 

 will sometimes fail to open their buds. 

 This is particularly true when we get a 

 spell of dark, moist weather, or, on the 



contrary, when the ground is dry. With 

 a fair amount of sunshine and the 

 necessary moisture in the ground, the 

 buds should open satisfactorily. All the 

 tea roses are benefited by a summer 

 mulch outdoors of old, decayed manure, 

 and to have them really satisfactory 

 they should get an abundant water sup- 

 ply. They prefer the soil to be light, 

 rather than heavy. C. W. 



BLACK SPOT ON ROSES. 



I have some Killarney and Richmond 

 roses that are affected with black spot. 

 The plants are in pots, waiting to be 

 planted in benches as soon as my green- 

 house is finished. I am dusting them 

 with air-slaked lime. What else shall 

 I do to them to rid them of this trou- 

 ble? J. D. 



The black spot has undoubtedly been 

 caused by excessive syringing, espe- 

 cially on days when there was little 

 sun and the foliage was damp at night- 

 fall. The big rose specialists guard 

 against the attacks of mildew and 

 black spot in summer by using a little 

 steam heat when weather conditions de- 

 mand it. Dusting air-slaked lime on 

 the plants, holding off syringing and 

 picking off affected foliage are the 

 best, in fact the only remedies. Do not 

 allow the plants to be too crowded and 

 when you syringe be sure that the 

 foliage will get dry before sundown. 

 On damp, sunless days keep all mois- 

 ture from the plants and do not keep 

 the houses shut up tightly, as this only 

 aggravates the evil. With clear, warm 

 weather the plants should, when 

 planted, soon outgrow the black spot. 



C. W. 



PEONIES NOT FLOWERINa. 



I have about 1,500 large peony clumps 

 and at least twenty per cent of these 

 do not bloom at all. They are perfectly 

 healthy looking, with an abundance of 

 good foliage. They have been treated 

 the same as the others and have been 

 grown in good soil, which has been 

 well fertilized, etc. Other people have 

 the same trouble. I also have two 

 small clumps in my garden, where the 

 soil is light. They had not bloomed 

 for fifteen to twenty years. This year 

 both clumps bloomed sparingly. How 

 do you account for it? C. S. R. 



Your trouble is not by any means 

 an uncommon or exceptional one. The 

 most likely cause for the plants not 

 blooming is that they in all probability 

 have not been divided and replanted 

 for a good many years. Some peonies 



may grow and bloom for twenty-five 

 years undisturbed, especially if tho 

 flowers are not cut to any extent and 

 the plants are well fed, but as a gen- 

 eral rule they deteriorate after being 

 planted ten years and finally do not 

 flower at all. There is no reason, how- 

 ever, why your clumps should not flower 

 satisfactorily if you lift, divide and 

 replant them, giving them good soil 

 which has been liberally enriched. 



Another reason why peonies flower 

 poorly is that many growers cut away 

 too much foliage with the flowers. Of 

 course, the craze for long stems is re- 

 sponsible for this. I have seen growers 

 cut close to the ground, removing every 

 flower a plant carried. The chances are 

 ten to one that such plants will either 

 not flower at all, or only sparsely, the 

 following season. Last fall, winter and 

 spring were abnormally dry in the east 



