314 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[May 11, 1912. 



R03A GiGANTEV 



The 



in the spring of 1910 (see Gardeners' Chronicle 

 June 4, 1910, p. 370) was an event which had 

 been looked forward to ever since its introduction 

 into cultivation by General Sir Henry Collett, in 

 1889. At the present time it is again in flower in 

 the Himalayan wing of the Temperate House, 

 where it is planted out in a border amongst 

 Himalayan and other tender Rhododendrons, and 

 has climbed high up amongst the rafters and 



yellow. The calyx lobes measure an inch in 

 length, but there are specimens in the Kew 

 Herbarium in which the lobes are even longer 

 than this. A remarkable feature of the plant is 

 its extraordinary vigour and the enormous 

 amount of growth which it has made in former 

 years. Some of the original seedlings raised 

 from seed collected by General Collett in the 

 Shan States were planted in several of the large 

 houses at Kew in borders of prepared soil, and 

 quickly made large specimens. Some of the 

 shoots grew as much as 30 feet long. A large 



that of the Himalayan wing, was suSkientlv 

 high to cause the plants to continue in growth all 

 the year round, but in the Himalayan wing the 

 plant obtained a rest of a few months during 

 winter. The temperature of this house is never 

 allowed to fall more than a few degrees below 

 freezing point. When originally planted in this 

 house in 1899 the plant grew rapidly in the rather 

 stiff loamy soil of the border. The soil, however 

 did not suit many of the other occupants of the 

 house, and in 1906 it was replaced with a sandv 

 peat. This has had a marked effect upon the 





» 



^Photograph by C. P. **&**< 



Fig. 156. — ROSA GIGANTEA, from a plant in flower in kew gardens : FLOWERS coppery-red, passing to white. 



iron girders of the roof to a height of about 40 

 feet. At such a distance from the ground the 

 beauty of its flowers cannot be perceived, but a 

 spray is reproduced in fig. 156 showing the 

 flowers, which are from 4 to 5 inches in diameter, 

 smaller than natural size. In the bud stage the 

 colour is a rich copper, similar to W. Allen 

 Richardson; this shade, however, fades rapidly 

 as the bloom expands until, when it has been 

 open a day or two, the colour becomes 

 ivory-white. The stamens 



are a 



specimen was grown for 10 years or so in the 

 Succulent House, where it grew rampantly. 

 During the summer and autumn the lights on the 

 roof were let down and the plant exposed to all 

 the sun and light possible, being afterwards tied 

 down close to the glass and subjected to the dry 

 conditions of the other inmates of this house dur- 

 ing the winter. Other specimens were grown in 

 the main building of the Temperate House, as 

 well as in the Mexican and Himalayan wings, 

 bright The temperature of each of the houses except 



rate of growth of the Rose, the stems being much 

 more slender and the growth more «* fc=. 



It is to the change of soil that 

 attribute the flowering of the Rose, ana 

 the the hot summer of last year, for it proa 

 flowers last year after the wet and cold sui 



generally. 



Cultivators would do well to try 



lis Rose in a 

 where the roots may be restricted. They s 



of 1910. \_iuiavawn» wui"\. — -t ^ 



effect of planting this Reseda poo^ 



also try the effect of a low temperature dunn* 

 the winter. 



