12 



The Florists' Review 



Kkftbmbbb 3, 1914. 



TIME REQXnBED TO BLOOM. 



' If properly handled, how lojig does 

 it take sweet peas to bloom from the 

 planting of the seedt I refer to flow- 

 ering them in a greenhouse, in late 

 winter and early spring. H. P. 



If a sowing is made of the winter- 

 blooming Spencers about November 1, 

 they will commence to bloom in eleven 

 to twelve weeks. Sown in August, they 

 will start to flower fully three weeks 

 earlier. I have had some of the old 

 winter-blooming grandifloras show flow- 

 ers in six to seven weeks under glass. 

 The winter minimum should be 48 to 

 50 degrees, although 5 degrees cooler 

 before flowering is all right. 0. W. 



LENGTHWISE OR CROSSWISE? 



We have been growing winter-flow- 

 ering sweet peas for the last five years, 

 and the rows always run north and 

 south and are four feet apart. Our 

 house runs east and west and we plant 

 the rows across the bed, which is four- 

 teen feet wide. Some time ago a florist 

 told us that we should plant them 

 lengthwise in the bed, making the rows 

 run east and west. We have always 

 had good peas, and thought that when 

 planted across the bed they got more 

 sun. J. E. & S. 



By all means, plant your sweet peas 

 lengthwise rather than the narrow way 

 of the house. The peas will not only 

 do better, but will look vastly better 

 and will be more economically cared for. 

 Allow five feet between the rows. 

 Some growers run them more closely, 

 but five feet is better than four, and 

 you can run some quick-maturing crops 

 between the rows if you wish, until the 

 peas shade them too much. We have 

 tried growing sweet peas both ways 

 and have found the lengthwise rows 

 by far the best. C. W. 



ORIGIN OF WINTER SWEET PEA. 



As Told by A. 0. Zvolanek. 



"In the fall of 1902 an English 

 friend, who had always admired my 

 winter-flowering sweet pea, sent me 

 about seventy seeds of the new Countess 

 Spencer. Being well informed of its 

 merit, I sowed it at once in the green- 

 house, and in early May the first flower 

 opened. I was simply amazed at the 

 magnificent flowers. As the seed had 

 not been fixed, I obtained from these 

 original seventy seeds nine different va- 

 rieties, all of wonderfully wavy shape, 

 colored blue, lavender, white, red, 

 orange, yellow, rose and a few varie- 

 gated. At once I began to hybridize 

 each color on my best-sellipg winter 

 sweet pea, and within a week the whole 



greenhouse was full of nothing but tags, 

 showing the records of the crosses. I 

 must have made at least 5,000 crosses 

 during that first week. The seed of 

 each cross I kept separate, and sowed 

 the following fall. None of these crosses 

 changed into.,ljhe winter type, notw^.tj^-j 

 standjing the' fact that the Sp(^i|e^y 

 pollen was used i^. the majority oi cases 

 on the Christmas - flowering plants. 

 Knowing from my former experiences 

 that the best results are obtained in the 

 second and third generation, I was quite 

 delighted with my work, for I now had 

 proof that the crosses had been success- 

 ful. When these began to bloom, all be- 

 ing from the nine distinct colors, I could 

 count nearly thirty, and most of these 

 had changed the color of the winter 

 varieties upon which they had been 

 applied. 



First Winter Spencers. 



"The next year I sowed the seed again, 

 and about thirty per cent came up as the 

 common winter type, ten per cent as the 

 true winter Spencer and twenty per cent 

 as the winter Unwin, or improved grand- 



iflora, while the rest' remained the lati- 

 flowering type. Now I had the throe 

 different types of sweet pea — the win 

 ter-flowering Spencer, the late-flowering 

 Spencer and the improved winter grand- 

 iflora. In all three types there hai beon 

 a wide range of colors. As the winter- 

 flowering Spencers came into bloom I 

 gave all my attention to selecting each 

 color, partly recrossing it with the best 

 late-flowering Spencer, as this lot has 

 contained the most beautiful colors arnl 

 shapes. Sowing all three types again, 

 there lay a surprise for me in the im- 

 proved winter grandiflora hybrids. As ] 

 had not done any additional crossing on 

 this type, all my attention being cen 

 tered upon the winter Spencers, the 

 improved grandiflora changed about 

 thirty per cent in the winter Spencer, 

 and not one plant in a thousand reverted 

 to the late-flowering type. They have 

 remained the same to this day, only 

 varying occasion filly in Ihe coloripg. 



''f ' Tendency to Revert 



"It was 4inerent with the winter 

 Spencer which came in the second year, 

 and of which I had expected the most. 

 Being sown with the rest, they revert 

 nearly fifty per cent to the late-flower 

 ing type, and only in the fourth and 

 fifth generation do they become the true 

 winter bloomer, and then they still 

 change color occasionally. The third 

 lot of the late Spencer hybrids remained 

 the late-flowering type in the third gen 

 oration; only a few have since sprung 

 into the winter type, but they have 

 increased steadily in range of colors, so 

 that by 1906 I counted sixty distinct 

 colors. I have since done nothing with 

 this lot, planting only a few every year 

 to keep it alive. 



Anton C Zvolanek. 



