THE ROSE OF SHARON 



309 



Miss Marston, Mrs. B. R. Cant, Mrs. Edward Mawley, 

 Mrs. F. W. Sanford, Mrs. Harry Turner, Mrs. John 

 Laing, Mrs. Robert Garrett, Moreau, Muriel Grahame, 

 Oscar Cordel. 



Papa Lambert, Paul Nabonnand, Paul Neyron, 

 Pauline Bersez, Perle de Feu, Perle de Lyon, Perle d'Or, 

 Pierre Notting, Pink China, Prefet Monteil, Pribislav, 

 Pride of Reigate, Primrose Dame, Prince Camille de 

 Rohan, Print e de Bulgarie, Prince Theodore Galitzine, 

 Princesse Alice de Monaco, — de Bassaraba, — de 

 Beam, — de Radziwill, — de Sagan, — de Sarsina, 

 — Etienne de Croy, — N. Troubetzkoi, — Beatrice 

 (tea), — May, — of Wales (tea), Principessa di Napoli, 

 Professeur Ganiviat. 



Queen of Queens. 



Rainbow, Raoul Chauvry, Reina Maria Christina, 

 Reine Emma des Pays-Bas, Reine Nathalie de Serbie, 

 Reve d'Or, Rose Romarin, Rowland Hill, Rubens. 



Safrano, Sappho, Schneerose, Scipion Cochet, Sena- 

 teur V'aisse, Silver Queen, Sisi Ketten, Soleil d'Or, So- 

 crates, Souvenir de Camille Godde, — de Catherine 

 Guillot, — de Gabrielle Drevet, — de Jean Ketten, — 

 de Jeanne Caubaud, — de Lady Ashburton, — de la 

 Malmaison, — de Laurent Guillot, — de Louis van 

 Houtte, — de Madame Ernes te Cauvin, — de Madame 

 Levet, — de Madame L. Weber, — de Madame Sa- 

 blayrolles, — de Marie Drivon, — de Paul Neyron, — 

 de Pierre Notting, — de Rambaux, — de Spa, — de 

 Therese Levet, — de Victor Hugo (tea), — de Dr. 

 Jamin, — de d'un Ami, — de rosieriste Gonod, — of 

 Wootton, Spenser, Sulphurea, Sunrise, Sunset. 



Tennyson, The Bride, Therese Frank,Tillier, Tom 

 Wood, Triomphe de France, Triomphe d' 'Orleans, 

 Triomphe de Pernet Pere, Triomphe de Rennes, Triomphe 

 de Saintes, T. W. Girdkstone. 



Ulrich Brunner, Ulster, Unique Yellow. 



Van Houtte, Vicomtesse Decazes, Victor Hugo, Victor 

 Verdier, Viscountess Folkestone, V. Vivo e hyos. 



Waban, W. A. Richardson, W. Askew, W. F. 

 Bennett. 



Xavier Olibo. 



Yellow Nabonnand, Yvonne Gravier. 



THE ROSE OF SHARON (Hibiscus 

 syriacus) . 



Our list of late-flowering shrubs is not a long 

 one, and as the days dwindle and darken a 

 gloom settles down upon shrubberies, which 

 has been intensified by bad weather. Walking 

 through gardens a few days since this dreari- 

 ness was most apparent, until the eye was 

 caught by a bright exception amid surround- 

 ing desolation, which proved to be a fine bush 

 of the Syrian Mallow in full bloom. It was 

 the only one to be seen and bore traces of the 

 rainfall, but the large white flowers were a ray 



of brightness and turned the thoughts into a 

 happier channel. Though quite hardy in our 

 country, this fine shrub does not bloom quite 

 so well with us as in climates more nearly like 

 that of its native haunts; but, if smaller and 

 less numerous, its flowers are so beautiful, and 

 borne during so many weeks in autumn, that, 

 though an old-fashioned plant, it should not 

 be confined to a few old-fashioned gardens. It 

 thrives best in the free warm soils of our south- 

 ern valleys, growing somewhat slowly, but in 

 a sunny spot soon forming handsome bushes, 

 often reaching 6 to 10 feet in height, with 

 flowers either single or double,soon fading, but 

 renewed freely throughout the autumn. In 

 many parts of the Continent it is a favourite 

 shrub, of which fine plants may be seen droop- 

 ing over walls and half hiding wayside cottages. 

 Fine varieties have been raised in recent years 

 both in France and America, kinds superior 

 in colour to many of the older sorts of poor 

 effect ; in those with single flowers this gain 

 in colour is marked. The new double-flowered 

 whites are good, but a little sensitive to cold, 

 and for Britain not so useful as the single forms. 

 Young plants may be raised from seed, but root- 

 grafting is the common mode of increase. The 

 following are the finest varieties : — 



Single-Flowered Kinds. — These are 

 fewer and less grown than the doubles, though 

 really more graceful and better for our English 

 gardens. The wild Syrian shrub bears flowers 

 of bluish-purple deepening to crimson toward 

 the centre, but amongst seedling garden forms 

 many colours are now represented. Two of the 

 best new kinds are a fine red in colour, rubis 

 being, as its name implies, a bright ruby-red 

 with flowers well displayed, while the second 

 plant, an unnamed seedling raised by Messrs. 

 Baltet of Troy es, is even richer in colour. Of 

 older sorts lotus albus, a pure white, is perhaps 

 the best of all, though Celeste and ccerulea, both 

 beautiful flowers shading to blue, are also very 

 fine. There is a pretty single form of grandi- 

 jiora superba, with large rose-flushed flowers ; 

 mo?istruosa,a.n even larger blossom, being white 

 with a dark purplish centre. The best dark 

 flowers, Boule de feu of reddish-purple, with 

 de la Veuve and atropurpurea still darker, are 

 sombre for autumn borders ; more useful are 

 La Reine, of a cheery rose colour, speciosa and 

 its varieties of a more decided crimson, while 



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