The Garden Magazine, April, 1920 



M. H. WALSH 

 The man whose climbing Rose Ex- 

 celsa was winner of the super-honor 

 of the Rose world five years ago 



creased my regard 

 for its fine quali- 

 ties, not the least 

 of which is its pe- 

 culiar blend of the 

 East and the West 

 in parentage — for 

 it is a cross of the 

 Japanese native 

 Rosa wichuraiana 

 with theAmerican 

 native R. setigera. 

 This splendid and 

 substantial Rose is 

 the work of the 

 most notable 

 American hybrid- 

 izer of the day, 

 Dr. W. Van Fleet, 

 now officially 

 "plant physiolog- 

 ist" of the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry 

 in the Federal Department of Agriculture, but actually the 

 potential Rose wizard of the western world. 



This shy, retiring scientist won't talk about himself, or tell 

 of his work of more than forty years as editor, investigator and 

 plant breeder, but he will "open up" on Gladiolus, Chestnuts, 

 and Roses, if you are the right sort of interlocutor. The Gladio- 

 lus has benefited by his skill, and he becomes really enthusiastic 

 when he shows you the 85 per cent, blight-resistant Chestnut 

 seedlings he has bred at his laboratory of plant wonders between 

 Baltimore and Washington. Of course he will succeed in putting 

 the Chestnut back into our forests, for he is only 15 per cent, 

 from success now. And what has Burbank done in comparison 

 to that ! 



But the Rose causes Dr. Van Fleet to smile — a slow smile 

 of pleasure, of vision. He has under his hands now crosses with 

 all the virile West China Rose species collected by the late F. 

 N. Meyer, or brought in by E. H. Wilson and by him discussed 

 in The Garden Magazine for June, 191 3, and he is each year 

 producing here in polyglot America Roses that are absolutely 

 and hopefully new in parentage, flower, and foliage. They are 

 " on the way " to the eventual true American hardy garden Rose, 

 which must of course be a cosmopolitan Rose, made up just as 

 we are of the best — and some of the worst — of all the lands 

 under the sun. 



In each succeeding American Rose Annual since 191 6 have 

 appeared Dr. Van Fleet's " Rose-Breeding Notes," which have 

 much of the peculiarly fascinating quality so characteristic of 

 the writings of E. H.Wilson. In the 1 920 Annual are illustrated 

 several of the wonderful new forms produced by Dr. Van Fleet, 

 and he tells of the Hugonis and Moyesi and Soulieana crosses. 

 The officers of the American Rose Society are now making 

 an effort to secure a means of distribution for Dr. Van Fleet's 

 Rose originations which will more quickly and completely make 

 them generally available. The conventional method of distri- 

 bution by the Bureau of Plant Industry involves the propaga- 

 tion of a few plants which may or may not be applied for by 

 those to whom the bulletins of this Bureau are sent. It is 

 hoped now so to arrange that a larger propagation may be accom- 

 plished, that tests may be made in all of the recognized Rose 

 test-gardens of the country, and that therefore progressive 

 Rose-growing firms may have opportunity to obtain sufficient 

 propagating material, as an exclusive possession, for a long 

 enough term to permit the development and disposition of a 

 large stock at prices only sufficient to cover the cost of distribu- 

 tion, plus a reasonable business profit. 



Silver Moon (another properly descriptive name!), Alida 

 Lovett, Bess Lovett, and the exquisite Rose named by the in- 

 troducer for the originator, are all fine Van Fleet climbers. His 



work with the Rugosa type has also been valuable, as evidenced 

 in New Century, Sir Thomas Lipton, and several other good sorts. 



A HARDY climber that will bloom continually or repeatedly 

 — an "everblooming" climber — has long been earnestly 

 desired. I know of one electrical engineer who has set himself 

 the task, as recreation from volts and amperes and watts, of 

 producing it. While he has been working toward it, another 

 very earnest, capable and persistent worker has seemingly 

 attained the goal. Captain George C. Thomas, Jr., who for 

 many years has tested, hybridized and discarded thousands of 

 Rose-crosses, presents in the 1920 Rose Annual details and illus- 

 trations (several in full color) of certain Roses of semi-climbing 

 habit, vigorous growth, good foliage and attractive single and 

 semi-double flowers, which have bloomed on the wood arising 

 from the previous year's growth, as with the conventional 

 climbers, and also on wood of the current year, right up to the 

 frost stop of late fall. It is the more pleasing that these Roses 

 should be announced now, after their trial at Captain Thomas's 

 superb gardens during his absence "flying in France" with 

 the American Expeditionary Force. It is his belief that these 

 varieties are the forerunners of a race as susceptible of develop- 

 ment as have been other distinct classes or "breaks" in the 

 Rose family. One of these Roses, "4A," received a Silver Medal 

 in the tests at the well-managed Portland Rose-Test Garden 

 in Oregon, as well as a special prize of the Portland Rose Society 

 for "the best Rose for outdoor cultivation produced by an 

 amateur." It will be formally named at the Portland Rose 

 Festival in June. Another, Dr. Huey, not an everbloomer, is an 

 exquisitely lovely dark red single beauty. 



Captain Thomas has undoubtedly made a most important 

 contribution of American Roses for America, and his critical 

 work is continuing. 



APPROPRIATELY NAMED PURITY 

 This lovely white Climbing Rose is a worthy memorial to its producer, the 

 late Josiah Hoopes who gave us also the superb Climbing American Beauty 



