
@9he C&ay Polyantha 
A miniature of loveliness, 
All grace, summed up, and closed in little” 
We are again indebted to Rose G. Kingsley, writing in England, 
1908,— 
“The Dwarf Polyantha Roses are derived from the summer- 
flowering, climbing Multiflora, and in them we get a first cousin of 
a rose like Crimson Rambler, for instance, so dwarf as to make a 
charming two feet high edging to an ordinary rose-bed, and so 
thoroughly perpetual, that from May to December it is thickly 
covered with its hundreds of miniature flowers in clusters. How these 
tiny roses, which remind one of the “Fairy Rose” of long-ago nursery 
days, came into being, is not exactly known. But they are evidently 
the result of crossings with the Tea Rose strain. Guillot developed 
the first, Ma Paquerette, pure white, flowering in large bunches, in 
1875. In 1879, Rambaux followed with the charming Anna Maria de 
Montravel, one of the best known of its class. The next year, Ducher 
brought out the lovely Cecile Brunner, blush, shaded pink, and the 
race was fully recognized. Since then nearly every year has seen fresh 
varieties; and the charming little plants are growing in favour. These 
roses may be roughly divided into two classes; one showing the Poly- 
antha blood very strongly; the other the Tea blood.” 
The usefulness and beauty of these happy, sparkling, little roses 
has been undervalued in America, probably through lack of publicity, 
whereas, in England, they are given a prominent place in all important 
gardens. 
Walk through the nursery fields with the experts who do the actual 
growing, and you will find them passing the hybrid tea beds with only 
casual and sometimes jaded interest, to enthuse about their favorite 
“polys,” the life and gayety of their color, and their truly everbloom- 
ing habit. 
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