PURCHASING ROSES

Articles In This Section:

· PURCHASING ROSES

· The uses of the rose

· Scent in modern roses

· Purchasing roses

· Selection of varieties

The rose is, by general consent, the queen of flowers. This is acknowledged even by those who specialize in such flowers as dahlias, chrysanthemums, sweet peas, carnations and many others. Why this should be is not easy to explain because, after all, most flowers seen through the eyes of those who grow them have an equal claim to be the most beautiful, and yet who would deny the pre-eminence of the rose?

It can be truthfully said that the rose is the only plant with which a complete garden can be made. One could fill a garden with any other kind of plant and thereby obtain a fine display of blooms, but such a garden would be dull and uninteresting except to the person interested in that particular flower.

The rose has not always held this unique place in our esteem, for it is the result of long, patient work by the hybridists who in the last fifty years or so have given us such diverse types, and have lengthened the period of flowering to an extent exceeded by no other flower.