Rated By The American Rose Society?

September 21st, 2010 by viaauthor

A Fairy Story – The Rose of Many Uses

“A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE,” the quotation insists, but one rose refuses to be typed. I mean of course ‘The Fairy,’ which while quite definitely a member of that family, is many other things too.

Not everyone has room or time for roses, but anyone with a few square feet of sunny soil can accommodate `The Fairy.’ She sulks not, nor does she demand attention, and she blooms and blooms. If hybrid teas have been your only experience with roses, The Fairy’ has some pleasant surprises for you.

Without question she is the healthiest, hardiest, lustiesi,most prolific flower in my garden.

Not only will ‘The Fairy’ produce her last bouquets of the season amidst the first snow; she will layer herself to mother an infinite progeny, star as the focal point in any landscaping plan, serve as the most splendiferous hedge in the world and never demand spraying, dusting or any special handling.

She was rated 8.6 by the American Rose Society, considered an excellent score.

At this point you may well ask, “What is ‘The Fairy’?” Technically, she is classified as a polyantha shrub rose. Our most mature bush stays about four feet high and nearly six feet wide. Each branch yields large clusters of small, fully-double flowers in various shades of pink. In midsummer the blooms are light shell pink, but it is in autumn that ‘The Fairy’ wears her most gorgeous dress. Then a single branch may bear buds and flowers of every shade of pink from nearly white to deep rose.

Cut short, the clusters are unsurpassed for arrangements, but we have trimmed branches to the ground to provide large trusses at various times.

This wholesale cutting merely encourages blooming and helps keep the bush within bounds. Sporadically in spring we saw out the oldest branches at ground level.

Older gardeners who see The Fairy’ immediately mention ‘Dorothy Perkins,’ and well they might, for that venerable rose produced a sport which became the rambler ‘Lady Godiva.’ `The Fairy’ is a sport of the latter and was originated by Bentall in England in 1932. Conard-Pyle introduced it to this country in 1941, and it has been entrancing American gardeners ever since. Beautiful as she was, ‘Dorothy Perkins’ bloomed only in June, and she was apt to fall victim to dreadful attacks of mildew. Her granddaughter has no such drawbacks.

While retaining all the loveliness of her forebears, The Fairy’ is so hardy it literally requires no spraying, is not even badly damaged during the worst infestation of Japanese beetles. After very wet weather our bushes sometimes appear lightly powdered with mildew, but the condition clears itself with a few sunny days.

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