(1873)  Page(s) Plate 69.  Includes photo(s).
 
Hybrid Perpetual Rose-Mons. Claude Levet
Mr. George Paul...considers it the very best rose of the season...It was raised by Levet of Lyon, who has already given us some fine roses; the habit is very good, and promises to place it amongst those varietes which are not only beautiful but easily propagated; the colour is a very rich purplish red, and the back of the petals crimson; the form is good, sufficiently full but likely to open well.

(Jul 1863)  Page(s) tab 153.  Includes photo(s).
 
It is to Mr. Robert Fortune, who has more perhaps than any one living enriched our gardens with plants capable of bearing the extremes to which we are subjected in our variable climate, that we are indebted for the possession of these two very beautiful plants. They form part of the treasures sent home by him during his recent visit to Japan, and have been flowered by Mr. Standish, of the Ascot and Bagshot Nurseries, by whom they have been exhibited during the present season at our great metropolitan exhibitions, at all of which they have been very deservedly admired, and received on each occasion the highest awards that it was in the power of the judges to bestow. We are indebted to Mr. Standish’s courtesy for the opportunity of figuring them, and to Mr. Fortune for the following brief notes concerning them....Clematis florida Standishii was also met with in cultivation near Yedo, and is, I think, one of the most beautiful of the family; the colour of its flowers is rare and very beautiful, a kind of violet-blue, with crimson and carmine shining through it. It will require the same treatment as Clematis florida , and is no doubt quite as hardy.”
In the report of the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society (Proceedings, vol. iii. p.227) they are thus described: ....Clematis florida Standishii, a very handsome Japanese plant, apparently a variety of C. florida , having the sepals sessile as in that species, the flowers were of a deep violet-blue; it was regarded as quite an acquisition.” Both plants were awarded first-class certificates.
 

(1861)  Page(s) Pl. 44.  Includes photo(s).
 
Plate 44. COMTE DE FALLOUX ROSE.Rosa(hybrida).
Mr.Fitch’s admirable portrait will be a sufficient encomium on this beautiful Rose, which was raised by M. Trouillard, of Angers, a gentleman who has been singularly fortunate in originating some of the very finest seedling Roses known, at present, in cultivation.
The Comte de Falloux Rose is a seedling obtained from the well-known and universally admired Hybrid Perpetual called Geant des Batailles, which it very much resembles in shape. It has even still more brilliant flowers, and is in reality a very fine cupped variety, of a bright scarlet-crimson colour. The entire stock is now in the possession of Mr. Standish, of the Royal Nursery, Bagshot, who has, we are informed, purchased it, along with several other fine varieties, of M. Trouillard; and we are indebted to this gentleman for the specimens from which our drawing has been made.
One of the most desirable qualities attributed to this new Rose is its remarkable floriferous habit. On two or three occasions small worked plants have been exhibited, bearing what under the circumstances were very fine flowers; and Mr. Standish describes the constant habit of the variety as being the most floriferous of any he has seen. “No matter,” he observes, “whether summer or winter, it never makes a shoot but there is sure to be a flower on the top of it. It could be made to bloom throughout the winter, and consequently will be the best of all pot Roses for forcing. ”This quite agrees with all we have seen of it.
Though generally classed with the Hybrid Perpetual group, Mr. W. Paul places the parent of the present variety in a group which he names after the Rose called Gloire de Rosomene, and traces back to Rosa indica. The Hybrid Perpetuals themselves seem to have arisen from the blending in a very gradual way, and through a long course of generations, of the Chinese or Indian with the Damask Roses, all trace of the originals being nearly or quite obliterated by the completeness of the fusion which has taken place. In whatever way originated, they form a most valuable section of the family for garden purposes. We learn that the Comte de Falloux is a tractable variety under cultivation. It grows well, we are told, grafted on the Manetti stock, or when struck from cuttings; but as far as his experience has yetg one, Mr. Standish thinks it will be best where worked on the Manetti. Like all Roses,it will amply repay liberal treatment.

Plate 44.—Rosa (hybrida) Comte de Falloux: flowers cupped, bright scarlet-crimson, resembling those of Geant des Batailles, but finer.

(1869)  Page(s) Plate 449.  
 
Hybrid Perpetual Rose - Edouard Morren...was understood to have been purchased by the Messrs. Lee, of Hammersmith, and to have been raised by Mons. Grainger.
...many of the blooms...showed a green eye...

