Novelties in Summer Flower-roots and Bulbs 
A REVIEW OF THE SEASON’S OFFERINGS 
By THE EDITORIAL STAFF 
In the March issue of The Garden Mag- 
azine we presented a review of the plant 
and seed novelties for the current season, but 
withheld any reference to the “Summer 
Flower-roots’’ till the present more opportune 
season. 
What’s New in Cannas 
' 1 'HE usefulness of the Canna as a summer 
-*• bedding plant stimulates hybridizers in the 
production of new colors. This year’s crop of 
novelties displays a tendency on the part of the 
introducers to be very exacting that the new 
sorts surpass hitherto popular standards. 
Simply to be “different” fails to suffice. 1 he 
following are said to be of outstanding 
merit. 
Eureka, a white-flowering sort, bears trusses 
of substantial flowers. (Dreer). 
A Yellow King Humbert, a yellow sport of the 
well-known King Humbert, grows about four 
feet high. Individual flowers are said, to 
measure seven inches in diameter. A vigorous 
grower. (\ aughan). 
Snow-Queen, four feet in height, is another 
step toward a good white bedding plant. A 
close examination reveals faint pink spots, on 
the petals. Flowers are six inches across, with 
rounded petals two and a half inches broad. 
They are borne in large clusters above the 
foliage, on erect, branching heads. Aurora, 
five feet high, has green foliage. Flowers- 
scarlet, broadly edged with pure yellow. 
Druid Hill, a dark-stemmed, dark-foliaged 
Canna, four feet tall, with crimson flowers of 
average size. JMorning Glow, four feet high, 
provides unusual color contrast through foliage 
of olive-green, striped and veined with bronze. 
Flowers soft shell-pink, with orange-red 
centre. (Conard and Jones). 
What’s New Among Dahlias 
npHE past year has witnessed remarkable 
progress in Dahlias. \\ hile the Great W ar 
has temporarily closed many avenues through 
which novelties generally reach us, it has like- 
wise -stimulated the American hybridizers’ 
activity in unprecedented fashion. 
One amateur Dahlia enthusiast in par- 
ticular, C. L. Mastic, of Portland, Oregon, has 
broken all records in the production of hitherto 
Mrs Frederick Grinnell (Rooney). The pink Peony- 
flowered Dahlia which attracted notice at the last New 
York Dahlia Show 
unknown, bizarre and fantastic forms of 
Dahlia Seedlings. As the result we shall soon 
have a new and distinct class of Dahlias — . 
orchidaeflora perhaps. 
One Indiana grower states frankly “we are 
preparing to introduce several new Dahlias — 
about a hundred varieties — next season, but 
they will be named and placed on the market 
through shows first, before cataloging. In the 
case of this grower we wish to record remark- 
able efforts and results to improve upon the 
foliage of the Dahlia plant. A veritable riot 
of variations in foliage has followed the hy- 
bridizers’ attempt to call into existence more 
decorative foliage besides more ornamental 
flowers. As the result, Dahlia foliage varying 
in appearance from that of a heavy Magnolia 
leaf to that of the finely laciniated and 
serrated Mustard foliage, now adds difficulties 
to the Dahlia lover’s selection of varieties that 
would best fill his (or her) needs. Another 
peculiar “break” in plant type confronts us 
with flower stems of Dahlias big enough and 
thick enough and strong enough to serve as 
“walking sticks” when divested of foliage! 
From North Carolina comes the news that, 
despite the world conflict, English growers 
have developed scores of new varieties. In- 
deed, the increasingly popular Peony-flowered 
type promises to have the same general effect 
on Dahliadom as the arrival of Spencer Sweet 
Peas had among Sweet Peas. 
It well behooves American Dahlia growers 
to be on the alert, lest the hopeless confusion 
in nomenclature, as now existing in Roses, 
Sweet Peas, etc., be repeated among Dahlias. 
We are on the threshold of a new era in 
Dahlias. Size, shape, color, even general 
characteristics in form are undergoing com- 
plete transformation. Among the offerings 
listed here, are some that actually have been 
seen at exhibitions in previous seasons but 
which are now being offered to the public in 
quantity. 
