Some
Always Dependables
By MRS. FREDERICK L. KEAYS,
Great Neck, L. I., N. Y.
F SOMEONE should ask what old
rose of all the old roses we have grown is the most faithful, what old rose
does not know how to fail, I think I would say without hesitation, the old
White Rose of Parkinson (Rosa alba flore-pleno), the Rose of the House
of York. It can take what comes, and give. Here it grows to nearly nine feet
and nothing stops it. We grew it happily in Maryland. In northern New York
State, in the mountains; it can take forty degrees below zero and suffer no
harm. The old White Rose always blooms and never dies. If neglect and
encroaching weeds and grass are to be endured there is no discount of its
ability to beat the stress of such conditions. What more could be said for any
rose?
This is a June-flowering sort but we
forgive its limited time when we see it blooming, its lovely double flowers in
clusters on long sweeping branches which bend over and make a form like a
lesser elm tree, or at the ends of shoots compounding its corymbs into large
clusters, the opening flowers faintly touched with pink which soon goes, the
many buds frilled and prettied with winged sepals. Its unusual blue foliage is
an added attraction. The blue color takes on an atmospheric haziness due to the
faint powdery bloom on the leaf-surface--something like the thin white mists of
autumn. There is much loveliness to be found in an old white Rosa
flore-pleno.
Years ago varieties which
were derived from this Alba were quite plentiful. Of these we have found at
least two, one with a yellow. center and one of a soft unshaded flesh-color.
Let us hope we shall find more of these roses. They are highly dependable to
have just where we want something that can take care of itself and asks only a
little from us.
If someone should ask what
everblooming rose is the most faithful among old roses, what rose. does not
know how to fail, there would have to be two answers, the very old Rosa
chinensis, Old Blush China, and the newer variety Gruss an Teplitz.
Old Blush China is to be looked upon with a deep
sense of faith. How long it had been the dependable rose of the Chinese
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