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HORTICULTURE 



December 18, 19'J9 



Progress in Geraniums 



While this great improvement alluded to in last issue 

 has taken place with the double or more properly the 

 semi-doubles, — which are the greatest favorites with the 

 majority of the American people — the Singles, the 

 favorites of Europe, especially England, have kept pace 

 with them, so that the Single Geranium of today is a 

 flower of marvelous beauty, such as a comparatively few 

 people realize. Those who have not kept informed as 

 to the newer introductions cannot form any conception 

 of the grand colors and shades we have in this family, 

 rivaling even the rose in beauty. In fact it would be 

 almost impossible to compare a bed of Geraniums such 

 as we had, say 20 years ago, with a bed of Paul Crampel, 

 for instance — a perfect mass of most intense fiery scar- 

 let, almost completely concealing the foliage with trusses 

 of enormous size. Our Eugene Sue with its exquisite 

 shade of russet orange is a color that carries extremely 

 well, and so it is, on through an almost unlimited num- 

 ber of varieties, embracing all the colors, shades and 

 combinations of colors that it is imaginable to find in 

 the Geranium, and while the singles are not well suited 

 for the market trade where they have to stand rough 

 handling, yet where there is a home trade they will meet 

 every requirement of the most critical, and for the con- 

 servatory a lasting eifect can be produced with them not 

 excelled by any other flowering plant. 



As a few of the leading singles we might mention 

 Pamela, one of Cannell's English round-flowered type, 

 large pure white center shading through a maculated 

 effect to a crimson lake border, an unusually strong 

 grower for one of this race; Mrs. E. G. Hill, the stand- 

 ard rosy salmoti among the single bedders ; Nuit Poite- 

 vine a handsome darjj rosy purple; Feuer, which comes 

 to us from Germany very highly recommended as a 

 candidate for first place among the dwarf scarlet bed- 

 ders; The Sirdar, a beautiful shade of intense scarlet 

 and a true representative of the large English round- 

 flowered class, and so on through a bewildering collec- 

 tion of splendid sorts. 



A comparatively new race of Geraniums is the 

 Cyelope. They are especially suitable for fancy pot 

 plants, being distinguished from the other double varie- 

 ties by the particular shape of the flower. The petals, 

 which are elegant and showy, leave the white center 

 visible in a very marked manner; we now have several 

 handsome varieties in this class. Jules Vasseur, semi- 

 double bright cardinal red, upper petals shaded carmine 

 purple with a white eye; Leon Baudrier carmine lake 

 shaded cerise to a white center, and others all capable 

 of passing the most critical judgment; the Single 

 Cyelope are the most striking of all Geraniums with the 

 clear white centers of the individual flowers giving the 

 open truss the appearance of having a light center sur- 

 rounded by a border of the color of the flower. 



The Cactus-Flowering Geraniums are a very unique 

 and striking beautiful distinct type originating in Eng- 

 land about 1904. They have won a place of popular 



form as a novelty for the conservatory and window 

 boxes, for which they usually are pleasing and attractive 

 on account of their admirable elegance of form and 

 exquisitely graceful, narrow, curled and twisted petals 

 similar to those of the finest grade of Cactus Dahlia. 



With regard to the introductions of the last two years, 

 we have refrained from saying much about them, con- 

 fining ourselves as nearly as possible to those kinds 

 which experience has taught us are useful and are 

 already classed among those that measure up to the 

 highest type of standard varieties or those which we are 

 satisfied are capable of producing the most satisfactory 

 results, and will be classed among the standards as soon 

 as they become known to the geranium growers. Yet 

 there are many among the novelties that are great ad- 

 vancements towards perfection and well worthy of a 

 trial. Among them we would especially mention Ed- 

 mond Blanc, Bouc. 1907, semi-double and one of the 

 most exquisite striking shades of deep carmine with a 

 violet tinge, that we have seen ; Jamaique, Lem. 1907, 

 a grand variety, rich cherry red, enormous trusses and 

 splendid habit ; Suzanne Despres, Lem. 1907, large semi- 

 doable flowers of the delicate shade which can best bfi 

 described as apple blossom white, each petal bordered 

 rose; Jean Lamarque, Brt. 1908, an effective color of 

 violet not very much in evidence among other standard 

 sorts, stained with rose; Mauna Loa, Lem. 1907, bright 

 orange red, a color not very much in evidence among 

 our standard sorts; Genitrix, Br't. 1907, light turkey 

 red, in speaking of which Mr. Bruant says: "We have a 

 group of this variety in our experimental garden ; it has 

 shown itself to be remarkable for its uninterrupted 

 blooming and its resistance to inclement weather." 

 Jean de Vries, Br't. 1907, has very large semi-double 

 flowers, velvety violet purple with the center splashed 

 like a nasturtium. With these there are many others 

 that will supersede some of the older varieties as soon 

 as they are well disseminated. 



Among the 1909 imported novelties will be found 

 the most beautiful colors that can be imagined — mag- 

 nificent splendid solid colors that fairly dazzle the eye; 

 others are exquisite combinations that baffle successful 

 description and must be seen to be appreciated. Most 

 of them are strong robust growers with beautiful foliage 

 and we are confident there are some among them that 

 are destined to become leaders in their different classes. 



Another new type described by Mr. Lemoine is Pelar- 

 gonium Peltata Zonale, a cross between an Ivy and a 

 Zonal and retaining all the best points of both parents, 

 including the beautiful soft tinge of the Ivy and the 

 hardy constitution of the Zonal. The flowers are semi- 

 double and produced in fine trusses. Alliance is a 

 beautiful representative of this type; it is an exquisite 

 shade of pale lilac pink, the upper petals feathered and 

 blotched rich crimson maroon. As a vase plant or for 

 window boxes where they are exposed to the sun this 

 type will be found superior to the Ivy Leaved kinds. 



White Marsh, Md. 



