September 21, 1912 



THE GARDENSRS' MAGAZINE. 



RED ROSES IN AUGUST. 



ed itself with orange-red 



fore the end of the month, and its dark WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



*'In the sun red roses blush and blow. 



J 7 



green leaves were changing to the brown 

 and red 



So 



Rossetti, througji tive autumn shrub. 



poetry, touched as it is witi 



of life, ther 



true sense of tlie beauty of nature, espe- 

 cially as it manifests itself in flowers, and 



■ " in th*^ rose. In another 



poem 



CiSipecially 

 she writes: 



" Sunlight cheers the rose. 



This quotation brings me to the object 

 of this little paper, wihich is to tell of those 

 red roses whose bright flowers cheered 

 our dripping gardens, although deprived of 

 their usual meed of sunshine throughout 

 the inclement month of August. 



If my reader will allow me^ I will take 

 him round my garden, and show him wihat 

 red roses were blooming there during the 

 past month. As we enter a little gate on 

 the south side and at the far end of the 

 garden we see, on either side of a broad 

 grass path, clumps of Ecarlate .and Mar- 

 quise de Salisbury. Ecarlate was very gay 

 with its brilliant but thin blossoms as 

 nearly scarlet as any rose I have come 

 across, while the dusky Marquise de Salis- 

 bury only showed a few of its deeper red 

 flowers. A bis standard of Griiss 



Teplitz 



and another of J. B. Clarke made bright 

 patches of colour in the background, while 

 in the distance a pillar cif Hiaw^atha, which 

 is shaded from the western sun, was 

 covered with its brilliant trusses of (bloom. 

 The new Excelsa^ though even more bril- 

 liant in its early flowering, was before the 

 close of the month deprived of its old wood 

 and neatly tied up ready for next year's 

 inflorescence ; ;&o has the dark red early- 

 blooming Diabolo. 



In walking up this grass 'border we come 

 to some groups of tChina roses, and here 

 Charlotte Klemm was the most effective 



among the reds. 

 China, not 



It is a big rose for a 

 very shapely, 'but exceedingly 

 bright and free flowwing. A group of 

 Richmond claimed a full share of attention 



too densely covered with 

 its light crimson flowers, at that period of 

 the year lacking in the form and brightness 

 of colour they have early in summer. Look- 

 mg across to another bed we saw a bloom or 

 two of Liberty, but to find them at their 

 best we had to walk on to a little lawn on 

 a lower Icvel^ where in semi-shade some 

 plants of this variety were putting np big 

 sprays of good red flowers. As a friend 

 pointed out to me, there is a sort of soft 

 Woom on the red of Liberty, iwhich gives it 

 the appearance of being looked at through 

 ^ niist, and is in decided contrast to the 

 clear red of Richmond. 



c.f^f^i.x.jLi^ sprays aicross tne 

 |awn bore aloft the fine blooms of Hugh 

 l>ixon, .almost the only re<l H.P. whi< h was 

 flowering on August 23, though earlier in 

 the month we had some well-nigh perfect 

 'PPcimens of Victor Hugo. Two young 

 Pj^^^ts of the new climber^ vSheilagh Wilson, 

 justifying their claim to Ibe perpetual 

 putting forth 



L ^ x^j^i new fresh buds and 



flowers ; they seem a little prone to mildew, 

 their flowers have more the soft rose- 

 tint of Morgenrott (which, hv the way, 

 flowered freely in August on an 8ft. piUaV) 

 .flan of the more brilliant but short flower- 

 'fl^Carmine Pillar, 

 ^fne bushes of the single crimson 

 f a™en^ kept up a supply of their 



t 



i; 



their flowers 



.3 v>cic iiitjxi^ Kepi- up a supply or xneir 



y**grant blooms throughout August, but 



th 



•^^^nigosas generally add to the re<l tints 

 ^ early autumn garden, not so much 



berri 



nes. 



_ ed 



, big bush of Fedschenkoana 



with rugosa 

 ^a^xling red frnit« 



is smothered with its 



THE ORCHID HOUSES. 



MASDEVALLIAS are not grown at the 

 present day, owing, perhaps, to their small 

 pecuniary value, as extensively as they de- 

 serve. Yet they include many most beau- 



But here my readers will remind me that 

 I am straying a little from the red roses, 

 and they m.ay, perhaps, point out to me 

 I have written nothing of General 



MacArthur, a rose which is said to be very _„,^. ^ 



perpetual. Let us look at our group of tiful curious, and interesting species and 



- - , . . hybrids. Many produce most bnlhant 



coloured flowers, and it is very questionable 

 whether such species as M. Veitchiana, M. 

 aniabilis, M. ignea, and the many varieties 

 of Harryana are surpassed for the bright- 

 ness and richness of their blooms. When 

 well P-rown they bear an abundance of 



it, wdiich w^e have had planted in the 

 dampest and heaviest soi] we can find in 

 this gravelly garden . 



Its strong, dark 

 fcliage was in August rather badlj^ affected 

 with mildew, and the stiff spikes of deli- 

 ciously fragrant flowers were not nearly 

 so attractive, to my eye, as those of either 

 Richmond or Liberty. But it is worth a 

 place in the garden, and so, also, I think, 

 is the newer Mrs. Edward Powell. This 

 variety has equally good dark foliage, which 

 here seems immune from mildew, and its 

 very bright crimson flowers keep their 

 colour and shape far better than those of 

 General MacArthur do. The fragrance, 

 however, though sweet, is not so refresh- 

 ing and satisfying as that of most red 

 roses. From a little round bed we have 

 of this variety we could pick any morning 

 a nice shapely buttonhole rose. 



