AN AMERICAN ROSE GARDEN IN THE FRENCH MANNER 
DESIGNED BY JACQUES GREBER, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT 
ASA STEELE 
Inherent in the Climbing Rose are Decorative Possibilities 
Which the French Method of Handling Alone Realizes 
¥AO||IkE the echo of an ancient love song, vibrant with 
tenderness, comes the fragrance of Roses from French 
gardens. And only in part are their glories explained 
to the American by the milder winters, cooler summers 
and greater moisture of the climate of France. Centuries old 
are the traditions that compass them. Whether these had their 
origins in mediaeval fortress, princely park or farmstead of the 
humble, none may say — and it matters not. For the culture 
that makes them at once the delight and the despair of the gar- 
dener from overseas is probably the fruit of all of these, ripened 
with the affection and imagination of generation upon generation 
of gardeners. 
We may as well recognize at once that Rose lovers in our 
northern tier of states cannot hope to reproduce the semi-trop- 
ical luxuriance of bloom and foliage found on French walls, 
screens, and terraces. And it would require years for them to 
make Rose trees common, as they are in France. But the climb- 
ing Roses so easily grown in America — the Crimson Rambler, 
Dorothy Perkins, Lady Gay, and their sisters — may be used ef- 
fectively in adaptations of the French decorations. 
A common design for such climbing Roses is the mast-and- 
festoon. Iron rods are sunk into the ground from six to ten 
feet apart, eight feet of them being above the surface. They 
are joined at the top by iron chains, which fall in festoons not 
less than three feet below the summit of the masts. A vigor- 
ous climbing Rose planted at the base of each mast will quickly 
cover it. Then the sprays are to be fastened to the chains, 
care being taken always to preserve the contours of the festoons. 
A few words of caution will go far toward assuring the success 
of this decoration. The mast-and-festoon design is found in 
France to form a background usually, or is placed on the edge 
of a garden where the vista is linked, with walls or shrubberies. 
The gardeners of France also abstain from the severe pruning 
to which we sometimes subject our Roses. Indeed, they allow 
ROSES ON EXQUISITELY DELICATE SUPPORTS TO ENCLOSE AND FRAME MORE ROSES 
Although Lynnewood Hall, the estate of Mr. P A. 15. Widener at Elkins Park, Pa., is still under development and the garland chains of the 
Rose Garden are not yet clothed with their Roses, this view shows none of that lack of finish which newly completed work so often presents 
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