List of Roses Now in Cultivation at Chateau Eléonore, Cannes - With Descriptive Notes #254932

This is no sense intended as a treatise on Roses, a subject so frequently dealt with by many pens and tongues, that anything I could add would be but a repetition of what has been better said by others. My wish is briefly and without detail to describe under what conditions of life and surroundings the Rose is found at Cannes, the treatment it receives at our hands, and the repayment we obtain for our care and solicitude. Then follows a simple catalogue (bereft of botanical jargon) of the varieties now cultivated in this garden, to each one being appended a note, taken in almost every instance from observations on the spot, which I hope may present to the reader a faithful and clear delineation of the appearance, colour, general habits, and behaviour of the variety it attempts to describe. I shall be pleased and more than repaid should such information prove of service or interest to any Rose-grower.<br><br>The descriptions may be rejected by some as being too highly coloured, or not in harmony with the experience of English cultivators; but before the critic condemns them as unreliable, I would ask him to consider the climate and surroundings, and remember that our Roses rejoice here in a depth of soil altogether unknown in England, circumstances sufficient to account for a great difference in form, colour, and size. Many Roses, particularly the Tea-scented varieties, are so strengthened and beautified by the sunshine and diet obtained here, that thus embellished, they would hardly be recognised by their kinsfolk at home, many of whom, poor things, have, under the grey skies of England, to struggle for mere existence. As examples may be mentioned two of the most common and best known of the Tea Roses, viz., "Marie Van Houtte" and "Papa Gontier." There is in this garden a single plant of the former (vide illustration on page 25) seven or eight years old, having a circumference of no less than seventy feet, close to which is a Papa Gontier grown in cylindrical form, whose diameter is seven, and height nearly twenty-five, feet. It is difficult to exaggerate the beauty of these plants when in full bloom; and that such vigour, size, and magnificence are attainable can hardly be believed by those whose experience of the cultivation of Tea Roses has been confined to England.