88 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



February 



3 



1912. 



Crimson Rambler (mult, sc-an., Turner, 

 1893), although to my mind by no means 

 the most beautiful, is by far the most 

 t)apular of the Kamblers — wherever roses 

 are gixjwn at all, one is almost sure to see 

 ■d pillar or weeping standard of Crimson 

 Ham bier covered in July with the big, 

 closely packed crimson bunches characteris- 

 tic of this variety. If we are planting for 

 distant effect undoubtedly there is much to 

 be said for Crimson Rambler— a good plant 

 makes a brilliant patch of colour in the 

 garden— but seen close at hand the bunches 

 are too heavy for real beauty, and its ten- 

 dency to mildew is a serious drawback. 



Leuchtstern (nuilt. scan., Schmidt, 1899), 

 with single rose-pink l)lossoms and white 

 ^ ve has many of the qualities, both good 

 iiWii had. of Crimson Rambler— that is to 



say, it is very effective in the garden, and 

 the flowers last in good condition much 

 longer than is the case with most roses, but 

 they are so closely packed together in the 



linnches that 



less 



not look well when picked, and the plant 

 almost always is attacked by mildew sooner 

 or later. 



Blush Rambler (mult, scan., B. R. Cant, 

 1903) is on© of the loveliest climbers we 

 have. It makes magnificent stout shoots of 

 a bright green colour^ which, with its largo 

 leathery leaves, give a happy impression of 

 health and vigour. Throughout the greater 

 part of July and heginning of August it is 

 covered with huge erect sprays of blush- 

 pink flowers, so delicate in colouring as to 

 remind one of apple blossom. 



American Pillar (mult, scan., Conard and 

 Jones Company, 1909) is a good oomi>iinion 

 to Blush Rambler, with wonderful shiuin;^ 

 hnives of a very dark line— in some lights 

 they are almost pur|>le— and so beautiful 

 and persistent that this rose would bo worth 

 growing for its foliage alone. Fortiinately, 

 however, the flowers are quite worthy of 

 the foliage. The N.R.S. catalogue de- 

 scribes them as deep pink, but I think vivid 

 rose colour with paler centre more accu- 

 rately expresses the tints. They are single, 

 and borne in very large bunches. Ameri- 

 can Pillar comes out earlier than Blush 

 Rambler, and this year a plant in our gar- 

 den was in perfection at the time of the 

 X.R.S. summer show, July 7, when I found 

 its handsome hunches very useful in the 

 dtHX)rative classes — and in spite of the 



great heat of the tent, they kept bright 

 and fresh throughout the day. 



Tea Rambler (mult, scan., Pan! and Son, 

 1903), till recently called a Tea, is the iv- 

 -nlt of a cross between Crimson Rambler 

 and a Tea rose. The stems are smaller than 

 those of many of tlu^ Rjunblers, and the 



. tell 



ruddy brown leavt 

 the teas, 

 flowers 



)t its relation to 



The coppery-pink^ almost <louhie 

 are large for a rambbM". hang 



branch, and 



loosely and artistically on the 

 have one delightful attribute hicking, I 

 fear, in most of the Multiflonis, that of 

 fragrance. The v<M'y vigorous, hardy 

 erowth and the absence of a second season 



of bloom, however, have caused it to bo 

 placed among the Multifloras, and it is 

 much more convenient that it should be 



so. The foliage is retained very 

 Looking at a plant of Tea Rambler on De- 

 cember 13, 1911, I found it thickly covere<l 

 with foliage, while a plant of Blush Ram- 

 bler close at hand has onlv a few leavers at 



the very top. 



