Roses
were one of the most popular Victorian flowers. The
one depicted here was called the Perpetual Rose, a result
of a varied crossing of the China and Bourbon roses.
The
'hybrid perpetuals' were believed to be the most useful
of roses for the garden: they had a strong scent, handsome
foliage and full rich flowers.
If
planting an entire bed of roses, gardeners were advised
to plant a number of dwarf varieties as well as standards,
and to plant in deep, rich and moist loam - for large
and very double flowers the soil also needed a goodly
amount of manure forked in. The standard English rose,
or brier, needed a 'stiff soil', deeply dug and liberally
manured. Standards were suited to clay soils. Where
the soil was thin and stony and dry, the best rose was
the 'Manetti' - roses grafted onto the Italian brier
of that name.
All
roses needed good drainage.
The
principle enemy of the Victorian rose gardener was the
aphid or 'green fly'. Hibberd suggested that the best
deterrent for aphids was plenty of water applied to
the roots, which would make the rose grow vigorously,
and also as frequent copious showers to the leaves of
the plant to wash the pest away. If all else failed
the gardener could apply tobacco-powder as an effective
fly-killer, dusted on the young leaves and shoots and
washed off soon afterwards with the use of a garden
syringe.
Roses
should be planted in the autumn and winter, but if you
could only plant in spring, then the roots needed to
be mulched over with a goodly amount of stable manure.
See
also the page on the York
and Lancaster Rose.
