MOSSES

MOSSES
(Goethe shown)

Sepals and receptacles of the Moss roses are covered with a glandular growth resembling moss and bearing pungent scents as varied as the scents of the flowers. Mosses were wildly popular in Victorian times for the charm of their buds, and the scents of pine, citrus, dianthus, incense and apples that perfume the holder's fingers. The mosses derived originally as sports of Damasks and Centifolias; hence two very distinct habits are to be found in their ranks. To complicate matters, a race of repeat-blooming mosses exist, believed to descend from the Autumn Damask and its Hybrid Perpetual and Portland offspring. These are mostly compact like the Portland rose, and do indeed bloom continuously, while being perfectly hardy like the old roses. Among the thorniest of roses, the Mosses not only have a proliferation of mossy glands on their receptacles, but often a solid armature to their canes of large and small bristles and thorns.

Habit
Their habits of growth reflect their parentage;
1)the Centifolia race with arching growth to 6' or so and often quite broad and suckering, like Common Moss,
2) the Damask type, stouter of cane and more upright sometimes arching, as Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseux, and
3) the Portland mosses, which repeat their bloom and tend toward a dense compact habit, making them ideal for the small garden, like Mousseline.