344 



JUNE ROSES. 



wood and thorn-growing. The required difference in 

 treatment does not seem to be well understood, and is 

 not often given. This may be one reason why hybrid 

 perpetual roses are not more popular in the southern 

 states. Here they are frequently grown in hedges, the 

 plants set two feet apart, and mercilessly sheared. One 

 grand blossoming they give in early summer, but for the 

 rest of the season they revenge themselves, most of them, 

 by growing into formidable thorn trees, guiltless of bud 

 or blossom. 



The soil and climate of the south suit these roses too 

 well ; life is made too easy for them. On our rich clay 

 soils they act very much as if they were imbued with the 

 spirit of the idea that the first and most important duty 

 of all roses, to nature, their owners and themselves, 

 was to grow, and blossoming a secondary consideration. 

 Of course, there are exceptions everywhere to every rule. 



Fig. 3.— Fruit of Rosa Rugos.a. 



I have some fine old hybrid perpetuals in my garden that 

 I would not give up for twice their value in money. The 

 finest of them all is Prince Camille de Rohan, a royal 

 crimson-scarlet rose, with deep rich velvety shadings 

 that seem almost black. The flow^er is large, finely 

 formed and very fragrant. In June, bushes of this rose 

 bear heavy crops of flowers, are cut back moderately 

 soon after blooming, well fertilized and mulched, and in 

 autumn give again a profusion of flowers as richly shaded, 

 but not so double, as those borne in June. Ellwanger 

 describes the Prince Camille type of roses as being shy 

 of bloom in autumn, and the flowers only moderately 

 full. This is true of other roses of this type, but Prince 

 Camille in our garden is freer blooming in autumn than 

 any other hybrid perpetual rose, and its June blossoms 

 are very large and double. Jean Liabaud r,ad Abel C"r- 



riere are other fine roses of this type. General Jacque- 

 minot, under our hot southern suns, loses its exquisite bud 

 form too quickly, and its rich tints soon fade into a pur- 

 plish crimson. It is a much finer rose north than south. 



Among light-colored hybrid perpetuals or remontants, 

 Baroness Rothschild, Perfection des Blanches and Gloire 

 Lyonnaise are some fine sorts. Gloire Lyonnaise was 

 introduced as a new yellow hybrid remontant, which it 

 proved not to be ; but it is a superb cream-colored rose. 

 The growth of hybrid perpetuals is so strong and bushy 

 that they seldom need staking or tying in this their 

 blooming season ; but June is by no means an idle month 

 for careful and loving rosarians. There are dead faded 

 blossoms to be cut away — cut so that this will be sufficient 

 pruning. One-half of a rose-bush may be pruned and 

 starting new growth before the other has opened all its 

 buds. I like this system of gradual pruning ; it is not 

 such a shock to the plants as the simultaneous shearing 

 process. After blooming, a good dressing of fertilizer 

 should be well worked about their roots, and a mulch 

 iven to keep the soil moist about them. Outdoor roses 

 Idom troubled with insects to any great extent ; 

 syringing with tobacco-water will soon destroy them if 

 they should appear. 



The extra hardiness of hybrid perpetunl roses has 

 them, in cold climates, an advantage over teas ; 

 but there are other fine old garden roses that are still 

 hardier than they, and with some of us, whose stand- 

 ard of beauty for roses is not number of petals or size 

 of blossoms, these are still favor- 

 ites. Quaint old Scotch roses {Rosa 

 spinosissima),\\\\.\\ their tiny early 

 flowers, nine leaflets and thorny 

 stems ; and crimson Boursaults {R. 

 Alpina), almost free from thorns, 

 are stiU seen in some old-fashioned 

 gardens. The crested Provence or 

 cabbage-rose [R. ceiitifolia 7nHS~ 

 cosa), with full, globular flowers, 

 rich perfume and straggling growth^ 

 is a more general favorite. These 

 centifolia roses are grown in im- 

 mense quantities for the production 

 of oil of roses and rose-water. By some rosarians this 

 rose is thought to be a variety of R. CaUica. Some of 

 our best yellow roses are derived from the old Austrian 

 brier, with coppery yellow flowers and spiny, chocolate- 

 colored shoots ; none of the hybrids need to be ashamed 

 of their parentage. 



Some more tender roses that bloom only in early summer 

 are the Ayrshire, Banksia, prairie, multiflora, damask, 

 hybrid China and sweet briers. Most of them require a 

 soil only moderately rich, and very little pruning. The 

 Banksia roses are much used in warm climates as stocks 

 upon which to graft less vigorous varieties. Lady Bank- 

 sia's own roses are produced in clusters — dainty double 

 little blossoms, with an exquisite odor like that of violets. 

 The smooth, slender, rapid growth of this rose makes it 

 one of the most graceful and desirable of climbers. Its 