Tausendschon (mult, scan., Schmidt, 1907) 

 i-^ a seedling from Crimson Rambler, and 

 inherits from its parent the unfortunate 

 tendency to mildew. The leaves are rather 

 far apart on the reddish-brown stems, giv- 

 ing the foliage a thin appearance — but tlie 

 stems are delightfully smooth and the large 

 deep pink flowers, with curious crinkle<l 



ned 



late. 



edges, came early in mid-June^ and last 

 in perfection on the plant an unusually 

 long time. They always remind me of 

 oleanders, though mifortunately they are 

 not such a pure pink ; in fact, out of doors 

 they are apt to get a magenta hue which, 

 with the mildew on the stems, spoils them 

 very much. The growth is strong, but by 

 no means rampant. The flowers, if grown 

 under glass, are a much clearer pink than 

 when exposed to all weathers. 



The good yellow ramblers are not so nu- 

 merous as they might he. On the whole, 

 1 think 



Aglaia (Lambert, 1896) and Claire Jac- 

 quier (Bernaix, 1888) are about the best. 

 Aglaia takes time to establish itself, and 

 may be some three or four years before it 

 flowers, but when it does, always provided 

 plenty of room is allowed it, the profusion 

 of little pale yellow flowers, with a slight 

 tinge of apricot in the centre, makes a very 

 charming picture. Here we have it grow- 

 ing up a screen, but it is apt to get too 

 leggy in such a position, and it is much 

 more beautiful in a neighbouring garden 

 where it has been allowed to form itself 

 into a big bower and its long shoots can 

 bend over naturally. The flowers come very 

 early, and are somewhat fleeting; to me 

 they have a scent too like paragoric to be 



altogether pleasant. 



Claire Jacquier is the only rose I am 

 writing about that I have not grown my- 

 self. Wall space is precious here, and this 

 rose is said to be tender, and for this reason 

 we have not tried it. But 1 have seen a 

 big specimen, grown in the open border, 

 transplanted from one Hertfordshire gar- 

 <len to a similar position in another without 

 injury to the plant, so the reputation for 

 tenderness may hardly be deserved. Pro- 

 vided, liowcv a south or west wall can 

 be spared. Claire Jacquier will be grateful 

 for the shelter, and will show its appre- 

 ciation by rapidly covering the space at its 

 disposal with its rampant shoots and its 

 mu'ltitude! of nank-een yellow blossoms. 

 Where a wall cannot be given ^ the newer 

 Goldfinch, with single yellow flowers, 

 changing to cream colour, may be tried. 

 Goldfinch has a good habit and nice dark 

 foliage, but with us has not vet shown 

 itself as free flowering as t-ould be wished : 

 but probably, like Aglaia, it takes two or 

 three years to become established. 



The Garland (hybrid musk, Wells) and 

 Feli<'itc Perpetue (sempervirens, Jacques, 

 1828) are two very beautiful summer- 

 flowering roses that have stood well the 

 supreme test of tinn^. With all the wealth 

 of new ramblinii; ros<\s ";iven us by the 

 multifloias nnd Wichuraianas, we can ill 

 afford to di-pense with these two veterans. 



Few ij:;nflcn sights are more lovely than 

 th:it ot an established plant of The Gar- 

 land <ii\'cr(Hl with clusters of warm white 

 fl<n\rrs. and soft fawn-coloured buds. The 

 individiiii I blossoms 



orange 



are followed by clusters of small 

 berries. 



Felicite Perpetue is a very vigorous 

 climber that will grow in almost any posi- 

 tion, and is specially suitable for covering 

 a bower or summer-house ; the great 

 branches arc almost evergreen, and the 

 bunches of creamy-white flowers^ with rose- 

 tipped buds, are freely produced. They are 

 better left on the plant than cut, as they 

 drop their petals very quickly when 



picked. 



