x ROSES UNDER GLASS 181 



Few amateurs will care for the trouble that must be 

 incurred to produce the wonderful specimen pot plants 

 which are exhibited in May by some of the professional 

 growers. These are generally summer Roses, Charles 

 Lawson H.C. being a favourite variety for the purpose, 

 as this group has the habit of bringing the majority of 

 its flowers to perfection at the same time. Such a pot 

 plant, eight feet high, seven feet through, and with 

 between 300 and 400 expanded full-sized blooms upon 

 it at the same time, is a grand sight, but an immense 

 amount of labour, care, and time will have been expended 

 to bring about such an astonishing result. There is no 

 real difficulty in the matter, as the summer Roses grow 

 freely after the bloom is over, and patience and care for 

 several years in disbudding and tying out the required 

 shoots at the proper distances from each other is all 

 that is required. I have been told it will often take a 

 man three days to tie out and wire one of these big 

 plants. The lower shoots are given sufficient lateral direc- 

 tion by long ties fastened to wire surrounding the pot : 

 and these are pruned first to give them a start over 

 the central upright shoots, which would otherwise get 

 more than their share of the sap. A pyramid or cone 

 is the usual shape aimed at, but sorts of short stiff 

 growth are sometimes trained in globular form. One- 

 sided plants, having the back flat without growth or 

 bloom, look well where the pots have to stand against a 

 wall. 



For the pruning and training of Marechal Niel and 

 other similar climbing Roses under glass, see Chap. 

 VI. (p. 95). In this case, if the roots run in the out- 

 side border, little or no syringing will be required, and 

 as a consequence there will be less necessity for fresh 

 air in cold weather. 



