THE BANKSIAN ROSES, 



55 



the Yellow Banksian is planted in company 

 with- the blue Wistaria, or the white form 

 with some rich red Rose in contrast, the effect 

 is not soon forgotten. 



In this country they do best as wall shrubs, 

 and are, indeed, among the best of climbing 



plants for covering quickly 

 As Wail Shrubs, a wide wall-surface, when 



sheltered from cold winds. 

 The front of a house may thus be made very 

 pretty for a while each spring, and the growth 

 of the Rose, though vigorous, is not so dense 

 as to prevent the useof Clematisandotherlight 

 creepers, which flower at various seasons when 

 the Banksian clusters are over. Other uses for 

 which the Banksians are well adapted are to 

 ramble over porches — some of the finest may 



and, to prevent bareness below, one is trained 

 along horizontally near the base of the wall 

 while the other occupies the upper part, but in 

 well-tended plants this precaution otten is not 

 necessary. In sharp winters such as recur at 

 uncertain intervals, even old plants are some- 

 times injured, but when on their own roots 

 (and being easily rooted from layers they should 

 never be planted otherwise) they never fail to 

 grow again even when badly cut. 



The most varied directions are given by 

 growers as to pruning, some even advising 



a barbarous clipping with 

 Pruning. hedge-shears. In the first 



place, any pruning that is 

 done must be done in June, immediately the 

 flowers have fallen ; and, in the second place, 



YELLOW BANKSIAN ROSE. 



be seen about a cottage door, summer-houses, 

 and rustic shelters, or the lee-side of a pergola. 

 In districts exposed to late frosts, in the ab- 

 sence of protection it is best not to plant in 

 too sunny a corner, the plants being often 

 coaxed into activity by warm spring days and 

 are then liable to be cut by late frosts. The 

 Banksian Roses, though not particular as to 

 soil, do best in light, warm ground, in which 

 the roots travel easily. As they run far beneath 

 the surface a wide root-run is necessary, which 

 must be well drained but need not be deep. 

 Well planted, one of these robust shrubs will 

 in a few years cover a space 30 feet square, 

 and develop a stem several inches round, of a 

 warm brown colour, from which layers of 

 bark often peel away in long strips. In cover- 

 ing a wide space two plants are sometimes used, 



do not prune unless you can help it. In dis- 

 tricts rarely exposed to sharp frosts the plants 

 are best left alone, the cutting being confined 

 to dead wood and the spurring back of shoots 

 that cannot well be laid in upon the wall, the 

 growth seldom being so thick as to need thin- 

 ning. In colder districts more attention is 

 needed, and a little more thinning may ensure 

 ripened wood, but strong growths made dur- 

 ing summer should be stopped at intervals and 

 the strength forced into the flowering side- 

 shoots, or the green wood will not ripen before 

 frost comes to spoil it. Careful pinching will 

 almost do away with the need for pruning, 

 and will prevent the stiffness induced by the 

 knife. 



Among the varieties of Banksian Rose 

 grown in gardens the best and freest is the 



d 4 



