JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 4,1894. 
31G 
best advantage. At this season of the year this plant flowers very 
freely, and will continue to do so as long as Pentstemons. 
Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora. 
This plant might be more freely used for the embellishment of 
our gardens at this season of the year. It makes a very handsome bed 
if planted 18 inches or 2 feet asunder. If good plants are planted 
at the first in well prepared soil they will practically form a mass 
after the first season. This makes a good permanent bed. It is 
also useful for dotting in mixed borders, and is very effective 
amongst shrubs. Even if used to form an edging to a border of 
choice shrubs it is very telling. This planted as a groundwork 
with low standard Japanese Maples would be very effective. The 
variety known as lacinata, although a pale pleasing green in spring, 
colours brilliantly in autumn ; in fact, is just now assuming its rich 
purple colours. One of the bright crimson forms might be 
employed, and would prove effective in the spring, all through 
the summer, as well as in the autumn. One advantage of this 
Hydrangea is that it requires neither frames or house room for 
protection during the winter. All the attention needed after 
being well planted is pruning back towards spring, any time before 
signs of growth is visible, and a thorough good manuring occasion¬ 
ally. Some old mushroom bed refuse worked into the surface is 
excellent stuff for it. This Hydrangea is not to be despised in 
suitable positions in the rock garden, but it is useless to plant it 
unless it can be surrounded with a fair amount of good soil. 
Fuchsias. 
Such kinds as gracilis and Riccartoni make splendid beds at this 
season of the year, and if a little care is exercised in arrangement 
they contrast admirably with such plants that have been named. 
For mixing with these Fuchsias nothing is much better than Acer 
Negundo variegata, low standards, which can be pruned occasionally 
and kept within bounds to suit the position and purpose they are 
intended to occupy. These or any other Fuchsias can be used ; 
most of the kinds are useful for garden decoration, and low 
standards of such sorts as Lord Beaconsfield are charming rising 
above small-flowering varieties. Where these are employed they 
require lifting and protecting during the winter, starting them 
into growth prior to planting out. They are most effective, and 
abundantly repay for the trouble devoted to them. 
The hardy kinds only need pruning back in the spring and 
manuring occasionally. Stock is readily raised by cuttings of soft 
shoots inserted either now or after the plants have started to grow. 
If rooted now under glass, and the young plants kept on a shelf 
during the winter and repotted in the spring, beds may be fairly 
furnished in one season by planting moderately close together. 
—Wm. Bardney. 
FLORAL FACTS AND FANCIES.—5. 
There is not a flower which can be said to possess a history 
so full of legendary lore and notable incident as does the Rose. 
We are not surprised at this, since she has long been styled the 
Queen, or even the Empress, of flowers, and her admirers are found 
both in the east and west; poets have sung her praises, sages have 
made her a medium of instruction, and she has adorned the brows 
of some of the greatest kings or heroes. From time immemorial 
the Rose has grown profusely in those lands which are presumed 
to have been the early abode of our race, and several species flourish 
now even in neglected Palestine. It was probably rich with Roses 
during its palmy days, though there is good reason for thinking that 
in the two places where our English version of the Bible mentions 
the Rose, a species of Lily or Narcissus is the plant indicated by 
the Hebrew. One of the strange Eastern legends states that in 
a valley near Jerusalem, upon a spot yet bearing the name of 
“ Solomon’s Rose Garden,” there was a compact entered into 
between some genii and that famous monarch, its particulars being 
written neither with ink nor blood, but with a saffron liquid upon 
the petals of white Roses. Possibly Solomon was a cultivator of 
this flower, for we may assume he understood gardening pursuits ; 
but the first record of its growth in gardens has to do with a Queen, 
Amytes of Babylon, who is said to have nurtured Roses in the 
celebrated hanging gardens there. 
Myths or fancies about the Rose can carry us back to the 
Garden of Eden, however. One myth tells us that while the earth 
was sinless, all Roses were white and free from thorns ; and 
another attributes to Eve the production of the first red Rose. 
