He, of course, discovered that it had been pruned hard in the usual way.

And after proper attention for two years, it was last year a ma.s.s of bloom, to the surprise of all who saw it.[3]

The White Banksian was introduced by Mr. William Kerr in 1807, and named after Lady Banks. The yellow was discovered by Dr. Abel, in 1824, growing on the walls of Nankin. They are both natives of China: but require a warm position on a wall in most parts of England. The finest specimen I have ever seen was a very old plant of the yellow, growing some years ago inside the courtyard at Chillon. It was one of the most beautiful objects possible in summer, the grim walls being closely covered with a sheet of the delicate little blossoms.

ROSA SINICA, or LaeVIGATA,

mentioned above, also known as the "_Cherokee Rose_," is a single white with yellow stamens, from China. It is a very beautiful species; but requires, like the Banksians, the shelter of a wall. _Sinica anemone_ (Schmidt, 1895), silvery-pink shaded rose, is very vigorous, and more hardy, one of the best single climbing roses. This latter rose must not be confused with _Anemonaeflora_--a cross between _Banksia_ and _Multiflora_--with small double white anemone-like flowers.

THE BOURSAULT ROSES, _R. Alpina_,

are hardy, vigorous climbers, flowering in large cl.u.s.ters. They were raised from the single red Alpine rose. This, by the way, might be more generally cultivated for its own sake; its smooth red stems and handsome reddish foliage, which turns a fine colour in autumn, and its single deep pink flowers with long green bracts, succeeded by small brilliant hips, make it a charming object both in summer and autumn. M. Boursault, a famous Parisian rose amateur, gave his name to the group, the first variety, a double red, being called after him. _Amadis_, or _Crimson_, is one of the oldest, a deep crimson purple; while _Inermis Morletti_, an improved _Inermis_, was introduced in 1883 by Morlet.

ROSA SETIGERA, THE BRAMBLE-LEAVED OR PRAIRIE ROSE,

was the parent of several useful climbers raised by Feast, of Baltimore, and introduced into England in 1803. Of these _Belle of Baltimore_ and _Queen of the Prairies_ are the best, flowering late in the summer.

THE HUNGARIAN CLIMBING ROSES

appear to be very little known in England. But they are well worth growing, especially in cold and exposed places, as they are thoroughly frost-proof. The blossoms are large, very full, and mostly flat in form.

_Decoration de Geschwind_, rich purple-pink with white edges, is a handsome and effective flower. So are _Gilda_, wine colour, shaded with violet, and _Chateau Luegg_, deep carmine pink. To what family they are allied I do not know. They were raised by Geschwind about 1886. I got them from M. Bernaix of Lyons, and am greatly pleased with them.

HYBRIDS OF CHINA, BOURBON, AND NOISETTE ROSES.

This very beautiful cla.s.s of summer-flowering climbing or pillar roses, is too often neglected in these days. They are the result of crosses between the Gallica, Centifolia, and Damask roses, and the China, Noisette and Bourbon. For size, form and colour, many of these roses are still unexcelled. And one regrets they are not more generally grown.

Whether the seed parent is the perpetual China, Bourbon, or Noisette, and the pollen parent the French or Provence rose, or _vice versa_, the result is that, though it grows vigorously, the hybrid does not flower in the autumn--with the one exception, the beautiful _Gloire de Rosamenes_. One of the grandest of this cla.s.s is _Blairii No. 2_ (Blair 1845), blush with rose centre, a very vigorous climber: but it should be remembered that if pruned it will not flower. This is also the case with the fine crimson _Brennus_ or _Brutus_. _Coupe d'Hebe_ and _Chenedole_ are both good roses; while _Charles Lawson_ for a brilliant crimson pillar rose, and the pure white _Madame Plantier_ for bush or pillar, are not easily surpa.s.sed, as their flowers are borne in immense quant.i.ties. That very brilliant and effective single rose, _Paul's Carmine Pillar_, is also a hybrid; but its exact parentage is not known.

