The Garden Magazine, March, 1922 



21 



George Elger (E. Turbat & Co. France, 191 2) is a clear yellow fad- 

 ing lighter, and a continuous bloomer, as, indeed, is Tip Top (Peter 

 Lambert, 191 5) generally known as Baby Doll, in bud a blend of 

 orange yellow to a rosy carmine edge, changing to white edged deep 

 rose. 



Climbing Roses of outstanding merit known to me are all of American 

 origin, except Paul's Scarlet Climber (Hybrid Wichuraiana, W. Paul & 

 Son, England, 1917, H.A. Dreer, Inc. here) semi-double, a true vivid scar- 

 let, a color which does not burn blue nor fade; a moderately vigorous 

 grower, suitable for covering pillars. In Mary Lovett (Hybrid Wichura- 

 iana, Van Fleet, 191 5) we have a variety of vigorous growth, freely pro- 

 ducing double cupped blooms of large size, with fine fragrance, pure 

 waxy white. Bess Lovett (Van Fleet, 191 7) is a counterpart of Mary 

 Lovett except in its color which is a clear, bright rosy red. Purity 

 (Hybrid Wichuraiana, Hoopes Bros. & Thomas Co., 1917) gives large 

 semi-double, pure white blooms, the old flowers readily shedding their 

 petals; the plant has the best of foliage and freedom of growth and bloom 

 and is very close to Silver Moon. To all who admired Tausendschon 

 but wished its color more constant Roserie (R. Witterstaetter, 191 7) a 

 sport, should prove a winner, for it is a clear, even shade of carmine- 

 pink. Dr. Van Fleet is also responsible for the Rose Aunt Harriet (Hybrid 

 Wichuraiana) — but not for the name — it was distributed in 1918. In 



full bloom it is magnificent, covered with masses of dazzling scarlet- 

 crimson, semi-double blooms having white centres and golden stamens. 



A New Line of Roses developed and described by Captain George C. 

 Thomas, Jr. in the "American Rose Annual" for 1920 must be men- 

 tioned although I have not had opportunity for any personal observa- 

 tion of these varieties. However, the fact that they have been ad- 

 mired by others and have passed successfully the rigid tests conducted 

 at the Rose Test Garden, Portland, Oregon, and have been produced 

 by an amateur whose standard of excellence is very high and whose 

 ability in judging the merits of Roses is well known, leads me to believe 

 that one would not go far wrong in acquiring these varieties. I have in 

 mind the following: Dr. Huey (Hybrid Wichuraiana) dark crimson- 

 maroon, semi-double, of great brilliancy and distinctiveness. It has 

 one period of bloom. Bloomfield Progress is a Hybrid-tea, deep vel- 

 vety scarlet, extremely double, with strong fragrance; Bloomfield 

 Abundance, an everblooming semi-climber, salmon pink and double, 

 flowers constantly from June to heavy frost; Bloomfield Perpetual, a per- 

 petual blooming semi-climber suitable for hedges, carries bloom 

 from spring to frost, having the perfume of the Cherokee Rose and 

 its color. All four were sent out in 1920 by Bobbink & Atkins. The 

 first two were obtained in the development of the others, and better 

 may be expected for Captain Thomas has not reached his ideal. 



LEARNING WHAT ROSES LIKE 



J. HORACE McFARLAND 



Editor "Rose Annual" of the American Rose Society 



Challenging the Conventions and Simplifying Practice 



OST of us garden-hoping folks have despaired at the 

 elaborate soil preparation which is recommended, 

 or even demanded, for rose prosperity, especially for 

 the Hybrid-teas. The orthodox rose bed "must" 

 be prepared two or three feet deep, and I have read of one 

 preparation of four feet, the bottom twelve inches being of 

 broken bricks for drainage. Then there are the "special" 

 beds devised by the late Frederick Efficiency Taylor, in which 

 diagonal slices of soil and manure and what-not manage to 

 make a three-foot-wide bed cost about two dollars the running 

 foot. The orthodoxers also propose three-foot square-and- 

 deep excavations for Climbing Roses, and an elaborate soil 

 prescription to fill them. 



When I began to try to have a few Roses at Breeze Hill, 

 I did my best to follow the fashion in soil fixing. True, the 

 workman who was to trench two or three feet deep usually 

 skimped the job, but nevertheless I did take extra trouble to see 

 that the rose beds were extra deep, extra rich, and extra good. 



After I had to transplant some Hybrid-teas that had had a 

 year in the elaborately prepared ground, 1 began to suspect 

 the need for such extensive and expensive elaboration of prep- 

 arations. The roots hadn't gone down into the submerged 

 richness, and I couldn't see how they could get the good of it. 

 Indeed, after having transplanted Hybrid-teas on multiflora, on 

 Manetti, on Cherokee, on rugosa, on their own roots, I can say 

 that I never found one, whether it has been doing business for one 

 year or for five, that had gotten below eighteen inches, and most 

 of them had prospered reasonably in a foot of good ground. 



In the spring of 192 1 I had to transplant considerably again to 

 condense and fill after the Easter Monday freeze of evil mem- 

 ory. By this time I had gotten to confidence in a foot of good 

 soil preparation, giving my heavy shale a full third of rotted sta- 

 ble manure. The Roses planted in this half-orthodox soil have 

 done well for a hot, dry year, and flowered remarkably well in 

 the fall. What have I lost by saving time, money, and manure? 



But there's more to the story. When I went over the beds 

 last spring, I found some ten of the Hybrid-teas so nearly dead 

 that I couldn't think of replanting them. There was a little 



sign of life in the roots, and as I am soft-hearted about life of 

 any sort, I didn't dump them, but had my helper plant them in 

 my little "nursery" in the vegetable garden, where the soil was 

 just ordinary. 



In June these "dead ones," planted thus in ordinary garden 

 soil, without coddling, and without extra water in a dry time, 

 had all recovered and made good tops, on which flowers of 

 quality came and continued to come abundantly. Without 

 spraying or dusting, these plants are free from bugs and mildew 

 and black-spot. Even the difficult Los Angeles, one of these 

 derelicts, has done beautifully. 



What is the answer? 1 don't know; but my common-sense 

 is getting busy with my memory, and telling me how Roses 

 flourish in the rough field culture where they have been budded. 

 No "special" beds, no three feet of preparation, no coddling at 

 all, does the nurserymen give them, yet he gets great growth 

 and many blooms. 



Isn't it just possible that the elaborate soil preparation 

 recommended is mostly "bunk?" Each writer has written 

 what he read, rather than as a result of his own actual knowl- 

 edge, possibly, and has passed on all this trouble and expense. 

 I am surmising, not asserting; but, as to the necessity for elab- 

 orate and extra deep soil fixing for Roses I have moved to 

 Missouri, and must be shown! 



As to Climbing Roses, I do assert that there is no need of any 

 cubic-yard excavation. A fairly large hole with some good 

 soil in it will "start something" with any worth-while modern 

 climber. 



Is it not possible that many people have been scared away 

 from rose-growing by these bogies of soil preparation, inherited 

 from the old days when garden literature was loaded with similar 

 and more forbidding prescriptions of soil dopes, differing for 

 every plant? Who knows? 



The Beauty of Climbing Roses 



T A meeting of the Executive Committee of the American 



A 



Rose Society last spring, in a discussion concerning the 

 introduction of one of Dr. Van Fleet's new creations in Roses, 



