NAMED VARIETIES OF MINIATURE ROSES
Although new varieties of this popular plant are constantly being introduced, and most likely will have a wide appeal eventually, it may be some time before they appear in plant and seed catalogues. In compiling this modest list I have thought chiefly of what is available at the moment, miniature roses I have either grown, seen in friends’ gardens, or admired vicariously on the printed pages of magazines, books, and booklets. If you are interested, I am sure these bushes are readily available. If I am old-hat and you feel avant-garde, there are many persons propagating new varieties. Talk to some of them, or try it yourself, a most gratifying hobby:
‘Baby Bunting’—A delightful, small rose with red flowers of a deep, startling shade. This variety is an inch or so taller than some, but many of my friends think it ideal in that they like to make miniature flower arrangements and appreciate slightly longer stems. Among its other charms, the rose is most delightfully fragrant.
‘Baby Crimson’—I’ve never had this one grow taller than six inches. Since I have maternal instinct for the wee ones, I love it. Under the right conditions it will bear tiny crimson flowers and exquisite buds up until frost time.
‘Bo-Peep’—This one has a charm in its name, and is one of the more popular miniature roses. It has double pink blooms, forms a bush with a neat conformation, and is another favorite with those who make miniature arrangements. You needn’t worry about cutting its blooms. It is always growing more.
‘Cinderella’—This one fits beautifully into the legend about the girl with the glass slipper. It has dainty white blooms touched with pink and is in the true tradition of rose shapeliness. Seemingly, it loves to bloom.
‘Granada’—In some listings I find the name spelled ‘Granata.’ Regardless of the spelling, I love the bushes I have grown, for the lovely, semidouble, red flowers which the bush bears so profusely. A tiny vase filled with them makes one wish to build a doll house in which to display it.
Days in the life of a miniature rose:
a. Leafed out
b. A growing bush
c. First bud
d. Full bloom
‘Little Princess’—So many of my small roses are either pink or red, I always try to find white ones for contrast. This is a variety I have often depended on. Sometimes the blooms are alone, but then again they may be in clusters. A cluster, snipped from the bush and wrapped in foil, looks very lovely when pinned on a little girl’s pink dress as she leaves for a party.
‘Mon Petite’ (sometimes spelled ‘Mon Petit’)—This one is truly petite, not once in a dozen times over five inches tall. But those five inches never seem to stop flowering with cherry-red blooms. And then, to make themselves even more fascinating, they often have a delicate haze of purple.
‘Patty Lou’ (patented)—This one is so delicate I imagine its creator must have had some particularly sweet little girl in mind when he named it. In bloom it is a pink bicolor, and it always seems to be blooming. A truly lovely little rose.
‘Perle d’Alcanada’ (sometimes spelled ‘Perle d’Alconada’)—May I warn you, this is a real charmer. Being somewhat on the stately side, it may grow to nine inches. It makes a neat and most attractive bush and then comes forth with pink blooms that slowly change to a white pearl-like effect.
‘Pixie Gold’—This is another dainty one, a yellow miniature with a lovely soft color to add to its beauty. It is really a miniature, and would consider itself a giant if it topped five inches. It has an attractive bush, but that is only part of it, the blooms follow a perfect pattern from the time they are buds until they are full-blown. It follows all rose traditions.
‘Red Imp’—Many persons consider this beauty the most perfect of all miniature roses. Certainly, with its deep-red blooms, it is one of the best known. Such a feeling of affection must be deserved. I think the first miniature I ever owned was a ‘Red Imp.’ If for no other reason, that would make me love it.
‘Rosa Oakington Ruby’—Some years back the English Royal Horticultural Society thought so much of this rose they gave it the Award of Merit, and well they might. The blooms are a rich ruby-carmine, are double, and are around all summer. In planting this variety, remember it tends to be an inch or so taller than the wee ones.
‘Rosata’—I love this one for its fragrant, pinkish flowers, which also have a touch of salmon. The blooms are delightful when made into corsages or miniature bouquets.
