Catherine Seyton. Rosy-pink, bright golden anthers.

Flora McIvor. Blush rose, white centre.

Lady Penzance. Soft copper, base of petals bright yellow.

Lord Penzance. Fawn, pa.s.sing to emerald yellow.

Lucy Bertram. Rich crimson, pure white centre.

Meg Merrilies. Deep brilliant crimson.

SCOTCH BRIAR ROSES, _R. spinossima_.

Shades of pink, rose, crimson, white, yellow.

Pimpinellifolia. Blush.

Stanwell Perpetual. Semi-double rosy blush.

RUGOSA OR RAMANAS ROSES, _R. rugosa_.

America. _Paul & Son_, 1895. Crimson lake.

Atropurpurea. _Paul & Son_, 1899. Deep crimson, turning maroon.

Belle Poitevin. _Bruant_, 1896. Rose, double, very sweet.

[A]Blanc double de Coubert. _Cochet-Cochet_, 1894.

Double white.

Calocarpa. _Bruant_, 1896. Rose, single, fine tinted autumn foliage.

[A]Conrad F. Meyer. _Froebel_, 1900. Clear silvery rose, double, large, very fragrant.

[A]Delicata. _Cooling_, 1898. Soft rose, double.

Madame C. F. Worth. _Schwartz_, 1890. Rosy carmine, semi-double.

[A]Madame Georges Bruant. _Bruant_, 1888. Clear white, nearly double.

Madame Henri Gravereaux. _Gravereaux_, 1905.

White, salmon centre.

Mrs. Anthony Waterer. _Waterer_, 1898. Deep crimson, semi-double, large cl.u.s.ters.

[A]Nova Zembla. _Mees_, 1907. White sport from _Conrad Meyer_, fine.

Repens Alba. _Paul & Son_, 1903. Weeping form of Alba.

[A]Rose a parfum de l'Hay. _Gravereaux_, 1904.

Carmine cerise, double, fine.

Rugosa alba. _Thunberg_, 1784. Single, pure white.

Rugosa rubra. _Cels_, 1802. Pinkish red.

Rugosa rubra, fl. pl. _Regel._ Purple red. [A]

Rose Apples. _Paul & Son_, 1896. Pale carmine rose, large cl.u.s.ters.

FOOTNOTE:

[A] Perpetual flowering.

CHAPTER IV

CLIMBING ROSES--SUMMER FLOWERING

MANY are the races to which our summer gardens owe an almost endless variety of climbing roses; and each season adds to the bewildering number. The older types are the Ayrshire, the Evergreen, the Banksia, the Boursault, the Prairie rose, the Multiflora. And twenty-one years ago, the Wichuraiana from j.a.pan was introduced, adding a totally new source from whence to derive precious and beautiful hybrids.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AYRSHIRE.

RUGA.]

THE AYRSHIRE ROSE

originated without doubt from the trailing white rose of our hedges and woodlands, _Rosa arvensis_. In the early years of last century many popular varieties were developed which are still welcome in our gardens, such as _Alice Gray_, _Dundee Rambler_, _Ruga_, _Queen of the Belgians_, _Splendens_ or _Myrrh-scented_. And in 1835, the charming little double white rose, _Bennett's Seedling_ or _Th.o.r.esbyana_, was discovered among some briars by Lord Manvers' gardener at Th.o.r.esby.

[Ill.u.s.tration: EVERGREEN.

FeLICITe-PERPeTUE.]

THE EVERGREEN ROSE.

The parent of the Evergreen roses of our gardens was the climbing wild rose of Italy, _Rosa Sempervirens_. And the best known, and perhaps the most valuable of these, is the white _Felicite et Perpetue_, named after the saints and martyrs Felicitas and Perpetua. This rose and several other varieties were raised in 1827 by Monsieur Jacques, the head-gardener at the royal gardens of Neuilly. They bloom in large cl.u.s.ters of small, very full, double flowers. _Myrianthes renoncule_, _Leopoldine d'Orleans_, and _Banksiaeflora_ are white; _Princesse Marie_ and _Flora_ are pink, as is _Williams' Evergreen_. As all these keep their dark shining foliage until nearly the end of the winter, they are very valuable on screens and arches.

THE BANKSIAN ROSE, _R. Banksia_.

This persistent foliage is one of the great merits of the large white Banksian _Fortunei_, called in French catalogues _Banks de Chine_--a hybrid with the beautiful _Rosa Sinica_. Its handsome green leaves, as I write in mid-February, are as thick outside my window in spite of twenty degrees of frost a few weeks back, as they were in the autumn. It will throw shoots of immense length each year: clothing a wall summer and winter with its rich green foliage. It is much hardier than the Yellow and White Banksians. The flowers, large, full, white, and sweet-scented, grow singly, not in cl.u.s.ters, and are borne like those of the Yellow and White Banksians on the sub-laterals--_i.e._ the little flowering stems on the laterals of last year. This habit of growth is the reason of so many failures in getting the Banksian roses to flower.

An old plant of the Yellow Banksian on the rectory at Strathfieldsaye had never been known to flower when the Rev. F. Page-Roberts came there.