MR A. M. OLLIVIER'S COLLECTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5739, 5 December 1896, Page 5

MR A. M. OLLIVIER'S COLLECTION.

Mr Ollivier has a good position, good soil, and a good collection of roses. A little more shelter from high winds would improve the welfare of his roses. They are looking well, and we shall expect Mr Ollivier to give an even better account of himself at the Rose Show in 1896 than he did in 1895. The Teas are rather early, one large bush of Anna Ollivier being covered with, very nice blooms and a wealth of buds. Several other varieties are well out, Madame Lambard being in very good condition. The Queen and a large number of others are full of promise The hybrid perpetuals ai'e in first-rate condition, and should be in good exhibition form by the date of the show. ' Margaret Dixon has some very fine buds. It will be remembered that a bloom of this variety took the prize at the 1895 exhibition as the premier hybrid perpetual in tlie show. Comte Raimbaud looks very promising. So does Lady Helen Stewart; this variety has a delicious perfume for a hybiid perpetual, a striking shade of colour, and large, smooth petals of much substance, but it is not often that it is full enough for exhibition purposes. Sir Rowland Hill, La France, Baroness Rothschild and others all look so well that it is not necessary to enumerate them. Roses generally are looking better just now than they did last year at the same date, and should the weather continue favourable there will be a grand display of roses at the Canterbury Rose Society's exhibition next month.