Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

effect. The varieties of this rose are very few, but the best two are the following:

Alba odorata.-A vigorous growing rose, with very rich and beautiful foliage. Its fragrant flowers are creamcolored, and, when in bud, are very beautiful. It has stood the last three winters uninjured in our grounds, without protection, and is a very beautiful and desirable variety. It is classed by Rivers as a Microphylla, but it so little resembles that rose, and is so decidedly Macartney in its character, that we place it with the latter.

Maria Leonida.-A very beautiful, but not entirely double variety, as its stamens can sometimes be seen, which, however, give a graceful appearance. Its flowers are finely cupped, and pure white, with a tinge of blush at the base of the petals.

MICROPHYLLA ROSES.

This species, originally from the Himalayan Mountains, was first brought to Europe in 1823. Its foliage is small and singular, and its growth is very robust. Its flowers bloom from midsummer till frost, and have a striking appearance; they are very double, with a calyx of which the small, bristling sepals give the opening bud the appearance of a small chestnut. The plant is hardy, and has endured the winter in our grounds for the past twenty years without protection, losing only a portion of the tops of its shoots. Of the several varieties, one of the best is Rubra, which has very double and cupped flowers, of a blush and often rose color, with a deep red centre.

MUSK ROSES.

The Musk Rose grows naturally in Persia and other Eastern countries, where it attains the height of a small tree, and is doubtless the rose which has been celebrated

by Eastern poets. It is also found in India, where it is probably the species used for making attar. In this lati tude it is quite hardy, and we have a plant of the old White Musk in our grounds, that has braved the severity of more than twenty winters. It has made in one season shoots more than six feet long, and in our Southern States, more than double the growth would probably be obtained. The blossoms appear in clusters, and commencing later than any other rose, continue abundant through out the season. The Old White Cluster has been widely distributed throughout the country, and is deservedly a favorite. The best two varieties, however, are the following:

Eponine. A cupped and very double variety, with the peculiar musk fragrance. It is pure white, and a very pretty rose.

Princess of Nassau.-A luxuriant growing and very fragrant variety, and would make a good pillar rose. It blooms in large clusters of cupped flowers, changing from yellow to cream color as they open.

ROSES THAT BLOOM ONLY ONCE IN THE SEASON.

GARDEN ROSES.

For want of a better, we use this term to designate all those roses that bloom only once in the season, and that strongly resemble each other in habit and flower. It includes those classes called, by rose-growers, French, Prov ence, Hybrid Provence, Hybrid China, Hybrid Bourbon, White and Damask Roses.

On a preceding page, we have given our opinion re specting classification, but we wish it to be fully under stood, that we do not deny the existence of clearly distinctive characters in the true French, Provence, Damask, etc, but simply assert that the lines of difference between

these so run into each other, and are so blended together,

[graphic]

Fig. 4. GARDEN ROSE. that it is almost impossible to know where to place a new rose, which may partake of the qualities of all. We have

mentioned Rivers as the most skillful and correct of rosegrowers; and yet, in classing Lady Fitzgerald and Madame Hardy among the Damasks, he says that neither of them are pure Damask; and the Duke of Cambridge, which at first he thought a Hybrid China, he now places as a Damask; other similar instances are frequent. Many roses, moreover, are classed as hybrids which are not truly such. We are quite inclined to think that a large number of the varieties supposed to have been produced by hybridizing are nothing more than the natural produce, and that the pollen, in many cases, has not impregnated the pistil to which it was applied. With this uncertainty, therefore, as evinced by Rivers in his work, and with doubts of the hybridity of supposed hybrids, we deem it better to class them all together; and, for the benefit of those who may prefer the old classification, to attach to each name the class by which it has been hitherto known.

We write principally for the amateur, and we think he will find it less embarrassing to make a selection from this classification than from the old one.

A great number of Garden Roses exist, but we describe here only a few distinct varieties, with colors which are seldom found among the Remontants.

All the others have either their equals or their superiors among the Remontants, and being certain to bloom only once in the season, are scarcely worthy of cultivation, compared with the Remontants.

Chénédole, H. C.-One of the most splendid varieties, and is truly beautiful. Its foliage and habit are very good, and its very luxuriant growth makes it a good pl lar rose. Its flower is cupped, large, double, and fragrant, and its color is a rich, glowing crimson, of almost dazz ing brilliancy. It is altogether the most desirable rose of this class.

Charles Lawson, H. B.-This has handsome foliage,

and vigorous habit of growth, with large, symmetrical, and bright rose-colored flowers.

Coupe d'Hébé, H. B.—A gem of the family. It is large, double, symmetrical, and finely cupped. Its color a delicate, wax-like, rosy pink. Its growth is luxuriant, and adapted for pillars.

Emerance, H. P.-A beautiful cupped rose, of a color unusual in this class, being of a pale lemon or straw color. Its form is very regular, and the habit of the plant good.

George the Fourth, H. C.-An old rose, produced by T. Rivers, but is still one of the most desirable of this class. Its flowers are of a dark crimson, and its young shoots have a purple tinge. Its very luxuriant habit makes it suitable for a pillar.

Julie d'Etranges, F.-This has a large cupped flower, of a delicate rose color.

Madame Hardy, F.-A vigorous habit, and finely shaped flower. Its color is pure white, sometimes with a green

centre.

Madame Plantier, H. C.-A cupped and double pure white rose. It is a luxuriant grower, a most abundant bloomer, and one of the very best of the white summer roses. Its foliage is so marked in its richness and beauty that any one can readily distinguish it by that alone. Were it Remontant, it would possess all the requisites of a perfect white rose.

Obscurité, F.—One of the darkest roses known.

Eillet Parfait, F.-A beautiful striped rose, resembling a carnation. Its form is compact, and its color a very light blush, nearly white, beautifully and distinctly striped with rose and bright crimson.

Tricolor de Flandre, F.-A very double, distinct, and compact flower. Its color is lilac, striped with red and crimson.

« AnteriorContinuar »