The Garden Magazine, August, 1922 



377 



II. COLOR SELECTIONS FOR THE CONNOISSEUR 



,OLOR combinations are practically unlimited in 

 Gladiolus; therefore, why confine ourselves to a certain 

 few? With a long list of varieties to choose from, pro- 

 vided they are of the very good and best grades only, 

 the listing of a collection may be governed solely by one's 

 purse. In order not to do injustice to many beautiful varieties, 

 this selection by color groups has been made in a somewhat 

 haphazard way from memory, writing down the names as they 

 recurred to mind, taking them in groups of colors and distribut- 

 ing them among the different growers as much as possible. The 

 absence of the names of certain growers is, therefore, in no 

 sense a slight on their productions. 



The Gladiolus has but one rival in its diversity of coloring, 

 — the Dahlia. Yet the Dahlia cannot boast of the many con- 

 trasting and blending combinations found among the Gladiolus. 

 Of five great groups of flowers (including the Rose, the Dahlia, 

 the Chrysanthemum, and the Iris) the Gladiolus, Rose, and 

 Dahlia lead in the matter of scarlets, the Iris having none at 

 all. In this color ranging from light to dark, selfs and in com- 

 bination with other colors, in contrast and blended, many won- 

 derful kinds may be had, among which the following dominate. 

 These as well as the others which are to be brought to attention 

 are not only fine for the garden, but are admirably adapted to 

 cutting, their lasting qualities being of the best. 



scarlets. A lighter tone than Princeps, from which it is a 

 seedling, and an improvement in number of blooms open at one 

 time is Pontiac-Princeps (Vaughan) ; Diener's Heart of Juanita is 

 a deep rosy scarlet with crimson and white throat; Jonathan Webb 

 (Diener) is entirely different from any other, a flame scarlet 

 minutely speckled with cream white; Chautauqua Red (C. 

 Zeestraten) a flame scarlet self of much brilliance, and Devens 

 (Brown) which is a bright scarlet self, darkening toward throat 

 with a small white spot. 



maroons and blackish reds are not at all scarce. They are 

 found even among the Irises, though here they are toned by a 

 coppery or smoky suffusion; the Rose has them; and among 

 Gladiolus and Dahlias there are many of varying shades and 

 combinations. A few of the outstanding Gladiolus are: 



Cardisun (Austin) a very deep wine red blending to a black 

 throat; John Merle Coulter (Diener) stiff of petal, shading from 

 a rich cardinal scarlet to maroon black edges and throat ; Queen 

 of the Blacks (Jonkheer) a fine deep blackish red. 



As a class, the roses and crimsons stand out prominently, 

 even the Iris making a showing. Some distinctly beautiful in 

 our selected flower being: 



Diener's American Beauty, a blend of American Beauty Rose 

 shades, and creamy yellow throat; Montezuma (Decorah Glad- 

 iolus Gardens), a dark rich carmine crimson with a yellow and 

 maroon throat; Mrs. Willard Richardson (Diener), a blend of 

 dark scarlet crimson and blackish cardinal red with high lights 

 of cerise pink; and Queen of Sheha (Christy) a pure self of rich 

 wine red. In rose shades there are Anna Eherius (Diener), a 

 blend of deep rose and deep carmine, and tints of blood red in 

 throat; Parliament (Kelway), a light rosy carmine with white 

 throat, blotches, and midribs; Peach Rose (Kunderd), a deep rose 

 pink blotched deep crimson. 



orange or yellows of the five groups of popular plants men- 

 tioned, the Iris is without its orange bloom, though it has some 

 deep yellow shades which are close to the border line. 

 The Gladiolus is rich in this color. A few of the fine 

 ones are: 



Robert J. Kunderd (Kunderd), an orange-scarlet 

 blending to a throat of brilliant vermilion; Butterfly 

 (Burbank), also an orange red, the lower petals having 

 yellow bases blotched velvety crimson; and Flame 

 (Diener), truly a flaming orange with yellow throat. 



