ROSES 



45 



gardens than a free use of the best climbers, providing 

 they are grown on simple, unpretentious supports. Space 

 may be limited on the ground itself, but here, with a 

 minimum of root room, we may have gardens in the very 

 air itself; ropes, garlands and festoons of living flowers; 

 scented branches flung high across roof and chimney- 

 stack ; blossom-laden sprays draping house front and 

 fence, or swinging freely in space. For it is in their 

 untrammelled luxuriance that Climbing Roses are so 

 beautiful, glorious descendants, many of them, of that 

 precious hedgerow wilding, the common Dog Rose. 

 Good soil is all they need, and never should they be 

 subjected to the irksome restraint imposed by nailing 

 and tying. If it be necessary to cover a certain wall or 

 wreathe a pillar, one or two loose ties will suffice ; to 

 spread out the long sprays and secure them at even 

 distances, is to rob the rose of half its decorative charm. 

 Nor should Climbing Roses be pruned in the usual 

 sense of the word. The occasional removal of an old 

 branch, or of one that is actually in the way, is all that is 

 needed. On walls or dwelling fronts, we may have 

 occasion to use the knife, but wherever space can be 

 afforded for their unrestricted development, there should 

 Roses be left to grow as Nature intended. Anyone 

 who has seen the cascades of bloom produced year after 

 year by the old-fashioned Ayrshire Roses, will not need 

 reminding that any attempt at pruning or training would 

 here be a sacrilege. 



Mention of Climbing Roses would be incomplete with- 

 out reference to the various single varieties which of late 

 years have been so vastly improved. When we realise 

 that to this class we are indebted for such exquisite 

 things as Paul's Carmine Pillar and the Lord Penzance 

 Sweet Briers, the decorative value of single Roses is 

 immediately apparent. Nearly all are vigorous climbers 

 of free and wayward habit ; beautiful when massed on 



