New Pelargoniums 



By F. H. De Witt. 



The "Show," or EngUsh relargonium, has been grown 

 in England for a great many years, having been intro- 

 duced from the Cape of Good Hope in 1794. 



The early hybridizers did not keep accurate records of 

 their work, as is done today, licnce it is difficult to tell 

 what species were used in forming our present types. It 

 is supposed that Pelargonium ( Irandiflorum. P. Hortu- 



PELARGONIUM SW.\BI.-\N M.\ID. 



lorum, P. Enculatum, and probably several other species, 

 were employed in producing the Pelargonium of today. 

 The writer has endeavored to obtain species that were 

 not thus used, to cross with our commercial sorts, hoping 

 in this way to develop a new type. 



In South Africa, where they grow in a wild state, they 

 seem to thrive in the heat and dryness of those sandy 

 deserts. So there was but one point remaining against 

 their general use in this country as bedding plants, and 

 that was the short period of bloom of our older sorts. 



It remained for a German nurseryman. Carl Faiss, to 

 take up this plant, and by selection and careful culture, 

 give it the remontant or ever-blooming qualities that it 

 lacked. In his Easter Greeting (Ostergruss), he gave 

 us a sort that can be had in bloom from the latter part of 

 January until the following November, in pots. And if 

 planted out in beds will give a mass of bloom until frost, 

 that rivals any Azalia. Tiiis was shown by the two 

 large beds of this type in the Out-door Redding Exhibit 

 at Minneapolis this year. It was considered by many to 

 have been the greatest novelty in bedding at the recent 

 Convention. 



Aside from its good points as a bedder, it makes one of 

 the finest pot plants for Easter that one could desire. 

 Plants in six-inch pols can be had at that time with from 

 two to three dozen clusters at once. Unlike the Azalia, 

 which it rivals, it can then be planted out and bloom all 

 summer, and heavily again in the fall. 



Up to the present time, it has given ^Ir. Eaiss three 

 non-reverting sports, as follows : Lucy Becker, a pink 

 sport of Piaster Greeting the tlorets of which are pink, 

 with five large, round maroon spots, a true Ever-bloom- 

 ing sort. Swabian A laid, flowers carmine with black 

 blotches, bordered with ])urplish carmine, a very effective 

 color. Can be grown bedded out or in pots. Wurtem- 

 liergia, florets bright carmine, beautifully crimped, with 

 large, velvety, sharply-defined blotches. Its habit, foli- 

 age, ever-blooming (jualities and resistance to weather 

 CDuditions are like its jiarcnt. Ea^ter Greeting, and it 



can therefore be grown either bedded out or as a pot 

 plant, as may be disired. 



These plants require a day temperature of aliout 60°. 

 To grow them on as jiot plants they should be shifted as 

 required about every lour to six weeks, taking care not 

 to use too large pots in proportion to the jilants. To 

 have good results, 'iiey should be iiinched when nec- 

 essary and spread when required, being careful to have 

 good drainage, so as to avoid over-watering. At the 

 same time never allow them to receive any check in their 

 growth before getting into their blooming pots. They 



