New Things in Plants and Flowers 



for 1903 



This year several nevr Ferns are offered to 

 the public, and some of tliem are of umisual 

 merit. A florist of Dorchester. Massachusetts, 

 sends out one under the name of Anna Foster. 

 It is a sport from the Trell-knoTrn ''Boston 

 Fern," Trhich for several years past has en- 

 joyed TTonderful popularity, and is really one 

 of our very best ornamental foliage plants for 

 general culture. The leaflets of the fronds in 

 the Boston Fern are undivided. In the Anna 

 Foster Fern these leaflets are divided in such 

 a manner that each leaflet seems to be a mini- 

 ature frond. The eft'eet is, as may easily be 

 imagined, extremely pleasing, as it gives the 

 plant an airy, graceful beauty vrhieh is entirely 

 lacking in the parent variety, beautiful as it is. 



Another variety, somevrhat similar, is sent 

 out by a Xew York florist under the name of 

 Fiersonii. Tins also has divided leaflets, and 

 an irregular development of the fronds vhich 

 does avray vith all suggestion of primness and 

 formality. 



While not many really new flowers are an- 

 nounced for 1903, we are oft'ered a large num- 

 ber of new varieties of old favorites. Among 

 the most noticeable is the Princeps Gladiolus. 

 This variety, which is the result of long experi- 

 menting with seedlings and careful. pEfinstaking 

 efforts in the line of hybridization, seems to 

 mark a new departure in this popular flower. 

 Its color, which is almost exactly sinular to 

 that of Salvia splendens, is something not here- 

 tofore seen in the Gladiolus, and the form and 

 size of the flower is simply wonderful. The 

 petals are wide and overlapping, and have a 

 spread of from five to six inches. The eft'ect 

 of a stalk of from ten to twenty flowers as 

 large as these must be wonderfiflly fine, in the 

 garden where heretofore we have depended more 

 on brilliant color from the Gladiolus than on 

 large blossom, for general effect. If this new 

 variety should prove to be the forerunner of 

 other varieties equally large, but containing 

 the exquisite combinations of colors for which 

 the old Gladiolus has long been famous, what 

 brilliant garden effects we may look for in a 

 few years. 



Among the Eoses are several obtained by hybrid- 

 izing the Eambler class with the Wichuraianas. 

 These have for the most part the graceful habit 

 of growth peculiar to the Wichuraiana sections, 

 with flowers in large clusters after the fashion 



of the Eamblers. Some of these are of delicate 

 shades of rose and carmine, while others are 

 creamy white ainl pale yellow. For hedges or 

 for training to posts and over arches these new 

 Eoses bid fair to be extremely useful, as they 

 da not have the stiffness of cane which has pre- 

 vented us to some extent from making use of 

 the Crimson Earnbler in places where grace has 

 been cpite as desirable as luxuriance of growth. 



The tall branching Asters will be sure to 

 please those who are lovers of this fine annual. 

 A few plants were sent me last season for trial. 

 I found them all that the originator claimed 

 for them. Their flowers so closely resemble the 

 Chrysanthemum that many mistook them for 

 that flower. But one flower is borne on each 

 stalk, and that stalk is from ten to fifteen inches 

 in length. The valtie of the plant for cutting 

 purposes will be readily understood from this. 

 When I add that the blossoms lasted for over 

 two weeks after cutting without fading or 

 dropping a petal, the usefulness of this Aster 

 will be ai'parent to all. The pale lavender, deli- 

 cate pink and pure white varieties are most 

 desirable. They are really magnificent in every 

 respect. There is none of the coarseness which 

 has long been one of the drawbacks of the 

 Aster about them. That seems to have been 

 refine'l av-ay by the skill of the florist. 



Among the Begonias we have several new 

 sports from the Gloire de Lorraine variety, 

 which has been so popular of late years. One 

 is a pale pink with a tint as soft and elusive 

 as that of the Daybreak Carnations. One is 

 a pure white, ciuite as floriferotis as the r^M 

 type. Both of these varieties will undoubtO'lIy 

 become favorites, as they deserve to. 



Among the Oeraniu:ns there has been wonder- 

 ful improvement made in the last half-dozen 

 years, and some of the new sorts oft>red for 

 sale this year, in limited quantities, for the first 

 time, are revelations to those who are familiar 

 only with the C'"'mmon flower. The War>i col- 

 lection includes kiruls having flowers two inches 

 across, with petals so wide that they overlap 

 eacii other, thus giving us a perfectly round 

 fi-ovrer. And their colors I Wor^ls are all too 

 vreak to describe tliem in. Those wlio have come 

 to consider the Geranium a "^-'''mm'-'Vi" flower 

 will be obliged to reverse their rii.ini.ui when 

 they see the wonderful new sorts which are now 

 offered to the public. 