Before ending these notes I must leave 

 our own garden, and go nearer to London 

 just to tell of a very fine display of the 

 H.T. Griiss an Teplitz I saw a few days 

 ago growing in the well-kept grounds of 

 Finsbury Park. Here there is a bed some 

 fifty yards long, I should say, in wdiich were 

 blooming scores of plants of this bright red 

 fragrant rose. The superintendent is to be 

 congratulated on the very good effect he 

 has obtained by massing these roses to- 

 gether in the way he has done; he evi- 

 dently understands the requirements of this 

 particular variety as to soil, pruning, etc., 

 for the whole group was bright with hun- 

 dreds of crimson blossoms, and the foliage 

 looked wonderfully fresh and healthy. 



This brings me to an end of my list of real 

 crimson roses that I noticed blooming freely 

 in the past, and very wet, August. But 

 there are two other roses which were very 

 effective in the garden and though they 

 can hardly be called crimson, yet they cer- 

 tainly are red ro«es. These are Laurent 

 Carle and G. C. Waud. Laurent Carle 

 may perhaps best be described as claret 

 colour. The petals have a satiny surface, 

 and the flowei^, of good size and shape, 

 are borne on strong upright stems. It 

 continues flowering till quite late in the 

 autumn. - 



G. C. Waud is of a brilliant carmine, 

 flushed with orange-vermilion. At its best 

 it is a wonderful colour. The flowers ap- 

 pear almost as if they were lit from within. 

 It is free flowering, and when of a good 

 shape makes a fine exhibition rose. Un- 

 fortunately, many of the blooms come quar- 

 tered. Neither of these roses have the 

 real rose" scent, which we expect from 

 a red rose, the possession of which goes 

 a long way to make the crimson rose the 

 most beloved of all English flowers. This 

 delightful fragrance is to be found m a 

 marke<l degree in many of the roses men- 

 tioned here, namely, in '^Richmond, Liberty, 

 General MacArthur. Griiss an Teplitz, and 

 Hugh Dixon, while Victor Hugo is as re- 

 markable for its delicious scent, as for its 



superb colour. 



White 



and little Nitida had 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS.~For fuU infitructione on ihe 

 Cidture of Early-floweri-n^ cmryeanthpmums in bed« 

 or bordens for pra^rden or jrreenhoueo decoration, read 

 the Second Edition of Chhtsanthemums for Gardkn 

 AND Greenhouse, by D. B. Crane, price 2fi. 6d. net; 

 or by poet 3fi. lOd. from W. H. aad L. CoUingrridge. 

 !48 and U9. AMerfigrate Street, London. 



grown tney near an 

 flowers, and produce a splendid effect when 

 angcd with the white flowers of odonto- 

 glossunis. There are other distinct species 

 well deserving of cultivation, such as the 

 pure white M. tovarensis, the yellow-flowered 

 M. Davisi M. rosea, the orange-red M. race- 

 mosa, besides several attractive and useful 

 hybrids. Amongst the most beautiful are 

 M. Chamberlainiaua, M. Gairiana, M. Court- 

 auldiana, M. Rushtoni, M. splendida, M. 

 Chelsoni, M.. Stella, M. Curlei, and many 

 others. Among the dwarf-growing kinds is 

 the remarkable M. muscosa, with its ex- 

 tremely sensitive lip, and the still rare 

 M. xipheres, which never fail to attract at- 

 tention whenever in bloom. 



CULTURE OF MASDEVALLIAS.— Well- 

 grown plants of these floral gems, when in 

 bloom, are always appreciated. The dwarf 

 growers should be suspended in a damp situa- 

 tion in the cool house, the stronger growers, 

 such as M. Harryana, and M. Veitchiana, 

 are best accommodated on the stages. They 

 should not be allowed to become dry at the 

 roots neither should they be kept in a 

 saturated condition, or the dreaded black 

 spot will appear upon the leaves; and should 

 this not appear, there is still the danger of 

 many of them damping off. 



CLEANSING.— This month is always con- 

 sidered to be the best in the year to over- 

 haul masdevallias, and thoroughly cleansing 

 both the plants and the house, both inside 

 and outside. No half-hearted measures 

 should be allowed in the means adopted in 

 the cleansing of plants and bushes at this 

 season. 



POTTIN 



J.— If any of the plants need 



more pot room, or old, overgrown masses re. 

 quire breaking up. they should have atten- 

 tion at once. The winter-flowering 

 tovarensis, M. Davisi, and M. ignea should 

 not be disturbed at the present season, unless 

 they are in an extremely bad condition, but 

 left over until they are*^ seen to be pushing 

 roots early in February. Masdevallias form 

 many roots, therefore they should be given 

 a fair amount of root run, and, owing to 

 the large amount of water required when m 

 full growth, the drainage must be ample. 

 Exhausted and worn-out plants that have few 

 roots Hliould be divided, and put into pots 

 that will just accommodate them for one 

 ■season, and when thoroughly re-established 

 they may again be placed in one receptacle. 



COMPOST.— Masdevallias M'ill succeed in a 

 similar compost to odontoglossums, and when 

 repotting, the base of the plant should be 

 kept on a level with the top of the pot, and 

 the compost should be worked carefully be- 

 tween the roots. The plants should be potted 

 with moderate firmness, as the compost keeps 

 sweet, and in a healthy condition much 

 longer if placed in the ]3ots or pans firmly, 

 than when in a loose condition. 



WATERING.— As with most other orchids, 

 the critical time with masdevallias is dur- 

 ing the first two or three months after re- 

 potting, and groat care should be taken in 

 the application of water to the roots. It is 

 an easy matter to overwater them, especially 

 ill the' winter months. All the masdevallias 

 will sut'ceed in the cool house, some at the 

 warm, and others at the cool ends.— J. T. 

 Barker. The West Hill Gardens. 