Messrs. Paul & Son, of Cheshunt, write to me: "We believe it to be, as far as we can recollect, a hybrid with Boursault blood." This would explain its coming into flower so early.

THE CLIMBING MULTIFLORA OR POLYANTHA ROSES,

and their hybrids, commonly known as "Rambler roses," have developed of late years in such amazing numbers, that it is a work of some difficulty to keep pace with the new varieties which appear each season. The original Multiflora, known also as _Polyantha simplex_, was introduced from j.a.pan in 1781 by Thunberg. It is a very vigorous climber with large bunches of small, single white flowers. From this type rose, which seeds very freely, numbers of hybrids were raised in Italy early in the nineteenth century, by crossings with other richly coloured roses. One of the earliest of these hybrids which still remains is _Laure Davoust_, with small and very double flowers--pink changing to blush. _Grevillia_ or the _Seven Sisters_ is another, its flowers changing from crimson to purplish rose, and then to pale rose. This produces a most quaint effect, as we have flowers of three colours on the plant at once. _De la Grifferaie_, 1845, is also deep rose, changing to blush.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CLIMBING POLYANTHA.

BLUSH RAMBLER.]

It was, however, in 1893 that an extraordinary impulse was given to the culture of these roses, by the introduction of _Turner's Crimson Rambler_. Two roses which are now cla.s.sed among the "Ramblers" preceded it by a few years; Allard's _Daniel Lacombe_, 1886, and the beautiful _Claire Jacquier_, 1888, raised by Bernaix of Lyons. But the advent of _Crimson Rambler_ is really the starting point of that enthusiasm which has reigned ever since 1893 for the Rambler roses, and which has happily brought many of the old varieties mentioned above into favour once more.

As many versions of the advent of this rose are extant, I wrote to Mr.

Charles Turner to ask him its true history, and in his kind reply of February 17, 1908, he says, "The rose was brought from j.a.pan with other plants by an engineer on board a trading vessel for a gentleman living near Edinburgh. It was grown there for some time, and eventually came into our possession."

[Ill.u.s.tration: CLIMBING POLYANTHA.

BLUSH RAMBLER.]

This rose is so well known that, like good wine, it needs no bush of praise or description. And it was quickly followed by other Multifloras of varying types. In 1896 came Lambert's trio _Euphrosyne_, the so-called Pink rambler, _Thalia_, the White rambler, and _Aglaia_, the Yellow rambler; succeeded in 1897 by his _Helene_, pale rose with yellowish white centre. In 1898 Dawson brought out the _Dawson rose_, with cl.u.s.ters of semi-double soft-rose flowers. In 1899 came two notable additions--Paul & Son's _Psyche_; and Schmidt's _Leuchstern_--one of the most beautiful of the race. The latter grower's invaluable _Rubin_; Veitch's _Electra_; Paul & Son's _Lion_ followed in 1900; and their _Wallflower_ in 1901.

In 1903, Wm. Paul & Son brought out _Waltham Rambler_; B. R. Cant, the exquisite _Blush Rambler_; and Walsh of Philadelphia the _Philadelphia Rambler_. In 1904 came Lambert's _Gruss an Zabern_ and _Trier_. In 1905 Cutbush's _Mrs. F. W. Flight_, considered by some the Queen of ramblers.

And in 1906 Weigand's _Taunusblumchen_; and Soupert et Notting's beautiful _Stella_. Last year a rich feast was provided for those who delight in Ramblers, with Soupert et Notting's fine new _Bar-le-Duc_, offspring of their famous tea rose _Souv. de Pierre Notting_ and _Crimson Rambler_; Schmidt's _Tausendschon_, a cross between _Crimson Rambler_ and a tea-polyantha; and Wm. Paul & Son's _Kathleen_, a single flower, rich carmine-rose with a white eye. And this year Soupert et Notting are sending out their new _Bordeaux_, a seedling from _Crimson Rambler_ and the dwarf Polyantha _Blanche Rebatel_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WICHURIANA.

