{ FOR BOTH AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL j 
j GROWERS OF THE GLADIOLUS, DAHLIA, IRIS, ETC. j 
Entered as second-class matter March 31, 1914, at post office at 
Calcium, N.Y., under act of March 3, 1879. 
| PUBLISHED MONTHLY ON THE FIRST OF THE ! 
| MONTH BY MADISON COOPER, CALCIUM, N. Y. j 
Subscription price: Three years, $2.00; One year, $1.00. 
ASTERS-THEIR KINDS AND CARE. 
\ m H / ritttn fxprtnly for The Flower Grower ] 
P erhaps more largely 
grown than any other an- 
nual, the Aster is known 
and loved in almost every 
garden plot in the country. 
The love of this flower has been 
exploited and much worthless 
and old seed is constantly on the 
market, which it is wise to avoid 
by buying only of reliable firms. 
This flower has proved very 
pliable in the hands of the hy- 
bridizer and, although it has 
yielded almost countless types 
and colors, it has almost refused 
to produce a yellow bloom, 
though pale yellows are now 
offered. I was looking through 
a foreign catalogue the other 
day, size 8x11 inches, printed 
in small type, and there I found 
over seven pages of Asters listed, 
a line or two to a kind, and as 
high as twenty-two colors under 
a given type. American seeds- 
men rarely list over eight shades 
in a type and some as many as 
twelve types. 
The outstanding types are the 
comet, late branching and ear- 
lies. Distinctive flowers of the 
same general type are often 
named and given a place of 
their own. 
Queen of the Market is the rec- 
ognized best first early and 
comes in pink, white, purple, 
lavender and crimson. Its flow- 
ers are full double, about two to 
three inches across and the 
plants are of branching habit. 
There is a fine strain of earlies 
known as Royals, with broad 
petals, which come soon after 
Queen of the Market, and these 
also are branching in habit. 
James Vick’s Sons of Roch- 
ester, N. Y., are Aster specialists 
and their most noteworthy con- 
tribution is the Rochester Aster. 
The first of these— they are all 
comet type — was a lavender 
pink and so outstanding in merit 
BY PAUL L. WARD. (Michigan.) 
GLADIOLUS — BUTTERFLY. 
Originated by A. E. Kunderd. Produced by crossing 
Kunderdi Glory with Primulinus species. A strong grow- 
ing, vigorous Primulinus Hybrid with a large flower. 
Pale salmon yellow with ruffled flowers. 
that it was adopted as the offi- 
cial flower of the city of Roch- 
ester. I have stood at the end 
of a row of this variety and 
looking the length of it saw no 
leaves— almost — simply a mass 
of lavender-pink bloom, the 
flowers all but touching the outer 
ground and flowers all the way 
up and over. This is not a tall 
sort. Later came other colors 
in this grand type, the later 
ones being deeper through the 
center than the original, and 
large every way. I might say 
right here that the widely ad- 
vertised Astermum has not com- 
pared at all favorably with the 
Rochesters in my garden. They 
are wide and thin and show the 
center too easily and I do not 
predict much of a future for 
Astermums. 
The Mikados and Cregos in 
all colors are splendid comet 
types, the Mikados being early. 
As I understand it, the Mikados 
are the parent stock of the 
Rochesters and a few firms 
wrongfully list Mikados as 
Rochesters. 
The best lavender comet I 
have grown is Pacific Beauty, a 
sort not listed yet in retail cata- 
logues. It is of the Rochester 
type, very large, fluffy and deep 
through the center. Comes from 
Oregon. 
Enchantress, shell pink, is a 
beautiful thing, each plant mak- 
ing a bouquet as well arranged 
as could be done were the flow- 
ers cut. This is also true of all 
the Daybreak Asters. 
Many types of late branching 
are listed, such as Carlson, 
Semples, Vicks, Invincible, etc., 
but the characteristics are long, 
clean stems, surmounted by 
dense globe-like flowers with 
regularly arranged petals. The 
most vigorous and best type for 
the amateur, as it rarely fails 