Charmed with the buds of the flower, she bent to kiss one, and in 
so doing changed its hue from white to red ; but other legends 
rather imply that the original Rose was of that colour. One story 
is, that by a transformation, which is a common incident in these 
old tales, a beautiful damsel was turned into a Rose tree. Her 
name was Rhodanthe, and her loveliness had so fascinated the 
people that they forgot to worship Diana. The aggrieved goddess 
appealed to her brother Apollo, and his remedy was an effectual 
one. It is also said that the Rose came from the blood of Adonis ; 
afterwards the flower was given by Cupid to Harpocrates, pledging 
him to secrecy about the doings of Venus, hence it became a 
symbol of silence or artifice ; but really this meaning attached to 
the Rose had its origin in Egypt, and passed from that country to 
Greece. Though the cause remains unknown the fact is certain 
that for many centuries the Rose has been used with this sig¬ 
nificance, especially by secret societies. It was one if not the only 
reason why the flower was often made the sign of a tavern or 
hostelry, reminding those who went there, first, to keep silence 
about some things they might know ; and, secondly, to beware of 
repeating what was said in festive moments. To the mysterious 
Rosicrucians it gave a name and a motto (smJ rosa crux) ; another 
Society had the Rose figured on its headsman’s axe. At Ham¬ 
burgh there existed during the seventeenth century a curious 
Society or Sisterhood of learned ladies, which was called the 
“Society of the Rose.” There were four divisions, but the first 
only had the Rose as its emblem, the second wore a Lily, the third 
a Violet, and the fourth, or lowest, a Pink. Also the old Romani 
put on their shields sometimes the device of a Rose, intimating 
that very often success in war depended upon silence. But it does 
not seem that the custom of the Pope’s sending a Golden Rose on 
Mid-Lent Sunday to some monarch or noble of high rank has any¬ 
thing to do with the symbolic meaning, though it was frequently 
presented as a bribe. It is rather remarkable that Martin Luther, 
that great foe of the Papacy, liked to wear a Rose in his girdle. 
Luther’s country—Germany, is presumed to have the oldest Rose 
tree in existence, against the Cathedral at Hildersheim, since tradi¬ 
tion says Ludwig, a son of Charlemagne, planted it, which would 
give it about the age of a thousand years. 
Both ancient and modern nations have associated the Rose with 
times of rejoicing, but it has been also used from an unknown 
period to symbolise grief or separation. Chaplets of Roses, during 
Rome’s periods of luxury, were worn by the guests at dinners and 
suppers, the floor of the apartments being covered with its petals 
to the depth of several inches, when the girer of the banquet could 
afford the expense. Nero liked to rain a shower of Roses upon his 
visitors, and is said to have spent £2000 upon this flower for one 
evening. Greeks, as well as Romans, had high ideas of the medical 
value of the Rose, and it also found a place in cookery. They 
squeezed the flowers and sprinkled the juice thus obtained upon 
choice dishes ; sometimes the petals were dressed, with additions, 
to form a salad. Truly, as old Culpeper remarked, the list of the 
social and domestic uses of the Rose was long enough to make a 
volume ; seemingly this annoyed him, for he adds, “ What a pother 
and a racket authors have made about Roses ! ” Would he have 
been better pleased with our modern Rose literature ? The em¬ 
ployment of the Rose in festive scenes we can quite understand, 
and perhaps the fugacity of its petals, significant of brief life, led 
to its being chosen for a memorial on graves. Even the phlegmatic 
Chinese have, from a date unrecorded, followed this custom of 
western lands, and during the Middle Ages a Rose bud, having 
its stem broken, was often sculptured upon the tombs of the 
young. 
The Wars of the Roses have given this flower a notable place in 
English history, after it was adopted as a badge by two great 
factions or parties, and upon their becoming united the Rose was 
henceforth our national emblem. It is likely that the particular 
white Rose chosen by the Yorkists was the trailing Dog Rose of 
the north (Rosa arve7isis), and the original Lancastrian Rose 
appears to have been the French species, R. Gallica. To the 
Yorkist his Rose was significant of the purity and justice of bis 
cause, but the Lancastrian retorted that its paleness indicated the 
cowardice of his enemy, while his own red Rose showed that he 
was prepared to give his blood for the side he supported. Not 
only is the Rose England’s emblem, it is exhibited also in the 
collar of St. Patrick’s Order, which is composed of harps and 
Roses linked by knots. This flower figures, too, upon the crests 
of many families, and in the eighteenth century a white Rose 
was again taken as a party badge, being displayed by the 
Jacobites upon the birthday of their James III. One of the 
fancies of the olden times was that if a Rose fell to pieces 
suddenly in the hand of a person holding it, this indicated the 
approach of some misfortune. 
We sometimes read of houses or lands held by the nominal 
rent of a peppercorn, and another object that formerly served the 
same purpose was a red Rose, this floral tribute generally had to 
be paid on fit. John’s or Midsummer Day. Probably a failure to 
present it rendered the estate liable to a fine. Some forms of 
matrimonial divination were connected with the Rose. In one the 
experimenter had to walk backwards into a garden at midnight on 