CACTUS AND HYBRID DAHLIAS 
Mrs. A. K. White, snow-white, with long 
stems. Fine for cutting (J. Bassett). 
St. Leonards is a clear, yellow, one half of the 
petals suffused with bright red, almost solid 
scarlet at the tips. A constant bloomer, last- 
ing from five to seven days as a cut flower. 
Early frosts are said not to affect it (Tyler). 
Mt. Shasta is a Hybrid Cactus, immensely 
large, full and deep. Light pink. F. Earl 
James is a Hybrid Cactus of deep mottled 
cerise-pink. Mrs. Stillman is a newcomer of 
the Cactus-Paeony type. A unique shade of 
clear pink (Stillman). 
Centurion. Crimson scarlet, long, narrow, 
interlaced and twisted petals. Melody. Clear 
yellow for half the length of petals, rest pure 
white. The Quaker. Of delicate flesh pink, 
with white centre. Gigantic. Old-gold color. 
Described as the finest exhibitionCactus Dahlia 
yet produced. W acht am Rhein. \\ ith broad 
petals on order of English Exhibition type. 
Rosy pink suffused with white (Tate). 
Marguerite Phillips. Pure white, incurved. 
W. E. Peters. Crimson-scarlet, incurved. 
Rev. A. II. Lowe. Yellow, outer florets tipped 
and tinged with rosy shading. Incurved. 
Uranus. Creamy white, speckled and 
striped rosy pink to vermilion-scarlet. In- 
curved. E. F. Harves. Clear salmon-pink, 
straight-petaled. Lorna Doone. \ ellow at 
>£40 
base, shaded pink and tinged with carmine 
(Alexander). 
DECORATIVE DAHLIAS 
Berch Van Hemstide is a large, pure yellow. 
Mina Burgle is a large, brilliant scarlet. 
Santa Cruz is a lemon-yellow, shaded with 
salmon-pink (Hallauer). 
Seedling Dahlia Five-Eighteen. A large 
sort, frequently measuring six inches in diame- 
ter. The quilled flowers are canary-yellow, 
free from centre. Available in plants only 
(Michell). 
Giant Geyser is the largest deep magenta car- 
mine of this type. Lady Betty of light velvety 
purple color. Lady Claire is a bright fiery 
scarlet, heavily tipped yellow. Lady Helen 
presents a peculiar mixture of beautiful shades 
of pink and lavender-cerise. Bears flower up- 
right, facing. Exceptional flowers have meas- 
ured more than nine inches in diameter. The 
Millionaire, a light lavender, of exceptional 
size (Stillman). 
Colosse de Lyon. Old rose suffused with 
golden salmon, shading to crimson-pink at tips. 
Jojfre. Cyclamen rose, centre shaded deep 
rose. G. De St. Victor. Pale mauve-rose. 
Loveliness. Of the same shade of pink as 
Delice (Tate). 
Tenor Alvarez. Violet-red, striped and 
splashed lilac and white. Darlene. Shell-pink, 
blending to white at centre. Frank A. Walker. 
Lavender-pink. J. M. Goodrich. Salmon- 
pink, each petal tipped primrose-yellow 
(Alexander). 
THE PEONY-FLOWERED NOVELTIES 
Mrs. II. J. Tily. A deep yellow with orange 
sheen (Bassett). The Chatenay, of the color 
of the Chatenay Rose (Hallauer). 
Autumn Beauty is of sunset yellow, the base 
of the petals blending into a golden yellow on 
outer edge and Poinsettia is of Poinsettia color 
— bright scarlet with golden yellow centre 
(Knight & Struck). 
The Stillman list includes: Marguerite 
Clark, typically curled and twisted petals, the 
face of which is of light cream color, the re- 
verse side a cerise-pink. Maud Tripp pre- 
sents an unusual color combination, consisting 
of purple-lavender, pink and yellow; and The 
F. Earl James (Stillman) is a good representative of 
the Hybrid Cactus Dahlia. It is of a curiously mottled 
pink color 
