Enjoying charms of modern roses

Press, 29 July 1989, Page 22

Enjoying charms of modern roses

Twentieth Century Roses. By Peter Beaies. Collins Harvill, 1989. 320 pp. Illustrations. $59.95. (Reviewed by Thelma Strongman) The warm personality of Peter Beales, a well-known English nurseryman, reaches out from his down-to-earth, informative writing style. “Twentieth-Century Roses” is a companion volume to his beautiful “Classic Roses” and with which it shares a common format including many colour plates. From all the thousands of hybrid roses which have been raised around the world during this century, Peter Beales has chosen about 850. His book mainly consists of photographic portraits both of “historic” roses which have been the antecedents of most other popular varieties, and of those modern roses which are his own favourites. There are four main parts of this book. In the first, Beales searches for the perfect rose among the major collections of this century, the hybrid teas, floribundas, shrub roses and recumbents, miniature roses and patio (horrible word) roses, climbing roses, ramblers and scramblers. He looks back to the influence of older classic roses and glances into the future where he sees a greater use of technology, particularly in

micropropagation, and the further development of patio roses, and ground-covers (recumbent roses). Beales also sees a future in flexible ramblers, especially vigorous tree scramblers, in evergreen roses, and those with beautiful autumn foliage. Finally he sees one of the most optimistic aims of most gardeners, improvements to the size and shape of the hips. Part II deals with the use of roses in landscaping, Beales preferring the massing of only one colour of floribunda roses. He likes to see both hybrid tea roses and floribundas used with mixed planting schemes, particularly in herbaceous borders. He notes that the floppy type of climbing roses seems to be going out of fashion, their role being overtaken by modern climbing roses of upright stance which need minimal support against house walls. For internal hedges, Beales suggests varieties which include “Iceberg,” “China town,” “Escapade,” and some of the delicious Pemberton musks and rugosas such as Roseraie de I’Hay and Blanc double de Coubert. Beale is not yet satisfied with the quality' of procumbent roses considering that few are sufficiently dense to smother weeds effectively. Two of the better

varieties he identifies as “Raubritter” and “Cardinal Hume.” Part 111 contains all practical aspects of cultivation. Beales considers hoeing as old-fashioned, using only spraying and mulching to control weeds. Part IV contains an extensive pictorial dictionary of modern roses which is both beautiful and useful. The book ends with a selection of appendices in which there is a rather bizarre world climate map which equates the climate of New Zealand south of Banks Peninsula with that of Alaska, Newfoundland, and much of central Russia. There are also lists of rose gardens to visit and rose societies in many parts of the world. The idea of New Zealand as a major rose-growing country is well established in this book. It mentions North Island nurseryman Sam McGredy and his beautiful creation “Matangi,” and the rose “Nancy Steen” raised in New Zealand, and named after the woman who did much pioneering work on the rediscovery of old-fashioned roses. There is also a fine photograph of a Banksia rose in the garden of Trevor Griffiths, of Temuka, who has done much in the raising of these old-fashioned varieties and their descendants. For the expert or beginner rosarian, this is a book not to be missed.