MODERN ROSES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 August 1938, Page 9

MODERN ROSES

COMMON LIBEL REFUTED. Today it is no more true that all modern varieties are scentless than is the general belief that the older roses were all heavily scented. The idea is so deeply rooted, however, that many people almost doubt the evidence of their own noses. One has heard people admiring the pillars and banks of roses at a flower show end their remarks with “Such a pity that these modern roses have no scent” and yet the very air has been glorious with the fragrance of the blooms. The modern hybridiser very keenly realises that scent is as much an attribute to beauty as colour and shape. Talisman, one of the most delightfully scented roses ever introduced, is essentially modern, with its long pointed buds of yellow and peach, shaded pink and scarlet. The growth is upright- the flower stems almost thornless, the foliage is practically diseaseresistant, and the blooming period is not exceeded by any other rose. The scent from a bowl of Talisman, left m a room overnight, is so delicious as to neutralise even the worst Monday morning feelings. Portadown Fragrance is as near perfection as any rose. Of orange-salmon flushed orang-scarlet, it has been deemed worthy to distil as scent. Every season sees the modern rose a little nearer t,p perfection. We are getting towards the ideal habit, fuller and shapelier blooms, colour mixtures which cannot easily be described, and a wonderful variety of scents. How many of the older varieties could excel in perfume such crimsons as Etoile de Hollande, William Orr, Gipsy Lass, or Perfume? In the scarlet-crimsons we have such gems as W. E. Chaplin, Christopher Stone, Madge Whipp. Rosette, and David McKee. What a grand autumn rose David McKee is, with its solid spiral blooms of exhibition quality. REDS AND CRIMSONS.

The retention of fragrance in the reds and crimsons has been a comparatively simple matter. It is in giving scent to colours which weie hitherto without fragrance that the hybridiser has worked wonders. In most of the newer multi-coloured varieties there is fragrance to a greater or les-

ser degree—few are totally without. With such varieties .as Contessa de Sastagi, gold and orange-scarlet; President Hoover, a splendid combination of cerise, flame, scarlet, and yellow shades; Angels Mateu, old-rose, flushed flame, and orange; Shot Silk, cerise, Overshot with salmon, the fragrance is almost as striking as their shades. In the past the only yellow and buff shades with any scent were the tea roses, and these, on the whole, were rather weakly growers. Gradually the teas, the Pernetianas, and the hybrid teas were crossed and intercrossed to give us the present-day hardy yellows. As may be expected, scent in the yellow and buff roses is in varied degrees of tea perfume. In this class we have Barbara Richards, rosy-buff (heavily perfumed); Golden Dawn, sunflower yellow; Lord Lonsdale, golden-yellow; Max Krauss, reddish orange; McGredy’s Yellow, of bright hue; Mrs E. Wood, creamy-yellow; Phyllis Gold, and Rheingold, both golden-yellow. On the whole, so far as pure yellow shades are concerned, the scent is delicate rather than effusive, and also inclined to be somewhat erratic. Thus, whilst the first blooms of certain yellows may almost be lacking in fragrance, the second or third crop will be quite aromatic, or, again the first blooms may be scented, and the later flowers not. There is no doubt that seasons and climatic conditions affect the scent of some roses, and this seems to be particularly so with yellow varieties. Possibly it is in the ranks of the pinks and flames that we find the largest number of scented varieties. This may be due to the fact that there are so many good pink roses on the market that a new variety must possess all the virtues to gain any degree of popularity. The following are but a few of the scented pinks and flames: Betty Uprichard, warm coppery-pink; Briarcliffe, clear pink; Charles P. Kilham, deep orange flames; Dame Edith Helen, deep rose-pink; Empress (Vierlanden), deep cerise; Flamingo, silky cerise;' Lady Barnby, warm pink; Lal, pale rose-pink. Los Angeles, coralpink; May Wettern, deep salmon-pink; Mrs Bryce Allen, carmine-rose; Ophelia, salmon-flesh; Polly, gold flushed pink; Souvenir de George Pernet, coral-pink; Violet Simpson, vivid shrimp-pink; and William Moore, deep clear pink. POLYANTHAS AND MUSKS. Even in the polyanthas roses, the hybridiser is beginning to give us fragrance. Two of the best scented hybrid polyanthas are Donald Prior, bright scarlet; and Salmon Spray, salmonpink. In the dwarf polyanthas we have

.he dainty Maud E. Gladstone, mal-maison-pink, with a really delightful tea perfume, and Ellen Poqlsen, cherryrose.

To turn from Hybrid teas —there are many deliciously scented roses amongst such types of the hybrid musks —a very fine race nowadays. These are grand to grow as isolated specimens, while the tallest of them make good pillars and all of them are suitable for massing and for. hedges. The lovely musk perfume is, of course, distinct from that of any other rose, and there are few to whom it does not make powerful appeal. The soft pink Belinda; Aurora, canary-yellow; Chami, a deep rich pink, and exceptionally str.ongly perfumed; Cornelia, strawberry, flushed yellow; Fortuna, chinapink, Maid Marion, blush white; Pax, lemon-white; and Penelope, shell-pink, with salmon shadings, are just a few of the best of them. Then, again, there is a comparative newcomer amongst the damask roses, so valuable for the extraction of the oils essential to the making of perfume. It is Professor Emile Perrot, a soft pink, semi-double rose, with a fragrance which cannot be excelled.