THE ROSE AND ITS CULTURE. 



By hieing hack to the older, hardier varieties as 

 much as may he, and selecting those characterised 

 hy vigour and staying power from among the newer 

 varieties, the lives of garden Roses may he extended 

 to the ancient limits. It is an additional pleasure 

 not only to he able to gather the same Roses, hut to 

 he able to enjoy them on the same plant for a series 

 of years, or a lifetime. A judicious selection of 

 old and new Roses of vigorous constitution for the 

 garden, should place this pleasure within reach of 

 every reader. 



Profusion of bloom and brilliance of colour should 

 also characterise garden Roses. In this connection, 

 the mere perfection of single blooms is of far less 

 moment than the broad and striking effects that 

 result from the massing together of multitudes of 

 smaller jflowers, either single or in clusters. Not 

 a few of the Roses selected for the garden will he 

 almost good enough for exhibition. But even these 

 will not be chosen on that account, but for other, 

 and what may be conveniently called garden qualities ; 

 while the majority of those included in our rather 

 extensive list of garden Roses, would make but poor 

 show Roses, and prove all the more effective in the 

 garden for that reason. 



Provence and Damask Roses. — Bearing in 

 mind these brief rules of selection, the old Cab- 

 bage or Provence Rose shall lead off our list of 

 garden Roses. All the Rosarians will rejoice if this 

 prominence will increase its waning popularity, and 

 bring it back by thousands and tens of thousands 

 to our gardens. Hardly any Rose is more full of 

 colour or of fragrance. It is said that the fulness 

 and form of its overlapping petals gained for it 

 the unrose-like name of the Cabbage. One of the 

 most popular authors on Roses delegates Cabbage 

 — that is, the name, not the Rose — to the pigs, 

 and gets enthusiastic over its other name, Provence, 

 though its claim to the latter name is of almost 

 equally doubtful origin. 



Botanically this fine rosy-pink Rose forms the 

 basis of the species Rosa centifolia, or Hundred- 

 leaved, a very suitable name. Old as it is, it has not 

 been fruitful of varieties. The Crested, or cristata, 

 is rather larger and fuller than the original, and the 

 edges of the petals are paler than the rosy centre. 



Striped Unique is a variable Rose, sometimes 

 coming almost pure w^hite, at others broadly striped 

 with lake. 



White Provence is an old, large, pure white Rose, 

 and may almost be called a Moss Rose in the first 

 stage of evolution. 



Adrienne de Cordoville has beautifully cupped 

 flowers, of a deeper shade of rose than the common 

 Cabbage. 

 58 



The YorJc and Lancaster Rose, though often in- 

 cluded among Damask Roses, is evidently a semi- 

 double variety of the Provence. This Rose is pro- 

 bably the oldest we have, and is well described by 

 Shakespeare thus — 



" I have seen Eoses damasked red and white, 

 But no such Roses see I in her cheek." 



It is one of the sweetest and most interesting of 

 Roses. Its inconstancy greatly enhances the interest: 

 It is generally described as white, striped with red. 

 This is quite wrong, and shoixld be reversed. In 

 nineteen examples out of twenty red forms the 

 ground-colour, and the white is splashed on irregu- 

 larly. There is also a red self Provence, which is 

 probably a reversion to the primitive type, or the 

 original Rose from which the York and Lancaster 

 may have sprung. Tradition, however, has it that 

 the Rose was originally white. 



Rosa inundi is a Rose so much like the York and 

 Lancaster that it has often been confounded 

 with it. 



Belle des Jardins has conspicuous white stripes on 

 a bright crimson ground. 



George Vibert. — Purple, with white bands. 



Montalembert. — White carmine bands or stripes on 

 a lilac ground. 



Mecene. — Rose stripes on a white ground. 



Several of these striped Roses are mostly classed 

 with what are called the Damask, or Gallica Roses. 

 These, however, are so closely related to the Provence 

 that it is hardly worth while distinguishing betw^een 

 them. 



Perle des Ranachees is one of the most delicate and 

 chaste of all the striped Roses, ha ving delicate blush 

 stripes on a white ground. 



Madame Soetmans. — Creamy- white. 



Village Maid is another Rose of great delicacy and 

 beauty, the rose-coloured stripes on a white ground 

 varying much in breadth. 



Leda, or Painted Damask. — Bluish or lead-coloured 

 margined with lake, very beautiful. 



Parfait. — Bright red, striped with lilac and 

 purple. 



Madame Hardy.— Vuxe white, and a most profuse 

 bloomer. 



Blanchejleur. — White, suffused with rose. 



Piichess of Orleans. — This is one of the most chaste 

 and wax-like of all garden Roses. 



Maiden's £lush.-—'Pale flesh with darker blush 

 centre. 



But the older Damask, Gallica, or French Roses 

 were as unlike as can well be to these garish though 

 beautiful varieties. They were mostly red, dark 

 purple, almost black selfs of the Rose du Roi type, 

 almost now unseen in private gardens, and unknown 



