The Florist, Fruitist, and Garden Miscellany 12: 68-70 (1859)
"YELLOW ROSES, AND ROSES OF YELLOW TENDENCY."
W. F. Radclyffe.
Let me say a word about Solfaterre as a south wall Rose:—How easy is it to grow—how defiant of aphis—how quickly does she cover your house—how glorious and numerous are her clusters—how beautiful are her red stems, lizard-green calyx, and fine buds and foliage— how sweet is her tea scent—how early does she bloom—how careless of frost—how faithfully does she bloom a second time—how well does she mature and bloom every bud, without the slightest failure! I have spoken of this Rose before—I will speak of her again. She was two or three years old, when I bought her of Mr. Gill, of Blandford, for 1s. 6d. She had on her, when I first saw these, a cluster, with one larger, more sulphured, and more compact rose than I have ever been able to grow on her here. She is now about eight years old—is on a dwarf brier, and planted against the south frontage of my house, with nothing on her western side but a wood trellis porch, to stop the wind between her and Gibraltar. She is as high as the house, and covers twenty-four feet in space, and would have covered as much again, if I had been able to allow her room. She has had on her first bloom this year between two and three hundred clusters, with from three to five buds each. Imagine, then, this space covered from day to day with fresh blooms of great magnitude and good form. I thought of Mr. Rivers, and his note on her in his admirable book. Well, I cannot tell the exact number of her blooms; but this I know, she gave a second series of twenty clusters of sixty Roses, as large and sweet as in her first blooming. Where, then, is the Rose of yellow tendency, that will do all this? And how came she to do it? The answer is, management and high feeding. I fed her once a week all through the season; and when her first bloom was over (about a week before the National), and last bud was unfolded, I cut off, to two eyes, all her side wood, like a Vine in winter. She looked dead—I fed her still—she moves not, except at her terminals—Nature asserts her claim—she rests for a month or more—a heavy rain comes, and soaks her through and through —she lives again—her eyes peep and start, form buds, and bloom again! Is not that a Rose, and a good Rose too? In the last week in May, this great sight may be seen, and I hope some one will come and see her. Depend upon it, for general and easy cultivation, Solfaterre is the best wall Rose, of yellow tendency, in England. Remember, then, the keys to yellow Roses; and remember that while age is the key to blooming, protection is the key to age.