March 3, 190G 



HORTICULTURE 



247 



Winter Flowering Sweet Peas 



Perhaps I have said enough of late about winter- 

 flowering sweet peas yet I know that those interested in 

 these flowers will welcome anything that may tend to 

 further enlighten them. The object of these remarks 

 is merely to show what is being done at present by Anton 

 C. Zvolanek, a specialist in this line. I had told the 

 readers of Horticulture that the time was not far off 

 when we would see the colors of the summer-flowering 

 soils embraced in the early-flowering varieties. I could 

 see for myself that this was quite possible as I had made 

 a few crosses with the summer bloomers on the early- 

 flowering sorts, from which I got several varieties with 

 the early-flowering habit and the colors of the summer- 

 blooming ones. I had received seed of some hybrids 

 from Ant. C. Zvolanek which I described in a recent 

 issue of Horticulture. Having had an invitation 

 from Mr. Zvolanek to come and see his peas growing I 

 betook myself to Bound Brook, N. J., one day recently 

 to see for myself what he was doing. It was really a 

 treat to meet this gentleman, as I knew he was heart 

 and soul in sweet peas, while I was, perhaps, equally 

 enthusiastic, but I was not prepared for the sight that 

 met my eyes on entering the greenhouses — whole beds 

 of new varieties in separate blocks of each color, all 

 the picture of health and full of bud and bloom. I 



Mont Blanc— At Win. Sim's 



Earliest of All— At Wm. Sim's 



took a list of some of these that I considered the best 

 commercially. They were as follows: 



Wm. J. Stewart, soft blue; Mrs. Ales. Wallace, lav- 

 ender; J. K. Allen, spotted pink on white ground; 

 Enchantress, salmon pink; Jack Hunter, yellow; Mrs. 

 C. Wild, carmine; Meteor, scarlet; Christmas Captain, 

 blue; Helen Gould, violet mauve on white ground. 

 There were large blocks of Florence Denzer and Christ- 

 mas Pink. Improvements could be seen in the hybrids 

 blooming for the first time. Mr. Zvolanek is certainly 

 doing a great work which will soon be appreciated by 

 all lovers of the sweet pea. I stayed the greater part of 

 Sunday with Mr. Zvolanek arriving in Boston Monday 

 morning after one of the most enjoyable and profitable 

 days I had ever spent. 



New Sweet Peas 



No flower has risen so rapidly in popular favor as the 

 sweet pea has during the past few years. It is now 

 the flower of the million — a favorite with rich and poor 

 alike. It is so easily grown, and there are now so many 

 beautiful varieties to be had, that its rapid rise in pop- 

 ularity is not to be wondered at. It makes a grand 

 show in the border, while it is one of the most attractive 

 flowers for the house. Even the rose is hardly paid 

 more homage than the sweet pea in its season. There 

 is now a special society devoted to its welfare, and 

 annually there is an exhibition of sweet peas in London, 

 from which all other flowers are rigidly excluded. It 

 occupies an increasingly important position in trade 

 catalogues, colored plates are circulated of the best new 

 varieties, and everything is done that can be done to 

 increase its cultivation. 



The wonderful variety of coloring represented by the 

 sweet peas of today doubtless accounts largely for their 

 extraordinary popularity. Every season there are fash- 

 ionable colors, and colors that are not fashionable; thus 

 the flowers whose color range is limited drop out of 

 fashion for certain periods. The sweet pea has such a 

 wide color range, however, that it is never neglected. 

 If one variety is dropped its place is easily taken by 

 another of a different shade of color. Several remark- 

 able new varieties were exhibited last year (1905) for 

 the first time, and the most striking of all is the one 

 slmwu in the accompanying supplement — Henry Eck- 

 ford, named in honor of the late Henry Eckford, 

 founder of the famous firm of sweet pea specialists. 

 This is undoubtedly the novelty of the season. It is 

 very free flowering, of vigorous growth, and the color 