Paul's Carmine Pillar (Paul and Son, 

 1895) is described as a hybrid tea, and in 

 fo'iage and way of growth is certainly like 

 this section. But it comes in my list of 

 summer-flowering roses, as it only has one 

 period of blooming, and that an early one, 

 the brilliant carmine-crimson single flowers 

 being produced throughout June. The 

 blossoms are large, quite three inches 

 across, and as far as brilliance and purity 

 of colour goes, are perfection. If the new 

 red perpetual climber Sheilagh Wilson 

 equals Carmine Pillar in respect of i-oloitr 

 and freedom of bloom, and in addition 

 flowers again in autumn, it will indeed bo 

 an acquisition. 



liosa sinica Anemone, brought out by 

 F. Schmidt in 1895, is the last rose I 

 have in my list. It is a hybrid of Laevigata. 

 Though hardier than Laevigata, it appre- 

 ciates the shelter of a wall. The N.R.S. 

 catalogue describes, it as a semi-climber, 

 but we have found it very rampant on a 

 south wall, where it has smothered its com- 

 panion on either side with its beautiful 

 glossy foliage, and when in May the soft 

 rose-pink single flowers appear they are 

 so lovely that it is easy to forgive the en- 

 croachments they have made. The form of 

 the flowers is prettier than that of any 

 single rose known to me — it is incurved and 

 cup-like, with rounded petals, and the fine 

 golden anthers show up well against the 

 Rose dii Barri tint of the inner side of 

 the petals. Unfortunately, the blossoms 

 are somewhat fugitive, but this is partly 

 compenvsated for by the ample foliage whi< li 

 is retained in perfection well into th^ 

 winter. White Lady. 



e quite tiny, and 

 little mere than single, but they are pro- 

 duced in sncli profnsion as almost to hide 

 the foliage. I ^hall not t^isilv toriret the 

 picture made by this rose one sunny day 

 of late June in an old Middlesex garden. 

 A long grass path^ leading to a formal rose 

 rarden, was flanked on either side with tall 

 standards of The Garland in full bloom, 



ooping almost to the 

 ground, made veritable garlands of roses. 

 But the soft attractive appearance of 

 these wreaths of blossoms is deceptive, and 

 would furnisli a text to a moralist discours- 

 ing on the <langer of trusting in external 

 beauty. lieliind those lowly blossoms 

 are myriads of black, peculiarly sharp 

 tliorn-^. making it the least pleasant of 

 roses to rical with from a pruner's point of 

 view. The loaves fall rather early, and 



The Blue Starwort. — Very few of 



our aster species are natives of Europe, but 

 the Blue Starwort (Aster acris) is one of 

 them, and though several varieties have been 

 raised differing in height and time of flower- 

 ings the original species remains one of the 

 most l>eautiful of the family notwithstanding 

 the 300 or 400 varieties at present known to 

 florists. It is a slender plant, rarely attain- 

 ing a height of three feet under the best 

 conditions, and usually not more than two. 

 It possea-^es an additional claim to regard 

 with some people in that it does not spread, 

 as so many kinds do, and, in fact, in a very 

 heavy soil will not increase as one would like 

 it to. do. It may left untouched for seve- 

 ral years in the border, the only reason for 

 moving it being its deterioration owing to 

 the exhaustion of the soil or the desire to 

 propagate it. It is one of the earliest of the 

 asters to come into flower, and when one sees 

 ibi minute flower buds on the tips of its 

 ©lender stalks in mid-August one would never 

 think it could make any show at all. Yet 

 its colour is one of the best ; its massed blos- 

 soms being highly effective, and for cut- 

 ting it is perhaps the most useful of all. 

 Mr. William Robinson tells us how he had 

 some thousands of plants of this and the 

 large Italian starwort (A. amellus) growing 

 beneath a group of half-grown flrs, and that 

 he never had such a return of beauty from 

 anything else. Xo matter what the weather 

 the mixture of blue and purple was a picture. 

 As a pot plant it is u^efnl for massing in the 

 conservatory before the chrysanthemums are 

 put in, and thousfh single ])lants look leggy » 

 the effect of a dozen or so with some low- 

 growing plants in front of them is very fine 

 indeed. — Algkr Petts. 



J 



