Chapter 12 - Autumn Roses And Shrub Roses

One of the outstanding qualities of the rose is its continuity of flowering. Many of our popular garden plants can, if the weather is bad at flowering time, give a very mediocre display. A late May frost may be severe enough to destroy the whole of the iris crop of bloom, also peonies, with no hope of anything to follow, and a similar thing may happen to many of the flowering shrubs. Fortunately, while roses are susceptible to the effects of frost, all that happens is that blooming is delayed for a week or two.

The very wet months of August and September, i960, were rather disappointing for many flowers, including roses, but a fine spell of weather in October brought the blooms on in great style, and many of the plants were bearing quantities of really fine blooms. All modern roses have the habit of blooming until checked by frosts, but not all are at their best at that time of the year. Golden Melody, Perfecta and Ena Harkness can always be relied upon to give good blooms until the first fairly hard frost, whereas Crimson Glory seems to require a less chilly time of the year. Glory of Rome and Dame Edith Helen are better late in the year than at any other period, the former showing what glorious blooms it is capable of producing. Those three Graces—Ophelia, Madame Butterfly and Lady Sylvia—show their true colors, the plants often carrying more blooms than at any other time.

Frau Karl Druschki and its seedlings Candeur Lyonnaise and Louise Grettfe, are among the best of the autumn-flowering roses, the flowers coming on the tips of the strong basal shoots, which, if disbudded early, will produce blooms of the highest quality. Peace, although the color is not as intense as in the summer blooms, since the carmine edge to the petals is often absent, makes up for the deficiency with a wealth of bloom.

The Hybrid Polyantha roses, or Floribundas as they are now called, are sure to add their quota of bloom in an Indian summer. Sarabande, Allgold, Paprika, Red Dandy, Dusky Maiden and Frensham are among the best, and very useful they are, too, for cutting for home decoration, keeping in fresh condition rather longer than other types of roses.

Shrub roses

Although this book is primarily for those with gardens of a limited size, it is possible that it will be read by some who are not so restricted. I suggest to those that space be found for some of the species and modern shrub roses. The former, in the main, are summer flowering only, but many of the Shrub roses which have been recently introduced can be relied upon to flower continuously throughout the whole of the season.

The species

The list of roses suitable for growing with other flowering shrubs is a very long one, since it includes the rose species, the wild roses of different parts of the world. Many of these are very beautiful when in bloom and are followed in autumn by a brilliant display of heps. A great favorite is R. moyesii, with its very unusual, brick-red single blooms. The heps too are very interesting, hanging like inverted bottles. Personally I should not say it was the best of the species roses, as many do, for it is rather sparse in foliage, giving the plant a somewhat gawky appearance.

R.fargesii, a natural seedling of R. moyesii has blooms of a lighter shade, but is otherwise similar in growth. R. hugonis is another species, much grown for its primrose-colored blooms. It has the annoying habit of dying back for no apparent reason, sometimes just one growth, sometimes more, which makes it difficult to maintain a balanced plant. The hybrid species R. X cantabrigiensis is rather similar in colour although the individual blooms are not so large. It does not suffer from the die-back trouble of the previous variety.

A seedling of R. xanthina, Canary Bird, is by far the best of this type. The blooms are about four inches across and of a delightful pale yellow. The foliage is also very fine, being more like that of an acacia than a rose. I have seen it grown as a standard tree and a very handsome plant it makes, being quite decorative even when out of flower.

R. willmottiae must be mentioned, if only because it is one of the earliest to come into bloom. I remember a few years ago we had a fall of snow in early May and the sight of the lovely pink blossoms peeping out of the snow-covered branches was as pretty as it was unusual. This species is also valued for its fine, delicate foliage, and is often used by exhibitors in the artistic classes at the shows, giving an air of lightness which is so desirable.

Another species valuable on that account is R. omeiensis pteracantha. In this it is the stems with their translucent thorns that are the principal attraction. The white flowers which are freely produced are unusual in having only four petals.

Most of the rose species only bloom once, but there are a few exceptions which should be grown even if the selection is limited to a very few. R. rugosa scabrosa is an ideal subject for an informal hedge as it is for growing as an isolated specimen. The blooms are large, about three inches across, of a deep rose color and very fragrant. It flowers more or less continuously throughout the summer, and bears large, highly ornamental, apple-like heps late in the year.

Blanc Double de Coubert is a white sport from R. rugosa alba. It grows 5 to 6 ft. tall and its blooms, as the name suggests, are double. Here again the blooming period is a fairly long one. It does not bear heps to the same extent as do the many rugosa varieties.

Nevada, claimed to have descended from moyesii, although there is little to suggest such a relationship, is becoming very popular for growing as a specimen bush, owing to its free-blooming character. Its flowers are creamy-white, about four inches in diameter, and a plant will often carry as many blooms in September as in June.

The hybrid Scotch rose, Stanwell Perpetual, is another rose very well suited for growing as a hedge. The very fragrant double blooms are freely produced and the plants are not so vigorous as to quickly get out of hand.

The Hybrid Musks mentioned earlier should certainly be grown, for there are few roses so well suited to the shrub border. Moonlight and Prosperity, white; Penelope, pale pink; Vanity, rose pink; Cornelia and Felicia, salmon pink; Robin Hood, light red; would be among the best to choose.

The old Shrub roses

Of recent years there has been a revival of interest in the old roses and many have been brought back into cultivation by a few enthusiasts. This is a very praiseworthy thing indeed, since, but for the trouble that these few people have gone to, these old roses of the past might in a few years have disappeared entirely. Most of them have no pretence to form in the flower, but nevertheless have a charm entirely their own. In scent they are pre-eminent, and it is this quality which makes them so desirable. Some of the best are Maiden's Blush, Celestial, York and Lancaster, Madame Isaac Pereire, Ze'phirine Drouhin and Fellemberg. The pruning of these Shrub roses should consist mainly in cutting out the oldest wood and retaining as much of the new growth as possible. The rose species seem to resent being cut about and, except when they outgrow their allotted space, are best left almost entirely alone.

The Hybrid Musks are rather more amenable to the knife or secateurs and, in fact, may be grown in large beds and treated in much the same way as Hybrid Teas, not that this is a good way of treating these roses, but it just indicates how accommodating they can be.

The modern Shrub roses

The upsurge of interest in the old shrub roses referred to in the previous paragraphs may possibly have been fermented by the beauty of the latest introductions, who knows? Be that as it may, we have been fortunate as a result of the work of Kordes and Poulsen in particular to have available shrubs that are in flower on and off throughout the whole of the season. The best of them are Wilhelm (dark red), Heidelberg (glowing crimson), Berlin (orange scarlet with golden centre), Bonn (orange scarlet), Poulsen's Park Rose (silvery pink) and Nymphenburg (salmon pink shaded orange).

A word of warning is necessary. In planting any of these roses in a shrubbery, do not expect them to give of their best if they have to compete for sustenance with such hungry subjects as lilac, privet, laurel, etc., for any feeding matter given to the roses would be quickly absorbed by the roots of these plants. If, on the other hand, an entirely new shrub border is being planted, it will be found that the roses will grow together in perfect harmony with their stronger companions.

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