(Jun 1878)  Page(s) Plate 311.  Includes photo(s).
 
Pæonia Moutan 'Elizabeth'.
We are indebted to Messrs. E. G. Henderson and Son, of the Pine Apple Place Nurseries, for the opportunity of figuring this fine Pæony.  It is not exactly new, but it is perhaps the best and freest flowering of the whole list of varieties, of which there are now many in cultivation.

(1880)  Page(s) plate 387.  Includes photo(s).
 
Clematis, Fairy Queen.
This is one of the fine new varieties raised by Messrs. T. Cripps and Son, Nurserymen, Tunbridge Wells, to whom we are indebted for some beautiful and useful forms of the hardy Clematis.  It belongs to the C. lamigruosa section, and the flower in the accompanying illustration is really undersized.  It was exhibited at one of the meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society in July, 1875, and awarded a First-class Certificate of Merit.  The flowers are very large, occasionally nine inches across; the colour pale flesh, with a striking pale bar in the centre of each sepal, with a purple shading at the base.  The Gardener's Chronicle alluded to it at the time of its being shown as "of an indescribably beautiful colour", indeed it is difficult to set forth in any description a true estimate of its charming appearance.  It is a very free-blooming variety, and in addition to its value as a hardy climber in the open air, it also bids fair to become a most acceptable decorative and exhibition plant, cultivated in pots.  Though new Clematises increase with great rapidity, there is apparently no limit to the almost infinite variety of the shades of colour they exhibit.

(16 Dec 1868)  Page(s) plate 394.  
 
Clematis, John Gould Veitch.
There is not among our many fine hardy climbing plants one that has of late years received more attention, or been more enriched by new additions, than the Clematis.  The introduction from Japan of those two fine varieties, Standishii and Fortunei, and then the very successful operations of Messrs. Jackman and Son with Clematis lanuginosa and others, have led to results which we have already noticed in the 'Floral Magazine'.  As trailing plants, too, they have been very extensively used; and although we have not ourselves had, as yet, the opportunity of seeing them so used, we can well believe that they must be effective, especially as the colour is one in which we are very deficient in bedding plants.
The plant which we now figure evidently is closely allied to Clematis Fortunei, and will make a most desirable variety, intermixed with the darker kinds, such as C. Jackmanii and Prince of Wales.  And, again, we have in such kinds as Lady Bovill, large lavender-coloured flowers, with broad and slightly cupped petals, which are especially showy, so that it is impossible to imagine anything more beautiful than a trellis on which these flowers were trained, either separately or intermixed.  With regard to this variety, we are indebted to the Messrs. Veitch and Sons for the following account of it:
"We cannot too strongly recommend this magnificent double blue-flowering Clematis as a most valuable addition to our hardy climbers.  It is a profuse bloomer, the flowers being very double, of a large size (averaging four inches in diameter), and of a beautiful light blue colour.  It thrives remarkably well when planted out-of-doors, and when grown in pots it is most striking and very free blooming, plants grown by us this spring having had as many as fourteen beautiful blooms expanded at one time.  It was imported direct from Japan, and will doubtless be most extensively grown.
"We exhibited this splendid plant at the International Exhibition at Paris in 1867, and again at the International Exhibition held at Ghent in March, 1868, as well as at the Royal Horticultural ociety's Show, held April 21st, 1868.
"It was universally admired, and considered one of the best and most striking novelties of recent introduction, and it invariably received the highest possible awards."

(1862)  Page(s) Plate 110.  Includes photo(s).
 