DOROTHY PERKINS.]

Meanwhile, in 1887, the parents of a new race of climbing roses had been brought to Europe. The Wichuraiana (Species) was introduced from j.a.pan by Crepin, in 1887. Its small white single flowers with their quaint hay scent, borne late in the summer, its glossy evergreen leaves, and its vigorous creeping habit--for it will cover a large s.p.a.ce on a bank in twelve months--proclaimed a new and valuable species. And in America, Manda was quick to see its value as the parent of a new race, by crossing it with tea roses. Ten years later, in 1897, he brought out _Manda's Triumph_; in 1899, the charming _Gardenia_, _Jersey Beauty_, _May Queen_, _Pink Roamer_, _South Orange Perfection_, _Universal Favourite_; and in 1900, _Evergreen Gem_, one of the very best. The next year Jackson and Perkins introduced the incomparable _Dorothy Perkins_.

And Walsh, another American grower, followed in 1902 with _Debutante_, and in 1905 with _Hiawatha_ and _Lady Gay_.

Meanwhile in France, M. Barbier had been devoting himself to these charming hybrids; and began his long list of beautiful varieties in 1900 with _Alberic Barbier_, _Rene Andre_, and the single _Wichuraiana rubra_; to be followed by numbers of others.

One of the charms of these roses, and they have many, is that they are to all intents and purposes evergreen. Another is, that although they are not perpetual, _i.e._ flowering twice in the season, the hybrids often take after their parent the type Wichuraiana, whose flowering season is very late--last autumn I gathered a few flowers from it the third week in December. Therefore, many of them come into bloom just as the Multifloras are going over, thus prolonging the season of summer climbing roses till the end of August.

For every purpose they are of use. They may be planted to cover an unsightly bit of bank, or to climb over a stump, to wreath themselves into the branches of a tree, or to form a dense covering of shining leaves and innumerable flowers on fence or trellis or screen. They are even more charming on pillars and arches, when the full beauty of their blossoms can be seen from all sides; for while many have a pendant habit, the main flower heads, of _Dorothy Perkins_ for instance, are carried erect above the pink foam of the laterals that clothe the graceful hanging shoots below.

A Wichuraiana hybrid--for choice the dainty _rubra_, _Dorothy Perkins_ or _Hiawatha_--grown as a tall, weeping standard seven feet high, is an object of such beauty that if once seen it cannot be forgotten. Or these charming roses may be trained round a large balloon, in the same fashion as the _Crimson Rambler_ in the Royal Gardens at Windsor, figured in "The Garden," December 30, 1905.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WICHURIANA.

JERSEY BEAUTY.]

Planted on a terraced slope the Wichuraianas are most effective. In one instance, _Gardenia_, _Evergreen Gem_, _Alberic Barbier_ and others were planted along a steep gra.s.s bank below a terrace walk. A flat shelf four feet wide had been cut half way down the bank, and there the roses were put in some ten or twelve feet apart. By the next summer they had joined hands; and whether from below, or looking down on them from the terrace above, the huge wreath with ma.s.ses of flowers among the glossy foliage made a most exquisite display.

In fact there is no limit to the uses to which this delightful family may be put. And we may believe that there is no limit either to its future developments in the hands of the hybridists, whose patient research will, I have no doubt, give us before many years are over, perpetual flowering, evergreen Wichuraianas of every hue.

AYRSHIRE ROSES, _R. Arvensis_.

Alice Gray. White edged pink.

Bennett's Seedling or Th.o.r.esbyana. _Bennett_, 1835. Double White.

Dundee Rambler. White, semi-double.

Queen of the Belgians. Creamy white, large, double.

Ruga. Pale flesh, large, double.

Repens flore pleno. White, very abundant bloomer.

Splendens, or myrrh-scented. Flesh colour, large, double.

EVERGREEN ROSES, _R. Sempervirens_.

Banksiaeflora. White, centre pale yellow.