‘Rouletti’—This is a great favorite in rock gardens, and in edgings around beds of big roses. It is a true “shorty” and seldom exceeds five inches in height. But the buds, rose-pink, are so exquisite one wishes to put them into a setting for a ring to be worn on the finger.
‘Scarlet Gem’—This is what is known as a newcomer among miniature roses. But it has so much charm, I know it will be called an old favorite in the years to come. The flowers are an orange-scarlet, and fairly cover a handsome bush of nice conformation. Remember when setting it out in your garden, it may grow an inch or so taller than some of the others.
‘Sunbeam’—From the very name you may guess that this is a yellow rose, literally, a beam from the sun. It is a cheerful little dwarf, and has a tea-rose type of bloom. You’ll love it.
‘Sweet Fairy’—This is something out of a book of fairy tales, delicate and fanciful. It has pinkish blooms and a fragrance that will charm you.
‘Thumbelina’—Looking at this rose will bring back the memories of that delightful story “Thumbelina” which we all loved as children. As a rose, and not a story, it is semidouble and has lovely red flowers that open from delicately pointed buds. It flowers freely, and the blooms are most enchanting in small vases.
‘Wayside’s Garnet’—As I first bought this rose from the catalogue of Wayside Gardens, I’ll let them describe it for you: “... a neat, compact small plant with many perfect, fully-double, garnet-red little flowers. It is a prolific bloomer and a good grower ... much like Oakington Ruby, which is one of its parents. It probably has the brightest, darkest and deepest red to be found among miniature roses.”
‘Yellow Miniature’—This is a charming little rose, yellow, with a cheering tint. Many consider it to be the most attractive of all yellow miniatures. I will not argue with them. I’ve always been enchanted with it.
CHAPTER 8
MINIATURE SINK GARDENS
Take the concept of dish gardens and model landscapes, but execute it with miniature garden plants. Take the outdoor plants of bonsai, but don’t dwarf them unduly or train them into unusual shapes. There you have the mixture that makes up these specialized miniature gardens, called “sink” or “trough” gardens for the old-fashioned stone sinks and horse troughs they were planted in when the fad first swept England, some thirty years ago.
Now, the old sinks and troughs are practically nonexistent, and the name is anachronistic. But I have been totally unable to dream up anything better. “Sink garden” is a specific title for a composition of plants or a landscape scene in small scale, planted in a sturdy, sink-like container, grown outdoors and used in limited ways to decorate the garden and grounds. No other phrase seems to define it.
My interest was originally aroused by the books of Anne Ashberry, England’s sink-garden specialist, and by the warm affection she has for her specialty. But it was not until I began to work with miniature plants in our Connecticut gardens—and to find out what a great variety is available—that I was inspired to plant a sink garden of my own. Originally, I was intrigued; soon, I was fascinated; now, I’m an addict. With the flimsiest excuse I’d have so many of them it would look as if our grounds had broken out with measles.
These sink gardens are not for big, burly gardeners who like cabbage roses and gaudy shrubs. They’re for connoisseurs who appreciate the minuscule perfection of a tiny plant, more effectively displayed at eye level. They’re for those who grow alpines and other difficult plants and find them less finicky under these controlled conditions. They’re for gardeners who can’t, or don’t want to, squat in the hot sun for hours, weeding or transplanting; who want the pleasure of creating gardens, but take the accompanying chores in small doses. And sink gardens are for people, like me, who simply find irresistible charm in the miniature.
If our grounds were spacious, I’d find a place where I could have a collection of sink gardens, set up on pedestals and arranged in neat rows, so I could move easily from one to the next with the watering can. But they’re probably much more ornamental and distinctive if used the way the few we have now are.
Instead of a sundial at a break in the shrubbery border, we have a sink garden set on a two-foot column of mellowed brick. Two narrow gardens outline the corner of the small patio by the front entrance. A small sink garden enlivens a shelf beside the door to the lath house. There’s one at the end of an old stone bench.
Or you can display one of these gardens against the wall at the end of a garden walk; as a centerpiece on the lawn or terrace; on top of a low wall or at the edge of a balcony; in place of an inanimate statue or urn. If possible, let the background be light and not bright-colored; neutral shades show off the plantings to best advantage.