Plate 110 .
“JOHN HOPPER” ROSE.
Rosa Hybrida , vars.
A few weeks ago we received from Mr. Ward, of the Rosary, Ipswich, a box containing some truly grand blooms of a new
Rose, which he stated that he had succeeded in raising, and which he purposed, if it were thought a desirable variety, to
send out this autumn. Our recommendation was to send a box of blooms of it to the Rose Show of the Horticultural Society, where most of the growers and admirers of the Rose would be present, and to receive the decision of the Sub-Committee of the Floral Committee upon it. We believed that there could be but one opinion as to its merits, in which we were fully confirmed by its not only receiving a first-class certificate, but by the unanimous verdict of every one who could obtain a view of it on that occasion.
A new era is thus, we believe, commencing in the history of the Rose. Hitherto we have been contented to receive all our
Roses from France, under the persuasion that we could not seed Roses here, and were contented with the honour of Devoniensis as our sole English Rose. Now, this season, we have had some first-class Roses brought before us, Mr. Wm. Pauls Beauty of Waltham , Mr. Ward’s John Hopper, and Messrs. Paul and Sons’ Lords Clyde and Canning, —an instalment, we firmly hope and believe, of other beauties yet to follow; and thus the laurels will, we hope, be snatched from our French neighbours, for, if we can raise flowers as good as theirs, we shall most probably have plants better constitutioned, and more capable of enduring the vicissitudes of our climate, than many of the Continental ones are.
We are informed by Mr. Ward that “ John Hopper was raised from Jules Margottin, hybridized with pollen of Madame Vidot and it seems to partake of the admirable free-flowering and vigorous habit of the former, with the exquisite shape of the latter and if such points be considered, we have every reason to believe that we shall soon excel our French neighbours, as very few of them hybridize, leaving that to be done by various insects: they gather simply the “hips” when ripe, and hence are not so likely to succeed in procuring all the qualities desired in a good Rose.
Exception has been taken to the unpoetical character of the name. It is commonplace, but we believe that it records something better than poetry—gratitude to a benefactor. It is, we believe, the name of one of those who
“ do good by stealth,
And blush to find it fame;”
one to whom Mr. Ward felt a deep debt of gratitude, and after whom he desired, therefore, to name this his first seedling
Rose. It remains but to say, that it is a large Rose, somewhat in the style of Pauline Lanzezeur , but fuller, the colour a
bright crimson suffused with violet, and is of very vigorous habit, bearing twelve or thirteen blooms on one stem, and
that it has been highly spoken of by the 4 Gardener’s Chronicle,’ ‘Journal of Horticulture,’ Florist,’ ' Gossip for the
Garden,’ and other gardening publications.

(1868)  Page(s) pl. 399.  
 
HYBRID PERPETUAL ROSE, LA FRANCE.
It is now two years since, walking through the gardens of M. Guillot fils. at Lyons, we were attracted by the appearance of a Rose which seemed to us quite new in character, and which only then existed as a seedling. The raiser seemed proud of having obtained it. and predicted that it would be a general favourite when sent out. It is the Rose which we now figure. La France has evidently a mixture of Tea and Bourbon blood in it ; its perfume evidences that, as well as its habit of growth, and it is what many of the hybrid perpetuals are only in name, evidently very free in its autumn flowering- ; it has one of the peculiarities of the Tea Roses, which slightly detracts from its merits, viz. an inclination to droop its head; this does not take place in all the blooms. The colour of the petals, which are very large, is a beautiful bright pink, with white on the inside ; this gives it a very silvery appearance, and altogether we believe that the raiser's anticipations, as to its being one of the best flowers of the year, will be correct.

(1868)  Page(s) plate 370.  
 
Clematis, Lady Bovill.
The Messrs. Jackman and Son, of Woking, who have been so successful in the hybridization of the Clematis, and whose varieties, Jackmanii, Rubella, Prince of Wales, rubro-violacea, have already attained so great a popularity, are still progressing in the same direction; and the very beautiful variety which we now figure shows that, with them, progress means improvement also, as we think this will prove to be one of the most attractive varieties yet raised; for, independently of the richness of its colouring, it will be seen that the width of the petal is greater than its length, which causes it to be very slightly cupped, resembling somewhat a fully expanded Tulip, while its colour, a greyish-blue, marks its distinctness from the other varieties.
There is probably no colour more wanted amongst bedding-out plants than those to which these plants belong; but, at first sight, it would seem as if a strong climbing plant would not be likely to be very serviceable for this purpose.  However, Mr. Jackman, at Woking, and Mr. Fleming, at Cliveden, have successfully shown that this was very easily effected, and the method is of a very simple character.  Large beds are those best adapted for them, and it is desirable, in order to have a good mass of bloom, to plant them pretty closely, say eighteen inches apart, and to peg them down in the same manner as Verbenas are treated; the bed should be well manured, and in the winter months a mulching will be very serviceable to them.  In this way a dense mass of bloom can be obtained of the rich hues of violet, for which Mr. Jackman's plants are distinguished.  Another excellent use that they may be put to is that of forming groups of tall plants on stakes; these should be placed tolerably close together, and a few strong plants placed beside them; these should be carefully tied to their supports as they grow, which they will rapidly do, and they will form very interesting subjects for the garden during the summer months.