THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



January, 1913 



Annuals should play some part in a 

 small garden and until perennials are 

 well established more of them are likely 

 to be used than later on. Sweet peas, 

 asters, nasturtiums, scarlet salvia, phlox 

 drummondi, verbena, and white and pink 

 petunias are my favorite annuals, and 

 are among the most persistent bloomers. 

 Sweet peas should be planted so that they 

 will not be too conspicuous in late sum- 

 mer when the lower leaves have fallen 

 and they have a ragged look. It may 

 be possible to screen the lower part of 

 the sweet pea row with some other 

 flower planted two feet or more from 



the sweet peas but which from a distance 

 appear close to them. Beds of annuals 

 usually become ragged in late summer 

 in Ontario, hence a border of annuals 

 where they will not be so conspicuous 

 would seem to me best. 



Every year some re-arrangement of 

 some of the planting in a small garden 

 will need to be made in order to have 

 that continuity of bloom, freedom from 

 gaps and blending of foliage and flower 

 which is so necessary in a small garden 

 where all one's attempts may be taken in 

 at a glance and where weak spots are 

 quickly seen. 



Best Varieties of Sv^eet Peas' 



Thomas D. Dockray, Toronto, Ont. 



THE superiority of the Spencer varie- 

 ties of sweet peas is admitted on 

 all sides. Just about all shades of 

 the older grandiflora type may be ob- 

 tained among the new ruffled varieties. 



Among the pure whites, Etta Dyke 

 Spencer is the best, excelling Dorothy 

 Eckford in waviness, but both have very 

 large flowers, usually four on a long stem 

 under good treatment. Florence Wright 

 and Nora Unwin are also good whites. 

 Mrs. Collier is a warm white, almost 

 cream, but unruffled. 



The best and clearest buff yellow is 

 Clara Curtis Spencer. Other good buffs 

 are Lady Knox and Mrs. A. Malcolm, 

 but botlh may incline to a fawn shade on 

 the standards. 



Mrs. Routzahn Spencer is the best 

 cream pink. Like it are said to be Rom- 

 an! Rauni and Mrs. Hugh Dickson. Con- 



•In the December, 1911. issue of The Canadian 

 Horticulturist appeared an article by Mr. Dock- 

 ray, describing the culture of the sweet pea as 

 a result of ejttengive tests of varieties conducted 

 by him durine the past seaeon to check the 

 resTiIts obtained in previous years. The list of 

 varieties here given is recommended by Mr. 

 Dockray with confidence. 



Stance Oliver is also good. Paradise 

 Ivory is a most delicate cream with just 

 a suspicion of rose, but it does not seem 

 to expand fully in Toronto. 



Elsie Herbert Spencer is the best white 

 with a pink edge, having very large flow- 

 ers, but Picotee Spencer gives a large 

 percentage of stalks with four well- 

 spaced blossoms. Dainty, when not ruf- 

 fled, has the pink edge beautifully de- 

 fined. 



For a cream with a pink edge, the 

 choice would fall upon Mrs. C. W. 

 Breadmore or Evelyn Hemus, both 

 Spencers and practically identical. Dora 

 Breadmore Ihas a pink edge, but is 

 slightly hooded and the cream becomes 

 fawn as the season advances. 



Countess Spencer, the type of the ruf- 

 fled hybrids, is still unexcelled as a pink. 

 Marjorie Willis, Marie Corelli, or Gladys 

 Unwin, rosy pinks ; Mrs. Hardcastle 

 Sykes or Elfrida Pearson, blush pinks; 

 Mrs. R. Hallam or Miriam Beaver, deep 

 cream pinks, are all most desirable in 

 this popular color. 



The great fault of the orange sweet 



Vine* a* Grown on one of the Verandahs at the rear of Government House, Ottawa 



peas is that they are apt to burn in the 

 sun. The best are Helen Lewis, an 

 orange pink, and Thomas Stevenson, an 

 orange scarlet, both Spencers, and very 

 vigorous. Other good Orange Spencers 

 are Edna Unwin Improved, Dazzler, St. 

 George and Anglian Orange. A new un- 

 ruffled variety, said to be nearly a true 

 orange color and almost sunproof, is 

 Orange King. Because they burn so 

 badly, Henry Eckford and Agnes John- 

 son should not be grown here. 



At least one scarlet has been produced 

 that will stand the sun fairly well and 

 that is Queen Alexandra, a fine large 

 flower of the old, plain type. Doris Burt, 

 George Stark, Scarlet Monarch and 

 Scarlet Gem are not always sunproof, 

 but are Spencers. 



For a crimson, King Edward Spencer 

 is the best, having displaced Salopian, 

 iust as Salopian displaced Coccinea. 

 Sunproof Crimson and Maud Holmes are 

 two splendid new varieties. Perhaps the 

 purest ruby color is King Edward VII., 

 a large flower, but not a Spencer. Of a 

 good garnet color are Cherry Ripe (the 

 Spencer form of Coccinea) and Chrissie 

 Unwin. Joihn Ingman, George Herbert 

 and Mrs. William King, all practically 

 alike, are fine rose magentas of the 

 Spencer type. Ro.se du Barri is an odd- 

 looking burnt pink. 



The bronze, or maroon, section is not 

 much in favor. The best here is Doug- 

 las Unwin. It is of a rich purple wine 

 color and the surface of the flower al- 

 most suggests a pansy in its velvetiness. 

 Black Knight Spencer, Othello Spencer, 

 Nubian and Tom Bolton, all practically 

 alike, are of chocolate or mahogany col- 

 or and are shiny, thus running some risk 

 of burning. 



All the blues are apt to have a touch 

 of pink or lilac somew^here on the blos- 

 som. The purest dark blue is Lord Nel- 

 son, not a Spencer. Flora Norton Spen- 

 cer, the brightest blue, is not as large 

 as Zephyr Spencer, a silvery blue. Hor- 

 ace Wright is a splendid indigo, but 

 rarely produces more than two flowers 

 on the stalk. Audrey Crier Sf)encer,May 

 Malcolm Spencer and Lady Sarah Spen- 

 cer are said to be new. deep blue varie- 

 ties of enormous size. 



The best mauve is Tennant Spencer. It 

 seems to be the Spencer form of Mrs. 

 Walter Wright. 



Asta Ohn Spencer is the best lavender. 

 Florence Nightingale and Masterpiece, 

 both Spencers, are good. Nettie Jenkins 

 is flhe best Spencer form of that old fav- 

 orite, Lady Grizel Hamilton, and is 

 slightly hooded. Mrs. Charles Foster is 

 a good Spencer heliotrope. Phenomenal 

 is a creamy white with a picotee edge of 

 purple. This section would not be com- 

 plete without the old Duke of West- 

 minster, a striking combination of violet 

 and purple, suggestive of the Cattleya 

 orchid. 



