A BLUE ROSE. A BLUE ROSE.
After many years of endeavour a blue rose has been " created." It will not be procurable for two years or so, and it is being most carefully guarded. The few who have been accorded a flower have had to be content with a flower only, without leaves or stalks that could be budded. The bloom is solid and sweet-smelling. Whether it is beautiful or not is another question, but at least it is a triumph of the hy- bridizer's art, in so far as the blue can be called blue, though the claim could hardly be made in presence of a gentian or lithospermum or even a cornflower. On the whole, the latest " creations " in rose colour are more startling than lovely. The most novel have petals red or pink in front with a lining of yellow, like the older rose "Juliet," which was not a success. Perhaps the best is " Queen Alexandra," but its loveliness has developed into freakishness in its newest descendant, christened after " Prince Charming." Growers are still struggling to create both a blue and a yellow sweet pea. " Nelson," of the old sort of pea, came near to blue, but the yellow is still to seek ; and this is rather surprising con- sidering the frequency of the colour and the tendency of sweet peas to a cream-like tint of wing. On the subject of • roses, I was given a new sort the other day which carried just over a hundred petals—a wonderful advance, considering that all the original roses were single: • * *
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