il^i: 
THE ROSE GARDEN. 
into long shoots, and bare of flowers. Let your collection, if you must have one, be out of the way of 
the walks. Give them a place to themselves, that will not interfere with the brilliance of the flower 
borders, or the decorations of the lawn. And really, in the collection, a good deal of discrimination is 
wanted, or you get crowded with varieties which have nothing to recommend them. Thin petalled 
roses will not bear the sun, they are naturally fragile ; semi-double roses are useless in the collection, 
though some are adapted for garden ornaments, because always in bloom; and two or three seasons will 
throw out of cultivation at least two-thirds of those which only bloom one month in the year. No one 
ought to order a rose from seeing a bunch of its cut flowers. Some which look well in a bunch are 
good for nothing ; the plants are of bad habit, the bloom scarce ; some weak in the foot-stalk, and can- 
not bear their own weight ; some loose the instant they open, though when bunched up close, and 
young, they do not show their' fatal blemishes. Everybody who looks at a bunch of flowers should 
remember that they may be all the blooms that could be gathered from half-a-hundred trees, or they 
may be forced, or grown in pots, and when they come to be grown by the purchaser, he may be hardly 
able to recognise them. Many 
ladies and gentlemen make notes 
at shows, and order what they 
admire ; they forget, when they 
see a fine-looking Rose in a pot 
that the plant is tortured with 
sticks and ties, and when they 
see cut flowers, rarely give it a 
thought that a fine bunch of bloom 
may be the gatherings of a whole 
nursery. 
However, Roses are, or should 
be, all planted now, and we 
strongly recommend every grower 
to note them as they bloom ; to 
order nothing without seeing the 
plant at a nursery, or elsewhere ; 
a? to give the preference to round, 
ff full, thick- petalled symmetrical 
< flowers for exhibition, and lasting 
bloomers for the borders and 
lawns. 
True florists grow general col- 
lections for effect, show-flowers 
for exhibition. The cultivators 
of the Rose, like the grower of 
Auriculas, Carnations, Tulips, and 
other flowers, possess many varie- 
ties for effect in collections, which 
would not be tolerated as show- 
flowers ; and these inferior kinds, which are kept for some remarkable feature, will continue to hold 
their place as stage or bed varieties, until others are raised to displace them with better qualities. Let 
the Rose-grower who exhibits, decorate his garden with all the fine show kinds which continue to bloom 
all the season, and make up with such inferior sorts as possess that admirable quality and make a variety 
of effect ; and collect all the summer kinds, which he must have for June and July shows, in one place, 
where then 1 bare and ragged forms shall not be noticeable as a feature — for some of the summer Roses, 
and even some called Perpetuals, but which are quite as temporary in their flowering season, are so truly 
splendid in their individual blooms, that a shower would have no chance of success without them. 
Growing Roses in pots, as taught by popular cultivators, is merely producing artificial-looking 
plants : even those who pretend to teach, and who show their own handiwork, merely show plants 
drawn too much to hold up their flowers, and propped and staked and tied into the best shape they 
can be made assume. Oh that the public societies would forbid the use of props ! A single season would 
then show us the real gardener. We think very lightly of gardeners or nurserymen who cannot grow a 
plant to support itself, and the public will participate largely in this feeling. The reign of props, 
and tics, and supports for potted Roses is drawing rapidly to a close. 
A PERFECT ROSE. 
1^3" 
ZEM^Htf 
"weN 