It is strange that good yellows are so scarce, particularly in 

 the five groups mentioned, one marked exception being the 

 Chrysanthemum. More and better ones are slowly coming 

 forward in the other groups, and among Glads some noteworthy 

 ones are: 



Golden Rod (Childs), a clear bright yellow; Golden Measure, 

 (Kelway), a clear pure bright light yellow with golden tints, but 

 not a true golden yellow; Goldfinch (Brown), a clear lemon yellow 

 with canary yellow throat ; Owosso (Vaughan) , a semi-translucent 

 pale sulphur yellow with lemon yellow and crimson throat; Mary 

 Roberts Reinhart (Diener), creamy yellow blending to canary 

 yellow throat. 



pinks. Whereas the Chrysanthemum rules in the matter of 

 yellows, she steps aside for the others in the case of pinks, the I ris 

 also being limited. As to Gladiolus there are so many choice 

 pinks to choose from that limits of space force me to name but 

 a few. These, too, are found as selfs and in fine combination 

 with other colors. Choice blossoms for household use may be 

 cut from these: 



Jean du Tailles (Lemoine), a light salmon red blotched in its 

 lighter throat with blood scarlet which is overlaid crimson and 

 dull purple; Illinois (Vos), a charming apple blossom tint; 

 Leota (Coleman), a light flesh-salmon pink with paler midribs, 

 and white throat tinted lilac and rose; Night Wings (Coleman), 

 darker in hue, a rich salmon red with deeper blotches; Atlantic 

 (Brown), white slightly shaded flesh with faint pink lines in the 

 throat; and Liss (from Holland), with its broad overlapping 

 petals, and flat circular blooms of bright rosy salmon, lighter to 

 edges and throat. Marshal Foch (Kunderd) is quite different 

 from Le Marechal Foch (P. Van Deursen), the latter being a fine 

 delicate rosy flesh self, while the former is a blend of delicate 

 salmon flesh and deepest salmon pink, blotched orange and 

 scarlet. 



Fine whites, too, are at a premium, the Chrysanthemum again 

 leading, and the other flower groups closely following. Pure 

 whites are not as frequently met in Gladiolus as the blotched 

 and flushed kind, and among the best the following may be 

 named: 



White America (Childs), a real blue-white with small throat 

 markings of blue; Snowboy (Kunderd), fine in its ivory white 

 tone and very small blotch; Attilla (Kunderd), a soft creamy 

 white with a deeper cream throat; White Giant (Van Meerbeek), 

 pure white with a small carmine mark in its throat; and Emilie 

 Ashe (Diener), a cream-tinted white, lower petals bearing small 

 cerise blotches. 



The dull or pastel shades are most frequently seen in the 

 Dahlia, the Iris, and the Gladiolus. Of the last, a few of mark- 

 edly interesting possibilities, particularly from a decorative 

 standpoint are: 



Mrs. Cothran (Diener), strawberry pink in tone and blended 

 with old rose shades and grays; Friendship (Vos), old rose in 

 color with a wine red throat; Prince of India (Childs), salmon 

 orange overlaid and shaded dull purple, throat scarlet on white; 

 and, Mary Blackman (Vaughan), vermilion heavily splashed 

 crimson with throat of crimson and yellow. 



The Rose — we who love the Rose, think fortunately — con- 

 tains no lavender pinks and "blues," though there are a number 

 of varieties which "blue" on ageing, this being considered a 

 fault. However, some hybridists have even striven 

 for a blue Rose. In the other groups, many blue 

 shades are found and are a welcome component part 

 of their color range. Except in the Iris, however, no 

 real blue is available, the so-called "blues" being vari- 

 ous shades ranging from palest lavender and lilac 

 through to deep violet-blue, the latter being far from 

 a real blue color. I believe it is in these colors and 



