98 
The Garden Magazine, October, 1923 
of Gladiolus growers—commercial growers—than any other 
township in the Union can boast of. Within a short distance 
of each other there are some twelve or fifteen enterprising young 
fellows, with all the vim and persistent energy of the fine old 
New England stock from which they sprang. They have al¬ 
ready made The Mansfield Show one of the principal events 
of the Gladiolus season in these parts. 
Altogether Massachusetts is doing quite a bit for theGladiolus. 
FOUR PEERLESS BUT EXACTING GLADIOLUS BELLES 
T HREE varieties that 1 will name separately, for they are in a 
class by themselves— Europa, Badenia. and La Luna. All 
three tax a man’s patience most severely—they are so unreliable. 
In my judgment they are not weak, as some have supposed; 
they are simply exacting. Do what they demand and they will 
do their very best to please you; but unless you comply with 
their demands and meet all of their requirements they will sulk 
and refuse to play. It is most exasperating—but there you are! 
And after all, what these exacting ones demand is only what 
every Gladiolus plant should have, if it is to do its best. They 
ask for plenty of sunshine and plenty of water, and to be placed 
in a suitable soil, and given a generous helping of fertilizer. 
Give them these and then keep the soil about them well stirred— 
to destroy the weeds and lessen evaporation—and these plants 
will yield their finest blossoms and their best bulbs. 
The three exacting ones whose names 1 have given are aliens 
all. Two of them bear the hall mark “made in Germany,” 
and the third—La Luna—was sent to us by that wizard 
of the northland, Groff, the Canadian amateur, who has 
sent to us many of our most popular sorts. (He is best 
known in the Gladiolus world as the originator of the famous 
America.) 
But for all their exasperating ways we would not part with 
these exacting beauties for they are of the finest of the patrician 
clan, the very elite of the Gladiolus aristocrats. There has not 
yet appeared any white that is comparable to Europa, nor any 
lavender that is the peer of Badenia, and the lovers of the dainty 
and the refined will crown La Luna as a queen, the blossoms are 
so wonderful in grace and delicate beauty. The coloring of this 
beauty is exquisite—creamy buff tinged with soft pink, the lower 
petals wearing a splash of rich red. 
I would add another to this group of exacting belles— Sans- 
pareil —for it is indeed without a rival among pink Gladiolus— 
fine as some of them are. 1 had a handful of the bulbs a few 
years ago but lost them and have not seen one of these flowers 
since. They came to me through Gravereau, of Paris, though 
1 think the variety originated with Brunelet. Poor Gravereau! 
1 had a delightful correspondence with him during several years, 
and then the war came, and he and his sons laid down their lives 
for Prance.—M. C. 
OCTOBER GARDENS 
j^OUISE DRISCOLL 
T HE goldfinch like a jewel sits 
Where hollyhock holds up 
The harvest of dry seed that she 
Has gathered in a cup. 
As trumpeters who lead the way 
The shrill-voiced crickets call 
Warning that the hour comes 
When leaves shall fall. 
They dare the frost with color high 
A valiant, gorgeous band. 
They hold the garden for an hour 
And perish where they stand. 
The tender flowers of summer go, 
And stronger blossoms dare 
Unfold with aromatic scent 
In cooler air. 
Autumn flowers have sharper smells. 
Aster and marigold 
And pungent, strong chrysanthemum, 
Vivid and bold. 
A FINE VINE FOR THE HANGING BASKET 
N OT a novelty, but rare in cultivation is the Shamrock Pea 
or Blue Oxalis (Parochetus communis ), a native of tropical 
Asia. Breezing removes the foliage, but the creeping stems 
will stand much frost, even to freezing the ground solid, and if 
not rotted by wet some of the joints will sprout and the plant 
recovers rapidly. Though not as hardy as White Clover, it 
can be covered to survive the winter in a well-drained spot. In 
frostless regions it might become a pest. Perhaps it has value 
as a forage plant, as it is a Clover. 
The three leaflets and creeping stems remind me of an Oxalis, 
but the flowers are pea-like, solitary, not very large, cobalt blue, 
on slender three-inch stems from the leaf axils. The tiny 
leaflets are rounded, notched, marked with a pale curved line 
and brown dots, quite sessile, more like Oxalis than Clover, but 
closing at night for sleep as a good Clover should do. The 
stems run widely on the ground, rooting at the joints, making 
a delicate ground cover in sunny, sandy soil, or it may hang in 
sheets over a ledge or from a hanging basket. The pea-blossom 
is mostly standard, very erect, the other petals being small. 
It blooms always, all over the plant, for new runners con¬ 
tinually appear even at the base of the plant and every joint 
produces a flower. Seed is obtainable, and then self-layering 
is certain. As a hanging house plant it is a gem, always in 
flower, standing all kinds of abuse, free from insect pests, requir¬ 
ing merely plenty of sun. After serving in the house all winter 
it blooms all summer hung on the piazza. When it hangs too 
low a Dutch cut and repotting will put it in trim for another 
twelve months.— Stephen P. Hamblin. 
