GARDENING NOTES.

Shannon News, 22 May 1925, Page 4

GARDENING NOTES.

The much needed rain has at las^ fallen, and the saraener bas reason to rejoice. The soil which has tor some time been lacking in i is once again friable and higo working order. Much maj be the garden just now, which will ma terially lessen the work for busy spring months. Large numbers early hardy seedling plants de rs ready for transplanting in the borders. These will get well rooted, andasi soon as the frosts disappear y early spring, will make rapid growth eventually fllline the borders with gay eariy flowering plants. The garden g e h e £- | aliv soeakhifi:, rGcjuircs a. good deal c eanhig up It this season, if this work is done and all weeds removed and where possible a good top dressing manure is added, the garden will keep fairly tidy until spring. On the other hand if this work is **gg*sJ£ ground gets too wet for interference,, and a great deal of work accumulates and awaits the gardener s attention in the busy spring season, which coul have been better and more efficiently done at the present time. Dahlias in most gardens have finished flowering and may be safely dug up and stoied . as soon as the frost cuts them down. Space is then available for a goo many plants of hardy annuals, such I ( as Neme'sia, godetia, lmaria, virgiman stock, and larkspurs, these will have finished blooming by the t ground is again needed for replanting the dahlias. ~ _ The Vegetable Garden, in the vegetable garden the gardener should look ahead, and prepare for the needs of the spring months., Early sown lettfuce seed will Jiave made nice sturdy plants, ready transplanting. Give this valua spring crop every chance to come to perfection. Choose a well-drained plot and dig in well rotted manure, also use a teaspoonful of blood and bone manure for each plant, ffen setting them out, and last but not least, watch for slugs, also sow more seed for a. rotation crop. Dwarf peas and broad beans may be sown this month in well-drained, sheltered garden plots. Plant early cabbage and cauliflower plants and a few eschallots.

Fragrant Boses. If one were asked to compile a list of fragrant roses, it would probably end in disappointing those who made the request, which would not necessarily mean that some varieties included would be scentless, but lies in the fact that one cannot write correctly of fragrant roses and give the names of a dozen or two that mem such a description. It is necessary to be more explicit, and to state more exactly what kind of fragrance the roses possess. Present-day roses have at the very least five different and well-defined varieties of fragrance, and it is clearly misleading to group all the sweet scented ones together under a general heading. Some roses have the real old world fragrance that one associates with those more or less ancient varieties of dark crimson colourings. Others have a distinct “fruity” perfume which is almost exactly like that of a ripe apricot. Tea roses, again, have a distinct and delicate fragrance that is characteristic of varieties in this group, they are, m fact commonly known as “tea scented ” Then there are mahy hybrid teh roses which possess what one might describe as faintly scented, it is not to be questioned that these blooms have perfume, but that, it is neither so sweet or pronounced as in some of the charming old daTk.crimson hybrid perpetuals. Under certain conditions, their fragrance is liable to entirely disappear, as for instance, m dry sunny weather, or if the blooms have been standing in a large airy hall. The fifth kind of fragrance is ( like that of the musk rose and the i varieties which have been. raised from them by cross breeding, I this is perfectly distinct from the four C ->ther varieties of scent to which l ; aference has been made, as it forcf d;ly reminds one of. a field of new mown hay on a glorious day in early summer. To answer the inquirer, who demands a list of fragrant roses for his garden, is no easy matter, as it is moie than possible that he has in mind such powerfully scented roses as the i scarlet crimson Charles Lefebvre, or the velvety crimson Victor Hugo yariJ eties that were more popular a gen* ) eration ago than thev are to-day. If such modern hybrid teas as General McArthur, Richmond, and Mme. Abel Chatenay find a place in the list,, the enquirer would be grievously disappointed, not that these varieties are not sweet scented, but their fragrance is of i diffeffrent kind from that which he had in mind. It is possible with reasonable accuracy to classify scented roses under the five groups shown in this article, at all events it can be done to such an extent, as to give the enquirer a fairly good impression of the kind of scent the various species possess. Among those having the real old rose scent there are Alfred Colomb, Duke of Wellington, Captain Hayward, Charles, Lefebvre, Fisher Holmes, General Jacqueminot, Victor Hugo, and Hugh Dickson, all of which are old varieties which have been in cultivation for a number of years. Modern roses which may be grouped with them, with the qualification that they are not quite so powerfully scented are Admiral Ward. Colonel Oswald Fitzgerald, Chateau de Clos Vougeot, Hadley, C. K. Douglas, Crimson Emblem, Hoosier Beauty, W. C. Clark, and Prince of Wales. A 1 these are of red or crimson colourings, and the last-named won the Clay cup at “Home” which is offered annually for the best new rose, with the old rose scent. The fruity scent is a characteristic of many of the yellow and orange roses, notably Duchess of Wellington, Golden Emblem. Juliet, Sovereign, W. F. Dreer, and the Queen Alexandra rose. Tea roses that possess the typical “ tea scent” are Lady Hillingdon. Alice de Rothschild, Harry Kirk, Mrs. Foley Hobbs, An'na Oliver, Mme. Hoste, ( Gloire de Dijon, Mme. Cusin, Mai“ie ) van Houtte * and Peace. Favourite ! hybrid tea roses that have less powerful scent are General McArthur, Opheiic, Richmond, Mme Abel Chatcnay, Columbia, Clarice Goodacre, ■ Ether Somerset, Henrietta' Mme. Melanie, Soupert, Mrs. Alfred Tate, I Pharisaer, Mme Jules Groley, and Viscountess Folkestone. The musk I scent is characteristic of the following I varieties: Trier, Mme d’Arblay, Danae Clvtemnestra, and the old climbing variety Felieite Perpetue. It may not be generally known that some of the true rambler roses have sweetly scented flowers. We usually associate these roses will - brilliant masses of colour rather than with fragrant blossoms, and that association is a ■true one ,for it is among the ramblers,

with less highly coloured flowers that the sweet scented varieties are found. Some of the most fragrant are Evangeline, palest pink, Debutante, pal®

pink, Aviateur Bleriot, Rene Andre, shades of rod and y ell °™' Tioonti'ne Gervais, salmon yellow. Paul Transom, rose and yellow, and Desire Bergera reddish copper.