THE FLORIST. 
97 
STRAY THOUGHTS ON ROSES. 
GROUPING OF BOURBON ROSES. 
There is scarcely any family of autumnal Roses possessing so much 
interest as this : they are so varied in character, so brilliant and 
diversified in colour, so constant in their autumnal blooming, that a 
few stray thoughts about them will, I trust, not be unacceptable to 
your readers. 
It is only some of the more vigorous growers that form good 
standards ; they are all beautiful "when budded on stems from one to 
two feet in height, and form elegant groups; but I will first notice 
their adaptation for small beds on their own roots. They are too 
often mixed indiscriminately, without any attention being paid to their 
widely different habits, or to their grouping as masses of colour. 
Now this destroys that pleasing unity which every bed of Bourbon 
Roses ought to possess ; thus, the Queen of the Bourbons should 
have a bed to herself, for no other variety is so elegant in its light, 
rosy, fawn-coloured flowers, and peculiar compact habit of growth. 
Let every true lover of the Rose make a pretty little ornamental bed, 
and plant it with twelve or twenty plants of the Queen. Souvenir 
de la Malmaison is another of these gems deserving to be set in a 
ring by itself, or, in other words, to be planted in a group alone in 
its beauty. Reine des Vierges is sometimes almost equally beautiful, 
with nearly the same colour and habit, but on the wdiole it is infe¬ 
rior. While discussing the pale beauties of this family, I must not 
forget that very charming dwarf-growing variety, Madame Angelina: 
a very small bed must at present be appropriated to her, as plants are 
not abundant and cheap; it is indeed a Rose adapted for a small bed, 
for it is dwarf, its habit very compact, and its flowers not more than 
half the size of the Souvenir, but they are beautifully shaped, and of 
the most pleasing creamy fawn-colour. 
A beautiful bed of delicate Blush Roses may be formed of the fol¬ 
lowing varieties: Anne Beluze, Comtesse de Resseguier, Madame 
Nerard, and Reine du Congres; these are all of compact and nearly 
uniform growth, and give their flowers on stiff, erect flower-stems. 
If an eligible place in the rose-garden can be found for a group of 
robust and comparatively tall-growing Bourbons, w T ith pale, flesh- 
coloured, or nearly wdiite flowers, the following will be found very 
beautiful: Imperatrice Josephine, Lavinie d’Ost, and Madame La- 
charme. These often put forth in July very robust shoots, three to 
four feet in length; if suffered to grow without being shortened, they 
produce in August and September a large crowning cluster of flowers ; 
but after the flowers have faded, these long shoots have a bare, strag¬ 
gling appearance; it is therefore an improvement to pinch off the 
end when the shoot is about one and a half or two feet in length; 
abundant laterals will then be produced, which will give their flowers 
in October. 
