CHOICE GARDEN FLOWERS 49 



feel tempted at times to swear off on all other 

 garden flowers. And that in spite of its being 

 unscented ! 



During the past few years wonderful new combina- 

 tions of colors and shades never before seen in any 

 flower except tropical orchids have appeared in bewil- 

 dering variety and abundance, so that it is no longer 

 possible to give them names, for the tender transparent 

 orchid shades blend in endless poems of color. 



So writes Luther Burbank of the gladiolus, to 

 the improvement of which after many other 

 breeders the world over had beautified it for 

 nearly a century he gave part of forty years 

 of his life. He has had in his California gardens 



one hundred thousand absolutely new varieties of about 

 every form and color ever produced from this wonder- 

 fully variable plant, including scarlet, crimson, yellow, 

 blue, purple, lavender, orange, salmon, and pink, with 

 infinitely varied combinations of rainbow colors. Such 

 a mass of various brilliant colors cannot be produced at 

 many times the cost of these in any other flower. 



Burbank's eloquent description of the gladioli 

 affects one like the climax of a symphonic poem 

 played by full orchestra after a long and gradual 

 crescendo. Beyond the present-day glorifica- 

 tion of this rather plain flower as originally 

 brought from South Africa, the gardener's art 

 cannot go, except in the matter of perfume. 



THE MOST ALLURING OF THE ANNUALS 



Gladioli are a sort of connecting link between 

 perennials and annuals. In the North they are, 



