154 GARDENING WITH BRAINS '^ 



sensation when he showed at a London exhibi- 

 tion the Countess Spencer, the parent of an 

 entirely new kind, distinctly novel in form, with 

 standard and wings not only larger, but beauti- 

 fully frilled and waved. Hybridizers of several 

 continents got busy on these, and to-day there 

 are more than six hundred named varieties of 

 the Spencer sweet pea (see Mr. Kerr's pamphlet 

 for a full list). They are roughly grouped under 

 nine general heads — white, cream or primrose, 

 light pink, cream pink, claret and maroon, 

 pastel shades, picotee edged, bicolor, striped, 

 and flaked. Each of these includes an endless 

 variety of detail. 



THE AUSTRALIAN YARRAWA 



Australia now comes to the fore with still 

 another type, which, in the opinion of many 

 seedsmen, will supersede the Spencers, just as 

 these displaced the Grandiflora type of the 

 Eckford era, although about 450 varieties of 

 it still linger in conservative gardens. Yar- 

 rawa is the name of an Australian sweet pea 

 which is remarkable for its big flowers, long 

 stems, and its indifference to weather and tem- 

 perature. Its color is a pleasing shade of bright 

 rose pink, wings creamy pink, and it is a best 

 seller in the market. Mr. Kerr has lately been 

 using it in almost all his hybridizing experiments 

 in developing the latest type of sweet peas — the 

 Early or Winter Flowering Spencer sweet peas. 



